FEBRUARY 1984 Vol. 9, No. 2 $3.50 in USA $3.95 in Canada/£2.10 in U.K. A McGraw-Hill Publication 0360-5280 BENCHMARKS Adot matrix printer that will improve your image. Meet the Apple" Image- writer, the newest dot matrix printer for your Apple Personal Computer. And with all that it has going for it, just maybe the best dot matrix printer on the market. Take legibility, for instance. The Imagewriter crams 140 x 160 dots into each square inch. So you get text that's highly readable and high resolution graphics, besides. And is it Fast. The Imagewriter cruises at an unbelievable 120 characters per second. And that's just in the text mode. It's even faster printing graphics. 180 characters per second, to be exact. What's more, the graphics dump is up to o0% faster than other comparably priced dot matrix ' ■ printers. And that makes the Imagewriter fast enough to handle the Lisa™ Yet it's just as at home with an Apple III or Apple He. Thanks to Apple software experts who designed the control electronics to give the Image- writer perfect compatibility. Not to mention some special capabilities APPLE PRESENTS TH EIMA GE WRITER APPLE PR ESENTS THE IMAGEWRITER APPLE PRESEN1 S THE B1AGEURITER APPLE PRESENTS THE IttACEURITER APM.I ike superscript and subscript, to name just two. Now, with all this high-speed performance, you'd expect the Imagewriter to make the Devil's Own Noise. It doesn't. In fact, the Imagewriter is specially constructed — with overlaid seams and special sound- deadening materials — to achieve a remarkable 53 dB. How loud is a remarkable 53 dB? You'd make more noise if you read this aloud. The Imagewriter even has quiet good looks, since we designed it to look like the rest of the Apple Family. Yet even with all its improvements, the Imagewriter is a better deal than any other dot matrix print- er with comparable performance. Aid you can print that. \ Charge! Go out there and get the Apple Personal Computer System you really want. Now. Without laying out your extra cash. Without tying up your other lines of credit. With the Apple Card. The only consumer credit card reserved exclusively for the purchase of Apple Computers, peri- pherals and software. Like all our products, it works simply: Fill out an application (short, to the point and annotated in English) at an authorized Apple dealer honoring the Card. Your salesperson will call in the application and in most cases get an approval for you right on the spot. You can then take your Apple system home. You don't even have to wait for the Card; we'll mail it out to you. And by the time you get it, you'll probably be well into doing whatever you bought your Apple system to do. There is no annual fee for the Card, although a couple of restric- tions do apply. The first purchase must include an Apple Personal Computer and you have to put 10% down. And subsequent purchases need to be at least $100 if made with the Card. Oh, yes — you'll also have a credit limit. When you use the Apple Card to make additional purchases, all you have to do is show the Card and sign the invoice. As long as it's within your credit limit, or course. Our dealers get a little nervous when someone signs for half their inven- tory. You understand. You'll also receive monthly statements that include the latest purchases, credit available, and the minimum payment due. You'll also be happy to know Apple Card credit terms are affordable and the pay- ments can be spread out. It's all spelled out for you at the time your Card is approved. So stop by a participating authorized Apple dealer and get an Apple Card! Just think of it as credit where credit is due. Giveyour floppy disks the boot. We call it the "floppy disk shuffle.' ' It happens when you have two or more software programs on floppies and you need to work with both. What do you do? You put one disk in, boot it, do your work, take it out, put the other disk in, boot it, do your work — you get the idea. Well, you can stop shuffling any time now. Thanks to a unique new soft- ware program called Catalyst™ from Quark, Inc. Specially designed for your Apple III and ProFile™ hard disk. Catalyst allows you to take a wide variety of software programs and store them on your ProFile. Once they're on your ProFile, you just select the program you want from the Catalyst menu that appears on your monitor — then Catalyst does the rest. You'll never have to boot those programs again. What kinds of programs will work with ProFile and Catalyst? Almost anything written for the Apple III including copy-protected programs like VisiCalc* Quick File™ and Apple Writer III. Or languages like Pascal, BASIC, or COBOL. And once you've loaded these programs into your ProFile, the only diskette you may ever need is the Catalyst. So if you have an Apple III and a ProFile and more floppies than you care to flip through, get yourself a Catalyst. And boot those disks for good. ■i Apple Computer Inc., 20525 Alumni Ave.. Cupertino, CA95014. ftr the authorized Apple dealer nearest you. m//(800) 538-9696. In Canada, call (800) 268-7796 or (800) 268-7637. © 1983 Apple Computer Inc. VisiCalc is a trademark of VisiCorp, Inc. Catahst is a trademark of Quark, Inc. Apple, the Apple logo. Quick Tile and Profile are trademarks of Apple Computer Inc. In The Queue iVTI Volume 9, Number 2 Page 30 Cover Story 30 The Apple Macintosh Computer by Gregg Williams / The firm that brought forth the Lisa now offers mouse-window-desktop technology in an under-S2500 system. 58 An Interview: The Macintosh Design Team by Phil Lemmons / The "wizards" behind the Macintosh discuss the design goals and philosophy that influenced the develop- ment of Apple's new computer. Columns 88 Build the Circuit Cellar Term-Mite ST Smart Terminal, Part 2: Programming and Use by Steve Ciarcia / The supplied standard control software supports several character attributes and various configuration options. 113 User's Column: Chaos Manor Gets Its Long-Awalted IBM PC by Jerry Poumelle / Of mice and men. Eagles, Shirley, the ol' mailbag, and much more. 147 BYTE West Coast: A Business Computer, a Business Program, and More on Voice Recognition by Ezra Shapiro / Recent developments on the computing scene raise some questions about perceived industry trends. Themes 158 Benchmarks and Performance Evaluation by Bruce Roberts / This month's articles discuss benchmarks, their limitations, and alternative methods of product evaluation. 160 Don't Bench Me In by Jerry Houston / Benchmarks are a popular way to com- pare both hardware and software. But how meaningful are they? 168 Beyond MIPS: Performance Is Not Quality by John M. Carroll and Mary Beth Rosson / Two users observe that there's more to overall system quality than speed of operation. 175 Software Performance Evaluation by Brian Boyle / This article presents some helpful guidelines borrowed from a successful hardware model. 193 The Art of Benchmarking Printers by Sergio Mello-Qrand / An exhaustive set of benchmarks helps you determine how fast your printer really is. 218 Benchmarking FORTRAN Compilers by Avram Tetewsky / The author offers insights into determining which compiler creates the fastest code. 227 Benchmark Confessions by Peter Marvit and Mohandas Nair / Understanding the background and intentions of benchmarks is the key to interpreting the results. 235 The Word-Processing Maze by Andrea Lewis / How to find your way through all those "new" features. 243 Evaluating Word-Processing Programs by Arthur Naiman / A 100-point checklist simplifies the decision-making process. Reviews 251 Reviewer's Notebook by Rich Malloy / A plotter from Hewlett-Packard, a Man- nesmann Tally printer, and two software packages for the IBM PC are featured in this month's notes. 252 ProDOS by Rob Moore / Apple Computer presents a powerful new operating system for Apple II computers. 267 Knowledgeman by James W. Walker / A new, fully integrated management system offers full database and spreadsheet capabilities in one package. 278 The IBM CS-9000 Lab Computer by Thomas R. Clune / A closer look at IBM's "other" microcomputer. Page 58 BYTE is published monthly by McGraw-Hill Inc.. with offices at 70 Main St., Peterborough. NH 03458. phone (603) 924-928 1 . Office hours: Mon— Thur 8:30 AM — 4:30 PM, Friday 8:30 AM — Noon, Eastern Time. Address subscriptions to BYTE Subscriptions, POB 590, Martinsville, NJ 08836. Address changes of address, USPS Form 3579, and fulfillment questions to BYTE Subscriptions, POB 596, Martinsville, NJ 08836. Second-class postage paid at Peterborough, NH 0345B and additional mailing offices. USPS Publication No. 528890 [ISBN 0360-5280). Postage paid at Winnipeg. Manitoba. Registration number 932 1. Subscriptions are S2I for one year, S38fortwo years, and S55 for three years in the USA and its possessions. In Canada and Mexico. S23 for one year, S42 February 1984 292 The Rlxon R212A Intelligent Modem by Chuck Weger/This device can emulate the Hayes Smartmodem and do a few other tricks besides. 303 Savvy by Peter V. Callamaras / This easy-to-use system actually learns from you. 308 The Mlcro-Scl Gameport III for the Apple III by William J. Purpura and Paula K. Purpura / With this card in place, your Apple III can run most Apple II game software. 310 The Vldex Ultraterm by Peter V. Callamaras / Easy to install and use, the Ultraterm video-display card enables the Apple II to display up to 160 columns or 48 lines. 318 Apple Disk Emulators: Axlon, Legend, Plon, and Synetlx by Michael W Gilbert / Four RAM disk emulators for the Apple II allow faster execution times for appli- cations requiring numerous disk accesses. Features 84 Apple Announces the Lisa 2 by Gregg Williams / Macintosh compatibility is a key feature of the new Lisa. 331 IBM/Apple Communication by Robert Jones / Sending text files between Ap- ples and IBM PCs is easy with these simple programs. 342 A Low-Cost, Low Wrlte-Voltage EEPROM by Joe D. Blagg / Seeq Technology's S10 EEPROM can be programmed in your computer with simple and inexpensive circuitry. 346 Foot Control by Dennis M. Pfister / Adding a foot-operated Control key to your keyboard simplifies control sequences. 349 Inside a Compiler: Notes on Optimization and Code Generation by Kaare Christian / A look at Pascal/MT+86 and Pascal-86 shows you how to evaluate these and other compilers. 370 Writing Device Drivers for MS-DOS 2.0 Using Tandon TM100-4 Drives by J. Eric Roskos / The increase in flexibility can be worth the added effort. 383 Deciphering Word Games by Mark C. Worley / Two BASIC programs can help you solve cryptograms and anagrams. 388 Five Original Graphics by Robert Sussman and Ted Sussman / Improving on the Spirograph. 395 Bubbles on the S-100 Bus, Part 2: The Software by Louis Wheeler / Making Micropolis MDOS and CP/M work on a bubble-memory board. 416 Calculating Overhead Costs by Computer by G. Truman Hunter / A simple, foolproof arithmetic procedure determines the distribution of indirect costs quickly and accurately. Books Received Clubs and Newsletters BYTE's User to User Book Review What's New? Unclassified Ads BYTE's Ongoing Monitor Box, BOMB Results Reader Service Nucleus 4 Editorial: The Compatibility 466 Craze 469 7 MICROBYTES 472 12 Letters 478 428 Programming Quickie 481 436 Technical Forum 541 438 Ask BYTE 542 446 Software Received 457 Event Queue 543 Cover photo by Paul Avis for two years, S6I for three years. S 53 for one year air delivery to Europe. 17. 1 CO yen for one year surface delivery to Japan. S37 surface delivery elsewhere. Air delivery to selected areas at additional rates upon request. Single copy price is S3.50 in the USA and its possessions. S3. 95 in Canada and Mexico. $4.50 in Europe, and S5.00 elsewhere. Foreign subscriptions and sales should be remitted in United States funds drawn on a US bank. Printed in the United States of America. Subscription questions or problems should be addressed to: BYTE Subscriber Service, POB 328, Hancock, NH 03449 Page 88 Page 278 W&k you run any < thousands of CP/M-80® programs available. It comes complete with two of the best programs around, Perfect Writer™ and Perfect Calc™ It's portable. And you can plug it in and start computing the moment you unwrap it. So if you've been interested in an IBM personal computer, now you know where you can get one for $1995. Wherever they sell Chameleons. The Chameleon by W^ISEEQUA COMPUTER CORPORATION 8305 Telegraph Road Odenton.MD 21113 For the location of the Seequa dealer nearest you, call (800) 638-6066 or (301) 672-3600. 6 BYTE February 1984 Circle 329 on inquiry card. MICROBYTE Staff-written highlights of late developments in the microcomputer industry- COMMODORE PLANS UNIX-LIKE OPERATING SYSTEM FOR Z8000BASED COMPUTER Commodore announced that it will include the UNIX-like Coherent operating system in a new series of Z8000-based computers. Scheduled to be formally announced in May, Commodore's new computer will be called the Next Generation and will include 256K bytes of RAM and one or two floppy-disk drives at a price the company says will be much lower than any comparable system. All of Commodore's previous computers have been based on variations of the 6502 microprocessor developed by Commodore's MOS Technology division. Commodore has a license to manufacture Zilog's Z8000 processor. BOOST IN IBM PRODUCTION COULD SPELL PROBLEMS FOR CLONE MAKERS In a December speech, IBM senior vice-president Allen Krowe told security analysts that production of the IBM PC will increase as much in 1984 as it did in 1983. Such a dramatic increase in production of the PC could create problems for smaller computer companies using the same parts. Intel Corp., maker of the 8088 central processor used in the IBM PC and most PC-compatibles, doesn't expect any major problems with that part, although both Intel and Advanced Micro Devices are pushing back their delivery schedules for companies ordering the 8088 and 8086. Intel was less positive about production of the 8088-compatible 80186 processor, which runs faster than the 8088 and eliminates the need for several peripheral chips. Many computer makers have chosen to use the 80186 because of its speed and economy, but Intel expects to ship only about a million 80186 chips this year, although it predicts that demand will be between 3 and 4 million. Advanced Micro Devices, which has a technology exchange agreement with Intel, will also produce the 80186 later this year. The company would not predict how many it will ship, though it plans to double production of the 8088. DIGITAL RESEARCH, ZILOG, AMI AGREE TO PUT PERSONAL CP/M ROM ON Z80 CHIP Digital Research's ROM-based Personal CP/M operating system will be included on some versions of Zilog's Z80 microprocessor, according to an agreement between those two companies and American Microsystems Inc., which will be the first to make and sell the chip. Although no pricing has been announced yet, bundling Personal CP/M on a Z80 chip will probably result in less expensive home computers. Digital Research plans to collect a smaller royalty for CP/M on each chip than it would otherwise charge, in consideration of the large number it expects will be sold. SEAGATE AND VERTEX UNVEIL 100-MEGABYTE HARD DISKS Seagate Technology introduced its first 8-inch Winchester disk drive, with 102.1 megabytes of storage. Previously, Seagate made only 5% -inch Winchester drives, dominating that product market. In large quantities, the company's 8-inch drives will cost less than $1500 without a controller. Vertex Peripherals announced a 100-megabyte 5Vi-inch Winchester disk drive that will sell to manufacturers for about $1700 in large quantities. Vertex, which also makes 30-, 50-, and 70-megabyte 5 'A -inch Winchesters, plans to announce higher capacity 5% -inch drives this year. INTEL INTRODUCES 64K-BYTE CMOS RAMS Intel is beginning full production of 64K-byte CMOS dynamic RAM chips this month. Because the chips require less power than conventional memory devices, they will probably be used first in battery- powered portable computers. Intel expects to produce the chips in very large quantities at prices only slightly higher than conventional NMOS dynamic RAMs. KEY TRONIC LICENSES NEW MOUSE TECHNOLOGY Key Tronic Corp. has licensed the solid-state mouse technology developed by Display Interface Technology. Key Tronic had previously been considering use of the Summagraphics optical mouse but now says the solid-state mouse is superior. The company will sell two versions of the mouse to both manufacturers and end users: an RS-232C version will retail for $226, and a version to add to some Key Tronic keyboards will sell for $184, beginning in April. i publication! MICROBYTES THE MARKETPLACE IS FLOODED WITH NEW PORTABLE COMPUTERS . . . Several new portable and transportable computers have been introduced recently. Visual Technologies unveiled the Commuter, which includes a single 5% -inch disk drive, 128K bytes of RAM, and MS-DOS 2,1 for $1995. . . . ACT has brought its British-made Apricot computer to the U.S. The $3100 computer includes 256K bytes of RAM, two 3Vj-inch disk drives, a two-line LCD on the keyboard, and a 9-inch monitor. . . . CompuSource Inc. introduced the Abacus, a $2045 portable computer that it says can run most IBM, Apple, and CP/M software. . . . Morrow announced a portable version of its Micro Decision computer. The Portable MD3 includes 64K, two 5V4-inch floppy-disk drives, and a built in monitor for $1899. Morrow also introduced an 8088 coprocessor board for the Z80-based Micro Decision computers. . . . Televideo Systems introduced three new computers that it says are compatible with the IBM PC. The TPC II, a portable, and the Tele-PC 1605, a desktop computer, include 1 28K bytes of RAM, two 5Vi-inch floppy-disk drives, and a monitor for $2995. The Tele-XT 1605H replaces one floppy-disk drive with a 10-megabyte hard disk and comes with 256K for $4995. ...AND WITH NEW DESKTOP MACHINES Televideo Systems also unveiled a Z80-based four-user system that costs $6600. With a 10-megabyte hard disk and one terminal, the basic TS-804 sells for $4495. . . , Handwell Corp. introduced a computer that it says is operationally compatible with the IBM PC. With a color display, two serial ports, one parallel port, and one floppy-disk drive, the Handwell PC will sell for $1995. . . . Logical Business Machines introduced the L-XT, a $5985 computer that includes a 10-megabyte hard disk, 192K bytes of RAM, and Logical's Natural Language environment. . . . Computer Designed Systems Inc. unveiled the Adviser Micro Plus, which includes a built-in dot-matrix printer, one 5 V* -inch floppy-disk drive, and a Z80 processor for $1995. The computer is also available with 68000 and 8086 processors for $4995. . . . Kaypro brought out the Robie, a desktop version of its Kaypro 4 portable computer that uses two Drivetec high-density 5Vi-inch disk drives. With 5.2 megabytes of floppy-disk storage, the Robie will sell for $22*95. NANOBYTES Apple Computer Inc. lost a copyright suit against an Australian computer dealer that sold the Taiwan made Wombat computer, an Apple-compatible machine reportedly selling for about one-third of the Apple's price. Apple was told by an Australian federal court that computer ROM programs are not literary works and couldn't be protected by Australia's copyright laws Digital Equipment Corp. has unveiled its DECtalk voice synthesis module, a $4000 system that reads standard ASCII text. DECtalk attaches to an RS-232C port, generates high-quality speech, and includes heuristics that enable it to guess, for example, whether "St." stands for "Street" or "Saint". . . . Canon U.S.A. has announced an eight-page-per-minute laser-beam printer. The printer, which will be sold only to other manufacturers, is expected to retail for about $3000. . . . Bank of America has announced HomeBanking, a service available to northern California customers using a terminal or home computer, for $8 per month. . . . American Micro Products has introduced a $99.95 MVP FORTH compiler for the TRS-80 Model 100 portable computer. . . . Gold Hill Computers Inc. introduced GCLISP, a $375 LISP interpreter for the IBM Personal Computer. . . . Micro Software International's PractiCalc II, a $69 spreadsheet program with some database-management features, is available for the Apple II. . . . National Microware has introduced the Personal Planner, a home software package allowing users to write letters and keep track of appointments, names and addresses, and expense records. For MS-DOS or CP/M, the Personal Planner will sell for $149. . . . Atari and Activision announced a joint venture to distribute software electronically to home video-game and computer systems. Following a market test, the service is scheduled to begin later this year. . . . Nelma Data Corp. introduced Black Magic, a wireless local-area network that uses UHF FM "radio modems." Up to 256 computers with RS-232C ports can use the network for about $250 per node. . . . Structured Systems Group Inc. is selling WindowMaster, a $295 multitasking windowing environment that enables CP/M-86 and MS-DOS applications to run concurrently. WindowPack, which bundles WindowMaster along with SSG's word processor, spreadsheet, and database manager, sells for $495. . . . Computer Associates International has introduced integrated windowing software linking IBM Personal Computers to mainframes. CA-Executive includes database-management, word-processing, spreadsheet, graphics, and other software packages, some of which correspond to CAI mainframe packages. CA-Executive will sell for $1295. in Inn lb* ii ii y ii- j|- IT II U u U' U" ii~ ,. results are what you get with PerComNet'" ... the sophisticated, user-installable Local Area Network from PERCOM DATA CORPORATION. PerComNet IBM" interface cards are available now to provide true networking capabilities for IBM and most IBM compatible personal computers. This includes the sharing of peripheral devices such as printers, modems, floppy disk drives, and all PERCOM DATA High Performance PHD'" Hard Disk Drives. PerComNet provides these net results: • Token passing reliability. • Built-in 64K FIFO buffer, to speed data transmissions. • Signal regeneration at each node to eliminate noise, regardless of network size. ■ User installation simplicity. • Optional NBS encription for data security. • Support for simultaneous voice/data transmissions. •Operating system compatibility for MS-DOS'", CP/M", UNIX'", and uNETix". uNETix for PerComNet is distri- buted by Percom Data. If you want net results ... PerComNet is the logical, eco- nomical and reliable choice. PERCOM DATA has a PerComNet OEM Evaluation Package* ready for your im- mediate use. The package includes all the hardware, and communications and file transfer utilities you need for con- figuring a network of three IBM PC computers. Package price is only $1695. To order your evaluation package or to get more information contact us today! PERCOM DATA CORPORATION 11220 Pagemill Road • Dallas, Texas 75243 Name: Title: _ I'd like you to send me more information. I'm very interested, please have your rep call me at . I'd like to know more about your PHD Hard Disk. tPEBQCMflATAj CORPORATION Expanding Your Peripheral Vision DRIVES NETWORKS SOFTWARE 11220 Pagemill Road, Dallas. Texas 75243 (214) 340-5800 1-800-527-1222 "Does not include operating system or application software. PerComNet and PHD are Irademarks ot Percom Data Corporation. • IBM is a registered trademark ot International Business Machines. • MS-DOS is a trademark of Microsoft, Inc CP M is a registered trademark of Digital Research. ■ UNIX is a trademark of Bell Laboratories. ■ uNETix is a registered trademark of Lantech Systems Incorporated. COPYRIGHT Percom Data Corporation 1983 * All prices, and descriptions subject to change with notice. Introducing COMPAQ PLUS, the first high-performance portable personal computer. The makers of the COMPAQ™ Portable Computer, the indus- try standard, announce another breakthrough-the COMPAQ PLUS™ Portable Personal Computer. No other personal computer can handle so much information in so many places. The new COMPAQ PLUS offers the power of an integrated ten-megabyte fixed disk drive in a portable. You get problem-solving power that no other personal computer can match. Plus a bigger payload How much is ten megabytes? Enough to tackle jobs that can't be conveniently handled on most personal computers. Information that would fill your company's ledgers can be stored on the fixed disk drive of the COMPAQ PLUS. A mailing list of 100,000 names, addresses, cities, states, and Zip codes. A full year of daily prices for every stock on the New York exchange. Inventory records on a quarter mil- lion items. The entire San Francisco phone book. And room left over for Peoria. The fixed disk drive keeps all the information seconds away, ready to ^ be searched, sorted, retrieved, ana- lyzed or updated. Plus better use of your time The integrated fixed disk drive will store programs. That means your most used programs and data can be perma- nently kept in the COMPAQ PLUS, ready to call up and run. With programs permanently stored, the COMPAQ PLUS becomes a well- informed traveling companion, a tool to help you apply your best thinking anytime, anywhere. You could store a complete library of accounting programs on the disk — payables, receivables, general ledger, and payroll — with the company's books. You could store an inventory control program with your inventory records and a list management program with your mailing list and a filing program with your personnel files. The COMPAQ PLUS is also equipped with a 360K byte diskette drive for entering new programs, copy- ing data files, and making backup copies. Plus more programs More programs means more versatility. And the COMPAQ PLUS is impressively versatile because it runs all the popular programs written for the IBM* Personal Computer XT, avail- able in computer stores all over the country. And they run as is, with no modification whatsoever. And the high-capacity portable mul- tiplies the productivity of every pro- gram it runs. Your inventory and its The COMPAQ PLUS rum all the popular pro- grams written for the IBM Personal Computer XT. control programs can go with you to the factory. Your books and your accounting programs can go with you to a board meeting. Your building specs and your project management pro- grams can go with you to the construc- tion site. You're buying a computer to solve problems. Why not have more problem-solving programs to choose from? Specially designed shock isolation system protects the fixed disk from jolts. Plus a traveler's toughness Life can be tough on the road. A true portable has got to be tougher. The COMPAQ PLUS is. Its integrated fixed disk drive is unique, designed specifically to travel. Rough roads and hard landings don't bother it because of a specially designed shock isolation system that protects the disk from jolts and vibration. All the working components are surrounded by a uniquely cross- membered aluminum frame. This 1;, structure, common in race car design technology, strengthens it side-to-side, front-to-back, and top- to-bottom. The outer case is made of LEXAN*, the same high-impact polycarbonate plastic used to make bulletproof win- dows and faceplates for space suit helmets. Does a portable personal computer really have to be this tough? Take a good look at your briefcase and then decide. 10 BYTE February 1984 Plus ease of use The COMPAQ PLUS is big where it counts. The display screen is big. Nine inches diagonally. Big enough to show a full 25-line-by-80-character page that's easy to read even if you're leaning back in your chair. The keyboard is full-sized and typewriter-style for easy control. With its built-in display, the COMPAQ PLUS makes a smooth, low profile on your desk, not an ob- stacle that you have to talk around. Plus an easy way to get started If you're buying your first personal computer and you're not sure how much capacity you need, your choice is easier now. Start with the COMPAQ Portable with single or double 320K byte disk- ette drives. If you need more capacity later, upgrade to the COMPAQ PLUS. A conversion kit is available that turns the COMPAQ Portable into a COMPAQ PLUS, complete in every detail and capability. Plus a lot more The COMPAQ PLUS also works with optional printers, plotters, and com- munications devices designed for IBM's personal computer family. It has two IBM-compatible slots for adding optional expansion boards. With companion programs, they'll let you share information with a network of personal computers in your office, communicate with your headquarters computer files while you're away, or add memory capacity if your needs grow. The COMPAQ Portable, the industry standard in portable personal computers, w / The problem-solving power of a high- performance desktop personal computer can now go where you need it. It's got high-resolution graphics and text on the same screen. A detached keyboard. Programmable function keys. Expandable memory. Dozens of other features that simply make it do a better job of personal computing. And when you see all that the COMPAQ PLUS has to offer, you'll be pleasantly surprised by the price. The fact is, it costs hundreds less than comparably equipped desktop personal computers. See the first high-performance porta- ble personal computer. The COMPAQ PLUS — performance, programs, pro- ductivity. Plus problem-solving power. The new COMPAQ PLUS, the first high- performance portable personal computer, w COMPAQ PLUS Specifications Storage □ One integrated 10-megabyte fixed disk drive □ One 360K byte diskette drive. Software □ Runs all the popular programs written for the IBM XT. Memory □ 128K bytes RAM, expandable to 640K bytes Display D 9-inch diagonal monochrome screen □ 25 lines by 80 characters □ Upper- and lowercase high- resolution text characters □ High-resolution graphics Interfaces □ Parallel printer interface □ RGB color monitor interface □ Composite video monitor interface □ RF modulator interface Expansion board slots □ Two IBM-compatible slots Physical specifications □ Totally self-contained and portable □ 20"Wx8V2"Hx 16"D For the name of the Authorized Dealer nearest you, call 1-800-231-0900. ^Woi COMPAQ Computer Corporation COMPAQ™ and COMPAQ PLUS™ are trademarks of COMPAQ Computer Corporation. IBM® is a registered ttademark oflnternational Business Machines Corporation. LEXAN® is a registered trademark of General Electric Company. , " T - T HT , comPAa BYTE February 1984 11 Letters More on the Morrow After reading Tom Wadlow's review of the Morrow Micro Decision (October, page 306), I feel that a few points need additional comment. I own an early single-drive version MMD that I am not entirely satisfied with. Mr. Wadlow states that all versions use Tandon drives. This is not true. Although double-sided drives may be supplied by Tandon, the single-sided %-height drives are Shugart SA 200s. Mr. Wadlow stated that the system uses a single-density format. This is also in- correct. The format uses 20 sectors with 256 bytes per sector, giving the disk a total of 204.8K bytes. The usable space per disk is 186K bytes or 390K bytes for double- sided drives. The author also mentions the virtual drive and menu-driven CP/M features. These are nice additions to the system; however, they do not function properly. The virtual drive will respond with a prompt to exchange disks, but this prompt will remain on the screen after the exchange is complete. This is annoy- ing, especially when multiple disk ex- changes are required. With programs such as Logicalc and Pearl, it makes it hard to analyze the data that is on the screen. The menu-driven front end for CP/M is equally disappointing. Many of the op- tional file-manipulation commands such as PIP and ERA are supported by this driver. However, these selections will not work. This doesn't present a problem for knowledgeable users of CP/M, but for be- ginners it can present a problem. This ob- viously makes the entire program useless. The program could easily be fixed. How- ever, Morrow neglected to provide any documentation on its Pilot language. Mr. Wadlow also mentions that the system can be used with almost any popular terminal. Although I have tried only two terminals, I have found that the Logicalc program will not adapt to an ADM-3A. The terminal setup program provided with the system is also disap- pointing. To achieve all the features of my Televideo required setting up Wordstar and Logicalc with their individual setup routines. I think Morrow has realized this problem because it no longer advertises the system without a terminal. As for hardware design, the lack of schematics or cooperation from Morrow prompted me to analyze the circuits and draw my own set (a tedious process). After analyzing the drawings I am total- ly amazed that the system even works. This isn't the worst design I have seen, but it is close. In conclusion, I can only say that I wouldn't recommend this machine to anybody. There are too many bugs in the system that should have been fixed long before the machine was marketed. The problems are obvious and I can't under- stand how Mr. Wadlow or Morrow could have missed them. I must also conclude that the author did a very poor job on this review. Don Hair 6208 Adel Cove Austin, TX 78749 Tom Wadlow responds: You are right about the Shugart drives. In- deed, all the Micro Decision drives are manu- factured by Shugart and not by Tandon, as I mistakenly claimed in the review. The drives used in the Morrow Decision 1 are manufac- tured by Tandon. As for the rest of your comments: I believe that if you read the second page of my review, under the paragraph titled "Disk Storage," you will see that I did not say that all Micro Decisions use single-density drives. The virtual drive feature of the Micro Deci- sion is implemented in the operating system and cannot know very much about individual applications. It would be nice to have the pop- up display you describe, but let's look at what would be involved in doing so on the Micro Decision. To be able to restore the screen to its previous condition when the message goes away, you would have to save any text that might be ovenvritten . Perhaps your terminal might have a way to do this, probably not. So you would probably have to cause the ter- minal to send back the contents of the affected area over its serial line. This means that the Micro Decision disk driver zvould require an intimate knowledge of the terminal (since the text must be both saved and restored in the right place), which implies either yet another configuration program or a hard-wired depen- dence on only one specific terminal. Both of these alternatives are poor choices if you want to make the system reasonably flexible. I see virtual drives as an operating-system feature intended to make a bad situation (not enough disk drives) more tolerable. Most systems don't even go this far in trying to help. Your complaints about the menu system and lack of documentation in both hardware and software echo what I said in the review. Mor- row's major failing, with the Micro Decision as well as its more powerful Decision line, is its lack of adequate documentation. Unfor- tunately for us, Morrow is far from alone in this. And as I said in the review, you really need to be somewhat familiar with CP/M to use the Micro Decision. As for Pilot documen- tation, a call to Morrow Customer Service yields the neivs that a Pilot manual is now available. Write or call Morrow for informa- tion on how to get it. As for the problem of incompatible ter- minals, I said that the Micro Decision can be used with most popular terminals, and I suspect that statement still holds true. But if you intend to replace the terminal that Mor- row has designed the system around, you should not be surprised at installation dif- ficulties. Morrow does claim to have success- fully configured a Micro Decision to run with an ADM-3A. Incidentally, Morroio is now of- fering the Micro Decision with a Liberty ter- minal, which has a much nicer keyboard and display than the ADM-20 shown in the review. I have absolutely no complaints about the hardware of the Micro Decision, other than the design omissions (such as separate printer and modem ports). The disks were fast and quiet, the system unit was rugged and never seemed to have power-up problems. Regard- less of what the schematics (or at least your version of them) say, a system that performs as this one does is adequately designed. Mor- row designed this system for users who are unlikely to be concerned over the elegance of a particular part of the disk controller or the chip count of the RS-232C circuitry. I agree, however, that such things should be obtainable from the manufacturer, and, indeed, they are. The Morrow Micro Decision Service Manual ($225) provides complete schematics, test information, and diagnostic software. Once again, write or call Morrow at 600 McCormick St., San Leandro, CA 94577, or (800) 521-3493 for more information. I still stand by my recommendation. The Micro Decision is not a good system for the computer hobbyist/experimenter. Nor is it a good system for the novice user. But it is ser- viceable for the minimally experienced com- puter user who wants a small, quiet, fairly fast desktop system to run a few applications. As for your final comments: I guess you just can't please everybody. If my mail on this review is any guide, however, you are in the minority. 12 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. GetAHeadStart OnTheOtherGuys. HeadStart Features: Size: 15" wide. 11" deep. 1014"high. V\feight:25Ibs. Processors: Z80A (8 bitl and 8086 ( 16 bit). Memory: 128K to 1MB depending on model. All models are expandable. Disk Storage: ROOK to 1MB (unformatted) on a 3H' Micro-Disk. Display: 12"(diagonal) P31 phosphor, non-glare screen, 25 lines x 80 or 132 columns. Keyboard: Detachable with 105 total keys. Also an optional portable version straps onto the front screen area for easy transportability. Disk Operating Software: *CP;M 80 for 8 hit "MS DOS for 16 bit LAN DOS for multi-user 8 or 16 bit operation. Networking: Up to 255 HeadStart VPUs ma V be con- nected via coaxial interface into one of 2 optional data storage systems. Interfaces: One KS449/RS232 compatible serial port One Centronics c< impatible parallel printer post External data bus. Coaxial communications interface. External disk I/O interface. Optional Data Storage Systems: 2 models available. A 10MB. 5 V system is expandable to 20MB. A 50MB. 8" system (25MB fixed, 25MB removable) is expandable to 200MB. 'CP/M is a registered trademark of Digital Research. "MS DOS is a rvfiistered trademark of Microsoft. Intertec's HeadStart is the smallest, smartest, fastest, most power- ful business computer money can buy. And the most expandable (it's networkable up to 255 user stations.) Great Ideas Come In Small Packages. Instead of three bulky compo- nents, HeadStart needs only two— the keyboard and CRT. There's no need for a cumbersome disk and processor cabinet With HeadStart, it's all in the CRT enclosure. HeadStart's small but powerful 3H>" disk drive offers as much storage as larger 5 l A" disks. Its 8 and 16 bit processors make software availability no problem. And HeadStart's small size per- mits easy transportability with no sacrifice in performance. Each Video Processing Unit (VPU) comes with its own easy-carrying handle. A portable keyboard option is also available. How Fast Is Fast? HeadStart's RAM Disk, an elec- tronic emulation of the typical second internal drive, responds up to fifty times faster than conventional microcomputers. Depress a key and you get a response within a split second. Liter- ally before your finger leaves the key. And HeadStart is incredibly power- ful, too. Up to one megabyte of internal memory can tackle even the most sophisticated applications. Some Ideas Are Bigger Than Others. Because HeadStart is designed to be both a single and multi-user com- puter, you buy only as much computer as you need today. But as your business grows, it grows with you. Each HeadStart Video Processing Unit comes with its own memory, processors, disk and multi-user interfaces. Just add a 10 or 50 megabyte Data Storage System and up to 255 users can share a common data base in an incredibly powerful, multi- user network. HeadStart is available in three different models. All offer full perfor- mance, transportability, and are easily expandable. Unlike conventional, single-user- only computers, HeadStart is here today with the designed-in technology to be here tomorrow. So get a HeadStart on the other guys. For more information, call (803) 798-9100 or write: Intertec, 2300 Broad River Road, Columbia,SC 29210. intertec Circle 187 on inquiry card. BYTE February 1984 13 LOOK NO FURTHER! we'll get you low prices and fast service, or elsel ALPHA OMEGA CCMPUTER PRODUCTS COMPUTERS CORONA Desktop, 128K, 2-320K Drives, Monitor $2695 CORONA Portable (same as above) 2645 ROMAR 64K Apple compatible Call IBM PC Systems Call KAYPRO II Portable Call DISKETTES SCOTCH 3M SSDD $23 MAXELL MD2 DSDD 39 PRINTERS C. ITOH8510P. 120 cps 335 EPSON FX80 160 cps 495 EPSON FX100 160 cps 695 OKIDATA Microline 92 1 60 cps 469 OKIDATA Microline 84 200 cps 1035 DELTA 10 160 cps Call GEMINI 10X1 20 cps Call NEC 3550 35 cps L/Q Call JUKIUQ18cps 519 DYNAX DX15 L/Q 13 cps 475 PRINTER Pal 24 HAYES Smartmodem 300 $199 HAYES Smartmodem 1200 482 HAYES Smartmodem 1200B 442 HAYES Micromodem II 265 ANCHOR A. Mark 1 81 MONITORS TAXAN 1 2" Amber $125 GORILLA 12" Green 85 USIP13 12"Amber 145 AMDEK300G 12" Green 135 AMDEK300A 12" Amber 145 AMDEK Color 1 13" 269 AMDEK Color I1 13" RGB 419 BMC13"Color 219 APPLE PERIPHERALS & SOFTWARE VIDEX Videoterm 80C $219 VIDEX Ultraterm 279 MICROSOFT 16K RAMcard 69 MICROSOFT 280 Softcard 245 MICROSOFT Premium Pack 479 MICROSOFT Premium Softcard HE 345 KRAFT & TG Joystick 45 HAYES Mach II Joystick 33 QUENTIN Applemate Drives 233 LAZER Vz Height Drives 229 WIZARD BPO 1 6K Buffer Int 139 PROMETHIUS Versacard 149 EPS Keyboard 289 KENSINGTON Systemsaver 68 KOALA Pad 93 PFS Filing System 81 PFS Report 81 DBase II 389 Wordstar 249 Home Accountant 65 Multiplan 172 DB Master Version 4 249 DB Utility 1 or 2 95 Magic Window II 109 Zaxxon 29 Choplifter 25 Zorkl/ll/lll 28 Wizardry 39 Sublogic Pinball 27 IBM PERIPHERALS & SOFTWARE TANDON TM55-2 Thin Line $235 TANDON TM1 00-2 235 SHUGART y — — ct n> n> i <^ it YOU'LL LOVE THE VIEW! With UltraTerm, the revolutionary new card from Videx, you'll enjoy sweeping panoramas of spreadsheets that you've never seen before: 128 columns by 32 lines, 132 columns by 24 lines and even 160 columns by 24 lines. You'll revel in the scenics of a whole year of records stretching out across your screen. You'D also delight in the new horizon of 80 columns by 48 lines — double the lines you normally have. So your word processing will reveal a "depth of character" never possible before! Another breath-taking view of UltraTerm — it delivers absolutely flicker-free, state of the art display with 8x12 character matrix giving you preposterously clear, readable charac- ters. Not only will you see more characters on your screen (a whopping 4096 possible), but they'll also be larger and more readable than the characters you read every day in Circle 374 on inquiry card. ,299 Equipment r ,599 2nd office Photo olactual-size characters on Apple Monitor III. your newspaper! And you can differentiate those characters in several modes: nor- mal (white on black), inverse (black on white), bright inten- sity and dim intensity UltraTerm. Come on over and enjoy the view. Suggested retail price: $379 fSm 1 ■ 897 NW Grant Ave. • Corvallis, Oregon 97330 (503) 758-0521 UliraTerm features a built-in soft video switch and has complete firmware support for BASIC, Pascal and CP/M '*. Use it with the Apple" II, Apple He. Apple III nnd Franklin. Apple and the Apple logo are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. CP/M is a registered trademark of Digital Research. Inc. Create a 3-D object. Modify it to get the best design. «M^ YAH W®& At 1H «enu action? -FORM 2F1LES 3IN Rotate it to examine it from any angle. '»■'.'■ Study it in 3 simultaneous orthogonal views. ilH nenu action? -FORM 2FILES 311 ■is? ■is; TRANSMISSION EllBS! MAIN Menu action? 3.19 * liji.:*! r FORM 2FILES 3 INPUT 40UTPUT 5LABEL Zoom in on part of it and add details. *js vHI Add dimensions and design notes before plotter output. SCREEN YOUR DESIGNS BEFORE THEY GET ON PAPER. Turn your microcomputer* into a 3-D CAD system. Find your best idea, faster. Now, there's a faster, easier way to find the best answer to your design problems. In minutes, you can create, evaluate and perfect your design ideas using your micro and the MCS 3-D CAD system. Anyone with even minimal computer experience can master our easy-to-use CAD system. It's a simple, menu-driven structure requiring no complicated commands or lengthy keyboarding. You're free to think design, not computers. Let your micro do the busy work. First, rough sketch your idea using our 3-D Space Tablet™ cursor, our high-res 2-D digitizer, your micro's keyboard, or any combination of the three. Then, use Advanced Space Graphics ™ soft- ware to make design changes that normally take hours to do on paper . . . Scale, rotate or move your 3-D wireframe model about any axis. Dupli cate it. Create its mirror image. Section it along several planes. Join it with other components stored on file. Study it from 3 simultaneous orthogonal views, or from an isometric perspective. Add arcs and ■ ■ ■ . circles. Generate surfaces of revolution. You do the thinking, your computer does the work. Dimensions are computed and changed automatically, ,« yopre still locking for a low pric#, i^ 1 ^ Now, IBC has novcompetitioi -''CACH IBC HIGH PERFORMANCE MIDDI CADET Maximum Users 10 Disk Storage 40 MB Disk Access Speed 40 MS Memory 512 KB CPU Speed 8 MHz List Price $10,995.00 SORRY! NO COMPARISON Maximum Users Disk Storage our competition is Disk Access Speed now a computer Memory generation behind us. CPU Speed List Price the IBC MIDDI Cadet is better, faster and less expensive than computers from ALTOS IM , ONYX IM , DYNABYTE IM , and others. And now the new high-performance MIDDI CADET is so powerful that it is in a class by itself. Because the MIDDI is completely software compatible wilh competitive syslems using CP/M IM 2.2, MP/M' M II or OASIS IM , you can transport your applications software to the MIDDI withoul modification. So why not take Ihe benchmark test yourself. If you are an OEM, system integrator, multiple end user, or dealer for any of our competitors, send a copy of your application program to IBC. We will run your software on the MIDDI without modification and give you the elapsed time in minutes. You be the judge. If it really is faster than your current hardware and it is , then you owe it to yourself and your customers to switch to IBC. So remember! When you want a heavyweight performer at a low price, contact: 21592 Morllla Streel Chatsworlh, CA 91311 (213)882-9007 telex No 215349 1140 36th Street, Suite ?1? OQden, Utah 84403 (8011621 2?vi nk ui ai ii )'.( ompuloi Systems. ' >r jv ',. c.l'/M » MI'/M nil.' Iini Ii mil Ilk', ul I ■1 Letters. Supersoft Speaks Up I am compelled to respond to your reviews of the Supersoft C compilers for CP/M-86 and MS-DOS, which ran in the August BYTE ("Comparing C Compilers for CP/M-86" by Jerry Houston, Jim Brodrick, and Les Kent, and "Nine C Compilers for the IBM Personal Com- puter" by Ralph Phraner). Both reviews were outdated, misleading, and con- tained serious inaccuracies and omis- sions. They did a disservice to your goal of giving BYTE readers timely information about available C compilers. In 1982, Supersoft released the first C compiler for CP/M-86 and MS-DOS. This release was preliminary and temporary; its purpose was to let customers of Super- soft's CP/M-80 C compiler be the first to transport their applications to CP/M-86 and MS-DOS. At that time, we were using the compilers in house to transport our own applications to 16-bit systems; we knew they would be useful to others for this purpose. We also knew they would undergo major enhancements, both in the documentation and the pro- grams themselves, before being released as general development compilers under CP/M-86 and MS-DOS. In March 1983, after the initial purpose had been served, our CP/M-86 and MS- DOS C compilers were withdrawn from the market for further development. In August 1983, just as we were about to release our new and substantially enhanced versions of these compilers, two reviews appeared in BYTE magazine on our preliminary releases. We were sur- prised to see these reviews in print because we had not been notified in ad- vance by BYTE and the products being reviewed had not been available for five months. Though the initial versions of our com- pilers did have some weaknesses that we acknowledge, at the time of their release they served a valuable purpose that easily outweighed their shortcomings: they sped C programmers into the rapidly emerging 16-bit world. This, our main consideration in releasing the products, was completely overlooked in the BYTE reviews. In addition, our new C compiler, greatly enhanced and uniformly available under CP/M-86, CP/M-80, and MS-DOS, has several strong points that make it the • Full Olivetti typewriter warranty when purchased complete Complete BYTEWRITER using: Olivetti Praxis 30 portable $4Q5 Olivetti Praxis 35 portable $545 Olivetti Praxis 40 office machine S645 interface only-wired and tested Si 65 The parallel interface mounts entirely internally. Interconnecting cables available for most computers. 125 NORTHVIEW RD., ITHACA, N.Y. 14850 (607) 272- 1 132 most attractive C available. We are pro- viding this new version to all purchasers of the preliminary CP/M-86 and MS-DOS C compilers at no charge. Through our internal experience with Supersoft C, we consider it to have many advantages over other C compilers: these advantages include the widest array of library functions (all delivered in source form as well as library form), high reliability due to extensive testing, uniform availability under several oper- ating systems, and close adherence to the Unix standard syntax. These advantages and others were largely overlooked by the BYTE reviewers. In addition, technical in- accuracies and omissions that appeared in the reviews actually gave our initial releases less credit than they were due. We were disappointed that these un- timely and misleading reviews should ap- pear in a typically fine publication like BYTE. We. hope that this letter and other follow-up editorial coverage can help repair some of the damage that has been done to these excellent products. Stephen Hagler Marketing Director Supersoft Inc. POB 1628 Champaign, IL 61820 ]ernj Houston replies: I am sorry that Supersoft considers my review of the CP/M-86 C compiler a disservice to BYTE readers, because considerable time and effort went into trying to produce the op- posite result. If I failed to supply something useful, 1 apologize to BYTE's readers and to Supersoft. A feiv words in defense of my review Super- soft says that the version of the compiler 1 reviewed was "preliminary and temporary" and that a greatly improved version was released in August 1983. The lead time for submitting articles to BYTE magazine is months, not weeks, in ad- vance, and the review in question was sub- mitted several months before August 1983. Lack of timeliness is the penalty for long lead times. The benefit is generally excellent editorial content. We purchased our copy of the Supersoft C compiler COD in 1982 in response to an ad in BYTE. Nowhere did the ad or the documen- tation indicate that the product was in any way temporary or preliminary. In fact, the ad said of the $500 C compiler: "The optimizer typically results in 40% code reduction. This means that compiled object code will run near- ly as fast as that which was written in 20 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Circle 42 on inquiry card. Reach out and byte someone! Your desk-top computer system is only a beginning — plug a low-cost UDS modem into the RS-232 port and a whole new world of communications opens up! UDS modems add a new dimension to personal computers. For professional use, a modem permits two-way, hard-copy communi- cation between home office and branches or among the branches themselves. Electronic mail becomes a reality. Sales, cost and inventory updates can be sent over ordinary telephone lines at economical, after-hours rates. When you use your computer for personal applica- tions, the modem allows you to access up-to-date market information, receive news and weather summaries, check airline schedules or even electronically scan out-of-town newspapers. Long-distance game playing and computer- age personal correspondence become instant realities. The wide range of UDS modems includes one that fits your requirement perfectly. Top of the line is the micro- processor-based 212 AID which communicates at 0-300 or 1200 bps, stores and automatically dials up to five 30-digit numbers and includes a complete prompting menu and full Created by Dayner/Hall. Inc.. Winler Park. Florida automatic test capabilities. Yet, with all these features, it costs only $645. At the other extreme is the $145 103 LP, offering simultaneous two-way communications at 0-300 bps without an AC power cord. This unit siphons operating energy directly from the telephone line! In between is a large variety of units — many of them in the LP no-power-supply design and all fully FCC certified for direct connection to the telephone system. Don't be a computer hermit — treat your system to a UDS modem; then you can reach out and byte someone! For details, contact your favorite computer dealer or Universal Data Systems, 5000 Bradford Drive, Huntsville, AL 35805. Telephone 205/837-8100. Ui Universal Data Systems (M) MOTOROLA INC. Information Systems Group Circle 369 on inquiry card. The new 384K Quadboard by Quadram is the most comprehensive board you can buy for the IBM PC or XT. Now with added hardware features and advanced software. But our same low price. NEW EXPANDED QUADBOARD Quadboard now delivers 9 of the most needed PC functions/ features. To let you get the most out of your Personal Computer. And help ___ _ _ _ _ __ __ _. .^_ you work better and THE WORLD'S™* & QI7CX C£Y I /A//7 are standard on the UU^J 1 kJjUJUJLtllllKJ new Quadboard: MULTIFUNCTION ;JX«r e nAJinn r*^ a is\wm w 9 et a Parailel P ort - Perfect BOARD IS NOW a S e ?* 9 -- s~ er5 EVEN BETTER • ^ a Serial Port. too. Fully program- mable, use it to connect to plotters, modems, and other serial devices. Chronograph: And Quadboard's Chronograph (Real time clock/ calendar) keeps your system's clock up-to-date. • Game Port: The new Quadboard has an IBM - _ compatible Game Port. Plug in a joystick or game paddles, and fire away. • I/O Bracket: Quadboard now comes with a special I/O bracket. Use it to organize your expansion port connectors. Snaps right onto the back of the PC. Expandable to 384K: The new Quadboard is expandable in 64K increments for up to 384K additional RAM. With full parity checking standard. With the new Quadboard and a fully populated system board, you can take your PC's memory up to the 640K limit. • QuadRAM Drive: Plus, with Quadboard you get advanced QuadMaster Software. Including the QuadRAM Drive program. Use it to set up multiple RAM Drives in Quadboard memory. Solid state drives that let you store and retrieve data quickly and easily. Or take advantage of QuadMaster disk caching. To access frequently used data whenever you need it. • MasterSpool: QuadMaster Software also includes MasterSpool. Use it to set up a software print buffer quickly and easily. This advanced spooler lets you pause at any time, back up or move forward in a file. Choose just the amount of buffer space you need and stop waiting on your printer. • Qswap: Another feature of QuadMaster Software is Qswap. With Qswap change line printers 1 and 2 back and forth, with just a few keystrokes, as often as you like. QUADBOARD STANDS OUT FROM THE PACK Now more than ever Quadboard is the first and only board your IBM PC or XT may ever need. No other board even comes close. Because Quadboard is designed fnr nprformance. Engineered for dependability. And built in the continuing tradition of Quadram Quality. — There are many , imitators, but only one leader. So make sure you ask for Quadboard by Quadram, the . leader in micro- computer enhancement products. QUADRAM QUALITY Compare. See why more Quadboards are bought than any other multifunction board . . . Features/ Functions Quadboard SixPakPlus | Memory Available 0-384K 0-384K Parallel & Serial Port Yes Yes Clock/ Calendar Yes Yes 1/0 Bracket Standard Optional Game Port Standard Optional Diagnostic Testing Yes Yes Advanced Spooler Yes No Simple Menu Setup Yes No Disk Cache Yes No LIST PRICE WITH 384K* $795 $970 ' Manufacturers suggested list price for beard with all available features/functions as shown (options included). SixPakPlus is a trademark of AST Research Inc. QUADRAM CORPORATION An Intelligent Systems Company 4355 International Blvd./Norcross, Ga. 30093 (404) 923-6666/TWX 810-766-4915 (QUADRAM NCRS) INTERQUADRAM In Europe . Interquadram, Ltd. 442 Bath Road/Slough, England Interquadram GmbH. FASANENWEG 7/6092 Kelsterbach/West Germany Interquadram S.A.R.L 41 RueYbry./92522Neuilly/Franoe Circle 307 on inquiry card. TM "=' Copyright 1983 Quadram Corporation All rights reserved IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines. Letters. assembler." The documentation listed the ver- sion we received as "Version 1.1." None of this suggested to us that the com- piler was preliminary. In January 1983 we asked a representative of Supersoft whether a newer, more functional version of its compiler was coming out, and we were told that nothing was planned for about six months. Since our review was due in one month, we reviewed what existed, not what was planned. Supersoft also states that, "We are providing this new version to all purchasers of the preliminary CP/M-86 and MS-DOS C com- pilers at no charge." On September 7, 1983, we phoned Supersoft, gave them our serial number, and asked what was involved in up- grading to the latest version of the compiler. We were informed that we should send our original disk plus $50. This is a more than reasonable charge, but $50 is not free. Supersoft's claim to offer "close adherence to the Unix standard syntax" is not justified in the version reviewed. It fails to support longs, statics, or initializers. This is com- parable to a version of BASIC that has no FOR statement. Supersoft has some excellent products. The product I reviewed is not one of them. If my review conveyed that idea, then it was not "misleading." If my article tended to lead potential unhappy customers away from the product under review, then I believe it was a service both to Supersoft and to BYTE's readership. Watch the Fine Print Recently I decided to abandon my Apple-based system and buy an IBM PC XT. It's not that I'm unhappy with my Ap- ple. On the contrary, it has been a reliable tool that has paid for itself many times over during the last four years. However, the mining industry (for which I write software) has developed a case of IBM myopia that requires that I develop pro- grams for the PC. My first step in making the IBM transi- tion involved obtaining information con- cerning the UCSD p-System (for which I have developed a large library of soft- ware). Although the sales representative was unfamiliar with the concept of an operating system, he was kind enough to send me IBM's "Software Fact Sheet" and a price list. This fact sheet contains some fine print concerning the p-System that I would like to bring to the attention of your readers: "Neither the program nor its data files can be stored on a fixed disk." Incredible! Here's a big and powerful cor- poration with a sense of humor. Imagine if GM had the guts to include some jokes of this caliber in its sales literature like "The optional MZD Turbo engine only works in the neutral gear." Three cheers for IBM! Now, I've got to remember where I stored that literature on the Sage IV. James P. Reed Rockware Inc. 7195 West 30th Ave. Denver, CO 80215 In Defense of the Model 16 Regarding the letter from Marvin Stone and Sam Harp (October, page 20) con- cerning the relative speeds of the MC68000 and Z80 in the Radio Shack Model 16 computer: Mr. Hurrell's response is quite correct about the par- ticular benchmarks used. The Xenix MBASIC is very slow for floating-point AZTEC C — ' C ' PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM PORTABLE SOFTWARE APPLE CPIM IBM '&&&&sss&*~ •L'Sd**** .**»£&» -&%*&*»«*- sS-JgSi Bass* t Shipping: COD, 2nd day delivery, or Canada, add $5. Canada 2nd day or US next \f\E c c6& sS Co«**?% O** 1 Haw rtollunru aHH £90 Di itciHo Nnrth Amprira add S?0 and fnr 2nd dav add $75 *J!tt£_ _~tCOf°P day delivery, add $20- Outside North America, add $20. and lor 2nd day add $75. g£b- I 24 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Circle 230 on inquiry card. ppr- ^-*- ' * . \ „^ < g 'W. v^ --*.' -V- •■' 'jrf. \ & 'A t* 1 sdr »■ £\\ • X,- ■ V.-,' 0ft ^*' A*. ' ife- CPUs nimble and swift — a card sharp's delight. When CompuPro introduced the first CPU board with both 8- and 16-bit capabilities, it was like handing a royal flush to systems integrators. How could we top that? You gave us the answer. "Make a CPU that will access 16 megabytes at a swipe," you urged. So we designed CPU 68K. "Make one for people who need top speed and 16-bit power," you pleaded. CompuPro responded with CPU 286, the board with two brains: one to bundle bytes and the other to scan the conveyor belt ahead and fetch the necessary tools. So, by giving you flexibility without sacrificing performance, quality or reliability, CompuPro has dealt all players a winning hand: Seven Aces. They're worth betting on. CPU 8085/88 is CompuPro's pioneering dual processor, running the vast library of both 8-bit and 16-bit programs at clock speeds up to 8 MHz. Maximum software access. $495, J595 CSC. CPU 86/87 uses Intel"' 's widely favored 8086 chip, so you get the broadest range of time-tested 16-bit software. Includes sockets for the B087 math co-processor and 80130 firmware chip. $800 10 MHz, $850 CSC 10 MHz. With 8087 chip, $1050 5 MHz, $1150 CSC 5 MHz. CPU 68K lets you rummage around In 16 Mbytes of memory at a time — not lust the usual 64 Kbytes. Access huge databases, invert mammoth matrices, or turn titanic tables topsy-turvy. Includes socket for memory management unit. $695 8 MHz, $775 10 MHz, $850 CSC 10 MHz. CPUZ brings the Z80 chip's sophisticated instruction set to bear on the whole range of 8-bit software at clock speeds of 6 MHz. Ideal for multi-user installations, with 24-bit addressing that handles up to 16 Mbytes of memory. $325, $425 CSC. CPU 286 is CompuPro's most far- sighted processor, It handles all 8086/8088 software, but many times faster with the help of a unique look- ahead capability. A memory mangement unit is built-in. $1595 8 MHz, $1750 CSC 10 MHz. CPU 16032 features true 32-bit Internal architecture that makes your micro byte off bigger words, like a mini. Ideal for Unix and other large operating systems. Includes sockets for floating point unit and memory management unit. Handles clock speeds up to 10 MHz. $695, $845 CSC. MMU available. SPU-Z lets multiple users share expensive resources such as disk drives, printers and modems — not to mention data. Let our slave processor give individual attention where it's needed, freeing the more expensive CPU for bus management. $695, $795 CSC. For your business, industrial and scientific computing solutions, call (415) 786-0909, ext. 206 today for the location of the Full Service CompuPro System Center nearest you. CompuPro products are backed by a one-year limited warranty — two years for boards qualified under the Certified System Component high-reliability program. Prices and specifications subject lo change without notice. "1983 CompuPro Circle 66 on inquiry card. CompuPro, A GODBOUT COMPANY 3506 Breakwater Court, Hayward, CA 94545 For dealer locations, see page 439. BYTE February 1984 25 PICK A PEN HEI has a light pen with specs to suit your need, whether you're do- ing text editing, menu selection, or more complex graph- ics system work. Each pen is built with in- tegral hybrid circuitry. Each can be made with custom sensitivity and field-of-view tolerances. HEI light pens feature: Two TTL outputs 100FL ambient light rejection • Spot sensitivity of 7FL • Power input of only 5VDC @ 125 ma. Adjustable light sensitivity and coiled cord are standard on all models. Pens are avail- able with cable connectors. HEI light pens are rugged and dependable. Proven in a number of sophisticated applications for over ten years, with more than 24,000 units in the field. Go for the best in industrial quality CRT light pens. fEOHEl inc. The Optoelectronic Specialists Victoria, MN 55386 612-443-2500 Letters — ^___^_. computation. The increased accuracy is a blessing or a curse, depending on your needs. The screen-updating benchmark timing cited is an unfortunate side effect of the hardware. The only way in which the 68000 can get to the screen RAM is via the Z80, and this added overhead can only slow down accesses, no matter how fast the 68000 may be. As far as the SIN benchmark, perhaps Mr. Harp or Mr. Stone may want to con- sider switching to FORTRAN. I ran the published SIN benchmark (TRSDOS: 43 seconds; Xenix: 132 seconds) on a Model 16 under Trisoft CP/M-68K and ANSI FORTRAN-77. The time was 5.2 seconds! James M. Knox Trisoft 4102 Avenue G Austin, TX 78751 The interesting thing to me about the Harp & Stone Benchmark study of the TRS-Xenix MBASIC was how slow all the listed processors were. I ran Benchmark I on the Z8000-based Olivetti M20, using Microsoft BASIC, in 8.9 seconds. Going to double precision by inserting "defdbl A-B, Z" at the beginning lengthened the time to 9.5 seconds. I believe the running time is this low because Olivetti MBASIC performs only trigonometry and ex- ponential functions in single precision. Examining Z after running the program shows a value of 0.998048. S. Richard Mateosian Consultant, Computer Systems 2919 Forest Ave. Berkeley, CA 94705 After reading "TRS-80 Model 16 Prob- lems" (Letters, October, page 20) and the response from Radio Shack, it is evident that a simple fact needs to be straightened out. Suppose one used a Z80 to handle the I/O for a CRAY. Would it output char- acters any faster than a 68000 making similar requests? This elementary consideration shows the absurdity of the Harp/Stone "bench- mark." Their negative remarks about the capabilities of the Model 16 and Xenix are therefore worthless and should be re- tracted. Joel Rice 486 Route 9W Nyack, NY 10960 ■ 26 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Circle 162 on inquiry card. Rana Systems. Always A Step Ahead. «0{*Dwt>!*Sk«m And it's happening again with our IBM' compatible Rana 2000. This 320K double density drive offers a large centering cone for problem- free diskettes and our exclusive silencing mecha- nism to make it the quietest disk drive you can buy. At Rana we know the key to our success is providing the highest technology, on the best possible products, while filling the most possible user needs. That is why we spend so much time on research and development. Our world-renowned engineers were the first to offer increased capac- ity. The first to design a write protect feature. The first to use a metal band positioner and get 100% data integrity, and a 3 to 4 times improvement in access speed. And, the first to bring you all this performance, quality and dramatic styling. This is why our Elite One got the #1 rating from Softalk Magazine. And our Atari" compatible Rana 1000 Slimline has turned a game computer into a sophisticated business tool. And soon we'll have a new Winchester drive and a new series of very high density minifloppies, for both IBM and Apple.' So call or write for the nearest Rana retailer or computer store. We're Rana Systems. And we know that to keep a step ahead, we have to put you first. RanaSystems 21300 Superior Slreel. Chatsworth. CA 91311 213-709-5484 Call toll free: 1-800-421-2207. In California only call: 1-800-262-1221 Source Number: TCT-654 'Apple's a registered trademark ol Apple Computer. Inc "Alan is a registered tiademaik ol Alan. Inc ' IBM is a legistered trademark ol Intemanonal Business Machines. Inc Circle 313 on Inquiry card. § -?83 Rana Systems VISUAL 1050 Personal Computer System... Complete Solution The VISUAL 1050 is an advanced personal com- puter system designed especially for managers and professionals. It comes complete with top- rated software and high-performance hardware ... all fully configured for easy set-up and simple operation. The VISUAL 1050 costs much less than other full-feature personal computers and comes with everything you need to tackle impor- tant professional jobs, right out of the box. Words, Numbers and Graphics The VISUAL 1050 solves more professional problems than any other computer in its class. Whether you work with words, numbers, or graphics, the VISUAL 1050 speaks your language. You get WordStar',' MailMerge" Multi plan" and Digital Research's DR Graph"... leading software packages for word processing, spreadsheet and graphics. And all have been specially adapted to share data and perform as an integrated software family. VISUAL 1050 IBM " PC $2,750 Apple lie $2,390 TRS-80" Model 12 DEC Rainbow" 1 Base System Price 1 $2,695 $3,999 2 STANDARD $3,495 2 STANDARD STANDARD $845 1 Serial Port (RS232) STANDARD $119 $119 $195 1 Parallel Port 2 STANDARD $180 STANDARD 2 STANDARD $499 1 Bit-Mapped Graphics STANDARD $240 1 Word Processing Software .... STANDARD $200-$500 $200-$500 $399 $200-$500 Spreadsheet Software STANDARD $200-$300 $200-$300 $299 $200-$300 $200-$400 Business Graphics Software . . . STANDARD $200-$400 $200-$400 $200 Communications Software STANDARD $100-$200 $100-$200 $100 STANDARD 1 COMPLETE SOLUTION PRICE $2,695 $3,928-$4,628 $3,465-$4,165 $5,496 $4,940-55,540 Dual Drive Capacity 800 KB 640 KB 280 KB 2.5 MB 800 KB 1 Graphics Resolution 640x300 640 x 200 280 x 192 640 x 240 800x240 Keys on Keyboard Expandable Memory 93 83 63 82 YES 105 YES YES YES YES Optional Winchester YES YES YES YES YES Tilt and Swivel Display YES NO NO NO NO 1— Includes CPU, 64K User Memory, Keyboard, Display, Two Disc Drives, and Operating System. Based on manufacturers' information available August, 1983. VISUAL 1050 includes 128K User Memory standard. the complete professional solution at an unbeatable price. Communications, BASIC and More . . . You get Terminal Emulation software which turns your VISUAL 1050 into a powerful ASCII terminal for dial-up access to remote computer resources. And you get CBASIC for custom programming applications. CP/M Plus' a new and improved release of CP/M, allows your VISUAL 1050 to support.hundreds of popular third-party packages. Unbeatable Value $2,695 is the total retail price for the VISUAL 1050. You get the best and most popular soft- ware packages, ready to run on hardware which offers the features and quality you should demand. Two high capacity disc drives. 128K memory standard, expandable to 256K. Fast, bit-mapped graphics. Full size green screen. Standard printer and communication ports. Rugged 93-key keyboard with special WordStar engravings. You can't buy a more complete hardware and software solution at anywhere near the price. See for yourself Visual Technology Incorporated 540 Main Street, Tewksbury, MA 01876 Telephone (617) 851-5000. Telex 951-539 Circle 375 on inquiry card. Product Preview m imi i i ; J I '^ if^ r ^ i ^ M §r Wr m* yu* yufe f*n fukt pub m* *-> The Apple Macintosh Computer Mouse-window-desktop technology arrives for under $2500 by Gregg Williams Apple established itself as one of the leading innovators in personal computing technology a year ago by introducing the Lisa, a synthesis and extension of human-interface tech- nology that has since been widely imitated. Now the company has strengthened that reputation with a new machine, the Macintosh (above). In terms of technological sophistica- tion and probable effect on the mar- ketplace, the Macintosh will outdis- tance the Lisa as much as the Lisa has outdistanced its predecessors. The Macintosh arrives, finally, after a history of colorful rumors. It will cost from $1995 to $2495, weighs 22.7 pounds, and improves on the mouse- window-desktop technology started by the impressive but expensive Lisa computer. A system with printer and 30 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. second disk drive costs about $900 more, but even at that price, the Macintosh is worth waiting for. The Macintosh at Work Before we look at the Macintosh (or Mac) in more detail, let's look at how it works. When you turn the Mac on, its screen tells you to insert a 3V2-inch Sony floppy disk. When you do that, the Macintosh puts a disk icon on the screen along with the disk's name. As with the Lisa computer, you first select an object, then choose a menu item that works on the object. Say, for example, we choose the disk by mov- ing the cursor to the disk icon and clicking the mouse button once (figure la). The disk "opens up," showing a window containing icons, each one of which corresponds to an item on the disk. To start using the Mac Paint program, we select the Mac Paint icon and choose the menu item "open," as shown in figure lb. (We also could have opened Mac Paint by double-clicking on the icon.) What follows is a brief example of how the Mac Paint program works. When we open the program, we get the screen of figure lc. The large blank area is a window onto the drawing area, the boxes on the left are tools, the boxes on the bottom row are patterns, and the lines in the corner are selections for the current line width. By selecting the "open oval" tool and the thickest line width, we can draw empty ovals with thick borders (figure Id). By selecting the "paint bucket" tool and the "diagonal bricks" pattern, we can fill the oval with that texture (figure le). The "eraser" tool lets us erase part of the image (figure If); for finer control, we can give the FAT BITS command (figure lg), which allows us to erase or paint on a pixel-by-pixel basis. When we are finished with our im- age and select the QUIT command, the program displays an alert box that asks if we want to save our changes (figure lh). Foundations of Macintosh Design The Macintosh computer is built on three cornerstone ideas: second-gen- eration Lisa technology, reliability and low cost through simplicity, and maximum synergy between hard- ware and software. Each of these ideas contributes significantly to the uniqueness of the Mac's design. Second-Generation Lisa Technology Without question, the strongest in- fluence on the Mac is that of the Apple Lisa computer, which proved the viability of certain concepts in a commercial product: the graphics^ mouse orientation, the desktop meta- phor, the data-as-concrete-object metaphor, and the shared user inter- face between programs. The Mac has inherited these concepts; for further details on them, see my article, "The Lisa Computer System" (February 1983 BYTE, page 33). Four differences between the Lisa and the Mac make the latter a second-generation computer. First, the Mac runs at a higher clock speed, 7.83 MHz (compared to the Lisa's 5 MHz). Second, the Mac, which has a smaller amount of memory to work with than the Lisa, uses its memory more efficiently because its programs and subroutines are coded in 68000 assembly language (as opposed to the Lisa, which uses less efficient 68000 machine-language programs that are compiled from high-level Pascal source code). Third, the Macintosh eliminates add-on periph- eral cards and uses instead a high- speed serial bus that implements what Apple calls "virtual slots." (I will talk about this in greater detail below.) The final difference is actually an important limitation of the Macin- tosh: it allows only one major ap- plication program to be active at a time (the Mac BASIC and "desk ac- Memory Hardware Options At a Glance I28K bytes of RAM, 64K bytes of ROM Second disk drive, keypad, Imagewriter Standard Configuration printer, security kit (for chaining com- Name Main unit with 128K bytes of RAM, 64K puter to table) Macintosh bytes of ROM, integral Sony 31/2 -inch Software Options disk drive, 9-inch video monitor, two Mac Paint |drawing program), Mac Write Manufacturer serial ports: external mechanical mouse: (a simple word processor), Mac BASIC, Apple Computer external keyboard Mac Pascal, others (see text) 20525 Mariani Ave. Mass Storage Prices Cupertino. CA 95014 One Sony 3 Vi -inch disk drive: 3'/Hnch Standard system, S 1995- $2495: Mac Paint |408) 996-1010 disk holds 400K bytes and is encased in and Mac Write (together), bundled at no a rigid plastic housing charge for the first 100 days, SI95 (for the Dimensions Video Display two) thereafter: Macintosh Pascal, BASIC, 9.75 by 9.75 by 13.5 inches 9-inch monitor, noninterlaced 60.15-Hz Logo. Terminal, and Assembler/Debugger, Weight image. 512- by 342-pixel resolution S99 each: Mac Draw and Mac Project. Main unit, keyboard and mouse — 22.7 Pointing Device $125 each: keypad, S99; second disk lbs. Mechanical mouse drive, $395: Imagewriter printer, S495 Power Requirements Keyboard 105-130 V AC, 60 Hz [U.S. model): Detached keyboard: 58 keys [59 in inter- 85-135 V AC, 50/60 Hz (international national version): autorepeat: two-key model) rollover February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 31 Macintosh System Architecture Inside the Macintosh, hardware and software work together to provide a system capable of supporting high-performance graphics, built-in peripherals, and commu- nication channels to the outside world. From the beginning of the Macintosh pro- ject, the product-design goals of small size, light weight, and moderate end-user cost encouraged us to create a low-power, low component-count design. The large num- ber of I/O devices that are built into each unit, combined with our desire for high performance, caused us to explore many alternatives for each aspect of the hardware implementation. A cooperative spirit among the people working on the in- dustrial design, analog electronics, digital electronics, and low-level software resulted in the synthesis of detailed implementa- tions that combined strengths from each group, providing an integrated design solu- tion for all aspects of the product. The heart of the Macintosh digital elec- tronics is the MC68000 processor and its memory (both RAM and ROM). In the Macintosh, the data-output lines from the system RAM drive a data bus separate from that used by the rest of the machine (see figure 2). The RAM is triple-ported; this means that the 68000, screen-display- ing hardware, and sound-output hardware have periodic access to the address and data buses, so that the video, the sound, and the current 68000 task appear to execute concurrently. ROM memory connects directly to the system data bus and is used by only the 68000. Much of the system's time-critical code, such as the low-level graphics primi- tives, operating-system routines, and user- interface routines, reside in ROM. Macin- tosh software calls this code through 68000 "line 1010 unimplemented" instructions, which get one of approximately 480 ad- dresses from an address table stored in low memory; this effectively allows the ROM subroutines to function as extensions of the 68000 instruction set. Since the ROM data and address buses are used exclusively by the 68000, ROM is always accessed at the full processor speed of 7.83 MHz; conse- quently, the ROM can perform as a read- only cache memory. The 512- by 342-pixel video display ap- by Burrell C. Smith pears in memory as a linear array of 10,944 16-bit words of data, with the most signifi- cant bit representing the pixel farthest left. Each 512-pixel horizontal line consists of 32 words of data, with bits shifted out at 15.67 MHz (322.68 p,s per 512-pixel line) followed by 12 words of horizontal blank- ing (taking 12.25 us). The last memory bus cycle of each horizontal line is reserved for sound DMA, where a byte of sound data is fetched from the sound buffer and sent to the sound PWM (pulse-width modula- tor) for conversion into an analog level. The update rate of the sound channel is then equal to the video horizontal rate, or 22,254.55 Hz. In the vertical direction, 342 active scan lines are followed by a ver- tical retrace and enough inactive horizontal The product-design goals of small size, light weight, and moderate end-user cost encouraged us to create a low-power, low component-count design. lines to take up the same time as 28 hori- zontal lines, providing a vertical retrace time of 1.258 ms. Although screen- memory accesses may occur at any time, a vertical retrace interrupt is generated at the falling edge of the vertical sync pulse to allow screen animation to occur com- pletely synchronous to the video beam movement. Access to RAM is divided into syn- chronous time slots, with the 68000 and video circuits sharing alternate word ac- cesses during the live portion of the hori- zontal video-display line and the sound cir- cuits using the video time slot during the last memory bus cycle of the horizontal line. Although the access to RAM is divided three ways, the 68000's share is maximized by giving it access to unused cycles during horizontal and vertical blank- ing. This way, 68000 access to RAM averages to a speed of about 6 MHz. For high-performance sound generation, a tightly coded routine generates 370 samples of sound data and places them into the sound buffer just after a vertical retrace interrupt. The 68000's 32-bit registers are used to control pitch with 24 bits of preci- sion, providing each of four possible voices with 16,777,216 possible frequencies. For simpler sounds, a timer in the system's VIA provides a square wave of program- mable pitch. All sounds pass through a software-controlled volume adjustment that creates approximately 20 decibels of total amplitude variation in eight discrete steps. The Macintosh disk controller is a single LSI (large-scale integration) component referred to as the IWM ("integrated Woz machine") chip. The device, a one-chip in- tegration of the disk controller originally designed by Steve Wozniak for the Apple II, handles data at 500 kilobits per second. To control the disk drive's motor speed, a pulse-width modulator located on the digital board allows the disk to move at one of 400 possible disk motor speeds; the PWM is driven from a table in memory in a fashion similar to that of the sound sys- tem. By varying the motor speed, we created a more reliable disk drive that puts significantly more data on the same disk. The Macintosh communications chip, the Zilog 8530 SCC (serial communica- tions controller), provides synchronous and asynchronous data transmission at up to 230.4K bits per second using a self- clocking data format and up to 1 megabit per second using an external clock. The Macintosh's two serial ports are identical; each provides single-ended or differential signaling and multidrop (party-line) capability. The 6522 VIA (versatile interface adapter) rounds out the I/O requirements of the machine by providing system timers, support for the mouse and keyboard, and general-purpose I/O lines for selecting various system functions such as alternate screen and sound buffers and for com- municating with the system's real-time clock and parameter memory. Burrell C. Smith is a member of the Apple Macintosh design team. 32 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 6 File Edit Rrrange Special « File Edit Goodies Font FontSize Style p f> & □ A ini Byte I (10 « File Edit Goodies Font FontSize Style ID1 Byte mm (Id) ^SSHiit? * File Edit Goodies Font FontSize Style © Dl Byte (le) it* * File Edit Goodies Font FontSize Style O ''I A DI Byte I (If) MSS * File Edit Goodies Font FontSize Style P niini Byte f) Al^g ai fil^^ Ti -s t?W □ ■ 1 o ■ 1 o • 1 o **■ Q *l ■■■ ■■ ■■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■■■■■a ■ .'!■■■ ■■ Og) ... .. m - * File Edit Goodies Font FontSize Style (lh)^ p r-i Byte A dj E a ^n^ fi Saue changes before quitting? [ Ves ^J o m [ No ] [ Cancel J o m c V 4^^ ^^^ a m, ■y — wssssmm " 1 IBKMiSif ^=HM!S!g£sl8 M3li*t* r * :# "-'•>♦* Figures la-lh: Working with Mac Paint on the Macintosh computer. See text for details. February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 33 cessory" programs are two exceptions that I'll cover later). This limitation is largely due to the Mac's small mem- ory space and the overall design of the software, which assumes that the current program has access to all the machine's memory. This is not as bad as it sounds; a single application can use multiple windows, and material can be cut and pasted from one docu- ment to another by storing the material to be pasted on a "clipboard" before loading in the second docu- ment (which replaces the first) . Still, the absence of hardware slots and the inability to run two applications simultaneously are two important ways in which the Macintosh is fun- damentally different from the Lisa computer. Reliability and Low Cost through Simplicity Although the Macintosh costs ap- proximately one-third the price of a Lisa, the Mac has much more than one-third of the Lisa's power. The idea of reliability through simplicity not only makes the Macintosh pos- sible at a relatively low price but also produces a machine that has a reli- ability normally associated with much simpler computers. One component of the Mac's sim- plicity is its low chip count— it con- tains about 50 ICs (integrated cir- cuits), which decreases its physical size and price and increases its relia- bility. Mac reduces its chip count by combining the functions of many standard chips into eight program- mable-logic arrays (PALs). The Macintosh has only two circuit boards, one that holds all its analog circuitry and one that holds all its digital circuitry (see photos 2a and 2b). By partitioning its functions and reducing the number of connectors (by decreasing the number of boards to be connected), the designers have made the Mac both more reliable and less expensive. They carried this philosophy farther by eliminating hardware slots; you add peripherals to a Mac through its two high-speed serial ports. The Macintosh was designed to reduce (or, in the case of the digital board, eliminate) the number of (2a) Photo 2: The Macintosh circuit boards. Photo 2a shows the analog board, while photo 2b shows the digital board. These two boards plus the video display, 3 Vi-inch disk drive, and housing make up the main unit; only the keyboard and mouse are needed to make a complete Macintosh system. places in which hardware must be fine-tuned during assembly. In some cases, the designers eliminated the need for adjustment through clever circuit design, which also means there's one less thing to go wrong with the computer once it is in the owner's hands. In other cases, Apple eliminated fine-tuning by requiring a vendor of externally manufactured subassemblies to tune the part before delivery; for example, the video-dis- play tube and yoke are delivered pre- adjusted, and the Sony 3V2-inch disk drive is delivered tested and with several Apple-specified modifica- tions. Maximum Synergy between Hardware and Software The Macintosh's hardware and software were optimized for maxi- mum performance. This means that the hardware and software evolved over a period of time in a process of mutual give and take. For example, the pixels displayed on the Mac's video display are square (not rec- tangular, as in other computers); this greatly simplifies the software that draws squares and circles, scales text and graphics, and prints screen images. Going for the World Market Having learned from past experience, Apple designed the Macintosh so that it could easily be modified for all markets out- side the United States. The following ex- amples shew how pervasive nation- or lan- guage-specific aspects of a computer design are and how Apple has minimized the changes needed. 'Except for the word 'Apple" on the rear panel, the Macintosh has no English text 34 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. (2b) Hardware The main unit of the Macintosh consists of eight parts: two circuit boards, a cable to connect them, a metal chassis, a 3V2-inch disk drive, a video-display tube with yoke, and a plastic front bezel and rear housing (see photos 3a and 3b). An external mouse and keyboard make for a total of 10 parts. The main unit takes up an amazingly small 10-inch by 10- inch area (it is 13 Vi inches high). True, the keyboard and mouse take up more area than that, but the foot- print of the main unit is considerably smaller than that of comparable com- puters. The Mac is also pleasantly compact and light; an entire Mac sys- tem in an optional padded satchel weighs 25.6 pounds (less than many transportable computers) and can be carried onto an airplane. Figure 2 shows a block diagram of the Macintosh hardware; for more details, see the "Macintosh System Architecture" text box. For now, let's look at the machine's major subas- semblies: Processor: The Macintosh uses a Motorola 68000 processor running at 7.83 MHz. Video display: The Mac has a 9-inch monitor that displays a non- interlaced image at 60.15 Hz. The res- olution of the video image is 80 pixels per inch, so the overall screen is 512 by 342 pixels. ROM: The Mac uses two 256K-bit ROMs configured as 64K bytes of memory. The ROM (read-only memory) contains most of the Mac's operating system and a "toolbox" of optimized 68000 user interface related routines (see the text box "The User Interface Toolbox" for more detail). The ROM is always accessed at full speed, 7.83 MHz. RAM: The Mac has 128K bytes of memory; at some point (Apple says by the end of 1984), this will be ex- pandable to 5T2K bytes (by substi- tuting 256K-bit dynamic RAM (random-access read/write memory) chips for the 64K-bit chips currently being used). The screen display uses 21,888 bytes and is drawn using this memory and DMA (direct memory access) circuitry. Apple has an un- Text continued on page 39 anywhere on the product or in the ROM. Each plug is labeled with a picture that identifies its function. •The video-display rate of '60.15 Hz is gen- erated internally instead of being derived from the line current. This allows the Mac to be used without modification in coun- tries that have 50-Hz line current. •Macintosh software has been designed so that all text messages, message layouts, and icons can be stored in a resource file, separate from the program itself. A de- signer can use a resource-editor program to change text (for example, to another lan- guage), icons, message layout, and the for- mats of time, dates, numbers, and curren- cy. With this method, the program itself does not have to be changed and recompiled to make these changes. •The keys on the keyboard are defined by the software, thus allowing Apple to change the keyboard easily to accommodate the special characters needed by some lan- guages. In addition, Apple has designed the Mac so that two keyboards (differing in only one key) can be used for all ver- sions of the product; Apple customizes a keyboard for a given language by printing the necessary legends into the plastic keys. In addition, any Mac keyboard can produce the full Macintosh character set; the only advantage to having the keyboard for a cer- tain language is that the keyboard layout will be more appropriate for that language. With these innovations, the most time- consuming part of modifying the Macin- tosh for another country is translating and printing the documentation. Apple reports that it will be shipping the Macintosh to several foreign countries "within several months of the Mac's introduction." (Com- panies never seem to meet such deadlines, so expect foreign versions to be shipped be- fore the end of 1984.) February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 35 t t t t t in — w - u> > > : II il IX '3SH cr a: LiJ O <0 Q_ a: tr. hi O t/) a. _1 < — cm Q DC C go " °t § = o < coa: ^ E-Ocjj HM'OBUaM Z o r* 4 Suj 2d o — s >- in o UJ O O "C ;0-J ■ -X« : u. a. 2 s; c=3 L- -2: 00 X t\i O — oiri r - ?^ ic o > °- a: o U3 l£> ■o UJ o t- w < gits "111! O > t/> -X n TT < cnj Si- u. 3 tn < < 3 a _i tr q n <-s LA wSO X W<0 3 <0T< 2 - s° sq < en 2 w 2 _J ^ CD D CO 7*> IC EI-9VA E-OVA *3 en ^ en m uj ~ o: Q o + K 3g CM < 5 !3i§ <-) o t (7) UJ 5 no 13 en — o _l > o NI1S3H 'aANS3a Figure 2: /I Woc/t diagram of the Macintosh hardware. For more details, see the "Macintosh System Architecture" text box. 36 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. The User-Interface Toolbox The toolbox (which occupies two-thirds of the high-speed 64K-byte ROM inside the Macintosh) includes optimized 68000 machine-language routines that handle all aspects of the Macintosh user interface- things like windoivs, text, the mouse, pull- down menus, desk accessories, dialogue boxes, and fonts. The figure below shows the relative relationships among the dif- ferent units (or packages of routines). Here is o brief description of each unit, starting with the lowest-level unit and working up: •Resource Manager: These routines coordinate the use of resources, which are data structures such as text strings, menus, and icon and font definitions. These resources are kept separate from the actual code of an application, which means that the resources of an application can be modified without forcing a recompilation (or modification) of the application pro- gram. The Resource Manager is usually called by higher units like the menu and font managers. •Font Manager: This unit supports the use of various text fonts. It calls the resource manager when it needs to use a font not already in memory, and it is usual- ly called by the Quickdraw unit. •Quickdraw: Quickdraw is a graphics package that is at the heart of both the Lisa and Macintosh computers. Bill Atkinson, its creator, worked for 3% years on the code, rewriting it many times and reduc- ing it from a 160K-byte compiled Pascal program to a 24K-b}/te package of highly optimized 68000 code. Atkinson, who was involved in the early design of the Lisa's user interface, designed and optimized Quickdraw for the Lisa computer; he later joined the Macintosh design team. Quick- draw is very fast— for example, it can print to the screen more than 7000 characters per second. Two of its most interesting capabilities are its ability to fill in any ar- bitrary shape with a pattern and its abil- ity to "clip" an image to correspond to the boundaries of an arbitrary masking shape. The latter ability is needed to correctly display window contents when one win- dow overlaps others. The source code for Quickdraw is identical in both the Lisa and the Macintosh. •Event Manager: All system events (e.g., keypresses and mouse button presses) are received and interpreted through this unit, which mediates between the application program and the outside world. •Toolbox Utilities: These routines han- dle miscellaneous tasks that include string operations, fixed-point arithmetic, and bit- wise logical operations. •Window Manager: Since all action on the Macintosh display occurs within win- dows, this is a very important unit that is used a lot. The Windoiv Manager allows the application program to interact with windows on a high level while it takes care of the low-level details automatically. It allows you to create different kinds of boxes (document, dialogue, and alert boxes, for example), delete them, move them, change their size, and make an inactive window active and vice versa. The Window Manager ensures that the computer auto- matically redraws the necessary screen areas when some aspect of a window is changed. •Control Manager: This unit controls the use of software buttons, check boxes, and dials, all of which can be called on to show and alter the status of certain variables. •Menu Manager: Given a two-dimen- sional matrix of menu items (each column is a menu title followed by its selections), this unit controls the display and behavior of that matrix of pull-down menus. •Text Edit: These routines control ele- mentary text entry and editing. Text Edit is designed with lots of software "hooks" so that you can modify its behavior but still use it. An external unit called Core Edit, which must be loaded into RAM, contains more sophisticated entry and editing routines; Core Edit can handle different fonts, sizes, and text styles. DESK MANAGER DIALOG MANAGER TEXT EDIT CONTROL MANAGER MENU MANAGER WINDOW MANAGER TOOLBOX UTILITIES QUICKDRAW EVENT MANAGER FONT MANAGER RESOURCE MANAGER •Dialog Manager: Dialogue boxes are text boxes with several check boxes; usually, clicking the mouse button near a box selects it (and the action or condition associated with it) and unselects the previously checked box. An alert box (as in figure lh) alerts you to a potentially dangerous situa- tion and forces you to click on one of two buttons, "Cancel" or "OK." The Dialog Manager handles the display of and user response to a dialogue or alert box. •Desk Manager: This unit allows the application program to use the desk ac- cessories, which are resources that are called in from disk if they are not current- ly in memory. Applications can be written in Mac BASIC, Mac Pascal, or 68000 assembly language (usually one of the latter two). Both Mac Pascal and Mac BASIC are designed so that their keywords directly call most of the toolbox routines. Most applica- tions that use the routines are essentially an endlessly repeating loop that waits for an event, determines what kind of event it is, and then processes the event. February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 37 Macintosh System Software Overview by Andy Hertzfeld The Macintosh is more than a power- ful, inexpensive 68000-based desktop com- puter. It comes with a built-in personality provided by 64K bytes of handcrafted sys- tem software contained in two ROM chips on its digital board. Besides performing traditional operating-system functions such as memory and file management, the Mac- intosh ROM includes the revolutionary Quickdraw package and a User-Interface Toolbox to help programmers develop ap- plications that share a consistent, advanced user interface. The Macintosh ROM can be thought of as an extension to the 68000 instruction set, augmenting its 56 basic instructions with more than 480 new instructions designed for implementing fast mouse- based applications. It is implemented en- tirely in 68000 assembly-language code that has been handcrafted and optimized over a period of almost three years. We chose assembly language over a higher- level language because it was very impor- tant for the system to be small and fast. The Macintosh is intended to be a very high-volume product, and we could afford to lavish time and attention on every rou- tine, making each one as efficient as pos- sible, knowing that our efforts would be multiplied by the millions of units that we will eventually ship. It is someivhat risky to put 64K bytes of intricate system software in ROM on a disk-based system, but we did it because we wanted the machine to have a built-in standard user interface. By using our ROM-based toolbox, a programmer saves development time and precious memory space; this provides a positive incentive for doing it our way. Also, the price per bit of ROM is significantly less than that of RAM, and not having the operating system load in from disk saves space on every disk you have. Application programs never reference the ROM directly; instead, the\/ use compact "trap" instructions that are interpreted by the system dispatcher. This allows us to intercept any routine to fix the program bugs that will inevitably arise. The Mac's system software design phi- losophy emphasizes simplicity, flexibility, and high performance. We chose the single- application-at-a-time philosophy to help keep things relatively simple. The user- interface software is designed to be flexible because we are still learning how to make systems easier and more fun to use. Another reason for designing the software this way is that trying to live for years with what we thought was best at any given time would doom us to eventual failure. High performance is extremely im- portant in an interactive system; people won't enjoy using a system unless it is very responsive. About one-third of the ROM is devoted to what we call the Macintosh Operating System, which contains many components found in more traditional systems. It in- cludes the low-level device drivers and in- terrupt handlers, an asynchronous I/O system, a memory manager, a simple, fast file system, a segment loader, and various utility routines. The I/O system supports swappable, RAM-based device drivers as well as its built-in serial, disk, and sound drivers. Most I/O and file-system calls can be made asynchronously, which alloivs an application to overlap I/O tasks with oilier tasks. The memory manager minimizes the fragmentation of available memory into small pieces by supporting relocatable ob- jects that are always accessed indirectly; the memory manager also provides an automatic caching scheme by optionally (3a) Photo 3: Inside the Macintosh computer. From the front (photo 3a), you can see the video display and the 3Vi-inch disk drive. From the rear (photo 3b), you can see the two main circuit boards (right and bottom), the rear of the video-display tube, the 3 l h-u\ch disk drive, and a row of connectors at the bottom of the unit. The connections go, from left to right, to the mouse, a second disk drive, two peripherals (these are two serial ports), and an external amplifier (for sound output). 38 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. purging objects as memory grows fuller. The file system ensures against loss of data by maintaining tags on every block; these allow the contents of a disk to be pieced back together even if the directory is destroyed. Another third of the ROM is occupied by Bill Atkinson's Quickdraw graphics package. Quickdraw, which is the corner- stone of Apple's "Lisa technology," is responsible for the Mac's extremely fast user interaction. It draws practically every- thing you see on the screen, including text (in a variety of typefaces and styles) and both filled and unfilled rectangles, lines, and ovals. It also is capable of representing arbitrary areas of the screen called regions in a very compact data structure. All Quickdraw calls are clipped to the intersec- tion of up to three regions, providing the fundamental capability necessary for over- lapping windows. Quickdraw also is cap- able of recording any sequence of procedure calls and saving them as a picture. Pic- tures provide an easy, powerful method for transferring graphics between applications. The final third of the Macintosh ROM is occupied by the User-Interface Toolbox, a collection of various managers and serv- ices intended to help a programmer develop applications that conform to the Macintosh standard user interface. Its principal com- ponents are resources, windows, menus, controls, dialogues, and a text-editing package. The window, menu, and control managers contain little information on how individual windows, menus, or controls look or behave. Instead, this information is encapsulated in definition functions, which are kept as resources and swapped into memory as necessary to implement messages sent by the various managers. This provides a very flexible structure capable of evolving as we learn how to im- prove the user interface. Another important goal of the Macin- tosh system software is to facilitate the passing of data between applications. A scrap manager is provided to help ap- plications share data. It defines two data types that every application is requested to support (simple ASCII text and Quickdraw pictures) and lets applications define their own custom types. It provides routines for transferring data in and out of the scrap. As stated above, Macintosh supports only one application running at any given time. This restriction is mainly due to limited available memory. By making a few simple calls to the desk manager, an ap- plication may allow many useful mini- applications to run concurrently with itself. These small programs are called desk accessories and are capable of cut- ting and pasting data with each other as well as with the major application. We cur- rently provide five desk accessories (calcu- lator, clock, notepad, control panel for default system parameters, and scrapbook). By the spring of 1983, it became apparent that we would not be able to fit all the routines that we had hoped to into our 64K-byte ROM space. We designed a facil- ity to allow some system code (in the system resource file) to be swapped in from disk to RAM when needed. We now use five such RAM-based packages, including a fully IEEE-standard floating-point numeric package, a standard file dialogue package, and an international string package that deals with various formats for date and time display. In summary, the 64K bytes of ROM- based firmware provide Macintosh with a unique personality and user interface, forming the foundation for the development of communicating applications that share a common user interface. The Macintosh firmware is very fast and flexible, and it will be exciting to see all the applications that develop from it in the years to come. Andy Hertzfeld is a member of the Apple Macintosh design team. Text continued from page 35: disclosed proprietary technique for phase-locking the 68000 to less ex- pensive memory, which lowers the product cost without sacrificing the speed of memory access. When the Mac is drawing a hori- zontal line of the video display the 68000 and the video DMA circuitry alternate (interleave) their accesses to the RAM address and data lines. Since these two can never access RAM simultaneously the 68000 can never produce hashing or other glitches in the video display by accessing RAM at the wrong time. Because of this interleaving, the 68000 accesses RAM at 3.92 MHz, half of the full 7.83 MHz rate, during the display of a hori- zontal line of the screen. This is done in the following way: the DMA cir- cuitry puts a word from RAM into the video shift register; while the register is sending out those 16 bits serially to the screen, the 68000 uses RAM for its own purposes; then the cycle begins again with the DMA circuitry. When the video display is doing a horizontal or vertical retrace, how- ever, the 68000 gets exclusive use of the RAM at its full speed, 7.83 MHz. This has a significant effect on the average speed of RAM access. Out of the 45 ps (microseconds) for each horizontal display line, over 12 ps (about 27 percent of the time) are oc- cupied by horizontal retrace. Of these 12 ps, about 0.5 ps is used to send data to the sound and disk-speed cir- cuitry, while the rest is available to the 68000. Furthermore, out of the 16.626 ms (milliseconds) used to draw each complete screen, 1.258 ms (about 7.6 percent of the time) are devoted to vertical retrace. Of this, about 14 ps are used for sound and disk-speed control (representing the control work done at the end of the equivalent of 28 unused horizontal lines of video), leaving more than 1.244 ms for the 68000 to access RAM at full speed. To summarize, the ROM is always accessed at 7.83 MHz, regardless of screen display. The RAM is accessed at 3.92 MHz during screen display and at 7.83 MHz otherwise. The average speed of the system is around 6 MHz. One memory area of interest is the sound buffer. Along with associated hardware, this buffer enables you to create four channels of arbitrary sound while using no more than 50 percent of the 68000's computing power. The 68000 performs look-up operations every 44 ps on up to four 256-byte waveform tables; the result of these lookups is placed in a 370-byte sound buffer, from which the sound hardware fetches 1 byte every 44 ps to deliver to an 8-bit digital-to-analog circuit (DAC). An in- ternal VIA (versatile interface adapter) can also be used to generate a single square-wave tone while using an insignificant part of the 68000's computing power. Mass storage: The Macintosh uses a custom version of the Sony 3V2-inch disk and drive (see photo 4). The February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 39 The Macintosh Memory Map The Macintosh memory map contains RAM, ROM, and I/O devices that com- municate with the 68000 through specified memory locations. When the Macintosh is turned on (i.e., at boot-up), the 64K-byte ROM maps into the first page of memory and is used to get the system started. After boot-up, the positions of RAM and ROM are changed so that the 128K-byte block of RAM occupies the first two pages of memory (see figure below). The Phase Read area of memory is used to determine whether the computer's timing signals are correctly in phase with each other; this is usually done by ROM routines at boot-up. The VIA (versatile interface adapter) locations are used by the Macintosh's 6522 VIA. This chip gives the Macintosh parallel input, output, and interrupt lines, shift registers, mouse information, and clocks. The MM locations are used by the Macintosh's IWM (integrated Woz ma- chine), which controls all access to the in- ternal 3Vi-inch disk drive and the optional external one. The SCC Read and SCC Write locations are used for several purposes. They allow the SCC (serial communications controller) chip to handle two serial ports at rates be- tween 30 and 230,400 bits per second. In addition, they allow the SCC to detect mouse motion (in conjunction with the VIA) and adjust the phase of the Macin- tosh timing signals. Most programmers will not need in- timate knowledge of the Macintosh memory map. The 64K-byte ROM contains sophisticated routines that take care of low- level processes like I/O, memory manage- ment, video display, and similar tasks. Ap- ple encourages the use of these routines; they mean less development time, con- formity to the standard Macintosh user in- terface, faster programs (ROM always runs at full speed), and more memory space for programs and disks. ADDRESS (IN HEXADECIMAL) PHASE READ VIA IWM SCC WRITE SCC READ 128 K RAM DUPLICATE ROM IMAGE 64 K ROM FF FFFF F8 OOOO FO 0000 PHASE READ E8 0000 VIA EO 0000 DO 0000 IWM ADDF Htx/ CO 0000 SCC WRITE BO 0000 DISK SPEED AND SOUND, PACE 1 AO 0000 90 0000 SCC READ (BOTTOM) VIDEO SCREEN, PAGE 1 62 0000 (TOP) 60 0000 41 0000 USER SYSTEM MEMORY (80 K) 40 0000 64 K ROM 02 0000 128 K RAM 01 0000 00 0000 HARDWARE EXCEPTION VECTORS 01 FFFF 01 FFE3 01 FDOO 01 FC7F 01 A700 00 0100 00 0000 DURING BOOT-UP AFTER BOOT-UP 40 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. QUARK INTRODUCES CATALYST™ lle^ I The Only Hard Disk Program Selector for the Apple He and Apple II Plus. '-.Si* ''•■■ .,"; -"V^ A hard disk makes your Apple lie or 64K Apple II Plus even more powerful. And makes you even more productive. But you still have to load a new floppy and reboot when you need to change pro- grams. And the more programs you have, the more time you waste. He, you switch That's why Quark developed Catalyst™ Il£ A unique ProDOS program selector that lets you : between even copy-protected programs. Without rebooting. A few keystrokes move you from Word Juggler lie to your spreadsheet, then to your file management system, and so forth. Just boot Catalyst lie when you turn on your machine, and you may not need to touch another floppy all day. <>' tl & The convenient menu lists the programs you've stored on your hard disk, organized in any way you wish. You can automatically install virtually any programs which use Apple's new ProDOS operating system? Including software from Quark, Apple Computer and other leading manufacturers . Catalyst lie is an affordable $149. So see your favorite dealer today for a complete demonstration. And while you're there, look into Quark's other of- fice automation tools for the Apple lie and Apple III. Powerful programs that are easy to learn. And use. At prices that are as intelligent as the software. *Not compatible with programs written for DOS 3.3, Pascal, CP/M or any other Apple operating system. Quark, Catalyst and Word Juggler are trademarks of Quark » V Incorporated. Apple, ProDOS and ProFile are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc . jk. For the name of the Quark dealer nearest you, call 1 (800) 543- Wu. 1983 Quark Incorporated Quark ■aMBMBMM INCORPORATED Office Automation Tools 2525 West Evans, Suite 220 Denver CO 80219 Circle 309 on inquiry card. Photo 4: The Sony 3V2-inch disk is encased in a rigid plastic housing, and the oval window through which the magnetic medium is accessed is protected by a metal shutter that slides out of the way when the disk is inserted in the drive. These factors help protect the disk from casual use. drive can store 400K bytes on a single-sided 3V2-inch disk; the Mac is designed to be able to use double- sided drives to get 800K bytes per disk, an option that Apple may pur- sue at a later date. The standard Sony 3V2-inch disk (used to date by Hew- lett-Packard and other vendors) puts 70 tracks of data at 135 tpi (tracks per inch) onto each disk. At Apple's urg- ing, Sony now makes the drive in another model that has 80 tracks of data at 135 tpi. As a comparison, the Hewlett-Packard HP 150 uses the 70-track version and conventional sectoring to get 270K bytes per single- sided disk. Sharing Data among Programs Macintosh programs, if they are de- signed in accordance with Apple guide- lines, will he able to trade data among themselves without one program having to know anything about the nature of the others. This is done through use of a shared memory area called the clipboard and the standardization of the data that can be stored in it. The clipboard is a relocatable piece of memory that is not erased ivhen a new pro- gram replaces an older one. It is used as follows: the first program copies data into the clipboard, the second program replaces the first with its own code and data, and the data in the clipboard is added to the data now in memory. The clipboard can contain a variable number of data items, though every item must be of a different type. Each data item consists of a four- character data-type identifier, a 32-bit length (in bytes), and a stream of bytes that makes up the actual contents of the data item. Programs are free to implement their own data types. Apple has defined two- text and Quickdraw pictures — and en- courages every program to be able to read both and write at least one of these data types. Text is a simple ASCII string of characters without any information on the size, font, or position of the text. Quick- draw pictures are defined as a sequence of commands that can be understood by the Quickdraw routines. A Quickdraw picture can contain displayable text (which does include information on text size, font, and position on the screen), a sequence of elementary graphics commands that will recreate the image, or the image described as a stream of bits. These two data types provide a guaranteed means of communica- tion among Macintosh programs. In addition to the change to 80 tpi, Apple contracted Sony to modify the drive in several other ways. Two changes allow the Sony drive to mimic the behavior of the Lisa "twiggy" drives (which were original- ly chosen for use in the Mac): disk ejection under software control and variable disk-rotation speed. The first change allows the Mac to ensure that a disk is correctly updated before it is surrendered to the user (that is, you can't take a disk out of the drive until the Mac software permits it). The second change enables the Mac to record onto the disk at a constant linear density (which means you can put more data on the outermost tracks), as opposed to the constant radial density approach most com- puters use (which puts the same amount of data on each track regard- less of position). The Macintosh's drive rotates under software control between 390 and 600 rpm (revolutions per minute) and transfers data at the rate of 489.6K bits per second (bits as re- corded on the disk, not decoded data bits). Most computers use a disk- controller chip instead of the pro- cessor to control the drive. The Mac (like the Apple II) uses its processor to directly control the drive. Because the Macintosh can control more disk- related parameters than the Apple II (the variable motor speed, for exam- ple), Macintosh owners will be treated to an even greater wealth of copy-protection schemes than Apple II owners enjoy. Also, the Macintosh drive uses modified group code record- ing to encode data onto the disk. This technique, invented by Steve Woz- niak for use with the Apple II, en- codes 6 bits of data into an eight- transition group that is recorded onto the disk surface. Keyboard: The keyboard has 58 keys; the left Shift key is split on the international version of the Macin- tosh, giving it a total of 59 keys. The keyboard includes Return, Caps Lock, and Shift keys in their usual places, two Option keys, and a cloverleaf command key (see photo 5). Combinations of the Shift, Caps Lock, and Option keys give each key up to six meanings; the command key 42 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. acts as a modifier and is often used with a letter key as the keyboard sub- stitute for a mouse-selected menu item. The keyboard contains an 8021 microprocessor and is connected to the main box by a four-wire bidirec- tional serial connection. The connec- tions on both ends use the same kind of square modular plug found in most telephones. Mouse: The Mac's one-button mechanical mouse, about the size of a pack of cigarettes, is essentially the same as the Lisa's; it differs only in the shape of the plastic housing. The mouse is used to position the cursor on the screen; when you slide the mouse over a horizontal surface, the cursor moves in the same direction on the screen. Serial bus: The Macintosh's serial bus is very important because it is the way that most future peripherals (ex- cept the second 3V2-inch disk drive and the keypad) will connect to the computer. The bus can run in two modes: with an external clock, it can transfer data at up to 1 megabit per second; with internal clocking (which embeds clock bits in the data stream itself), it can transfer data at up to 230.4K bits per second. The latter scheme will be used to connect most peripherals, which need only a low to medium data-transfer rate, to the Macintosh in a passive daisy-chained line. This scheme implements what the Mac's designers call "virtual slots." Virtual slots have several advan- tages over conventional hardware peripheral slots. They reduce the potential problems inherent in any added mechanical connection (a serial interface connector has fewer pins than a typical interface board). They reduce RFI (radio-frequency in- terference) by keeping the main box leakproof and allowing easy, inex- pensive shielding of the serial line. By deciding that peripherals will supply their own power, the Macin- tosh designers were able to stream- line the power supply of the main box without worrying about the power needs of unspecified future peripherals. Finally, virtual slots eliminate the need of peripheral cards to insert themselves some- where in the computer's memory map; the unchanging memory map creates a known, unchanging system architecture that all software design- ers can be assured of, regardless of the peripherals connected. The virtual-slot scheme is both practical and elegant; it offers a simple, standard way to connect un- specified future peripherals. The 230.4K bit-per-second data-transfer rate is high enough to meet the needs of most peripherals— printers, modems, plotters, music synthe- sizers, and so on. However, one class of add-on card will not work using this scheme: processor cards like the Microsoft Softcard, which allow a computer to run another processor's software. Such cards require full ac- cess to the data and address lines and will not work via a serial "virtual slot." As a result, despite some rumors to the contrary, the Macin- tosh will never use IBM PC- or MS- DOS-based software. Power supply: Apple designed two power supplies for the Macintosh. The first one uses a 60-watt switch- ing power supply similar to one used in the Apple II family; it can operate on 85 to 135 V AC at either 50 or 60 Hz. For technical reasons, use of this power supply would have delayed the introduction of the machine, so Apple designed and produced a simpler nonswitching power supply 1 J J M M M M>, * a, & * », ■ Photo 5: The Macintosh keyboard. February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 43 (105 to 130 V AC, 60 Hz) for initial use in the first U.S. models of the Macin- tosh. The first switching power sup- ply will be used later in the year for the international model and possibly for the U.S. model. The supply was designed to drive two twiggy disks; when the design was changed to include two 3V2-inch disks instead, the supply had a sizable margin of unused power. System Software As stated before, the Macintosh contains 64K bytes of ROM accessed at 7.83 MHz. The ROM contains most of the Mac operating system and a set of optimized 68000 routines called the Macintosh User-Interface Tool- box. The operating-system software interacts at the lowest level with the hardware; it includes such things as device drivers and memory- and file- management routines. The toolbox contains various routines that let you manipulate windows, text, the mouse, pull-down menus, desk ac- cessories, dialogue boxes, fonts, and other aspects of the Mac user inter- face. 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Take a closer look: 8086 CPU Set: 8 MHz 8086 CPU • CPU Support board includes a console serial port, a second seria port, Centronics parallel port, vectored interrupt controller, four 16-bit timers and EPROM monitor for 8086 • MS-DOS 2.0 plus development utilities • 8087 numeric coprocessor is optional • Single Qty: $595.00 64k Stafic RAM Fully static design makes inter- '=2sfi lacing easy • Compatible with a variety of CPU and DMA devices • High-speed (85 ns) RAMs operate to 10 MHz with no wait states • 16k , " 32k. and 48k OEM versions are available •Single Qty: $495.00 (64k) Disk Master'- Controls as many as four 8" and four 5.25" floppy disk drives simulta- neously, in any combination • Uses 1793 disk controller chip • Can be used with 10 MHz CPUs • Single Qty: $325.00 Multi-Port Serial Card 2- and 4-port ver- sions are available • These RS-232 ports operate as either "data sets" or "data terminals" • 36" cables included • Single Qty: $280.00 (4-port) $210.00 (2-port) For the whole story on high-performance Seattle Computer S-100 boards, call: 1-8UU-426-S9J6 1 j 14 industry Drive DealerandOEM inquires are invited. Seattle, WA 98188 that perform the details of such com- plicated operations with minimum programming on the application de- signer's part. For example, the window-management routines take care of correctly redrawing the dis- play when a window is moved or changed. For more details, see the text box "The User-Interface Toolbox." The designers intend for you to ac- cess all ROM routines indirectly via the 68000 "line 1010 unimplemented" instructions, which receive their ad- dresses from a table in RAM; this table can be changed to point to other routines, thereby allowing future ver- sions of Mac software to patch the in- evitable bugs that will be found in the Mac ROM. Because the application drives the ROM routines (instead of the other way around), the Macin- tosh is an "open" system whose behavior is completely determined by the contents of the disk inserted into it— that is, software designers can use the ROM routines to create a "stan- dard" Macintosh application, or they can write their own code to create an application that behaves the way they want it to. Although the designers of the Macintosh have a general philosophy of allowing only one application pro- gram to be open at a time, they have included in the main menu a collec- tion of short, useful programs that can run without forcing you to end your current program. Apple calls these programs desk accessories. Many of the accessories are simply con- veniences—the clock accessory, for example, shows you the current date and time— but a very powerful ac- cessory is called the scrapbook. Or- dinarily, you can cut and paste data from one document to another by cutting the data into the clipboard, loading in the new document, and pasting in the data; this process would be tedious if you had several items of the same type to cut and paste. The scrapbook is a sequence of data items— text or graphics— that can be stored or recalled together, thus minimizing the number of document changes and allowing you to recall often-used data items easily. The scrapbook is actually imple- mented as a disk file; as a result, it 44 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Circle 327 on inquiry card. KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS INC. Information Processing Components, Selected for Performance and Value. NO SURCHARGE FOR MASTER CARD AND VISA 'REPAID PRICES INCLUDE SHIPPING AND INSURANCE, UPS Ground Continental USA only. 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Leading Edge 8510A 363 1550 668 F10-40 1079 F10-55 1415 A10-18 625 We Know How to make your Prowriter IBM Compatible Okidata 92A 430 93A 770 92IBM 486 IBM Printer ROM 45 2350 2090 2410 2380 Star Micronics Gemini 10X 300 Gemini 15X 444 Delta 10 494 NEC 3550 1888 7710 2095 Brother HR1 607 HR25 786 Dynax 15 462 Key Board 149 IDS Prism 1 32 Color 1 578 Prism 80 Color 1419 Transtar 315 Color 480 Silver Reed 550 599 500 431 Juki 6100 492 Teletex 1014 455 AST Research 6-Pack 64K 269 Combo Plus 64K 269 Mega Plus II 269 Micro Graphics RGB, Monichrome, Printer 398 Plantronics Color Plus 375 (213) 344-4455 Knowledge Systems Inc. 19707 Ventura Blvd. Woodland Hills CA 91364 SPECIALS IBM PC ACCESSORIES I J I ##11111 lllllll' f- 12 Slot Chassis, 125 Watt Power Supply & IBM Compatible CPU IMP SYSTEM $1200 The S-100 Concept for IBM Compatible Systems TAVA-PC $1995 DISK DRIVES 51/4 DSDD TEAC 55B PANASONIC/SHUGART TANDON T100-2 $225 $205 . . $238 MONITORS Amdek 300A 143 300G 133 310A 175 Dynax 12" Green 127 12" Amber 138 Tax an RGB III 446 RGB 420 Call Sanyo 8112 Hi/Res 195 USI PI 2 12" Green 125 PI 3 12" Amber 142 Princeton Graphics PGS HX 12 485 Sony RGB Call NEC JB 1201 162 JB 1205A 172 JC 1410 817 ORDERING TERMS Prepaid: Money Orders. Cashier's Checks, Certified Checks. Bank Wire Transfers. Master Card, Visa, AM EX (add 3% for AM EX) and Personal Checks (allow 15 banking days for all personal checks). Please include Valid Driver's License # and Major Credit Card for Identification. Circle 205 on inquiry card. tends to be rather large. System software reacts to all pe- ripherals on an asynchronous basis- peripherals compete for the attention of the 68000 by sending it interrupts, which the 68000 services according to the level of the interrupt. This keeps the 68000 from being tied exclusively to a peripheral— for example, to the 3V2-inch disk drive waiting to get up to its full speed— when it could be doing something more useful. The Mac's designers have managed to do this even with high-speed periph- erals that usually require the full at- tention of a processor. For example, disk and serial-port routines have been dovetailed to permit the use of both peripherals at the same time. Disk Reliability Reliability was one of the main reasons that Apple decided to use the 3V2-inch Sony disk drive instead of the 5 ¥4 -inch twiggy drive. (A pro- jected shortage of twiggy drives was another reason.) Apple is expecting the Macintosh to be the first real consumer-oriented computer, and it sees the magnetic medium as being more likely to fail than the elec- tronics. The Sony 3V2-inch disk is bet- ter suited to the consumer environ- ment. The drive can hold an accept- able amount of storage per disk, and the small disk, with its rigid shell and normally closed access window, is less likely to suffer from bad handling than a conventional 5V4-inch floppy disk. In addition, the magnetic medium is connected to a steel hub that the drive mates with and rotates. This is an improvement over 5V4-inch floppy-disk drives, which clamp the Mylar edge of the center hole. The 3V2-inch disk hub is needed to get ac- curate enough disk-head placement to make a data density of 135 tracks per inch possible. The data on the disk is encoded in a way that enables the Macintosh to recover from some disk medium or disk file errors. The file directory is duplicated in a normal disk file (which can be used if, for some reason, the directory is damaged). Also, each block of data on the disk includes a 12-byte identifier that gives the file number, sequence-within-file number, and date/time stamp for the data in the rest of that block; this can be used in many situations to recover most or all of the data on the disk. Applications and Languages Neither application software nor a language is included in the basic Macintosh package. However, a two- program set will be available for $195; both programs require the recently introduced Imagewriter printer to print things out. The first program is Mac Paint, the drawing program we looked at earlier. Created in house at Apple, Mac Paint is limited to draw- ings that will fit on one 8V2- by 11-inch page. Mac Paint is unlike the Lisa drawing program (Lisa Draw) in that it manipulates the drawing on a bit-by-bit level (a Lisa Draw drawing is stored as a collection of elementary objects— circles, text, boxes, etc.). This representation makes some things, such as arbitrary erasures, easier on the Mac and other things, such as de- leting a single object within the draw- ing, harder. GET THE SAME VIDEO TRAINING THE PEOPLE ATSONY GET. Now you can be trained by Sony even if you aren't employed by Sony. Because we're making our vast library of train- ing videotapes available to you. The very tapes that teach our own engineering, service and sales personnel The tapes cover the products and concepts of video and its related technologies. You can learn the basics of video recording. Color systems. Digital video and electronics. Television production. And more. Plus you can learn how to service cameras.VTR's, and other video products As professionally as Sony does. The tapes are pro- duced entirely by Sony and contain up-to-the-minute information. They communicate clear- ly and simply. And some of them are even programmed for interactive learning. And learning through video can be done at your own pace, in the convenience of your home, shop or school. Reviewing is quick and easy. And the tapes are always available for reference. Send for your catalog, which lists more than 250 titles. In your choice of 3/4" or 1/2" formats. Write Sony Video Products Com- pany, Tape Production Services. 700 W. Artesia Boulevard, Compton, California 90220. Or call (213) 537-4300. Of course, there's no obligation. Except the obligation you have to yourself: to find out about the best train- ing available in one of the country's fastest-growing, most lucrative fields. SONY Video Communications Sony is a reg. trademark of Sony Corp. 46 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Circle 340 on inquiry card. DISCOVER THE DYSAN DIFFERENCE Dysan Software Duplication: It's your name on the package label And your company's reputation on the line. Whether your program retails for $40.00 or $40o'.00, or is for com- pany internal distribution, the cost of duplicating it on diskettes is just a frac- tion of the value of your product. Doesn't it make sense to protect the time, money and talent invested in your software with the finest and most complete software duplication ser- vices available? Quality Software Deserves the Quality Media. Dysan's software duplication ser- vices are unsurpassed for fidelity of re- production. Not only is your program copied unerringly onto the finest me- dia made — the Dysan diskette — but it's also copied on proprietary equip- ment manufactured by Dysan, exclu- sively for Dysan. Plus Dysan offers you ^ the widest variety of support services available — from software protection ti serialization and packaging. Isn't it time you discovered the Dysan difference? For more informa- tion on Dysan software duplication, fill out and return this coupon today, or call (800) 551-9000. CORPORATION Circle 403 on inquiry card. Dysan Software Duplication Division 5201 Patrick Henry Drive Santa Clara, CA 95050 (800)551-9000 (408)988-3472 Please send me more details on Dysan's Software Duplication Services. B2 Name: Company: Address: _ City: Phone: i State: Zip: « File Edit Search Format Font To: From: Re: j m_y — rc^; — i VJ i Robert Elizabeth Byt. Style ^Plain TeHt M? Bold 3SB Underline 3§U EmQOOfflE 360 QGiaHtDOffil 3€S g] g) Here are my comments on your pr q 9 Point group meeting next week. 14 Point 18 Point 24 Point 36 Point 48 Point O .he Finance ...i...i...i...l...j....i...i...l.„i..4...x..4... ...L.....A...L. ..J....1...J... leems ms. Let's wait Moving Date: Discussing f , t J 72 Point premature, since there ar u uu, muiij u-nmiu ■ awhile. Manufacturing Presentation: I'm concerned about John giving the technical presentation. I really think Frank has O Figure 3: The Mac Write word-processing program. The second program in the set is Mac Write (figure 3), which was created out of house for Apple and can handle documents up to 10 single-spaced or 20 double-spaced pages. Like Lisa Write, Mac Write can handle multiple fonts and sizes as well as variations achieved by adding any combination of five modifiers- underline, bold, italic, outline, and shadow. Apple Macintosh Pascal, Assem- bler/Debugger, BASIC, and Logo will cost $99 each; the first two will be available during the second quarter of 1984, and the other two will follow in the third quarter. The Logo is from LCSI, which developed Apple II Logo. Both the BASIC and Pascal compile on a line-by-line basis into an intermediate pseudocode, which gives them the speed of compiled languages while retaining the interac- tive nature of interpreted languages. Both languages use separate win- dows for program source code and output, and both can be debugged on a line-by-line basis. Both have graphics and mouse commands that call on the toolbox routines in ROM, and both use floating-point arith- metic routines (in RAM) that meet the IEEE-754 floating-point standard. Mac Pascal, which was created out of house, is interesting in that it is the only Pascal I know of that can be ex- ecuted interactively. Another nice feature is its syntax checker, an item that can be called from its "Run" menu. This menu item is often handy for finding those petty syntax errors to which Pascal code is prone. Mac BASIC was created in house by Donn Denman, who worked on Apple III Business BASIC. An inter- active, multitasking BASIC, it can ex- ecute multiple copies of the same program or multiple programs simul- taneously; each program and each running task has its own window. Other Apple programs announced for delivery in 1984 include Mac Ter- minal (which emulates the DEC VT-52 and VT-100 and Teletype ASR33 terminals— available first quarter, $99). Also planned are Mac Draw (an object-oriented drawing program) and Mac Project (a scheduling and project-management program). These are both Macintosh versions of two Lisa application programs; each costs $125 and will be available in the third quarter of 1984. Third-Party Software Apple has not spent all its energy trying to write all the software that the Macintosh needs. Instead, it has created two exemplary Macintosh packages and gone to third-party software developers to get them to create the bulk of available Macintosh software. Apple estimates that by the time you read this, the Mac will be in the hands of more than 100 soft- ware vendors. At the time this was written, some software developers had made com- mitments to market Macintosh soft- ware. Microsoft Multiplan and BASIC will be available at the Mac's 48 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Circle 352 on inquiry card. Bored Waiting? Here's The Board You Ve Been Waiting For. II , II ' J I i ' f I llillllillllllll A hard disk and cartridge tape controller together on one board? Magic? Not really. It's Teletek's HD/CTC. The hard disk and cartridge tape drive control- ler provide the support necessary to interface both rigid-disk drives and a cartridge tape deck to the S-100 bus. A Z-80A CPU (optionally Z-80B) providing intelligent control of the rigid-disk and cartridge tape drives. Support of 5'/4" rigid-disk drives with transfer rates of 5 megabits per second. Minor changes of the on-board com- ponents allow the support of other drive types/sizes and transfer rates up to 15 megabits per second. (Interface to disk drive is defined by software/ firmware on-board.) Controller communications with the host processor via 2K FIFO at any speed desirable (limited only by RAM access time) for a data block transfer. Thus the controller does not constrain the host processor in any manner. Two 28-pin sockets allowing the use of up to 16K bytes of on-board EPROM and up to 8K bytes of on-board RAM. • Individual software reset capability. • Conforms to the proposed IEEE-696 S-100 standard. • Controller can accommodate two rigid-disk drives and one cartridge tape drive. Expansion is made possible with an external card. Teletek's HD/CTC Offers A Hard Disk Controller, Plus Cartridge Tape Controller, All On One Board. TELETEK 4600 Pell Drive 1: feletek i')H4 Sacramento, CA 95838 (916) 920-4600 Telex #4991834 Answer back-Teletek Listing 1: Graphics (listing In) and text (listings lb and lc) as printed by the Macintosh and the lmagewriter printer. The text shown in listings lb and lc is representative only; some of the fonts shown may not be included with Mac Write or may have different names. Listing lb is text printed out in high-resolution mode; listing lc shows the same text printed out in medium-resolution mode. These print samples are reproduced at the same size as the originals. (la) iSililSIHllliiuilliiliMs (lb) This is 9-poinl Rosemont This is 12-patnt Dig This is 12-point Overbrook. This is 12-point System This is 12-point Rosemont This is 12-point Ardmore This i s 1 2-po i nt tier i on This is 12-point variants: — Rosemont bold —Rosemont italic -Rosemont underline --Rosemont outline --Rosemont in ndo v --QoggfiHOtutt (DtDtt- tb©a«*$*"' dvw e re ^*<£« .»<^*SSM- OP' *»%&^ te a^lT^ e5 '' nrfW? jO ,vnas 5 »^ °-^\0^ e «^^ 00' coo* ,oa\ ( ,r\oQ c a b\eP° d V\aoo , t eW^ e e o$' ioee' aero -«£#• T0 ft roo" ""ntwe'T"nuo= , viO^ V rf*KS*«l» >>^>° a '' «^ off* 5 ' e*> pa<* «®S£*» .tfce 1 w*^SG7** tfce 5a^ c ^S^SSSS^gff^. «t£*^!3Z*Sfr* tf5*sr»* «S**S5»*»» ^0 f^ ^^ #*c*» cs 2 0l ■vo^J Circle 232 on inquiry card, "IBM Is a trademark of the International Business Machines Corporation. "COMPAQ la a trademark of the COMPAQ Computer Corporation. And another real breakthrough is this thing called Resources that Bruce Horn invented. Hertzfeld: The data is factored out from the code. You know, most pro- grams are a mixture of control logic and just raw code. Atkinson: The virtual-memory archi- tecture on the data parts of the pro- gram allows us to factor it out so that, without rewriting a program at all, without recompiling or relinking the program, I can take a copy of Mac Paint and in 15 minutes make a Ger- man version. Hertzfeld: Because all the text is kept in a well-known, well-defined place. Horn: Until December, people didn't really know what the resource manager was, because they really hadn't had any contact with it, besides me. I knew what I wanted from it because I had to do Finder and all that other stuff. Andy just looked at it over time and figured out what you could do with it. And I was trying to say, well, this can do this and this ... It was really Andy having the biggest view of the system saying that this could really be a great thing for a lot of stuff. Hertzfeld: Another thing to ask Bruce about is the Finder, which is our most important application, the first thing that comes up on the ma- chine. That's the program with all the little icons, the desktop manager, I guess we're calling it. That's Bruce's conception and communication. 'In Mac, there's no English on the outside of the case. Everything's iconic' Hoffman: There are numerous subtleties with this. Picture a dialogue box, for example. A dialogue box, when you put English text in German, starts overflowing its limits and starts looking very dif- ferent. You have a button that says, "Put this away." In German, that takes a paragraph and overflows the box .... But Resources lets us change not only the text but also the physical look of those dialogue boxes, or any- thing, through something called Resource Editors. Jobs: Otherwise, you'd have to get in- to the source listing. You'd have to change not only the languages, as Joanna said, but also the geometries of the dialogue boxes and make them bigger. It would take you awhile; it's not something that's impossible, but it's something that never gets done. And it's certainly something that you have to be the originator of the pro- gram to do. What we've done by pull- ing all the language-specific stuff out, through this beautiful mechanism called Resources, is write these other programs called Resource Editors. By running a Resource Editor, you could, if you knew German, simply run a program on the program, get in there— literally on the screen— and just stretch the boxes bigger. You could select a text and retype it in German and move things around if you wanted. You can examine every icon, every dialogue box, every alert box, every pull-down menu, every- thing, without being a programmer, "PortaPac?" PLAIN TALK. Contrary to popular belief, PortaPac™ is not something you take with you camping. PortaPac is a portable data container with multiple uses. Have you ever tried taking 50 pages of notes or manuscripts with you on the road, on business calls? Well, that's how much you can put in a model P2064 PortaPac that measures 4 inches by 9 inches. That's approximately the size of 2 packs of cigarettes. Except PortaPac is thinner — it's only 1 inch thick. And what about versatility? PortaPac uses the industry standard RS232C communication protocol. No more worries or fuss about single density, double density, soft sector, 10 hard sector, 16 hard sector, and other mumbo jumbo disk formats. PortaPac can function as data terminal equipment, i.e., similar to your ter- minal, or as data communication equipment, i.e., similar to your computer or modem. Or, if you like, it can be put inline between your terminal and your computer. Totally transparent. Mainte- nance? There is virtually none. All you do is change the battery when the low battery light comes on — every 1 to 5 years depending on the model! What's more, your PortaPac automati- cally retains its contents when power goes out. What can PortaPac do for you, you ask? How about transferring information (including pro- grams) between computer systems? At 19,200 sus- tained rate! No more staying up all night just to get your data reliably thru the modem at 1200 baud. How about taking it with you on sales calls? Display your information on the client's computer or terminal, turn around and enter orders into PortaPac for later processing. And what about your customer engineers? How about putting your diagnostic program in the PortaPac, and download it into the computer? The uses just go on and on . . . TESTIMONY Here's how some of our customers are using their PortaPac. . . • Transferring manuscripts prepared on Osborne to IBM and Xerox systems • As a portable storage device for the Tandy model 100 computer • Demonstrate hardware with demonstration package stored in PortaPac • Transferring information between NorthStar Advantage, Morrow Design Micro Decision, and DEC PDP 1 1 machines • As a replacement for floppies on machine tools control computers • The list just goes on and on . . . AND HERE'S MORE... Our model P2064F is a dedicated version of the model P2064. Once started, it will always retain the last 64K characters of information passing thru it. Put it inline between your computer and terminal. No more cussing because you just lost the last 4 hours of work doing data entry when the power went out or the diskette went bad. AND AN ADDED BONUS . . . The PortaPac can function as a printer buffer! So now you can take the PortaPac to a high speed serial printer and get your reports quick! Again and again if you wish. Want to know more? Write or call us and we'll send you additional information. Pronto! A\ Cryptronics, Inc. 11711 Coly River Circle, Suite 7 Fountain Valley, CA 92708 Phone:(714)540-1174 PortaPac™ is a trademark of Cryptronics, Inc. 72 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Circle 98 on Inquiry card. A real fish story by Brett Kirk Owner Poseidon Aquatics : "Our business is wholesaling tropical fish to pet stores. We're not a large-sized company, but we have one whopper of an inventory-control problem. That's where dBASE II® comes in." The one that didn't get away. "We needed a fast program, and dBASE II, the relational database management system from Ashton-Tate, gave us the speed we needed to quickly log in our weekly live-fish shipment in terms of total numbers received, the kind and num- bers of each different type, the cost per fish— all critical factors in determining our pricing and being able to pass along savings to our customers whenever possible without hanging us out to dry profitwise. "We're sure glad we bought dBASE II when we did. I think our customers are glad, too." Once you try dBASE II, you'll be hooked. If you're up to your ears with data Circle 29 on inquiry card. that has to be managed quickly and efficiently, dBASE II can really help you stay afloat. For all the particulars, contact Ashton-Tate, 10150 West Jefferson Boulevard, Culver City, CA 90230. (800) 437-4329, Ext. 212. In the U.K., call (0908) 568866. ASHTON -WE Suggested retail price, $700. dBASE II is a registered trademark of Ashton-Tate. ©Ashton-Tate 1983 BYTE February 1984 73 without getting the source code, and very quickly, too, using the user in- terface of the Macintosh. Atkinson: Anything that XYZ soft- ware company put together, even though the company didn't think about Taiwan, will run in Taiwan. Jobs: But do we want it to run in Taiwan? BYTE: Are you going to market it ag- gressively in Japan? Jobs: Yes. Hertzfeld: My favorite thing about Resources, being selfish, is that the same facilities that allow us to trans- late English into 7, 10, 20, a million different languages are the same facilities we use to translate technish to English in the first place. Hoffman: The other component of this is that it allows us to not just in- troduce products that feel to the native user like a native machine, natural to them, but also that we can start coming very close to making simultaneous product introductions. The software that is developed in the U.S. can fly over there for them, for the fragmented markets in Europe, for example. Europe does not allow for the same kind of development of software houses as the U.S. because the markets are all so fragmented you can't amortize development of the software over as large a user base. But given that the Europeans now have the capability of using a localized, globalized software, if you will, their market grows because each in- dividual software developer in France now can view the whole world as a market. We feel that it will give an im- petus to the development of software developers, third parties, in Europe, and in more fragmented markets as well. Smith: An international power sup- ply, too, so the exact same unit basic- ally can be used anywhere in the world. Egner: It doesn't care whether it's 50-Hz input. Manock: Just one additional thing on these: the icons on the back are from the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). We didn't invent all these ourselves. . .wherever pos- sible we used symbols that already existed— for example, AC line power —that are world standards. Where we didn't have symbols that existed, we used the IEC's closest symbol as best we could and then added what we thought made sense. For example, we needed a symbol for a modem, so we started with IEC's telephone sym- bol. We tested them to make sure there was good recognition. We'll submit these new icons to the IEC to have it suggest that they be the stan- dards added to its encyclopedia of symbols. BYTE: What is this machine going to make possible that other comparably priced machines have not made pos- sible? How will it change the per- sonal computing scene? Jobs: Right now, as you know, when you use a word processor, it will do two or three things. The first thing Macintosh will do is make the exist- ing types of applications an order of magnitude easier and more ap- proachable for people. Therefore the available market for this machine is going to be giant compared to the available market for the people who are willing to invest 40 to 100 hours learning to use their computers. That's the first thing. The second thing is that there are going to be new types of applications available that could not be available on the current generation of personal computers— it is technically impos- sible to do. The perfect example is Paint. Paint is impossible to do on an Apple II or an IBM PC or any of the other first-generation products. You can do a mockery of it, but you can't really do it. And there are going to be lots of applications like that. You've seen Lisa Project. That, of course, will be running on Mac. And we don't even know the kinds of ap- plications that are going to come out in six months to a year. As an exam- ple, we'll be able to laser-print output from this thing by next June, and that is pretty exciting to us. So, if we sell these on a university campus, you'll be able to take your disk into the li- brary and get output off a laser printer, which will be approaching typeset quality. That's the kind of stuff we're doing; you just can't do that on a current-generation personal computer. And then the third thing is what Burrell and Larry and Andy and the other software people have done. When we shipped the Apple II, we fundamentally shipped about 2K bytes of ROM with system code. The IBM system's got 8K bytes, but it's really kind of loose as a goose; it's about 4K bytes by our standards of code. Mac has 64K bytes of the tight- est, most elegant code that this com- pany's ever written. Most of the com- puters now are basically shipping a file system and a few drives, but what's really interesting is that on top of that, we've layered on memory management and on top of this is Quickdraw. Jobs: Mac's a completely open ma- chine—we've got a book called Inside Macintosh that tells all the secrets of it. But we're going to try to get a lit- tle uniformity through the carrot rather than the stick. And the carrot is that there's a finite amount of RAM in this machine, and we've done all these things for you in ROM. Now, you can do them yourself, there's nothing that says you can't do them yourself, but if you do, you've got to write them, which is going to take time and means you're going to be slower to get to market; you've got to chew up precious RAM space, and the chances are pretty good that we did a better job than you'll do. So we're going to try through the carrot to get a little bit of uniformity in the user interface in some of the ways the things are done. Hertzfeld: See, we're really a 192K- byte machine, and if the program- mers want to throw away 64K, then they're doing a dumb thing. Jobs: We're a 192K-byte machine that deep-freezes 64K. Hertzfeld: Highly tuned, tested, de- bugged, highly compact, very fast, very high-quality consistent code. BYTE: What are all the factors in this that make it go so fast? Hertzfeld: Sweat. Jobs: Burrell, Andy, Larry, Bill— how long did you work on Quickdraw? Atkinson: Four years. Hertzfeld: All of us care a lot about performance. Surprisingly, that's unusual. A lot of people don't care if their system's. . . 74 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Encounter REVELATION For $950, Revelation Software by Cosmos will give your PC capabili- ties that no microcoputer has ever had before. Through a versatile, high performance Relational Data Base Management System developed by Cosmos, Revelation will give your microcomputer all the power and sophistication of a minicomputer. Revelation features a data base with variable-length fields and records, (up to 64K), and unlimited files and accounts. File size is P. 0. Box AH, Morton, WA 98356 Circle 93 on Inquiry card. limited only by disk size. Also featured: A powerful, hybrid programming language. A fourth generation applica- tions and program generator Our programs write programs! Communications functions that give your PC the power to uti- lize applications, programs, and data from thousands of existing mainframe and minicomputers. 8087 math chip support Revelation co-exists with MS/DOS™ or PC/DOS™ 1.0,1.1, COSMOS 2.0 versions, and is compatible with the IBM PC™ XT™ COMPAQ™ Corona™ Columbia Multi- Personal® and the Eagle 1600™. It's also compatible with mini- computers utilizing the PICK Operating System™ Minimum configuration requires 320K memory and 8087 math chip. MS/DOS'" of Microsoft Corp. IBM PC Registered TM of International Business Machines Corp. COMPAQ™ of COMPAQ Computer Corp. PICK Operating System™ of PICK SYSTEMS. Eagle 1600™ of Eagle Computers. Corona PC™ of Corona Data Systems. Columbia Multi- Personal™ of Columbia Data Products Inc. Telephone 1-800-422-2511 Inside Washington 206-496-5974. BYTE February 1984 75 Atkinson: Like Quickdraw. I won't even count the first runs in Pascal, but the first runs in assembly lan- guage were running 160K bytes, before I added a lot of the new fea- tures. It's now down to 24K bytes with lots more stuff in it. Character- drawing speed is one you look at for drawing an arbitrary size character, an arbitrary starting pixel clipped to an arbitrary area. We were running, when it was being developed on Lisa, about 1000 characters per second the first time. Well, I got that up to 4000. Mac is running about 7000. That's seven times 9600 baud. This is typical of all of our software packages here. You go through, get the best algo- rithms first, get the stuff right. Then crunch it down, make a first pass in Pascal, get the algorithms right, find the cleanest algorithms, find all the corners, and make sure they're tested. Then I translate it into loose assembly language to get down into assembly language and get it work- ing. Then I'll go through and get all the bugs out again, and I'll go through and do fine register alloca- tion to figure out what's the most im- portant thing. This little baby, the 68000, has sixteen 32-bit registers sit- ting there, and the way you get per- formance out of that is to keep them full. Keep the registers full of impor- tant stuff all the time. That's the way you make this processor sing. So you go down and you do register alloca- Optimization without measuring is wasted time. Find out where the application's really spending time and go whump on that code/ tion, and then you don't stop. Then you feed it back, you get your people to use it. Quickdraw was designed by "pull" from applications rather than "push" from the design team. You provide a facility, watch the applications group try to use it, understand where they misunderstood something— maybe you've got a bad model, you want to make it simpler and cleaner— or where they don't have enough per- formance. And then you go back and you measure, measure, measure, measure. Optimization without mea- suring is wasted time. Find out where the application's really spend- ing time and go whump on that code. And any other cases they're very seldom using, squeeze them down in size, and stretch the other ones. There's always a trade-off be- tween size and speed. Stretch out the common cases, let them be bigger and much faster, and then keep the generality by squeezing down the in- frequent cases. So play your odds. People draw characters in OR mode a whole lot, and OR mode is about twice as fast as the other modes, so 95 percent of all characters are drawn in OR mode. Statistical measuring of the use of the thing allows you to get much more performance on your average throughput than you can if you don't go back and measure. I think we all believe that system software should be done in assembly language at this stage of the game because high-level languages can't /T SANYO SUPER SYSTEMS \\ $1195 0\f PRINTERS C. ITOH Prowriter8510 F-10Seriol or Parallel 8510SP(ProwriterSP) COMREX CR-2 DIABLO 620 RO 630 RO S-11 P-ll EPSON RX-80 RX-80 F/T FX-80 FX-100 JUKI 6100 NEC 2010 2050 8023A 3510 3550 $345 $940 $565 SAVE $860 $1715 $560 $560 SAVE SAVE SAVE SAVE $480 $780 $905 $385 $1370 $1715 SYSTEM #1 SANYO MBC-550 • SANYO GREEN MONITOR • GEMINI 10 X • SOFTWARE • Sanyo MBC-550 Single Drive Computer • Sanyo CRT-36 Monitor • Star Micronks Gemini 10X • Cabling • WordStar • CalcStar • Easywriter • MS-DOS • Sanyo Basic • $1525 SYSTEM #2 SANYO MBC-555 • SANYO GREEN MONITOR • GEMINI 10X • SOFTWARE • Sanyo MBC-555 Dual Drive Computer • Sanyo CRT-36 Monitor • Star Micronics Gemini 10X • Cabling • WordStar • CalcStar • SpellStar • InfoStar • Mail Merge • Easywriter • MS-DOS • Sanyo Basic • PRINTERS SILVER REED EXP 500 $390 EXP550P $580 EXP550S $610 STAR MICRONICS Gemini 10X S 15X SAVE Delta 10 SAVE OKIDATA 82A SAVE 83A SAVE 84P SAVE 84S SAVE 92 SAVE 93 SAVE QUME 11/40 w/lnterface $1370 11/55 w/lnterface $1570 TALLY MT 160L w/tractors SAVE MT 180L w/lractors SAVE Spirit 80 SAVE TOSHIBA 1350 Serial or Parallel SI 450 TRANSTAR 130P S675 120P $450 T315 $450 TERMINALS TELEVIDEO 910 + 914 924 925 950 970 COMPUTERS HYPERION Single Drive System Dual Drive System . . PIED PIPER Communication I ... TELEVIDEO 803 SANYO MBC-550 System . . MBC-555 System . MODEMS HAYES 1200 $490 1200B $435 300 $205 $1195 $1525 $555 $540 $670 $705 S905 $980 S1799 DISK DRIVES RANA Elite 1 $243 Elite 2 $383 Elite 3 $487 1000 $270 MONITORS BMC 12" Green $89 13" Color $210 TAXAN 12" Amber $125 ZENITH 12" Green $95 12" Amber $120 Prices refloct 3% to 5% cosh discount. |^ -s^ $2325 $2665 $850 & Product shipped in factory cartoni with manufacturer'! warranty. Free shipping is on UPS ground only. Prices & availability subject to change with- A^ t C J"\\T* *£$ out notice. Send cash- .Jl^ t^N /"V> fC^ 4 ler's check or money order.. .all other checks will delay ship- ^ ping two weeks. «xC> fTJ (V 76 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. SemiDisk and SemiSpool: SURE-FIRE WAIT-REDUCTION! $££?, $&.?. iltSili B3£ 1"'MM" 8J 512Kbyte SemiDisk" I $1095 Time was, you thought you couldn't afford a SemiDisk. Now, you can't afford to be without one. 256K 51 2K 1Mbyte SemiDisk l.S-100 $8! IBM PC TRS-80 Model II SemiDisk II.S-100 Battery Backup Unit $1 50 $895 $1095 $1795 $1095 $1795 $1095 $1795 $1395 $2095 Time was, you had to wait for your disk drives. The SemiDisk changed all that, giving you large, extremely fast disk emulators specifically designed for your computer. Much faster than floppies or hard disks, SemiDisk squeezes the last drop of performance out of your computer. Time was, disk emulators were afraid of the dark. When your computer was turned off, or a power outage occurred, all your valuable data was lost. But the SemiDisk changed all that. Now, the optional Battery Backup Unit helps take the worry out of power interruptions. It keeps the SemiDisk powered for up to 5 hours during a power failure. Time was, you had to wait until your printer finished printing to use your computer. That's changed, too. Now, the SemiSpool print buffer in our Version 5.0 software, running under CP/M 2.2, frees your computer for other tasks while your data is printing. With a capacity up to the size of the SemiDisk itself, you could implement an 8 Mbyte spooler! But one thing hasn't changed. That's our continuing commitment to supply the fastest, highest density, easiest to use, most compatible, and most cost-effective disk emulators in the world. SemiDisk. It's the disk the others are trying to copy. SemiDisk Systems, Inc. P.O. Box GG Beaverton, OR 97075 (503) 642-311 Can 503-646-55 10 for CB8S*/NW. a SemlDwk-equlpped computer bulletin board. 300/1200 BAUD SemiDisk trademark of SemiDisk Systems, Inc. Copyright c 1 983 SemiDisk Systems, Inc. CP'M Trademark Digital Research. give you the performance and the code density that you can get out of assembly language. BYTE: So far, it has seemed that with all the systems that have mice, all those that are on the market, you pay a great price in terms of performance to get ease of use. Atkinson: You make a responsive system; it isn't just draw some char- acters out there. It's also, remember where you put them because if the guy touches on them you want to light them up. There's a lot more guts in that application. Jobs: It's not just systems that have mice. What's happening is there are a whole bunch of things that go with the mouse. It's not just hanging a mouse on a first-generation personal computer and using the same old, fixed-pitch text and things like that, just replacing four cursor keys. What we've done here is take a quantum leap, where, in addition to having the mouse be the major pointing device, we've gone to full proportionally spaced fonts, totally software-painted on the screen, any size, any shape . . . totally new architecture for display- ing things to the user. Atkinson: But the responsiveness is where the code goes. Jobs: The responsiveness and the fact that there isn't a mouse-based system out yet that uses a 68000. We're ob- viously using the power of the 68000 in addition to this code. Smith: There are some tricks we played in the hardware, too. For ex- ample, we knew that the ROMs would have real important things in them. So we made the ROMs sort of read-only cache memory, whereas the RAM has to contend with video and sound for access, so we cut that down to the bare bones, but the code that's in ROM, like Bill's graphics and the other stuff, can run as fast as you can run a 68000. Jobs: If you look at the really great applications, even on first-generation personal computers, most of them are written in assembly language— Visicalc, 1-2-3— it's like if you're going to sell a million of something, it pays to handcraft it in assembly. If you're going to sell 10 of something, it prob- ably doesn't. If we'd written this in Pascal, we would have been able to fit a fourth as much code in the ROM or would have to have four times the ROM, and you wouldn't have had the performance. Because we're go- ing to sell 10 million of these things in the long run, it pays to super- handcraft it; we only have to do it once. Every time these ROMs are burned, it doesn't cost us any more engineering. . .it's all been done up front. Capps: Because we cared enough to do it as well as we possibly could. Jobs: We took a 12K-byte Pascal pro- gram running on a Lisa and we said we want to do this in 2K and make it faster. But we had that extra year to do that. And we also had the motivation, of course. Atkinson: When you're writing as- sembly, you know each instruction is going to take 2 microseconds, it's go- ing to take 4 bytes of memory. In Pascal, you're removed from that, so you don't concentrate on perfor- mance as much. When I'm doing I/O stuff in assembly language I look at Quality you expect, at a price you don't. BECK DOUBLE DENSITY DISKETTES SINGLE SIDED Our message to you is simple. If you like the quality of Dysan, Verbatim, 3M, et al, you'll like the quality of Beck soft sector Why does Beck cost less? Our philosophy is: Excellent quality and reliability, at a cost that beats the jackets off other diskettes. We can do it be- cause we (1) put our money into the product, not mega- marketing schemes and fancy packaging and (2) sell our money-saving 25- diskette pack to you direct via a toll free order line, so you get fast, door-to-door service efficiently. When you buy Beck, you've got the best. Beck Quality. Beck Reliability. And, of course, Beck Price. 1 D, soft sector 5 W diskette $2.19 each 2D, soft sector 5Va" diskette $2.79 each For IBM, Apple, TRS and 97% of popular microcomputers. Order Now Toll Free DOUBLE SIDED 5V4" flexible diskettes. The only major difference is cost. We're less expensive. In fact, a lot less expensive. What about quality and reliability? At Beck, our success as a diskette manufac- turer depends upon our ability to provide you with a fully reliable, quality diskette - every time. For that reason we take no shortcuts. You get the best because we are committed to excellence. Every diskette is manufactured to very strict quality standards. We test and retest 21 times throughout the manufacturing proc- ess to insure compliance with no less than 42 rigid specifications. We make sure you get the very best - a 100% certified, I 100% error tree diskette. Our satisfaction money-back guarantee and full 7year war- ranty are proof of our commit- ment to excellence and confi- dence in our product. WBECKMilffi Door to Door In 48 hrs. (in New Hampshire coll 924-3821) Order Toll Free 1-900-2325634. Available in 25 pack only, plus freight Complete with hub reinforcing rings, Tyvek envelopes, color coded user labels, and nonmetallic write protect tabs. All Beck Diskettes meet or exceed ANSI specifications. 78 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. SALVO Shatters The Information Barrier! At last. Create your own applications in a fraction of the time compared to BASIC, COBOL or any data base language. You know exactly what you want. Now, let your personal computer generate that information by using SALVO, the fourth generation information manager from Software Automation, Inc. It's Better. Faster. And Easier to use. Natural Language Interpreter. Unique to SALVO, this allows you to enter the following type command, "List my customers and their orders." Watch as SALVO generates the application. It truly shatters the information barrier. In minutes you get what you want, the way you want it. Inventory, Accounting, Mailing Lists, Sales Reports and more. Fourth Generation Language. SALVO is a powerful nonprogrammer's language combined with a true relational DBMS. This method increases your productivity 10 to 20 times normal! People in all professions can benefit from SALVO. Regardless of their level of expertise. Applications Development Package. SALVO is a complete tool for information management. Develop your own applications. Maintain your data base. Retrieve information using natural language. All of these functions can be performed by nonprogrammers. SALVO is also a complete application generator for advanced users and professional programmers. SALVOs secret is simple. Technological innovations including artificial intelligence (expert systems, natural language processors) combined with relational data structures. SALVO mns on most personal computers. Compatible with MS-DOS, PC-DOS and CP/M. SALVO requires only 64K memory. SALVO is available at your local computer store or you may contact us for infomiation on how to get your own personal preview copy. ^off\A4orre&ufcrnafibnInc . 14333 Proton Road. Dallas, fexas 75234 (214) 392-2802 Circle 334 on inquiry card. See SALVO At Softcon Booth L4023 New Orleans Feb. 21-23. BYTE Februarv W84 79 Circle 382 on inquiry card. Less for lour Money If you do word processing on your personal computer, you probably know that there are many programs for sale to help you with your spelling. But the biggest spelling error you'll ever make is paying too much for your spelling correction software. The Random House ProofReader gives you less for your money - less trouble, that is, and fewer spelling errors. The Random House ProofReader is based on the world famous Random House Dictionary. It contains up to 80,000 words, depending on your disk capacity. You can add new words with the touch of a key. It shows you the error and the sentence it's in. It instantly suggests corrections. It even re- checks your corrections. And it costs half as much as other programs with far less power. The Random House ProofReader is compatible with all CP/M 2.2®, MS-DOS® and IBM Personal Computer® systems. ('•': The Random House ProofReader *50 For orders or information, see your local dealer or call 505-281-3371. Master card and VISA accepted. Or write Random House ProofReader, Box 339- B, Tijeras, NM 87059. Please enclose $50 and specify your computer model, disk size and memory. Random House and the House design are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc. CP/M is a regis- tered trademark of Digital Research. Inc. IBM and IBM Personal Computer are registered trademarks of International Business Machines, Inc. MS-DOS is a registered trademark of Microsoft, Inc. 80 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. the theoretical maximum speed you can run at. Why not do it as fast as you can possibly do it? Especially when you're doing disk I/O stuff. How fast can you get into an inter- rupt and out? BYTE: Andy, let's talk about the ear- ly days, after it had become Macintosh. Hertzfeld: I don't know, there's something that makes a job a little more fun to work on when the odds are against you. And that's sort of how it was in the early days. I was maybe the fifth or sixth person to come work on it. Steve took me over to this little building separate from everywhere else, where there were these incredibly great people work- ing on this little wire-wrap PC board. All it could do when you turned it on was write "hello" on the screen about 80 times. And everyone was in- credibly excited to see it write "hello" on the screen because it meant that the central processing unit was there and all that potential was there to be mined. I spent my time mining that potential. The very first time we got an early version of Quickdraw running, and we got the mouse going— that's just an incredible thrill. Or getting back the first PC board— we all went out for pizza on Friday night. We got the boards in about four o'clock Friday afternoon, and Steve said, "Well, if you get these done before midnight, we'll take you for pizza," and we stayed there... not because we wanted the pizza, but because we wanted to see that board working. And I think that none of our Mac PC boards have ever had to have a wire run to fix something, which is pretty amazing. That's the attention to detail that you just can't get people to do for money. We do it for love . . . this is the most important thing in our lives . . .to make that great computer. It's fun for me because I like oper- ating on a systems program where I can operate in an environment where there's not that much support. In the early days when I first started here, the first thing I did was come in and write all kinds of crazy demos, stretching things around on the screen and making balls bounce, and one reason to do it was that I didn't want to write the system code until I was good at writing 68000 pro- grams. So I just wanted to learn by having fun, and the other reason is that it gets people excited about it. Just this raw hardware sitting there doesn't do too much, but once you start making this fun thing happen and that fun thing happen, the ex- citement starts getting generated. You get to attract other good people, and one by one we picked up on more and more people. We were very, very selective; it was very hard to find people to work on Mac software, because on one hand we had the very high goals of doing this re- search, Xerox PARC-like stuff with uncommon, high technical stan- dards. On the other hand, we had a very inexpensive, limited-memory machine. So all the Xerox PARC-type guys who came and interviewed said, "Oh, you don't have 2 mega- bytes? Forget it, I don't want to work on this thing." They're all used to their Dorados. But gradually we found great people like Larry and Bruce who were turned on by the dream, and they came and joined our band, and I guess we reached critical mass. Atkinson: Most of the early people were recruited from Apple . . . and we have a pirate's flag that we sometimes put on the roof. The idea is we're pirates and we go around and try to steal the best we can from anywhere we can get it, and mostly that's been from Lisa. A lot of it's been from Lisa, but it's true in initially putting to- gether the team, too; we try to get the best people we can from anywhere in the company. Hertzfeld: One of the slogans Steve came up with when we had a retreat in January was "Let's be pirates," the idea being that we were mavericks out to blow people's minds and over- turn standards, create new standards, not do things like everyone else. Atkinson: There was always the thrill that this was going to be the one proj- ect that was probably the most amaz- ing thing you were going to be do- ing in your life. Hertzfeld: And the other slogan was "The journey is the reward." ■ Circle 398 on inquiry card. > I 1 — ■ Introducing the capability the world has been waiting for. A single personal com- puter able to handle Apple," IBM," TRS-80,'" UNIX ™ and CP/M " based software. The Dimension 68(XK) Professional Personal Computer does it all. It actually contains the microprocessors found in all of today's popular personal computers. And a dramatic innovation creates the environment that these systems function merely by plugging in the software. Add to this the incredible power of a 32 bit MC68000 microprocessor with up to If) megabytes of random access memory. Dimension. At about the same price as the IBM " PC, it's obviously the best value you can find. For more informa- tion ask your dealer or call us at (214) 630-2562 for the name of your nearest dealer. dimension 68000 A product of Micro Craft Corporation 4747 Irving Blvd., Suite 241 Dallas, Texas 75247. ©1983 ic; IBM is a registe il Business Machines Corporation; TRS-80 is a oratories, inc.; CP/M is a registered trademark of Digital Research Corporation. m m •*mp <> *Z A fast-action, high-strategy game with full color graphics, exciting animation, and realistic sound effects. Features in elude HAL™ speech synthesis (without special hardware), option to play as enemy or defender, and top ten score display Action begins with you at the controls of the Defense Command Computer. A random error causes the computer to secure your nation's defense for full scale nuclear attack. You have 30 seconds before the first ICBM is launched at your enemy's capital. Decipher the secret code for aborting missile launch or prepare to fight World War III. At launch, you discover the computer has deleted all targeting data for your weapons. Presented with NORAD style strategic displays, you watch the trajectory of the missile track across the globe as you frantically retarget your weapon systems and prepare for your enemy's attack. Do you strike before or after the enemy launches its first wave? Do you target for military, industrial, or civilian targets? Perhaps some combination? You watch enemy strikes against your homeland and the casualties grow to stagger- ing proportions as you attempt to deter or conquer the enemy before you are completely destroyed. The war has begun and your nation's destiny, even the destiny of the world, is in your hands. Ask for Global Thermonuclear War"": $34.95 at your local dealer or order direct. Visa, MasterCard, Money Orders, Checks accepted (Calif, residents please add 6'h°!o sales tax), foreign orders add 15%, U.S. currency only. Dealer inquiries invited. Global Thermonuclear War'" is available for your IBM PC or XT (64K, disk drive), Apple II+ or He (48K, disk drive, DOS 3.3), Com- modore 64 (cassette or disk drive), Atari 400 and 800 (48K, disk drive). Joystick play optional in each version. TRS-80 version to be released soon. STARFIRE GAMES Division Omnisoft Corporation Dept. B1 , 3960 Owensmouth Avenue, Suite 32 Chatsworth, CA 91 31 1 (213) 709-490I Global Thermonucteai war is Business Systems If ic Alan rademark of Onmisoft Corporaiiun IBM PC and XT, Apple II • and Ho, Commudore64, Atari, and TRS-80 are registered trademarks of IBM Corp .Apple Compute : and Tandy Corp respectively Circle 274 on inquiry card. WASHINGTON (UPI) — The U.S. Air Force/NASA have developed an experimental spacecraft given the title XTM. Due to the vague description as to the design or purpose of the XTM, the press is still in the dark about many aspects of the craft or its intended mission. It has been discovered, however, that at I least three pilots have been lost in t he current flight te stjfig pro; kgram of the mysterious resole , hP ul«« flaIB I Mac hlne prs are u ^ u" Tjine m ger s vou nv* «?S*£, itse»f- . ,o the «"' ,0139'"- * ' +JSP+ Ask*" CorP or IBM PC mid XT. Apple lh and He, Commodore 64. Atari, ami TRS-80 are registered trademarks of IBM Corp., Apple Computers Inc., Commodore Business Systems Inc., Atari Inc.. and Tandy Corp. respectively. The Lisa 2. Apple Announces the Lisa 2 by Gregg Williams When several of us at BYTE saw the Macintosh, we were seriously con- cerned about the fate of the Lisa in the face of the Macintosh, a machine that is one-third its price and clearly superior in some areas. Apple has answered these concerns by announ- cing two versions of the Lisa 2, along with the Macintosh, at its annual stockholders' meeting on January 24. New Features The Lisa 2 will use the same modi- fied Sony 3V2-inch floppy-disk drives as the Macintosh. It will be sold with a new, faster operating system, one 3V2-inch floppy disk, and 512K bytes of memory (the single drive takes the place of the two 5%-inch drives in the Lisa 1). The Lisa 2 includes a mouse, detached keyboard, built-in 12-inch video display and can be expanded to 1 megabyte (the memory capacity of the Lisa 1); it will cost "under $4000," according to Apple (the exact price had not been decided when this was written). The Lisa 2/10 will add an internal 10-megabyte Win- chester hard disk and will sell for "under $5500." All the Lisa applica- tion programs will be available separately for $200 to $400 each. Apple planned to have the Lisa 2 available by January 24. Software , Aside from the availability of a larger hard disk, the most welcome feature of the Lisa 2 family is that it will be able to run all Macintosh soft- ware as supplied on 3V2-inch disks. When the Lisa 2 boots a Macintosh program, the system will look and behave like a Macintosh, except that it will automatically take advantage of all the extra memory in the Lisa 2. Since literally hundreds of compan- ies are developing Macintosh soft- ware, the Lisa 2's ability to run it greatly increases its software base and, therefore, its usefulness. Both the Lisa 2 and the 2/10 come without an operating system. Lisa 2 owners will need to buy the Macin- tosh operating system (unpriced at the time this was written); Lisa 2/10 owners can buy that operating sys- tem or the multitasking Lisa operat- ing system (for about $300). With the Lisa operating system only, you will be able to have multiple windows, each of which can contain a separate application. Apple is planning two new releases of Lisa software as well. The first release, available in late January, has optimized various parts of the oper- ating system to make Lisa programs run faster and use the 10-megabyte hard disk. This software release will be free for anyone who bought the Lisa before September 12, 1983 (when the price was reduced and the soft- ware was unbundled), and available at a nominal fee for buyers of un- bundled Lisa software. The second release of Lisa software will come sometime during the sec- ond quarter of 1984. This software will increase the integration among 84 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Lisa products (for the first time, you will be able to move graphics from Lisa Draw to a text document in Lisa Write, data from Lisa Calc to Lisa List, and data from Lisa Terminal to Lisa Calc, for example). It will also in- clude enhancements in many of the Lisa application programs. For ex- ample, Lisa Write will include a spell- ing checker and the ability to process form letters, Lisa Graph will allow data to be graphed in new ways, all programs will support a $5000 laser printer and a 70-megabyte hard disk to be introduced by Apple, and Lisa Draw and Lisa Graph will support color printing. The second release of Lisa software will be available to owners of previous versions for a nominal fee. Upgrading Lisa 1 owners have two upgrading paths. Apple will let them upgrade to a Lisa 2 for free or to a Lisa 2/10 for $2500 (both upgrades involve re- placing parts in the Lisa 1, not swap- ping the Lisa 1 for a new Lisa 2). In both cases, Lisa 1 owners will keep their 5-megabyte Profiles, thus allow- ing them to transfer all their informa- tion to the new system (by copying all such data from 5V4-inch floppy disks to the Profile before converting to the Lisa 2). Conclusions With the announcement of the Lisa 2 and 2/10, Apple has made the Lisa computer both more competitive and part of an innovative, powerful, but still affordable family of computers. The reduced price and Macintosh software compatibility of the Lisa 2 make it far more attractive to poten- tial buyers than the Lisa 1 was. The features added to the Lisa application programs make them even more use- ful than they currently are. Finally, Apple's upgrading policy is com- mendable because it does not leave behind the Lisa 1 owners who sup- ported the machine in its early days.B Gregg Williams is a senior editor at BYTE. He can be reached at POB 372, Hancock, NH 03449. PREVENT THE DISASTER OF HEAD CRASH AND DROPOUT. The war against dust and dirt never ends. So before you boot up your equipment, and everytime you replace a cassette , disk or drive filter, be sure to use Dust-Off' II ; it counteracts dust, grit and lint. Otherwise you're flirting with costly dropouts, head crashes and downtime. Dust-Off II is most effective when used with Stat-Off II. Stat- Off II neutralizes dust-holding static electricity while Dust-Off II blasts loose dust away. There's also the Dual Extender and Mini- Vac for vacuuming dust out of hard-to-reach places. Photographic professionals have used Dust-Off brand products consistently on their delicate lenses and expensive cameras for over ten years. They know it's the safe, dry, efficient way to contami nant-free cleaning. Cleaning not provided by liquid cleaners. Dust-Off II 's remarkable pinpoint accuracy zeros in on the precise area being dusted. And you have total control — every- thing from a gentle breeze for System II Stat-Off II neutralizes dust-holding static electricity from media and machines. delicate computer mechanisms to a heavy blast for grimy dirt. Don ' t let contamination dis- rupt your computer operation. Stock up on Dust-Off II — the ad- vanced dry cleaning system, at your local computer or office supply dealer. Or send $1.00 (for postage and handling) for a 3 oz. trial size and literature today. Dust-OffH The safe dry cleaning system Falcon Safety Products. Inc . 106b Bristol Road, Mountainside. NJ 07092 Circle 140 on inquiry card. February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 85 Epson. For those who need it, simplicity One computer. Two points of view The Epson QX-10 personal computer To many, the Epson represents the ultimate in simplicity. Just press a single key for the func- tion you require: word processing, scheduling, business graphics, address book or file management. One key- stroke produces your program. There are no rigamaroles to remember. No disks to change. The result: you start to work immediately. And you start being pro- ductive, immediately. With step-by- step prompts. In plain English, not computerese. Simplicity itself. Or is it ? The plain fact is that the ease of operation the Epson offers today is accomplished with a degree of tech- nological sophistication most other computers can only promise for tomor- row—specifically, fully integrated software, operating in an interactive environment. The few other computers offering such "simplicity" cost $5,000 to $15,000 more. And most other computers can't offer it at any price. Which makes one wonder exactly what they do offer, in terms of either simplicity, or performance. HOW MUCH CAN YOU DO ON THE EPSON? HOW MUCH ARE YOU READY TO DO? The Epson's ease of operation may spoil you, but it certainly won't limit you. Case in point: every Epson comes complete with an integrated soft- ware system — Valdocs® — to effortlessly provide the basic functions for which most people buy computers. But it is important to note that the Epson also comes with CP/M®-80 2.2. So you can choose from hundreds of programs: dBase II? Wordstar,'" Personal Pearl? Supercalc,® Microplan,® MBA General Ledger,® Multiplan,® Peachtext? Spellwriter® and Datavieuf just to name a few 86 BYTE February 1984 Or, you can write your own, utilizing a variety of programming languages such as COBOL 80, FORTRAN 80; or Microsoft® BASIC, which is included, free. Best of all, you will run the software of your choice on the computer of choice. The high- performance Epson. With 256k random access memory. 128k dedi- cated video memory. The breathtakingly sensible HASCI® keyboard. Dual 380k double density disk drives. 2+2= Grapl capabilities unequalled in its price range. A high resolution monitor, 640 by 400 pixels, for clarity few com- puters in any price range can offer. Plus, an RS-232C interface, a parallel printer interface, and internal space for up to five peripheral cards so you can expand your Epson as your needs require. One further point: all these features, and quite a few more, are included in the Epson's $2,995 price. Some com- Epson. For those who can handle it, performance puter companies ask you to pay extra for features like these. Most can not offer them at any price. That, too, is performance. The kind of performance that can make choosing a personal computer very simple, indeed. EPSON QUALITY OR, WHY WONDER WHAT TERRIBLE KLUDGES LURK IN WHICH SLEEK BOXES. If you know computers, you know Epson. Epson printers set the industry standard for quality, reliability and value. Rest assured, the same can be said for the Epson personal computer. The satisfy- ing silence of the slim, Epson- designed disk- drives is one way for you to judge or, for an inside-out perspective, here is an excerpt from a review by Jim Hanson in the April, 1983 issue of Microcomputing* "The Epson QX-10 is soundly designed and executed. I looked hard and found no evidence of kludging or shorting out anything in the name of economy. All the connectors have gold on them and are of quality manufacture. The printed circuit boards are heavy, with soldermarks on both sides of double-sided boards. The circuit boards are completely silk- screened with component labels, and the layout is as professional and clean as you will find anywhere." Isn't this what you expect? After all, it's an Epson. A WORD TO THE WISE: GET YOUR HANDS ON THE EPSON. Is the Epson a simple, easy-to-use computer for beginners? Or a sophisticated high-performance computer for the experienced? The answer is "yes." And when you think about it, aren't those two computers the one you need now For technical specifications, and the complete, 3-part Microcomputing review, along with the name of your nearby Epson dealer, call toll- free (800) 421-5426. California resi- dents, call (213) 539-9140. *Excerpt reprinted by permission of Microcomputing Magazine. All rights reserved CP/M is a trademark of Digital Research, Inc. Valdocs and HASCI are trademarks of Rising Star Industries. dBase II is a trademark of AshtonTate, Wordstar is a trademark of Micropro. Personal Pearl is a trademark of Pearlsoft. Spellwriter and Supercalc are trademarks ol'Sorcim, Microplan is a trademark of Chang Labs. MBA General Ledger is a trademark of Micro Business Applications. COBOL 80, FORTRAN 80, Microsoft, and Multiplan are trademarks of Microsoft. Peachte.xt is a trademark of Peachtree Software. EPSON STATE-OF-THE-ART. . . SIMPLICITY. BYTE February 19&4 87 Ciarcia's Circuit Cellar Build the Circuit Cellar Term-Mite ST Smart Terminal Part 2: Programming and Use The supplied standard control software supports several character attributes and various configuration options Last month, in Part 1, 1 introduced you to the Term-Mite ST intelligent video-display terminal, shown in photo 1. It is designed around the new National Semiconductor NS455 Terminal-Management Processor (TMP). This self-contained terminal- controller chip permits the essential features (see table 1) to be provided by only 21 integrated circuits. This month I'd like to pick up the story beginning with a discussion of the firmware, that is, the program logic inscribed in ROM (read-only memory) inside the NS455A that runs on the internal microprocessor to control all the terminal's functions. We'll look at the functions of the firm- ware, the configuration-switch set- tings, the Escape sequences and con- trol functions, and, finally, demon- strate putting a few characters on the screen. Factory-Supplied Control Program The control program has four main sections: the initialization code, Copyright © 1984 Steven A. Garcia. All rights reserved. by Steve Ciarcia the main keyboard-scanning and wait loop, the display-processing routine, and the interrupt-processing routines. (Since keyboard scanning may be a new technique to some of you, the logic flow of this code sec- tion will be described in detail.) The program is constructed in a modular fashion; a general flowchart is shown in figure 1, while a memory map is shown in figure 2. The initialization routine is ex- ecuted when the terminal is first turned on or when it is reset. The routine first checks all the display memory and the serial I/O (input/ output) circuits; then it reads the con- figuration switches and loads the NS455A's registers with their initial values. Many values must be loaded into registers before the terminal can work: among them are the timing- chain constants that specify charac- ter-cell parameters; values for cursor definition, horizontal, and vertical timing; values for the character attri- butes and other display controls; values to determine character posi- tions; and values that set the data rate, parity, full- or half-duplex trans- mission mode, etc. After everything has been initial- ized, the program enters the charac- ter-processing loop, which is often re- ferred to as the main wait loop. If a scanned keyboard is being used, scanning occurs every 10 millisec- onds (ms) during this loop. When the hardware detects a character, a branching instruction passes control to the display-processing routine. (A more definitive explanation of key- board scanning follows.) Characters typed on a parallel- encoded keyboard are handled somewhat differently, as are charac- ters received from the host computer or another terminal. When a charac- ter arrives from one of these sources, the hardware of the Term-Mite ST generates an interrupt, and control automatically passes into one of the interrupt-handling routines. In the case of the parallel keyboard, its data- strobe signal generates an external in- terrupt (an interrupt relying on hard- ware outside the processor); the in- terrupt handler causes the TMP to read the typed character from the I/O port, queue it for display, transmit it (if necessary), and return to wait for the next character. When the hardware receives data on the serial input line, it generates 88 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. an internal interrupt. Control branches to several routines that determine what type of interrupt oc- curred and take appropriate action. The first test checks for received char- acters in the buffer of the UART (uni- versal asynchronous receiver/trans- mitter). If a character is found in the buffer, it is queued for display (i.e., placed in the holding area for data to be shown on the screen). If no char- acter is found, the register contents are tested for a match with the special value that indicates an empty-trans- mit-buffer condition, in which case the program tries to fill the transmit buffer. The final test is for the inter- nal timer; timer interrupts happen every 10 ms and are used to trigger the keyboard scanning. If the Term- Mite ST is not set up to use a scanned keyboard, the internal-timer interrupt produces no activity. Because of the operating dif- ferences between scanned and en- coded keyboards, the control pro- gram contains two routines for read- ing a keyboard character. The en- coded keyboards are handled by the external-interrupt routine. Very few processor instructions are required to fetch the character, since the data comes in from the I/O port already encoded as values in the ubiquitous ASCII (American National Standard Code for Information Interchange) character set established by ANSI (the American National Standards Institute). In contrast, getting a character from the scanned keyboard takes a fairly lengthy subprogram, which must examine the switch matrix of the keyboard for closures and convert that data into a meaning- ful ASCII character. The two key- board routines, however, merge at the point where the character has been identified; a common section of code is used to display, transmit, and queue the character. The display-processing subroutine is entered from the main wait loop when the program finds that the input-character buffer is not empty. If the character appearing in the buf- fer is part of an Escape sequence, the processing routine decides whether to wait for additional information (more characters) or to take immedi- Photo 1: A prototype of the Term-Mite ST circuit board, measuring only 4 7 A by 6V2 inches. The design incorporates the National Semiconductor NS455A Terminal Management Processor, 1.24 lines of 80 characters each, uppercase and lowercase 2. supports either scanned or parallel-encoded keyboards 3. selectable data rate, parity, cursor, and display options 4. attributes: reverse-video, half-intensity, double-height, double-width, underlined, blinking and/or blanked character 5. line (block) graphics 6.21 Escape functions 7. 14 control functions 8. twenty-fifth-line reverse-video status display 9. self-test 10.separated-sync or composite-video output Table 1: The features of the Term-Mite ST intelligent video-display terminal. February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 89 ate action. ASCII control codes are processed immediately. If the re- ceived character is an ordinary dis- playable character, it is simply dis- played and possibly transmitted through the serial port. Keyboard-Scanning Logic The scanned keyboard is funda- mentally a set of push-button switches arranged in a set of rows and columns and wired together with diodes. Every 10 milliseconds, triggered by the internal-timer inter- rupt, the Term-Mite ST looks at each row and column in turn to find out if any of the switches have been closed. The basic scanning algorithm is shown in figure 3. The first thing the routine does is check to see if the key- board is currently enabled (it is pos- sible to turn the keyboard off). The scanning loop is initialized for 16 col- umns of key switches. The wire along the first column is driven to the volt- age that represents logic 1 while the row lines are monitored. If the logic-1 voltage appears on the output of any row, the terminal knows that the key at the intersection of that row and col- umn is being pressed. Whenever the scanning loop detects a hit, program control momentarily leaves the loop while the row and column coor- dinates are used to look up the ap- propriate ASCII value in a code- conversion table. The lookup routine also notes the current status of the Control, Shift, and Caps-Lock func- tions. The key value is compared to the value found during the last scan; if they are the same, the routine as- sumes that the key simply has not yet been released from the previous stroke and ignores the key-pressed condition. (When typing, most peo- ple hold down each key long enough for many scans to occur. Except when the Repeat key is in use, the terminal assumes that continued closure of the key switch should not produce further output.) If the scanning routine finds that the most recently read key value is indeed a new char- acter, it stores the value and resumes scanning. If two key switches are found simultaneously closed in one (la) /power on\ vor reset j RUN SELF-TEST RESET AND INITIALIZATION CODE MAIN WAIT LOOP DISPLAY PROCESSING SET ERROR INDICATION STOP -INTERRUPT QUEUES CHARACTER (SEE FIGURE lb) YES /IS\ / IT A \. < CONTROL > \. CHAR^^ NO | YES PROCESS PROCESS PROCESS ESCAPE CONTROL STANDARD SEQUENCE CHARACTER CHARACTER »'- I IS CHARACTER -I TO BE DISPLAYED DISPLAY CHARACTER PERFORM DISPLAY HOUSEKEEPING AND MANAGEMENT Figure 1: A flowchart of the control program supplied standard by National Semiconductor for the NS455A. The main code is shown in la while the interrupt sections are in lb. column, the two characters are pro- cessed in turn before the scan is restarted. After all the columns have been scanned, the routine checks the char- acter-value storage to see if any keys were pressed. If the number of "hits" found is greater than four, it exits with no output. Valid characters, pro- duced by one to four key presses per scan, are queued in the keyboard buffer for display and output. The routine also checks the Repeat key; if it is being held down, the program initially delays 1 second and then begins to queue the same character again at intervals of 0.1 second. If no keys were detected during the scan, the program cleans out the key- board-buffer storage area, resets the interrupt mask, does some house- keeping, and returns from the interrupt. (Note: The keyboard-scanning rou- 90 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. (lb) INTERNAL INTERRUPTS TRANSMIT CHARACTER INTERRUPT RECEIVE CHARACTER INTERRUPT KEYBOARD SCAN INTERRUPT LIGHT-PEN INTERRUPT SCAN KEYBOARD FOR KEY SET LP REG AND LIGHT-PEN FLAG ^r\ no -' ' \. KEY j/~ V* p |YES QUEUE IT FOR DISPLAY ,'- RETURN FROM INTERRUPT EXTERNAL INTERRUPTS (ENCODED KEYBOARD ONLY) EXTERNAL INTERRUPT GET ENCODED KEYBOARD CHARACTER QUEUE IT FOR DISPLAY RETURN FROM INTERRUPT tine is somewhat hardware- dependent. A numeric keypad and separate input lines for Control, Shift, Repeat, and Caps-Lock keys may not be available or work the same way in all keyboards. The stan- dard program is written to operate with an Oak full-travel membrane (FTM) keyboard. Other keyboards, including the one shown in photo 2, can be made to work with the stan- dard NS455A, but the Oak keyboard can be used with a minimum of trouble.) Configuring for Use The biggest annoyance of today's advanced intelligent terminals is that they can be complicated to use. When you unpack a new unit you can expect to spend at least an hour trying to set the switches for all the proper optional modes and func- tions. At such times I fondly recall first plugging in my completed TV Typewriter in late 1973 (see references 2 and 4). There were no confusing configuration switches or Escape se- quences. I just typed. The Term-Mite ST, though small, was designed to be powerful, so it has to include some options that you set before use. I have tried to keep them as simple as is compatible with flexibility. These options are both hardware- and software-configur- able. In the Term-Mite ST, three eight- position DIP (dual-inline pin) switches let you set up the unit to assume certain operating conditions and parameters when you first turn it on. Once the terminal has been turned on, most of the switch -preset parameters can be changed by on- line commands received either from the keyboard or through the RS-232C port. In this same manner, some ad- ditional parameters that don't have switches can be set up. The com- mands are sequences of ASCII char- acters, either single nonprinting con- trol codes or ordinary characters pre- ceded by an Escape character (Escape sequences). Control codes, as in most ASCII- encoded applications, are generated at the keyboard by simultaneously holding down the Control key and one other alphabetic or character key. The binary value emitted is within the special low range of ASCII codes designated for the control of devices. These codes do not normally cause any symbol to be printed or dis- played, so they are referred to as non- printing. A list of the control codes as used by the Term-Mite ST (running with the standard firmware) is shown in table 2 on page 96. An ASCII con- trol code is often abbreviated by the corresponding printing character pre- ceded by a caret or an up-arrow; thus "~G" stands for Control-G. Escape sequences are more complex. These consist of characters that are mostly in the range of regular ASCII values, but the normally printable codes are transmitted following the special ASCII Escape character (deci- mal 27). This Escape character is so named because the characters that follow it "escape" from their normal meanings. (In the context of an Escape sequence, almost any mean- ing is possible for any character, although some Escape sequences are widely used, and one set has achieved the status of an ANSI stan- dard equal to ASCII itself— see reference 1.) In the Term-Mite ST, an Escape sequence consists of at least two keystrokes: the Escape key fol- lowed by an uppercase letter (in the set A through Z, with some unused). The Escape sequences activate vari- ous functions of the Term-Mite ST. Only direct cursor addressing and the set-attribute-value function re- February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 91 | '«• | Q WE R T Y U I p|? s J pd««j <™. Usi 1 A s D F G H J K L J.J 1 WETUDM I wrr z X C V B N M < > ? 1 *, I WWT 1 WHAT 1 ■■■m Keyboard Enclosure Model KE1T .vffC > Highly styled, durable construction • Easy to use and mc: fy . Compatible with nil standard keyboards . />BS Tiiattrfal rt. is UL 9aV-0 standards • MoWWMhnxigl • «*»• doesn't show scratches : _ Keyboard . • ; rear tfO panels can be milled, punched, drilled, or custom molded, arid screened PACIBTEC Systems Enclosures\ Family ot andOWWM lo> dcsWtop syfticroa ,:..!■■ ■,'■■■■. e i n< ■■■- ... , ■; ■ I ,. I- . .. . Photo 2: The Term-Mite ST can be connected to the stack-pole keyboard shown here, but the NS455A can be used more easily with an Oak full-travel membrane (FTM) keyboard from Oak Switch Systems Inc., FOB 517, Crystal Lake, IL 60014. An enclosure from Pac Tec (Enterprise and Executive Aves., Philadelphia, PA 19153) enhances the terminal's appearance. HEXADECIMAL LOCATION HEXADECIMAL LOCATION 065 14 D 181 209 32A 360 3EA 54C 6E0 INTERRUPT VECTORS AND SELF -TEST CODE INITIALIZATION CODE INTERNAL-INTERRUPT ROUTINES SCANNED- KEYBOARD CODE MISCELLANEOUS SUBROUTINES EXTERNAL-INTERRUPT ROUTINE CHARACTER AND DISPLAY PROCESSING CONTROL-CODE PROCESSING ESCAPE- CODE PROCESSING STATUS-LINE HANDLING Figure 2: Memory use by the NS455A control program. 92 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 000 100 200 300 500 quire more than one character follow- ing Escape. When power to the Term-Mite ST is first turned on, the three groups of configuration switches are read and their values stored in appropriate reg- isters in the TMP. The switches ap- pear to the processor as memory- mapped I/O devices; logic 1 is con- sidered to be the on or closed posi- tion. (National Semiconductor's soft- ware refers to the groups as switches 4, 5, and 6, so I have used the same designations in the Term-Mite sche- matic.) Their configurations and vari- ous settings are shown in tables 4, 5, and 6 and in figures 4, 5, and 6. Programming the Term-Mite Your use of the Term-Mite ST can be simple or complex, depending on how you write your host software: to use the control commands and Escape sequences extensively or not WHEN YOU'RE READY OUR PC PLUS KIT WILL BE WAITING r !iw' \\\\ 10mb Internal Upgrade When you're ready to boost your storage capacity from 640K to lOmb without boosting power and without eating up desk-top space, our internal PC PLUS will be just a phone call away. Waiting to give you all the capacity of the *XT at a price that saves you hundreds of dollars compared to the cost of trading up. The DSS PC PLUS kit uses a half- height lOmb Winchester disk drive that gives you all the benefits of Winchester technology — increased data integrity, faster access — without taxing the power supply. It also includes a Winchester disk controller that is IBM formatted. The DSS PC PLUS kit presents the storage solution you need now. What are your data storage needs? At DSS, we do much more than sell components. We create solutions. The DSS PC PLUS kit includes: — lOmb half-height disk drive — DSS Controller — Full height front bezel — Mounting hardware — Cables Features and Benefits — Increased capacity — Increased access time — Upgradeability — No, additional power requirements — Enhanced cooling — One board controller solution — Operates with 1.25 MS-DOS through 2.0 MS-DOS — Internal upgrade — 1 iorno half-height Winchester = 31 floppy's — Increased data integrity Retail price: $2250 from the dealer nearest you 2907 N. 55th St., No. 5 Boulder, Colorado 80301 303/449-7587 Toll Free: 800-851-PLUS Data Storage Solutions, Inc. •XT is n registered IBM [radenurk Circle 41 ° for Dealer Inquiries. Circle 411 for End-User Inquiries. BYTE February 1984 93 What will counteract NDC 74-0054-60? Gary: The pedigrees for next week's auction are as follows... Sold 1000 shares at 33 for net profit of 6000. Richard. Wouldn't it be great if you could use your IBM®PC to tap into vast resource libraries across the country? To transfer files to your partner, upstate? Or from your broker, down the street? It's possible. All you need is a modem, to connect your computer to others. Down the hall. Or thou- sands of miles away. Hayes Smartmodem. Think of it as your computer's telephone. Hayes Smartmodem 300™ and the faster Smartmodem 1200,™ allow you to com- municate over ordinary phone lines. But any modem will send and receive data. Smartmodems also dial, answer and disconnect calls. Automatically. And without going through the telephone receiver, making them far superior to acoustic coupler modems. Choose your speed; choose your price. The lower-priced Smartmodem 300 is ideal for local data swaps and communicates at 300 bps. For longer distance and larger volumes, Smart- modem 1200 operates at baud rates of 300 or 1200, with a built-in selector that automatically detects transmis- sion speeds. Both work with rotary dials, Touch-Tone® and key-set systems; connect to most time- snaring systems; and feature an audio speaker. Smartmodem 1200B™ is also avail- able as a plug-in board. Developed specifically for the PC, it comes packaged with Hayes' own communications soft- ware, Smartcom II™ Smartcom II. We spent a lot of time developing it, so you can spend less time using it Smartcom II prompts you in the simple steps required to create, send, receive, display, list, name and re-name files. It even receives data completely unattended— especially helpful when you're sending work from home to the office, or vice versa. If you need it, there's always "help!' This feature explains prompts, mes- sages, etc. to make communicating extra easy. With Smartcom II, it is. Case in point: Before you communicate with another system, you need to "set up" your computer to match the way the remote system transmits data. With Smartcom II, you do this only once. After that, parameters for 25 dif- ferent remote systems are stored in a directory on Smartcom II. Calling or answering a system listed in the directory requires just a few quick keystrokes. You can store lengthy log-on sequences the same way. Press one key, and Smartcom II automati- cally connects you to a utility or infor- mation service. (3D Hayes Smartmodem 300, 1200 and 1200Bare FCC approved in the U.S. and DOC approved in Canada. All require an IBM PC with minimum 96K bytes of memory; IBM DOS 1.10 or 1 .00: one disk drive; and 80-column display. Smartmodem 1200B. (Includes telephone cable. No serial card or separate power source is needed.) Smartcom II communications software. NOTE: Smartmodem 1200B may also be installed in the IBM Personal Computer XT or the Expansion Unit. In those units, another board installed in the slot to the immediate right of the Smartmodem 1200B may not clear the modem; also, the brackets may not fit properly. If this occurs, the slot to the right of the modem should be left empty. And, in addition to the IBM PC, Smartcom II is also available for the DEC Rainbow™ 100, Xerox 820-11™ and Kaypro II™ personal computers. Backed by the experience and reputation of Hayes. A solid leader in the microcomputer in- dustry, Hayes provides excellent documentation for all products. A limited two-year warranty on all hardware. And full support from us to your dealer. So see him today Break out of isolation. Get a telephone for your personal computer. From Hayes. Hayes Microcomputer Products, Inc., 5923 Peachtree Industrial Blvd., Norcross, GA 30092. 404/441-1617. Smartmodem 300. Smartmodem 1200. Smartmodem 1200B and Smartcom II are trademarks of Hayes Microcomputer Products. Inc. IBM is a registered trademark of Interna- tional Business Machines, Corp. Touch-Tone is a registered service mark of American Telephone and Telegraph. Rainbow is a trademark of Digital Equipment Corporation. Xerox 820-11 is a trademark of Xerox Corporation. Kaypro II is a registered trademark of Non-Linear Systems. Inc. ©1983 Hayes Microcomputer Products. Inc. Circle 166 on inquiry card. C KEYSCN J '"keyboard- ^ no .ENABLED. YES ( KEYEXIT j YES [^NY I -| KEY CLOSURES I DETECTED \ CONVERT SCAN CODE TO ASCII EQUIV FROM TABLE FACTOR IN SHIFT. CONTROL, AND CAPS-LOCK STORE THE CHARACTER STORE THE KEYS CLEAR KEY STORAGE AND FLAGS ( KEYEXIT J YES DISPLAY OR TRANSFORM IF REQUIRED Figure 3: A flowchart of the keyboard-scanning routine. at all. If you just want to write BASIC programs, you'll probably never have to do more than use the default switch settings. If, however, you want to use the terminal as part of a screen-template inquiry-transaction system, you'll want to use all the character attributes and graphics options. Some forms of the Escape se- quences cannot be generated through the keyboard (ones with leading-zero attribute values, for example); these must be supplied by the host com- puter. One of the easiest ways to do this is to use the CHR$ function in BASIC, giving the decimal values of the required characters. I used a Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100 port- able computer to generate the dis- plays depicted in the accompanying photos. With these few simple ex- amples, I'll try to give you a feel for the use of the control functions. The communication protocol is peculiar to the Model 100, but the basic ap- proach and much of the code can be used on other machines. The first example is shown in list- ing 1 on page 102, a demonstration of displaying blinking characters, lines 20 and 25 in this BASIC program clear the screen with a Control-L, then position the cursor at the sixteenth line with a sequence of the type ESC, M, x, y. An ESC, I, 251 sequence sets the blinking attribute for the single word "BLINKING" (attribute bit 2 set February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 95 Control Code Effect Control-G Ring the bell. The ~G code causes a strobe pulse to be sent out bit 5 of the I/O port to trigger a 100-ms one-shot multivibrator, which can be connected to a piezoelectric transducer. Control-H Backspace. The destructive backspace moves the cursor to the left; the new position is blanked. Wrap-around occurs from line to line, including a screen wrap from the home (upper left) to last position. Control-I Horizontal tab— fixed every eight locations. The tab function is handled by the Tab key or by the "I code. Each line is divided up into fixed eight-character tab zones. Each Tab received causes the cursor to jump from its current position to the start of the next tab zone, proceeding to the right. Screen scrolling occurs at the bottom of the screen. Control-J Linefeed. "J is the standard ASCII Linefeed character. Control-K Vertical tab— fixed every eight lines. ~K moves the cursor down the screen eight rows. If the cursor is at the bottom of the screen, the display scrolls by eight lines. Intervening lines are always blanked. The cursor column position always remains the same after " K; no carriage return is performed. Control-L Clear screen and home the cursor. Control-M Standard ASCII Return character. "M moves the cursor to the leftmost column. Control-N Cursor up. The cursor is moved up one line by the "N code. The movement is nondestructive, and the cursor will wrap around the screen from top to bottom when the top line is reached. Control-0 Table 2: The functions of ASCII control codes in the Term-Mite. Cursor down. Similarly, the cursor moves down one line, nondestructively, when "0 is detected. Again, wrap-around from bottom to top occurs. Escape Sequence ESC, A ESC, B ESC, C ESC, D ESC, E ESC, F ESC, G ESC, H ESC, I, v Effect Auxiliary (printer) port on. An ESC, A sequence will turn on the auxiliary printer port, if it exists (the port hardware is not implemented in Term-Mite). Everything displayed on the screen will go out the auxiliary port as well. Note that Return and Linefeed characters are not sent to the display routine unless the terminal is in Control mode. (All control characters are then put on the display graphically.) The "AUX ON" message is displayed on the status line when this Control mode is active. Display switch-register status in status line. An ESC, B causes the UART configuration switch and data-rate code to be displayed on the status line. Control mode on. An ESC, C sequence causes the unit to enter the Control mode. This mode of operation permits you to see all the normally nondisplayable ASCII characters (e.g., Return, Linefeed) on the display screen. The control characters are displayed as reverse-video, half-intensity uppercase letters. "A" through "Z" plus some punctuation are used. In addition, the message "CTL MODE" is displayed on the status line. Toggle on-line/local mode. You can set the terminal to on-line or to local mode from the keyboard using this Escape se- quence. It is a toggle function; i.e., each use causes the terminal to change from the current state to the other one. The status line also displays the current state. Toggle full-lhalf-duplex mode. This is also a toggle function (see ESC, D) except that you can go from full-duplex (FDX) to half-duplex (HDX) communication and back. The terminal's current state is displayed on the status line. Control mode off. ESC, F turns the Control mode off. The ASCII control characters now resume their normal operation and function. The message disappears from the status line. Set graphics mode on. The ESC, G sequence flips the status line to normal video and enables the graphics attribute for characters specified in the AL1 register. This is the mode to use when doing forms drawing with the supplied ter- minal software. This state remains in effect until turned off by another Escape sequence (ESC, H). Set graphics mode off. To turn off the graphics or line-drawing mode, the ESC, H sequence is used. Set Attribute Value. You can set attributes to any combination by using the ESC, I, v sequence. If internal attributes are being used, the contents of AL1 are replaced with the 8-bit binary value v. When using external attributes, the value v is loaded into the current-attribute-value register. All subsequent characters will have this value loaded into their external attribute memory unless it is changed by another ESC, I, v. Bits are added together to obtain v for each combination of attributes as shown below. Attribute Bit Attribute bit 7 graphics bit 6 blanked bit 5 underlined bit 4 double width bit 3 double height bit 2 blinking bit 1 half intensity bit reverse video Table 3: The effects of Escape sequences in the Term-Mite ST. 96 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Control Code Effect Control-P Cursor left. ~P moves the cursor left one column, nondestructively. Screen wrap-around from right to left will cause the cursor to move up a line each time the wrap-around occurs. Control-Q Cursor right. The fourth cursor-movement code is ~Q. The cursor moves right by one column, nondestructively, and screen wrap-around happens as above. Wrap-around moves down a line until the end of the screen is reached, and then the cursor moves back to the top of the screen. No scrolling is done. Control-R Cursor home. The ~R code moves the cursor to the home (uppermost left) position. Nothing else happens. Control-S Send a "break" signal on serial line. ~S generates a "break" signal (300 ms of "spacing" condition) on the RS-232C line. Control-T Change and display data rate. The data rate for the RS-232C lines can be changed via the ~T code. Each time "T is entered, the data rate is displayed (in 00 to 15 code form) after being bumped to the next higher rate. Both receive and transmit rates are affected. They are as follows: 00 = 110 bps 08 = 3600 bps 01 = 134.5 bps 09 = 4800 bps 02 = 150 bps 10 = 7200 bps 03 = 300 bps 11= 9600 bps 04 = 600 bps 12 = 19,200 bps 05 = 1200 bps 13 = 19,200 bps 06 = 1800 bps 14 = 19,200 bps 07 = 2400 bps 15 = 4800 bps Escape Sequence ESC, K ESC, L ESC, U. x, y ESC, O ESC, P ESC, Q ESC, R ESC S ESC, T ESC, W ESC, X ESC, Y Effect A logic in a bit position enables the corresponding attribute. Keyboard enable (X-on). The keyboard can be selectively enabled or disabled. ESC, K performs the X-on or enable function. Return light-pen value. An ESC, L sequence causes the currently latched values in the horizontal light-pen register (HPEN) and the vertical light-pen register (VPEN) to be transmitted back to the host system via the main RS-232C port. HPEN is sent (one binary character) followed by VPEN (also one binary character). Term-Mite does not support the light-pen hardware. Load cursor position (x,y). The cursor position is dynamically alterable by means of this Escape sequence. The two parameters following the basic Escape code are used to set the x and y (respectively) positions of the cursor. The x value is the column position. Up to 79 columns are allowed. The y value specifies the row or line number, through 23 being valid. The origin point is the home position on the screen (upper-left corner) and all the values are calculated as offsets from that point. The actual parameter values begin with the displayable ASCII character set, that is, blank through lowercase "o." To specify cursor position (5,6), for example, the parameters would be the two characters "%&" (hexadecimal 25 and 26). The 80 x values would run from blank (hexadecimal 20) through "o" (6F) and 24 y values from blank (hexadecimal 20) through "7" (37). Keyboard disable (X-off). The ESC, O sequence disables the keyboard from further operation. This is essentially an X-off function. It must be reenabled by an ESC, K sent from the host system or entered from the keyboard itself. Print screen contents. You can dump the entire displayed contents of the screen to the auxiliary or printer port by typing the ESC, P key sequence. Run self-test diagnostic and reset. ESC, Q causes the system to rerun the self-test and initialization routines. All current machine status conditions will be replaced by the power-on defaults. The current screen contents are lost. Block send the current row. This is one of the Block Send commands. An ESC, R sequence causes the current line (from left margin to the cursor position) to be transmitted character by character to the host system. If the cursor is on the left margin (i.e., there's nothing on the line yet), nothing is transmitted. Block send the current screen. The other Block Send command is ESC, S. This command transmits the data on the screen, character by character, from the home position to the current cursor location over the RS-232C link to the host system. Erase to end of line. An ESC, T erases the current line from the cursor position to the right margin. It includes the cur- sor position in the erase operation. Wipe switch- register status from status line. The switch-register and data-rate information can be wiped from the status line by entering ESC, W. Auxiliary port (printer) off. This reverses the effect of ESC, A. Erase to end of page. You can erase the entire screen from the present cursor location to the end of the screen by typ- ing ESC, Y. The present cursor location is included in the erase function. February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 97 Circle 34 on inauirv card. SERIAL PORT BTA's MODEL 524 MULTIPORT CONTROLLER is a code activated one to four serial port expander — but that's not all since it has separate and indepen- dent UARTS, buffers and handshaking each port can operate with a different configuration, i.e. different baud rates, stop bits, etc. These features also permit two or more devices to communicate with the 524 simultaneously. High speed y 1 printer IN. \ / Terminal \ Full duplex with EIA RS-232 protocol Baud rates up to 19,200 Expansion to 16 ports by cascading Peripheral ports may be configured by user software CPU One year warranty •MODEL 524 $249.00 •MODEL 524A $279.00 same as model 524 except has 256 byte rx/tx buffers per port •MODEL 524 D $269.00 same as model 524, plus continuous poll- ing of each peripheral device for data transfer requests. The device is auto- matically connected when its 'turn comes up . ON, BUSY and OFF messages are sent to the peripheral device. Other models available — Contact us or your dealer for additional information. . BAY TECHNICAL ASSOCIATES, inc. ^ HIGHWAY 603, R O. BOX 387 BAY ST. LOUIS, MISSISSIPPI 39S20 16011467-8231 SWITCH 4 SWITCH POSITIONS 6 5 4 3 T T T T 2 1 1 50/60HZ . LUPMOD , EXTTST CURSOR SELECT , REVVID EXTATT , SLFTST J_ J L I j_ Figure 4: The assignments of the switch positions in configuration switch 4. (Switches 1, 2, and 3 do not exist.) switch 5 SWITCH POSITIONS 6 5 4 3 2 I I I I I I AUTLF KEYENC . LINL0C FDXHDX XMTRCV' SPLT BR WRDLEN I • III I J L Figure 5: The assignments of the switch positions in configuration switch 5. SWITCH 6 SWITCH POSITIONS 6 5 4 3 2 T T DATA RATE PARITY SELECT , PAR ENA . STP BIT J I I Figure 6: The assignments of the switch positions in configuration switch 6. to 0). An ESC, I, 255 restores the nor- mal character display for the final word. Listing 2 functions in a similar manner to show off the reverse-video attribute. In this instance, the reverse- video attribute is activated by an ESC, I, 254 sequence (attribute bit set to 0). The result is shown in photo 3a on page 108. Listing 3 on page 104 combines four attributes. It starts by clearing the screen, positioning the cursor at col- umn 21, row 6 (21,6), and printing "WE CAN PRINT THE REGULAR WAY"; next, the cursor is reposi- tioned to (0,10) and the sequence ESC, I, 230 is sent. The value of 230 (bits 0, 3, and 4 set to 0) sets the double-width, double-height, and reverse-video attributes. Photo 3b on page 108 shows the appearance of the screen. A few peculiarities do apply to the use of the double-width and double- height characters. The ASCII value of any character to be displayed in either or both of these attributes must be written in all the character posi- tions that the expanded character will occupy. For example, if you wish to print "TEST" in double width, the BASIC PRINT statement should ac- tually send the string "TTEESSTT" since the wide characters will occupy two regular character positions. In double height, the duplicate charac- ters should be written one above the other. The other catch to using dou- ble height is that the second row of characters must also have the blanked attribute set. In the example of listing 3, with the attributes set for double height, double width, reverse video, and (on the second display line) blanked, the string "OR THIS WAY FOR SPECIAL EMPHASIS" is printed in large letters. After the pyrotechnics, another Control-I is used to reset the attributes. One final demonstration program, shown in listing 4, shows many of the characteristics already mentioned with the addition of line graphics. 98 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Extended ascal for your IBM PC, APPLE CP/M, MS DOS.CP/M 86, CCP/M 86 or CP/M 80 computer features: • Full screen interactive editor providing a complete menu driven program development environment. • 11 significant digits in floating point arithmetic. • Built-in transcendental functions. • Dynamic strings with full set of string handling features. • Program chaining with common variables. • Random access data files. • Full support of operating system facilities. • And much more. ORDER YOUR COPY OF TURBO PASCAL TODAY TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF OUR INTRODUCTORY SPECIAL. For Visa and MasterCard orders call toll free 1-800-227-2400 X 968 IN CA: 1-800-772-2666 X 968 (lines open 24 hrs. a day, 7 days a week) Dealer & Distributor Inquiries welcome. THIS IS THE PASCi VERYBODY'S BEEN WAITING FOR... EVERYBODY EXCEPT THE COMPETITION! LEARN TO WRITE A SPREADSHEET Our Introductory offer includes MICROCALC, a spreactefS^t "whttten in Turbo Pascal. It utfli be on your disk, and ready to run. And we've included the source code to show you exactly how a spreadsheet is written! (Introductory offer expires March 1,1984) Turbo Pascal includes a 250 page bound manual with extensive explana- tions and many illustrative examples. lurbo Pascal IBM Pascal Pascal MT+ jM^ price 49.95 .300.00 595.00 Compile & Link speed 1 second!!! 97 seconds 90 seconds \ Execution speed 2.2 seconds 9 seconds 3 seconds Disk Space 16 bit 8 bit 33K w edltorl 28K w edltorl 300K + editor Not Available 225K + editor 16BK + editor Sand 16 bit YES NO YES built-in editor YES NO NO Generate object code YES YES YES One pass native code compiler YES NO NO Locates RunTime errors directly in source code YES NO NO Benchmark data based on E Wlrth. run on an IBM PC. Turbo Pascal is a trader. Microsystems. IBM Is a tra ghtQueens In "Algor ark of Borland Int Jemark of Internatlo thms + Data Struck* srnatlonal. MT+ Is nal Business Machlr •aB = Programs'* by N. a trademark of MT es. Turbo Pascal $49.95 + $5.00 shipping per copy. Check Money Order VISA Master Card_ Card #: Exp date: My system is: 8 bit. .16 bit. Operating system: CP/M 80 CP/M 86__MS DOS PC DOS. Computer: Disk Format: .Shipped UPS B BORIPHD INTERNATIONAL Please be sure model number and format are correct. NAME: ADDRESS: CITY/STATE/ZIP: TELEPHONE: Borland International 4807 Scotts Valley Drive ScoHs Valley, California 95066 California residents add 6VS% sales tax. Outside North America add $15.00. Checks must be on a U.S. bank, and in U.S. dollars. Sorry, no C.O.D. Switched Signal 50/60 Hz LUPMOD EXTTST CURSOR SELECT REVVID EXTATT SLFTST Effect Because the NS455A is designed for worldwide distribution, provision has been made for handling operation at either 50 Hz or 60 Hz. A logic 1 specifies 60 Hz, while a logic sets 50-Hz operation. This bit affects the loop-back mode of the serial I/O line. When it is 0, the serial output line is logically connected to the serial input line inside the chip. A logic 1 sets the serial line to normal mode. The external test flag is used to force a jump to external memory located at hexadecimal address 800. This test is only made if SLFTST is also selected. The author of the self-test code must take care of either returning to the supplied stan- dard program or handling all processing from that point on. There are four types of cursors that can be selected on the Term-Mite: a solid underline, a blinking underline, a solid block, or a blinking block. The binary codes are as follows: 00 = solid underline cursor 01 = blinking underline cursor 10 = solid block cursor 11= blinking block cursor A logic will cause the display to switch to black characters on a white field. The default value of logic 1 specifies nor- mal video, white on black. A in this position lets you use the external attribute memory, bits 8 through 15. A logic 1 sets the system up for inter- nal attributes. A logic 1 in this bit causes the self-test routine to be skipped on reset or power up. It must be set to logic in order for the self-test to be performed. This does not affect the ESC, Q command to execute a self-test. Table 4: The functions of the switch positions in configuration switch 4. Switched Signal Effect AUTLF KEYENC LINLOC FDXHDX XMTRCV SPLT BR WRDLEN This is the Auto-Linefeed flag. When set to a logic 0, a Linefeed character is sent whenever a Return character is detected. This operates for both the transmitted data and the displayed information. A logic 1 causes no Linefeed to be sent. The encoded keyboard is selected by a logic 0. A logic 1 indicates that the scanned keyboard is to be handled. This is the Online/Local default. When this flag is set to logic 0, Local mode is chosen, and no data is sent to the host machine. A logic 1 puts the terminal into Online mode and data is then transmitted. The full-duplex/half-duplex flag is used to set the communication protocol. When set to logic 0, the communication through the serial port is half duplex; data is both transmitted to the host and sent to the CRT display. A logic 1 will select full duplex. Data is then transmitted but not automatically sent to the display. The split-data-rate function uses this flag to decide whether the transmitter (logic 0) or the receiver (1) is to operate at the slower data rate. This field sets the split-data-rate divisor to one of four values. The divisor divides the affected rate by a factor of 1, or 32. More divisors are allowed, but they are not implemented in the standard program. 16, 00 01 divide by 32 divide by 16 10 = divide by 4 1 1 = divide by 1 (default) The word-length flag specifies the number of bits in the serial character, either 7 or 8 bits excluding parity. A default of 1 selects 7 bits, and a logic selects 8 bits. Table 5: The functions of the switch positions in configuration switch 5. When attribute bit 7 is set to a 0, the Term-Mite displays certain control characters as graphic symbols. These are shown in table 8 on page 108. The program draws the display shown in photo 4. In Conclusion Since building the Term-Mite ST, I've been finding all kinds of old and new uses for it. For instance, it makes a perfect status and command dis- play for a Micromint Z8-BASIC Com- puter/Controller system (see refer- ence 3). Also, I've been hesitating to spend $1000 for a regular video ter- minal that would be dedicated to a constant display of the time of day and my appointment schedule, but 100 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Text continued on page 108 VisiCalc® Lotus™ 1-2-3™ and Multiplaif users endorse Dow Jones Spreadsheet Link™. . "The analysis I do with Spreadsheet Link would be impossible any other way. I track more than 200 securities. This soft- ware really gives me a handle on my invest- ments. I can download stock quotes and funda- mental information from Dow Jones News/Retrieval® directly into my spread- sheets, and analyze it using my own formulas." Ronald Eldredge Lockhart Financial Services "The speed of collect- ing and entering data is invaluable. Spreadsheet Link does exactly what I want it to do. It's a tremendous help in manipulating data. I think anyone who does spreadsheet analysis will find this an important addition to their software library." Anne Freilich Wensley Management Corporation "The comprehensive information I get from Dow Jones News/Retrieval is a real plus. Without Spreadsheet Link, I'd have to enter data keystroke by key- stroke into my tem- plates. This software makes spreadsheet analysis much easier and more useful to me. I'm getting very satis- factory results, and I'm still exploring the possibilities." Douglas Gill Grayson Gill, Inc. Dow Jones Software - . . . Plan on it. Compatible with Apple II and IBM personal computers. For a free brochure, call 1-800-345-8500 ext. 165 (Alaska, Hawaii and foreign call 1-215-789-7008 ext. 165) Copyright £> Dow Jones & Co., Inc., 1983. All rights reserved. VitiCak is a registered trademark of VisiCorp. Lotus and 1-2-3 are trademarks of Lotus Development Corporation, Multiplan is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Circle 115 on inquiry card. BYTE February 1984 101 Circle 383 on Inquiry card. WAREHOUSE SOFTWARE TECHNICAL INFO — 1602) 842-1133 Call for programs not listed. We will try to meet or beat any legitimate price for CP/M or IBM PC Software. — MOST DISK FORMATS AVAILABLE — DATA BASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS. BUY OF THE YEAR! DBASEII+Everymans data base primer +Extra diskette with DBase Accounting, Mail List and Inventory Programs. IBM PC and CP/M — Call for our special price. Fox and Geller Quickcode DB+SORT Condor III NWA Statpack TIM III Infostar PFS File WORD-PROCESSING PACKAGES Wordstar, Mail Merge, Spellstar, lndex$375 Wordstar ! S245 Mail Merge ! 11 35 Spell Star 11135 Microsoft Word W/Mouse ! I299 Lexisoft Spellbinder ! 1270 IBM PC Volkswriter $115 Aspen Spellchecker $36 Metasoft Benchmark $285 Multimate $295 Peachtext 5000 $265 SPREADSHEETS Calcstar CP/M $95 Super Special Calcstar IBM PC $65 Supercalc II $159 Supercalc 3 $235 Microsoft Multiplan $159 !TK Solver $215 ACCOUNTING TCS'Equivalent of Peachtree'Specially Augmented By Warehouse Software Cus- tomized For Your IBM* Terminal and Printer- GL, AR, PA, AP, CP/M, XT, DOS 1.1, 2.0 Each Module $75 ... For All Four $275 CYMA Call Peachtree GL, AR, AP $265 Home Accountant Howardsoft $95 TRANSFER PROGRAMS Move-It for IBM PC $95 Hayes Smartcom Program $80 Microstuff Crosstalk $1 09 Best Price In U.S. for IBM PC or Clones Seven Function Board— Includes Async Adapter, Parallel Adapter, Clock with Battery Back-Up and Software, Game Port, 64K Memory Expandable to 51 2K. 1 year warranty $2?? Hayes 1200 Modem $485 Hayes 1 200B Modem $430 Anchor Signalman 1200B Modem. . $285 Disk Controller For IBM PC $1 75 Plantronics Color + Board $365 CDC 320K D/S D/D Drives $250 Toshiba 1/2 height Drives Call 256 K Ram Board $299 AST Six Pack Board $265 TAXAN RGB Color Monitor $450 Corona Computer - Por. or Desk Top .Call The Mercedes Benz of Portable Computers. IBM compatible - Hyperion — 2 Disc Drives — Software — List $3690 Sale $2995 PCDOS Versaform Lifeboat C Compiler Microsoft C Compiler Microsoft Pascal Compiler Prokey Norton Utilities Copy II PC Program Microsoft BASIC Compiler Howard Tax Preparer 83 $1 85 Microsoft Flight Simulator $38 CP/M 86 for IBM PC $49 CBasic 86 $1 65 CIS Cobol 86 $595 Pascal MT+86 $415 TERMS: Prices include 3% cash discount. Add 3% tor charge orders. Shipping on most items $5.00. AZ orders +6% sales tax. Prices subject to change. TOLL FREE ORDER 1-800-421-3135 WAREHOUSE SOFTWARE 4935 West Glendale Ave., Suite 12 Glendale, AZ 85301 Communication Parameter Explanation DATA RATE Four bits select the data rate used by the serial-l/O section. The available rates are shown below: position 8765 0000 110 bps 0001 134.5 bps 0010 150 bps 001 1 300 bps 0100 600 bps 0101 1200 bps 0110 1800 bps 0111 2400 bps position 8765 1000 3600 bps 1001 4800 bps 1010 7200 bps 1 01 1 9600 bps 1100 19,200 bps 1101 19,200 bps 1110 19,200 bps 1111 4800 bps PARITY SELECT There are four parity options: position 43 1 1 = Parity is forced to a space level if enabled. 10 = Parity is forced to a mark level if enabled. 01 = Parity is even if enabled. 00 = Parity is off if enabled. PARENE The parity-enable flag is used to enable or disable the parity function. If the switch is a 0, parity is disabled. A value of 1 enables parity. STPBIT This flag specifies the number of stop bits to be sent with each character. A logic 1 will cause one stop bit to be sent; a will send two stop bits. Table 6: The functions of the switch positions in configuration switch 6. Switch 4 11111100 Switch 5 10100111 Switch 6 00111010 Table 7: For general use, typical settings of all three switches might be as shown here (most significant bits to the left). Listing 1: A BASIC program to produce blinking characters on the Term-Mite. 10 OPEN "C0M:38N1D" FOR OUTPUT AS 1 20 PRINT #l f CHR$(12) :REM CLEAR SCREEN 25 PRINT #1,CHR$(27) ;"M0+" 30 PRINT #1,"THIS IS HOW WE PRINT IN "; 40 PRINT #1,CHR$(27) ; "I" ;CHR$ (251) ; i "BLINKING 50 PRINT #1 ,CHR$ (27) ; "I" ;CHR$ (255) ; "CHARACTERS" 100 CLOSE #1 110 STOP Listing 2: A program to produce reverse-video characters on the Term-Mite. 10 20 25 30 40 50 100 OPEN PRINT PRINT PRINT PRINT PRINT CLOSE C0M:3 8N1D" FOR OUTPUT AS 1 #1,CHR$(12) :REM CLEAR SCREEN #1,CHR$(27) ;"M0+" #1,"THIS IS HOW WE PRINT IN " ; #1,CHR$(27) ;"I";CHR$(254) ; "REVERSE VIDEO #1,CHR$(27) ;"I";CHR$(255) ; "CHARACTERS" #1 110 STOP 102 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. ■ 6ts *fc* Circle 116 on inquiry card. brother, hr-25 BROTHER has done it again. Not content to ride on the phenomenal success of the HR-1 , Brother now brings you the HR-25. A machine so improved and technically advanced, with a price/performance ratio that sets it apart in a class by itself. Although the HR-25 has been designed to fulfill the demands of the high volume user, its price is affordable for even the smallest business groups. And the HR-25 will assure you the highest letter-quality printing at speeds of 23 cps, making it the fastest printer in its price range on the market today. The BROTHER HR-25 is unsurpassed in every respect, and is backed by the DYNAX reputation for quality and service response. Options Available: Tractor Feed, Auto Cut Sheet Feeder 5698 Bandini Blvd., Bell, CA 90201 (213)260-7121 Dynaxjnc. from the manufacturers of "OFFICIAL TYPEWRITER OF THE LOS ANGELES 1984 OLYMPIC GAMES" Listing 3: A BASIC program to demonstrate reverse-video, double-height, double-width characters on the Term-Mite. 10 OPEN 20 PRINT 25 PRINT 30 PRINT 40 PRINT 50 PRINT 60 PRINT 70 PRINT 80 PRINT 90 CLOSE 100 STOP 'C0M:38N1D" FOR OUTPUT AS 1 #1,CHR$(12) :REM CLEAR SCREEN #1,CHR$(27) ;"M5&"; #1,"WE CAN PRINT THE REGULAR WAY" #1,CHR$(27) ;"M *";CHR$(27) ; "I " ;CHR$ (230 ) #l,"OORR TTHHIISS WWAAYY #1,CHR$(27) ;"M +";CHR$(27) #l,"OORR TTHHIISS WWAAYY #1,CHR$(27) ;"I";CHR$(255) #1 FFOORR SSPPEECCIIAALL "I" ;CHR$(166) ; FFOORR SSPPEECCIIAALL EEMMPPHHAASSIISS" EEMMPPHHAASSI ISS " Listing 4: A program to demonstrate all internal character attributes and the drawing of borders with line-graphics characters. 10 20 30 35 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180 190 200 210 220 230 240 250 251 252 253 OPEN "C0M:38N1D" FOR OUTPUT AS 1 PRINT #1,CHR$(12) PRINT #1,CHR$(27) ; "I" ;CHR$ (127) PRINT #1,CHR$(27) ;"M%#"; PRINT #1,STRING$(70,23) PRINT #1,CHR$(27) ;"M$*"; PRINT #1,STRING$(71,23) PRINT #1,CHR$(27) ;"M$-"; PRINT #1,STRING$(71,23) PRINT #1,CHR$(27) ;"M$5" ; PRINT #1,STRING$(71,23) FOR 1% = 3 TO 21 PRINT #1,CHR$(27) PRINT #1,"J" PRINT #1,CHR$(27) PRINT #1,"J" NEXT 1% FOR 1% = 10 TO 13 PRINT #1,CHR$(27) PRINT #1,"J" PRINT #1,CHR$(27) PRINT #l f "J" PRINT #1,CHR$(27) PRINT #1,"J" NEXT 1% PRINT #1,CHR$(27) PRINT #1,CHR$(27) PRINT #l f CHR$(27) "M$";CHR$(32+I%) "Mk";CHR$(32+I%) "M5";CHR$(32+I%) "MG";CHR$(32+I%) "MY";CHR$(32+I%) "M$#X";CHR$(27) ;"Mk#L"; "M$5";CHR$(21) ;CHR$(27) "M$*";CHR$(28) "Mk5";CHR$(22) Listing 4 continued on page 106 \ fLTErn INTERNATIONAL CORP FUTECH 2000 SERIES ADVANCED INDUSTRIAL GRA S-100 MAIN FRAMES DE>- The most advanced industrial grade high-tech, high quality, sleek style S-100 bus main frame. • Front panel LED display for TIME/DATE and temperature of internal system air flow... • Heavy duty power supply meeting todays standards for multi-user multi-tasking high speed CPU applications... • A variety of front panels for floppy and Winchester configuratioins... • Synthesized warning voice indicator... 2100 N. Hwy. 360, Suite 1807, Grand Prairie, Texas 75050,(214) 660-1 955, Telex 703033 104 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Circle 149 on Inquiry card. Most Local Area Networks Can't Po CJCJ T^ 111 Q But Nestar's PLAN -■- MOO X Allk5 yr Series™of networking s-** • i fTTI i products for microcomputers iSllTlTlIP I ^^^JT .^^P will work for your headquarters in k7Xl.XXJ#J.V IvOtlM ^^^ Manhattan, New York, and your local branch in Manhattan, Kansas — as well as your regional office in Chicago. Here are some technical details: Our PLAN 2000™ links IBM PCs. Use our PLAN 2000 to link as many as 255 IBM PCs or XTs in a token passing network that can cover several miles. Any one station can access up to three printers and eight hard disks at a time. Our PLAN 3000™ is a bargain for IBM PCs and Apples. You can get a file server, a print server, 3270, 3770 and 3780 emulation, electronic mail, Apple and IBM PC support, 6 operating systems, multi-level file structures, multi-level pass- word protection, disk capacity as small as 10 Mbytes, high-speed digital tape back-up, and more! Best of all, a 10 Mbyte file server costs less than $10, 000. Our PLAN 4000 m grows from 30 to 548 Mbytes. It offers all the features of the PLAN 3000, and has enough capacity to handle very large organizations. Don't buy more or less networking than you need. Contact Nestar Systems, 2585 East Bayshore Road, Palo Alto, CA 94303, (415)493-2223, Telex: 171420-NESTAR PLA. In Europe contact Nestar Systems Limited, 122/3 High Street, Uxbridge, Middlesex UB8 1JT, United Kingdom,Tel: Uxbridge (0895) 59831, Telex: 896607. PLAN Series model PLAN 2000 PLAN 3000 PLAN 4000 Typical number of users 2-4 3-12 10-100 Maximum number of users 255 255 255 Speed 2. 5 Mbits/s 2. 5 Mbits/s 2. 5 Mbits/s Maximum distance 22,000 ft. 22,000 ft. 22,000 ft. Minimum file server cost $500 $9,995 $15,995 AES2A/? © Nestar 1984 Circle 266 on inquiry card. BYTE February 1984 105 Listing 4 continued: 254 PRINT #1 CHR$(27) ;"Mk*";CHR$(29) 255 PRINT #1 CHR$(27) ;"M$-" ;CHR$(28) 256 PRINT #1 ,CHR$(27) ;"Mk-";CHR$(29) 257 PRINT #1 ,CHR$(27) ;"M5*" ;CHR$(31) ;CHR$(27) ; "M5-" ;CHR$ (30) 258 PRINT #1, CHR$(27) ;"MG*";CHR$(31) ;CHR$(27) ; "MG-" ;CHR$ (30) 259 PRINT #1. CHR$(27) ;"MY*";CHR$(31) ;CHR$(27) ; "MY-" ;CHR$ (30) 260 PRINT #1, CHR$(27) ;"I";CHR$(255) 270 PRINT #1, CHR$(27) ;"MF%"; 280 PRINT #1, "THE" 285 PRINT #1, CHR$(27) ;"I";CHR$(231) ; 290 PRINT #1, CHR$(27) ;"M= I "; 295 PRINT #1, "TTEERRMM — MMIITTEE SSTT" 300 PRINT #1, CHR$(27) ;"I";CHR$(167) ; 305 PRINT #1, CHR$(27) ;"M=("; 310 PRINT #1, "TTEERRMM— -MMIITTEE SSTT" 315 PRINT #1 CHR$(27) ;"I";CHR$(251) ; 320 PRINT #1 ,CHR$(27) ;"M*+"; 325 PRINT #1 , "BLINK" 330 PRINT #1 ,CHR$(27) ;"M(,"; 335 PRINT #1, "ATTRIBUTE" 340 PRINT #1. CHR$(27) ;"I";CHR$(223) ; 345 PRINT #1, CHR$(27) ;"M:+"; 350 PRINT #1 -"UNDERLINE" 355 PRINT #1 ,CHR$(27) ;"M:, "; 360 PRINT #1 -"ATTRIBUTE" 365 PRINT #1 ,CHR$(27) ;"I";CHR$(253) ; 370 PRINT #1. CHR$(27) ;"MJ+" ; 375 PRINT #1, "HALF INTENSITY" 380 PRINT #1, CHR$('27) ;"ML,"; 385 PRINT • lj "ATTRIBUTE" 390 PRINT #li CHR$(27) ;"I";CHR$(254) ; 395 PRINT #1 CHR$(27) ;"M";CHR$(92) ;" + " ; 400 PRINT #1. "REVERSE VIDEO" 402 PRINT #1 ,CHR$(27) ;"M";CHR$(92) ; " , " ; 404 PRINT #li " ATTRIBUTE " 406 PRINT #1 CHR$(27) ;"I";CHR$(255) ; 408 PRINT #1, CHR$(27) ;"M)/" ; 415 PRINT #1 CHR$(27) ;"M00"; 425 PRINT #1 CHR$(27) ;"I";CHR$(239) ; 430 PRINT tli CHR$(27) ;"M'3"; 435 PRINT #1. "DDOOUUBBLLEE WW I IDDEE , , " ; 440 PRINT #1, CHR$(27) ;"I";CHR$(247) ; 445 PRINT #1 CHR$(27) ;"M@2"; 450 PRINT #1, "DOUBLE HEIGHT, " 455 PRINT #1 CHR$(27) ;"I";CHR$(183) ; 460 PRINT #li CHR$(27) ;"M§3" ; 465 PRINT 11, "DOUBLE HEIGHT, " 470 PRINT 11 j CHR$(27) ;"I";CHR$(255) ; 475 PRINT #1, CHR$(27) ;"M03"; 480 PRINT #1. "and"; 600 PRINT #1 CHR$(27) ;"I";CHR$(231) ; 605 PRINT #1 CHR$(27) ;"MS2"; 610 PRINT #1 "DDOOUUBBLLEE SSIIZZEE" 615 PRINT #1 ,CHR$(27) ;"I";CHR$(167) ; 620 PRINT #1, CHR$(27) ;"MS3"; 625 PRINT #1. "DDOOUUBBLLEE SSIIZZEE" 630 PRINT #1 CHR$(27) ;"I";CHR$(231) ; 650 PRINT #1, CHR$(27) ;"I";CHR$(191) ; 655 PRINT #1, CHR$(27) ;"MB";CHR$(34) ; "BLANK FAILURE"; 660 PRINT #1 CHR$(27) ;"MG7";CHR$(27) ; "I " ;CHR$ (255) ; 665 CLOSE 1 670 STOP 106 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. IF YOUR DATA'S WORTH REMEMBERING, IT'S WORTH PROTECTING. POWERMAKER MICRO UPS A split-second blackout or a sudden voltage sag can shut down your small business computer, completely wiping out critical data. Inventories, payrolls, receivables — whatever is in the mem- ory may be lost instantly. Although this type of data is just as important to a small business as it is to a large corporation, blackout protection has always been far too costly for small business applications. But now there is the Powermaker Micro UPS, an inexpen- sive standby power source specifically designed for small business computers. This new rechargeable power system pro- vides up to 35 minutes of steady sine-wave power, enabling even the most sensitive small computers to ride through blackouts and voltage sags completely unaffected. Why sine-wave power? Because square- wave power impairs the performance of many printers, viewing screens and timing circuits. A Powermaker Micro UPS produces a sine wave that exactly matches the waveshape of commercial power, ensuring compatibility with any computer system. In addition to providing highly reliable blackout and brownout protection, a Powermaker system also protects against electrical noise, one of the major causes of computer errors and component malfunction. A Powermaker UPS is portable, completely automatic, maintenance free and plugs into any standard 120V outlet. No matter how small your computer, your data is worth remem- «aB«K__Mn_»nH_B TOPAZ; 9192 TOPAZ WAY SAN DIEGO, CA 92123-1 165 bering. Protect it with an affordable Powermaker Micro UPS. For complete information about the new Powermaker Micro UPS from Topaz, please fill out this coupon or callus. TOPAZ SPURRE D COMPANY Circle 357 on inquiry card. PHONE: (619) 279-0831 TWX: (910) 335-1526 □ Please send me complete information about Powermaker® Micro UPS. □ Please have a representative call me. Name Title Company Address City State Zip Phone ■ 11 Photo 3: The Term-Mite can display several character attributes singly or in combination, such as reverse video (3a) and reverse, double width, double height (3b). •u L w - ^ r 1 " 1 ~- T Table 8: In the line-graphics mode, cer- tain control characters produce visible displays of corners, lines, and crosses useful for forming borders on the screen display (*" is Control-Caret). Photo 4: The Term-Mite can display certain control characters such as line-graphics symbols for screen templates and other basic uses. This display was produced by the program of listing 4. Text continued from page 100: I can see using the Term-Mite's graphics and attributes for this and other applications. (I already have eight cathode-ray tubes staring at me in the Circuit Cellar. What's one more?) Perhaps by building the Term-Mite you can put to good use that bargain keyboard and old monitor you've had sitting around for years. Be warned, however, that the unit's 25-line by 80-column display requires too great a bandwidth for satisfactory connec- tion to a regular TV set. A 12-MHz monochrome monitor is the better choice, as shown in photo 5. Since the Term-Mite's control soft- ware is stored in what is actually an EPROM (an erasable programmable ROM), it would be possible to add commands or modify the operation of its functions. National Semicon- ductor will eventually have complete documentation available for the NS455A TMP, including a listing of the standard supplied control pro- gram and the processor's instruction set. Within the 6K yet-unused bytes of program address space, some pretty fancy terminal software could be written, perhaps even to emulate the command protocols of various commercially sold terminals. The only 108 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Photo 5: The Term-Mite ST circuitry described in these articles is used with a separate keyboard and video monitor to form a complete func- tional terminal. Here a Jameco ]E610 keyboard works with the Term-Mite, a NEC (Nippon Electric Company) green-phosphor monitor, and the Circuit Cellar MPX-16 computer. modification would be a simple EPROM change. Next Month: A new chip from Silicon Systems Inc. has prompted another project on speech synthesis, m Editor's Note: Steve often refers to previous Circuit Cellar articles as reference material for each month's current article. Most of these past articles are available in reprint books from BYTE Books, McGraw-Hill Book Company, POB 400, Hightstown, NJ 08250. Ciarcia's Circuit Cellar, Volume I covers articles that appeared in BYTE from September 1977 through November 1978. Ciarcia's Cir- cuit Cellar, Volume II contains articles from December 1978 through June 1980. Ciarcia's Circuit Cellar, Volume III contains articles from ]uly 1980 through December 1981. Ciar- cia's Circuit Cellar, Volume IV, soon to ap- pear, will contain articles from January 1982 through June 1983. Special thanks to Bob Harbrecht of National Semi- conductor Corporation for his help on this project. Steve Ciarcia (pronounced "see-ARE-see-ah") is an electronic engineer and computer consultant with experience in process control, digital design, nuclear instrumentation, product development, and market- ing. In addition to writing for BYTE, he has pub- lished several books. He can be contacted at POB 582, Glastonbury, CT 06033. References 1 . ANSI X3.64-1979: Additional Controls for Use with the American National Standard Code for Information Interchange. New York: Ameri- can National Standards Institute, 1979. 2. Ciarcia, Steve. "Build the Circuit Cellar Term- Mite ST Smart Terminal, Part 1: Hardware Description." BYTE, January 1984, page 37 3. Ciarcia, Steve. "Build a Z8-Based Control Computer with BASIC." Part 1, BYTE, July 1981, page 38. Part 2, BYTE, August 1981, page 50. 4. Lancaster, Don. "TV Typewriter." Radio Elec- tronics. September 1973, page 43. To receive a complete list of Ciarcia's Circuit Cellar project kits available from the Micromint, circle 100 on the reader service inquiry card at the back of the magazine. The following items are available from: The Micromint Inc. 561 Willow Ave. Cedarhurst, NY 11516 (800) 645-3479 for orders (516) 374-6793 for information 1. Complete Term-Mite ST video-display ter- minal kit including NS455A, printed-circuit board, IC sockets, DB-25S connector, and all other components but without keyboard or CRT monitor. Board size is avvroximate- ly4V2 inchesby6 l A inches with a 0.156-inch 44-pin edge connector. Price $239 2. Assembled and tested Term-Mite ST video- display terminal, without keyboard or CRT monitor. Price . . . $279 Please add $5 for shipping in the continental United States, $25 elsewhere. New York residents please include 7 percent sales tax. Allow 4 to 6 weeks for delivery. February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 109 ■ ;-■-- • . ¥'**■ •"h y&% T*f'. "V KS*£ ■ >ai ■„..-■ ■ '..,%■■' mm With a complete set of tools, you can build almost anything. While other companies offer OEMs a few tools to build with, Cadmus provides the com- plete set. For example, the Cadmus 9000 combines all the power of a mainframe, the speed of a mini, the price of a micro and the unlimited application flexibility of UNIX™ SystemE with Berkeley 4.2 enhancements. All in a distributed environment. In fact, the system's unique UNISON ™ networking software provides the full resources • if U'i'. 1 '* of the entire network to any computational node through network-wide virtual memory with demand paging- A 10 Mbit Ethernet™ or 50 Mbit fiber optic LAN serves as the interprocessorbus. And comprehensive graphics, development and decision support tools facilitate graphics applications in a windowed, multiple process environment. In addition, we support every Cadmus 9000 with Thunderbolt 5 "" service that puts an engineer at your door anywhere in the country within 24 hours. Guaranteed. To get the complete picture on this high powered graphics-oriented distributed system, caU Cadmus at 617-453-2899. The Cadmus 9000. Finally, you've got a complete set of tools. WWfwl V J Mainframe. COMPUTER SYSTEMS *m0 600 Suffolk Street, Lowell, MA 01854 USENET: . . Iwivaxlcadmus TELEX: 948257 UNIX is a trademark of Bell Laboratories. Ethernet is a trademark of Xerox Corporation. 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You can order, or obtain literature, through the Tek National 2213 2215 2235 Bandwidth 60 MHz 60 MHz 100 MHz No. of Channels 2 2 2 + Trigger View Alternate Sweep — Yes Yes Vert/Trig B/W Limit - — Yes— 20 MHz Single Sweep — — Yes Accuracy: Vert/Horz 3% 3% 2% Delay Jitter 1:5,000 1:10,000 1 :20.000 Trigger'g Sensitivity 0.4 div at 2 MHz 0.4 div at 2 MHz 0.3 div at 10 MHz Input R-C 1Mn-30pf 1MO-30pf 1Mfi-20pf Variable Holdoff 4:1 4:1 10:1 Price $12001" $1450t .Slfl»< 64K BUFFER RS-232 50 TO 19.2K BAUD 50 TO 19.2K BAUD PARALLEL PARALLEL Available at your local dealer or contact: fTTl ANTEX DATA SYSTEMS f-lVA 1 A Division of International Antex Inc. ■■■■■ 2630 California Street Mountain View, California 94040 ■ Phone: (415) 941-7914 Telex: 704 969 INTERAX UD such as Lotus 1-2-3, games, or word processors, making the mouse but- tons do what you'd want them to do in that particular context. This deserves a bit more thought; more next month. The bottom line is I like the Logimouse quite a lot. That's a bit of a surprise, because I didn't think I'd like mice all that much. There are two generic prob- lems with mice: (1) you need a clean, flat surface near the keyboard, and (2) you have to take your hands off the keys to use the mouse. Number (1) is a problem in Chaos Manor; there are no clean, flat sur- faces of any size, near the keyboard or away from it. It's a law of nature: a flat surface collects papers. As for (2), taking your hands off the key- board can be a nuisance, but not when you've written the text and merely want to edit. I do wonder: why hasn't someone developed a keyboard with a small thumb ball along one edge? You could move your hand to the thumb ball to drive the cursor; and there could be two or three buttons, of the mouse kind, where your fingers naturally rest when you've put your hand on the thumb ball. I'd sure like a keyboard like that. . . . Coming Attractions At present our PC is in need of ex- pansion cards and the like, all of which we intend to add, after which comes a full report. I've also had a call from Steve Ciarcia about his won- derful new Quicksilver card and pro- gram; he's sending me one Real Soon Now, as soon as there's one available. As I said last month, Steve's card is the first thing one ought to add to an IBM PC, and I don't say that because Steve's a friend and colleague; it's a brilliant idea that makes your IBM PC into a new— and much faster— ma- chine. More on that when I have a test model. The Eagle Flies Again We love our Eagle 1600. We truly do. It's faster than the IBM PC, and the keyboard is laid out better. It has a nice screen. The microprocessor chip is an 8086, which gets data 16 bits at a time. Compare this to the 116 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Circle 244 on inquiry card. pAIAEAS E TM The Complete Application Development System With Features You Most Desire Unequaled power with extreme ease of use is Easy to Use: : ully menu driven to remove the uesswork. : ull use of function keys with he assignments always llsplayed. All cursor movement md editing functions on the eyboard are supported, •rovides full color support and creen style customization. System Features: ^ list of users can be kept, with jasswords and security levels, "he print style is customizable. >ata can be interchanged with nainframe computers, other lata bases or spreadsheet pro- jrams. )ata base back-up and restore unctions are integrated to educe errors. System Requirements: Wallable on the IBM-PC, DEC Rainbow, Wang/TI Profession- il, Victor 9000, etc. Compatible vith MS-DOS and CPM/86. Supports floppy or hard disk Irives. kny popular printer can be op- ionally supported. Inventory Control Personnel Management Job Accounting Mailing List Circle 288 on Inquiry card. LAY OUT THE FORMS ENTER THE DATA Li: SELECT REPORT/ TRANSACTION REQUIREMENTS LAY OUT REPORT FORMATS ENTER OPTIONAL REPORT/ TRANSACTION DATA LAY OUT MENUS RECORDS DATA ENTRY REPORT/ TRANSACTION DEFINITIONS flEPORT/ r "ANSACTlOW P "OCESSO« REPORTS MENUS It Provides A Complete Range of Features: Lay out forms on the screen. Define data-entry fields anywhere using: 8 field types; table look-ups; calcula- tions; range checks; choice fields; defaults. Revise your forms simply. • Easy, fast and accurate data-entry. View and update your records In the same simple manner. i Define reports/transactions using the unique English-like, optionally menu driven query language. Access data from all your flies; select records any number of ways; group /sort on any number of levels, per- form calculations, obtain subtotals, totals and statistical summaries. Delete/update selected records. Post Information between files. Use system defined/custom report formats. Create mailing labels/form letters. Use pre-printed forms. To format a report complete with text, data, and graphs; use the optional WORDEASE™ word-processor or the GRAPHEASE™ graphics facility. O Display or print the report output, or • take It to your spreadsheet, word pro- cessing, or graphics programs. m Organize the access to your forms and reports by setting up your own menus. $ Large data bases: 64K records /file; 255 fields/record; 255 char/field; any number of in- deces/file. Relate any number of files with this multi-user relational DBMS. Speedy ac- cess: B-Tree indices; cache memory; delayedwrltes. Create your DATAEASE Applications: Accounting Medical Office Systems Social Sciences Order Processing Real Estate Bibiography Market Analysis Agriculture Library Management Financial Portfolio Distribution Management School Records Software Solutions . Inc. 305 Bic Drive • Mllford, CT 06460 (203)877-9268 • (800)243-5123 • Telex 703972 Contact your dealer or call directly. / \ / SEE \ I US AT » SOFTCON | * #A761 / \ / Circle 291 on inquiry card. PUZZLED ABOUT EMULATORS? .III SmarTerm™ is the piece you need! Thousand users find our softwi emulators offer mo multiple setups, "smart" sof tkeys and command files, online help screens, full printer support, powerful ASCII and and binary file transfer including*"" an "error-free" mode. Combined with a complete manual, reference card, keytop chart, and unlimited telephone support, these features make SMARTERM unmatched! Call NOW for more information. Available through your local software dealer or directly from: 2740 Ski Lane Madison, Wl 53713 (608) 273-6000 Software for Professionals . . . by Professionals "On your monochrome monitor using the new Supervision" board! Ask about our special board prices. SMARTERM is a trademark ot Persott. Inc VT is a trademark ot Digital Equipment Corporation Dasher is a trademark ot Data General Corporation Supervision is a trademark ot Calilornia Computer Systems, Inc IBM PCs 8088, which only gets 8 bits a shot. When we all go to concurrent operating systems— as we will— each of the four tasks and an 8086 system will run faster than the same job by itself on the PCs 8088. The Eagle has on-board sockets for 512K bytes of memory and capabil- ity for multiple users. It also has eight expansion slots, same as the IBM PC XT. There's an optional built-in 10-megabyte hard disk. It also has the lousiest documenta- tion this side of the junkyard. Marty Massoglia is programming the Inferno game (by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle) in Pascal MT + 86 on PC-DOS. There came time to bring some of his results home. The Eagle has one Winchester hard disk and one floppy disk. As every- one knows, floppy disks come in a number of formats and flavors. The IBM, for example, has floppy disks with 40 tracks per side. So does the Zenith Z-100, which is what I in- tended to test Marty's game software with. The Eagle's floppy has 80 tracks. Now 80-track disk drives can read and write to 40-track disks; thus we formatted a disk in the Z-100 and copied the files from the Eagle's hard disk onto the Zenith 40-track disk. The Zenith couldn't read the files. It read the directory, all right, and it read some of the files, but we kept getting read errors. Call Eagle. New discovery. Sengle has the ability to format 40-track disks in its 80-track drives. You merely use the /i option when you give it the FORMAT command. This is known as an undocumented feature. It's about the tenth undocu- mented feature we've discovered for the Eagle. When we let the Eagle for- mat its own 40-track disks, all worked fine, and the Zenith and the PC can read them without difficulty. Sigh. We're beginning to wonder if there's anything the Eagle won't do, if you can just figure out how to do it. I mean, surely it's obvious that you use the /i option to format 40-track disks? Surely there's no need to docu- ment something so obvious? Flash: I read the above to Eagle's Product Manager. The /i stands for IBM; he discovered it by accident one day when the engineers were out to lunch and he wanted to format a disk to get programs off an IBM PC. It turns out there are a number of "/" options in the Eagle. None are docu- mented. I like the Eagle a lot, and we are col- lecting notes for the revised manual; it's a great machine, but wow! does it have lousy documents. Fortunate- ly, Eagle is working hard to remedy that. Stuart LeVine, senior scientist in the company's Advanced Technology Group recently called to say that Eagle is completely revising its tech- nical manuals. It also has DOS 2.0, which we haven't yet tried but we're getting to now. Its documents expfain most of the 1600's hidden features. Pascal Speed Gene Allen of Newport Beach, California, offers the following Pascal MT+ program: Program WORK; VAR N : INTEGER; BEGIN (*WORK*); FORN := 1TO 100 DO WRITELN (1.0:3:1); END (*WORK*) He says, "When compiled and run on the Compupro machine under CP/M-80 it takes about 3 seconds to run. When compiled for PC-DOS using the new compiler from Digital Research it takes over 45 seconds! "True, the IBM is a slower pro- cessor, but much of the speed dif- ference comes from the fact that DR uses double-precision reals in its PC- DOS version of MT+86. "The effect of this is that those of us who used MT+ now have pro- grams that run in about 5 minutes under CP/M and about an hour under PC-DOS." He concludes that Pascal MT+ is portable, but it is not usable. I sent a copy of his letter to Digital Research and got a reply from Rick Rosenbaum, engineering manager, who says, "The program does indeed run slower when compiled under PC-DOS. However, the speed dif- ference is not due to use of double- precision reals, as Mr. Allen states, 118 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. When critics rate you tops, what do you do for an encore? "VISUAL 50 is in a class by itself for visual quality; the character set is unusually clear and sharp."* "The VISUAL 50 is the most prom- ising new terminal to come out so far, especially in light of its price."* "We consider this terminal to be one of today's best products in price/ performance, its incorporation of ergonomically designed features and its broad range of functionality. "** Feature Comparison Chart * ADDS VISUAL Feature 60 SO TeleVideo Zenith 925 19 Wyse 100 Style 4 4 4 3 5 Overall Quality 2 5 3 4 3 Keyboard 3 5 2 4 2 Rollover/false keying 5 5 3 4 4 Video Quality 1 5 4 4 3 No. of attributes 5 5 5 2 5 Attribute method 2 5 2 4 2 Suitability for micros 2 5 3 5 3 24 39 26 30 27 List Price $895 695 995 895 995 'MICROSYSTEMS-Mareh 1983 • * THE ERGONOMICS NE WSLETTER-August 1982 Meet the VISUAL 55 The VISUAL 50, widely acclaimed as the best performing low cost terminal in the industry, is a tough act to follow. But the new VISUAL 55 extends its predecessor's per- formance even further by adding 12 user-programmable non- volatile function keys, extended editing features and selectable scrolling regions ("split screen"). Both the VISUAL 50 and VISUAL 55 offer features you expect only from the high priced units. For example, the enclosure is ergonomically designed and can be easily swiveled and tilted for maximum operator comfort. A detached keyboard, smooth scroll, large 7 x 9 dot matrix characters and non-glare screen are only a few of the many human engineering features. Another distinctive feature of the VISUAL 50 and VISUAL 55 is their emulation capa- bility. Both terminals are code-for-code compatible with the Hazeltine Espirit,™ ADDS View- point,* Lear Siegler ADM3A and DEC VT52? In addition, the VISUAL 55 offers emulations of the Hazeltine 1500/1510 and VISUAL 200/210. Menu-driven set-up modes in non-volatile memory allow easy selection of terminal parameters. And you're not limited to mere emulation. Unbiased experts rate the combination of features offered by the VISUAL 50/55 fam ily significantly more attractive than competitive terminals. Both VISUAL terminals are UL and CSA listed and exceed FCC Class A requirements and U.S. Government standards for X-ray emissions. Call or write for full details. ri i See tor yourselt Visual Technology Incorporated 540 Main Street, Tewksbury, MA 01876 Telephone (617) 851 -5000. Telex 951-539 Circle 376 on inquiry card. but is due to real I/O [input/output]. In fact, if the FOR statement is re- placed by R: = 1.0; FORN: = lTO 100 DO R:=R+1.0; WRITELN(R:3:1); the program runs in less than 3 seconds. Since few people need to do repeated I/O like the example Mr. Allen gave, we believe the PC-DOS implementation of Pascal MT + is a powerful product that allows the writing of portable programs." Alex, who's very interested in Pascal, says they're both right— but Pascal MT + 86 is notoriously slow in real I/O, much slower than it ought to be. Even with our Eagle, which is much faster than an IBM PC, we see the poor machine slow down and strain when an MT + program causes it to write lots of numbers to the screen. DR's Rosenbaum says, "We are committed to Pascal MT+ and will continue development work to pro- duce faster and more powerful re- leases of the product." I sure hope so. We're writing our big Inferno game in Pascal MT + largely for the portability between PC-DOS and both 8- and 16-bit CP/M systems; despite MT + 's problems, it remains our favorite for big pro- grams. We intend to convert the pro- gram to Modula when Modula stabi- lizes a bit; of course at the moment there's no Modula for CP/M 2.2 sys- tems. Turbo Pascal There's a new Pascal out that we haven't had much time with, but what we have seen, we like. Turbo Pascal, by Borland Interna- tional, comes close to what I think the computer industry is headed for: well documented, standard, plenty of good features, and a reasonable price. Well, almost reasonable. That is: Borland advertises Turbo Pascal for $49.95, and indeed will send you the compiler and all the documents for it; but in the fine print of their license agreement it turns out you don't really own the compiler, and you cannot either sell or even give away programs compiled with it unless you buy an additional license from Borland. My first reaction on reading this was to ignore the product. What need have we of a compiler that you're not only supposed to confine to a single machine, but whose out- put programs can be run only on the original machine? Both Microsoft and Digital Research tried that nonsense. Digital gave it up completely, and Microsoft mostly did. A fine product Turbo Pascal might be, but using it would be a solitary vice. I called Borland's president, Phillipe Kahn. His story is that Tur- bo Pascal is the cat's whiskers, best thing to come down the pike in years, much better than Pascal MT+ , which costs $600. Borland is a small com- pany that needs money and wants to sell at a low cost, but shouldn't the company get something for its ef- forts? Anyway, you can use Turbo Pascal for yourself for only $49.95, but JUKI 6100 LETTER QUALITY PRINTER 18 cps Word processing and graphic functions Proportional spacing control Uses IBM Selectric ribbons Cqmpatibjeyiwith KayprQj8M, v Apple, ^d others. h^ii^A-kk^tM Free shipping In U.S. rafefPTTTirocr wfliru jl EhIs and more 2420 University Ave., San Diego, Ca. 92 104 To Order (619)291-1442 Our new Optimizing = C86™ Compiler controls Charlie... Like a Puppet on a String! Take control of Charlie with our new Optimizing = C86™ C Compller...now available for the IBM PC-DOS and the MS-DOS operating systems. • Faster/tighter code • Standard object module format • Compile time switch for big machine addressing • Compile time switch to produce in-line 8087 code • Increased performance for our I/O library • MS-DOS version 2.00 I/O library • Expanded manual with numerous examples • Librarian for maintenance of MS-DOS libraries • Optional assembly source output The 086 Compiler Diskette and Manual are still only $395. See your local dealer or call Computer Innovations for information or to order. Prices subject to change without notice. "They Say It AIL. We Do It All!" Computer Innovations 980 Shrewsbury Avenue Suite J -504 Tinton Falls. N.J. 07724 (201) 542-5920 Visa and MasterCard accepted C86 is a trademark of Computer Innovations. Inc CPM 86 and MPM-86 are Irademarks of Digital Research MS-DOS is a trademark ol Microsoft PC-DOS is a trademark of International Business Machines 120 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Circle 82 on inquiry card. Circle 75 on inquiry card. Instant one -button color printing. IcOPY Press here. It's just that easy! Any time you want to print what's on your Apple's screen just hit the copy button on your Transtar 315 color printer with our PICS card installed, and it's done! No special programming, no lengthy code sequences, no need to exit your program! Just press the button and it prints! By adding the optional PICS card to your $599 Transtar 31 5 color printer, you've opened up a whole new world of easy color printing. For the first time ever, our PICS parallel interface card enables you to screendump virtually any program -- graphics, charts, games -- even copy-protected software! Specially design- ed only for the Apple II, II+, lie, and Franklin computers, the Transtar 315 PICS card does the work of a parallel card and a lot more and costs only $1 19.95. At the push of a button, Transtar's innovative new 4-color dia- gonal ribbon will print up to 7 colors and more than 30 shades in a single pass. The 315 is precision-built to exacting standards by Seikosha, the most experienced company of the famous Seiko group- recognized worldwide for quality and dependability. In fact, one of the nicest things about Transtar's 6-month warranty on parts and labor is that you'll probably never use it! Innovative, inexpensive, dependable, easy: the Transtar 315. Color printing has never looked so good! Only $599. "PICS cards are currently available for Apples and Franklins. PICS cards for other computers will be available in the future. Circle 361 on inquiry card. Transtar A Vivitar. Computer Product P.O. Box C-96975, Bellevue, WA 98009 BYTE February 1984 121 commercial users should pay more. "How much more?" I asked. I still wasn't much enthused. However, it turns out not to be a lot more. Borland only wants another $100 for what amounts to an unlimited license. Thus the true price of Turbo Pascal (for those who intend to sell or give away their programs or to run programs compiled with it on any machine other than the one they bought the compiler for) is $149.95. My first impression of Turbo is that it's probably worth $149.95. It looks to do everything MT+ with the Speed Programming Package does, and maybe even do it faster and better. It comes with a built-in editor, much like the MT+ Speed Package or UCSD Pascal. There are lots of util- ities. It generates native code, like Pascal MT+, not p-code like JRT Pascal and UCSD Pascal; but unlike Pascal MT + , there are trace debug- ger capabilities that let you find the source code that produced a run-time error. The document is a printed book and is quite complete, much more than adequate provided that you're not trying to learn Pascal from it. The book is certainly no tutorial intro to the language— although Mr. Kahn promises a tutorial Real Soon Now. It hardly matters; at that price you don't expect a tutorial. Get Alex Pournelle's Pascal Intro and a couple of good books, and you'll still be around $100 for a good learning pack- age (unless you intend to sell or give away your programs). Meanwhile, I find myself impaled on a real dilemma. First: I want to encourage outfits like Borland. I think software is priced far too high. Heck, I'd con- sider a good Pascal compiler for $150 to be a step in the right direction. Why, then, am I upset if Borland of- fers the exact same compiler for $49.95 on condition that you don't sell or give away programs developed with it? Because it's a tax on honesty. Sup- pose I buy Turbo Pascal for $49.95, like it a lot, and write a good utility program with it. My friends like my program and want copies. TOTAL CONTROL FORTH: FOR Z-8(P, 8086, 68000, and IBM® PC Compiles with the New 83-Standard GRAPHICS* GAMES* COMMUNICATIONS • ROBOTICS DATA ACQUISITION • PROCESS CONTROL • FORTH programs are instantly are portable across the four most popular microprocessors. • FORTH is interactive and conver- sational, but 20 times faster than BASIC. • FORTH programs are highly struc- tured, modular, easy to maintain. • FORTH affords direct control over all interrupts, memory locations, and i/o ports. • FORTH allows full access to DOS files and functions. • FORTH application programs can be compiled into turnkey COM files and distributed with no license fee. • FORTH Cross Compilers are available for ROM'ed or disk based ap- plications on most microprocessors. Trademarks: IBM. International Business Machines Corp.; CP/M. Digital Research Inc.; PC/Forth + and PC/GEN. Laboratory Microsystems. Inc FORTH Application Development Systems include interpreter/compiler with virtual memory management and multi-tasking, assembler, full screen editor, decompiler, utilities, and 130 + page manual. Standard random access files used for screen storage, extensions provided for access to all operating system functions. ZB0 FORTH for CP/M®2.2 or MP/M II, $50.00; 8080 FORTH for CP/M 2.2 or MP/M II, $50.00; 8086 FORTH for CP/M-86 or MS-DOS. $100.00; PC/FORTH for PC-DOS, CP/M-86, or CCPM, $100.00; 68000 FORTH for CP/M-68K. $250.00. FORTH + Systems are 32 bit implementations that allow creation of programs as large as 1 megabyte. The entire memory address space of the 68000 or 8086/88 is supported directly PC FORTH + . . . $250.00 8086 FORTH + for CP/M-86 or MS- DOS $250.00 68000 FORTH + for CP/M-68K $400.00 Extension Packages available include: soft- ware floating point, cross compilers, INTEL 8087 support, AMD 951 1 support, advanced col- or graphics, custom character sets, symbolic debugger, telecommunications, cross reference utility. B-tree file manager. Write tor brochure. inn Laboratory Microsystems Incorporated 4147 Beethoven Street, Los Angeles, CA 90066 Phone credit card orders to (213) 306-7412 I now have two choices: be a liar, or pay $100. Maybe I like Turbo Pascal so much that I'll pay the $100 out of gratitude; I understand there are customers who have. On the other hand, a lot of people are going to say to hell with it, and how is Borland going to enforce its "agreement"? I doubt Borland can, and suspect it won't try. Anyway: my original intent was to see how hard it would be for Marty Massoglia to translate our Inferno game from MT+ to Turbo Pascal, but I was scared off by the licensing agreement. Now that I know a "no strings" agreement is only another $100, I'll reconsider. I'd think that a fair test of Turbo. Meanwhile, Phillipe Kahn of Bor- land promises that upcoming re- leases of Turbo will include source code to a bunch of useful programs including a spreadsheet. Borland in- tends to get into the Pascal market in a big way, and I very much like that attitude. I'd like to see the company succeed; it's about time compiler prices came down to something reasonable. There's Value for You . . . I have acquired Evolving Technol- ogy Company's "Disk Doubler," which is advertised as "a real money saver." For "only $19.95" this gadget can "reduce the cost of disk storage by 50 percent by allowing the use of the back sides of floppy disks for stor- ing programs and data." What you get for $19.95 is: 1. a one-hole puncher (Wool- worth's, $0.95) 2. a grease pencil that makes white marks ($0.95 at most) 3. a heavy plastic template ($0.25) 4. a sheet of instructions ($0.10) 5. a "happy face" slip of cardboard ($0,005) Total value of materials, certainly less than $2.50. However, that's not the real problem with this "money saver." The real cost will come if you use it. So far as I know, all floppy disks have magnetic media on both sides 122 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Circle 206 on Inquiry card. FIRST CLASS SOFTWARE ■ ■ ■ ■ THAT TAKES YOU SOMEWHERE AND GIVES YOU SOMETHING SPECIAL ^H ■ r ■ AGENT 2.0 AGENT 2.0 A crisis, real or imagined? A spy, ours or theirs? A file, fact or fiction? You must decide. 1 1 1 P\ Portfolio Manager BLU CHIP PORTFOLIO MANAGER Your broker on a disk. Tracks your portfolio. A data base for investors--with spread- sheet capabilities. -*«,; ,£•"* H THCTH Action List Data Base Manager THOTH Once advisor to the gods of Ancient Egypt. Now yours. The action list data base manager. C TDDLS C TOOLS A collection of our most useful C routines. Add flavor to your C programming and save time too. ft EDO Think straight but think fast. The game of many strategies where no strategy is sacred. Wlf irru = lt t vr m tt ST. HIPPOLYTE'S WALL The challenge of the wall. Colorful. Ever- changing. Complex. Will you survive? CORPORATION See us at Softcon Booth #A1200 5421 OPPORTUNITY COURT Ml N NETON KA, MN 55343 (612)938-0005 Circle 394 on inquiry card. pfivf* of the disk. Many disk manufacturers test both sides of every disk. If both sides pass quality-control inspection, the disk is sold as "double-sided," and the code holes are punched in the jacket accordingly. If one side fails the tests, the disk is marketed as single-sided. If both sides fail, the disk is either scrapped, or marketed to a discount disk outfit, which puts it through less stringent tests. Consequently, there's no guarantee at all that the "other" side of your disk is usable— or worse, that it won't fail catastrophically. By Murphy's laws, that disk will fail when it con- tains the only copy of something ex- tremely valuable. Ezekial, my late friend who hap- pened to be a Z80 computer, had only one failure in his first couple of years. We eventually traced that failure to cheap disks: one had ac- tually let media rub off on the disk- drive head. That crashed the drive, but not when the el cheapo disk was in it. Oh, no. It crashed when I was saving some original text. Even Tony's bulletproof software couldn't save that particular chapter. More- over, it kept crashing, and it took some severe scrubbing with alcohol to get the gubbage off and make the drive reliable again. Since that time, I've been pretty careful about what kind of disks go into my machines. By staying with high-quality disks like Dysan, I pro- tect the disk heads from wear. Most important, though, I protect my data. All in all, using the back sides of single-sided disks seems to me a good way to invite trouble. It might work, and save a few tens of dollars, but mark my words, there'll come a time when you regret it. Crashing Shirley One of the hits of the CP/M East show last month (October, 1983) was Bill Godbout's (of Compupro) multi- user machine. It has some kind of of- ficial name, but I first heard of it under the code name "Shirley," and that's what I remember it by. Shirley is a business machine. It runs CP/M 8/16; that is, there are both 8-bit and 16-bit processors aboard, and you don't have to tell the system whether you want to run CP/M 2.2 or CP/M-86; Shirley's smart enough to figure it out once you invoke the program. Til have more about Shirley after I get mine; it's more than just possible that we'll set her up as the master writing machine here, and no, I haven't given up my notions about distributed processing and "one user, one CPU." Shirley has a separate microprocessor ("brain") chip for every user as well as a master brain to do traffic management and give all four users access to the hard disk; but back to my story. Godbout had Shirley set up for CP/M East. It was my first chance to play with it. Godbout didn't have Write, my favorite text editor, run- ning yet, but he did have Wordstar, so that's what I called up to play with. There was only one trouble: Wordstar does a lot of disk accesses (to get all those pesky messages and translate all those multiple-stroke commands), and every time there was a disk access, Shirley crashed. 5M DISK CONTROLLER KEY FEATURES • Full sector buffering • Logical sector addressing • Multiple sector, cylinder operation « 11 bit burst ECC * Self-diagnostic capability * Automatic sector alternation for the diffective sectors ©Automatic Error Retry * Industry Standurd SASI l/F National Computer Ltd. AKEBONO BLDG. 2-6-12 IWAMOTO-CHO CHIYODA-KU TOKYO, JAPAN PHONE: 1031863-6705 TLX:J27542 FAX:(03)864-4681 UASON OFFICE IN CALIFORNIA PHONE:(408I734-1006 FAX: 14081744-0709 In Less Than 3 Minutes Your IBM Model 50, 60, 65, 75, or 85 Electronic Typewriter can be an RS232C PRINTER or TERMINAL CALIFORNIA MICRO COMPUTER Models 5060 and 5061 can be installed easily and require NO modifications to the typewriter. For additional information contact: CALIFORNIA MICRO COMPUTER 17791 Jamestown Lane Huntington Beach, CA 92647 (714) 848-3947 124 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Circle 262 on inquiry card. More vivid graphics from your personal computer with Sakata CRT Monitors. Your personal computer deserves a SAKATA CRT MONITOR. Truly IBM compatible with resolution of 640 dots x 240 lines and distinguishes 16 colors. Exclusive tilt/swivel stand (Model STS-1) pro- vides better viewing from variety of angles. Modern streamlined design, backed by SAKATA's more than four generations of de- manding the utmost in quality. ..."We Promise Performance". Also available: Model SO- 100 13" Composite COLOR CRT MONITOR. Model SC-300 13" RGB super high resolution COLOR CRT MONITOR. Model SG-1000 12"monochrome high resolution CRT MONITOR (green). Model SA-1000 monochrome high resolution 12" CRT MONITOR (amber). SAKATA CRT MONITORS are available wherever personal computers are sold or write for technical and illustrated literature and prices. SAKATA U.S.A. CORPORATION 651 Bonnie Lane, Elk Grove Village, II 60007 (312) 593-3211 800-323-6647 (outside Illinois) sakata "Serving industry worldwide . . . since 1896" Circle 325 on inquiry card. Illustrated; Model SC-200 13" RGB High Resolution CRT COLOR DISPLAY MONITOR with STS-1 Stand (option). Compatible with IBM and other fine personal computers Circle 85 on inquiry card. Concurrent's cBASIC Com- piler transports your applica- tions to the newer and more TjW/V )(,B\TsJ powerful 16-bit computers. ' And the cost is only $495. Concurrent also specializes in WICAT 16/32-bit computers and related equipment, a variety of soft- ware and consulting services. rfl" Concurrent M c -po,„on ^- '"-* 1870 Madison Road Cincinnati. Ohio 45206 1-800-543-1128 • TELEX 701492 HIGH PERFORMANCE MICRO COMPUTERS FOR SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY HEROISM IN THE MODERN AGE THE ROLE-PLAYING GAME OF TODAY © Copyright 19H3 PnctflctaroUcbCofp. A sophisticated simulation of modern life and human psychology. Includes: BASIC MODULE — create and guide characters through their lives... PROJECT CONTACT (Scenario #1) — save the U.S.A. from a mad scientist and terrorist plot... you have only 60 hours to complete your mission... HEROISM IN THE MODERN AGE is expandable to other modules and exciting scenarios. At your computer store. 10850 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 800 Los Angeles, CA 90024 U.S.A. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: IBM PC* with one double-sided or two single- sided disk drives, an 80-column monitor, and 64K RAM (96K for DOS 2.0). Color graphics/adaptor optional. 'IBM PC is a trademark of International Business Machines Corp. Pacific Infotech Corp. Compupro tends to have loyal em- ployees; I never will forget how the staff stayed with the booth in the 106 + degree temperature of the out- side tents of last year's NCC. The overflow tent area quickly became known as The Inferno; a lot of ex- hibits shut down because the ma- chines couldn't take it. I got consider- able comfort from it, though, because a duplicate of my Compupro system continued to work even though I measured the input temperature at 105 degrees. The staff was wilting before the machines were. Anyway, when I made Shirley crash for about the third time, one of Com- pupro's young women came running over in a state of high dudgeon, and I abandoned my fun; but it was annoying. As it happened, I was scheduled to have dinner with Dr. Godbout and his crew that night, and we got to discussing what had hap- pened, and somewhere just after the soup it came to Len Ott, Godbout's software-development manager. "We mixed up Wordstars," he said. After that it was easy enough to see what happened. Wordstar comes in both 8-bit and 16-bit versions, and Shirley can run either. Now CP/M 2.2 (8-bit) com- mand files end with the extension .COM, while CP/M-86 (16-bit) com- mand files end with the extension .CMD, so that's no problem. How- ever, Wordstar has overlays, lots of them, that are called in every time you use one of the multiple-stroke commands— and the overlays have exactly the same names and the ex- tension .OVR whether they're for the 8-bit or the 16-bit version. Somehow in the mixup of bringing the exhibits (with new furniture not tried before), both .COM and .CMD versions of Wordstar had got onto the hard disk, with the wrong one first, so CP/M 8/16 loaded in the 8-bit com- mand file— which promptly called the 16-bit overlays. Needless to say, they had that par- ticular problem fixed before I arrived at the show the next morning, and, in fact, someone was watching for me to drag me over and show me they had it working. They'd simply eliminated all the 8-bit Wordstar parts 126 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Circle 285 on inquiry card. ■MSB** 9 WITH THE from execu gsBSSsgS DELUXE Our most popular model • Name or initials on cover • Pen, tablet and business card storage • Deluxe lock Plus the SMART- CARD Management System Manual • Manages 288 proj- ects: 2 panels— 72 SMART-CARDS per side. Expands to 1440 w/purchase of extra panels • 750 asst'd SMART- CARDS • Color-coded signals Leather grained vinyl $44.50 Genuine leather $84*50 Plus $4 shipping and handling THE TRAVELER Our streamlined model • Manages 144 projects • 500 asst'd SMART-CARDS • Color-coded signals • Name or initials on cover • Pen holder Plus the SMART-CARD Management System Manual Leather grained vinyl $27.50 Genuine leather $52.50 Plus $4 shipping and handling SUPER DELUXE Our premier model • Manages 576 projects: 4 panels— 72 SMART-CARDS per side. 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CREDIT CARD ORDERS PHONE TOLL FREE 1-800-USA0700 'OR WRITE: FXEC-U-PLAN™ ° EPT ' 184 31-17 QUEENS BLVD., LONG ISLAND CITY NY 11101 Circle 412 on inquiry card. from the system, which took care of the immediate difficulty. The long-term solution is to patch 16-bit Wordstar so that it wants over- lays with a .16V extension (or some such). Micropro doesn't tell you how to do that, although I gather that some systems consultants have the secret. Len Ott is working on the problem for Compupro; meanwhile, fair warning to anyone using CP/M 8/16. Don't mix Wordstar overlays. Much Improved . . . Another thing I collected at CP/M East was the new manuals for Word- star 3.3. I recall the first time I ever saw Wordstar. It was at a show in Los Angeles. MacLean, my late mad friend, and I had machines with memory-mapped video because Elec- tric Pencil wouldn't run with a ter- minal; indeed, the only full-screen editor that would work with ter- minals was Wordmaster, and it didn't have word-wrap and other features that I wanted for creative writing. Micropro, the company that brought out Wordmaster, introduced Wordstar. It was selling it from a small, against-the-wall booth, and the demonstrator/salesman told MacLean, "The documents were writ- ten by the programmer who wrote the program." Wordstar will never be my favorite editor, but the company has steadily improved it, and it's certainly more than adequate. Dan thumbed through the big notebook and said, sadly, "I can very well believe that." We stayed with Electric Pencil, part- ly because Wordstar would work only with terminals; it certainly couldn't take advantage of our fast-scrolling memory-mapped video displays. Even if we'd been tempted, though, excel: ARISr Finally, the reason to use a computer. And in one elegant software system. EXCEL EXCEL Systems Corporation • 655 Redwood Highway Suite 311 • Mill Valley • CA 94941 Ask your Dealer to demonstrate the entire EXCEL SYSTEMS line for you. the first Wordstar documents would have turned us off. However, most of the micro com- munity wasn't willing (or perhaps able) to put in memory-mapped video systems, and Wordstar was for several years the best text editor avail- able for systems using terminals. The result was that Wordstar very nearly became the micro world's standard text editor. It wasn't necessarily the favorite editor, but it was a pretty good second best. Everyone knew it, and it was available on most systems. It was smart to learn it, despite the poor documents. Over the years Micropro improved Wordstar and improved the docu- ments, and I'm pleased to report that the new documents for Wordstar 3.3 are not bad. The tutorial is still too terse and far too "busy" for my taste, but it will serve, and the reference manual is quite complete. Wordstar will never be my favorite editor (they'll never make changes that drastic!), but over the years the com- pany has steadily improved it, and it's certainly more than adequate. Interestingly enough, the keyboard pictured in the new Wordstar tutorial manual is very much like mine, ex- cept that it's missing most of the special function keys. Has Wordstar discovered just how good Archive keyboards are? Love That MPI I've become involved in publishing. That is, my friend and long-time as- sociate Jim Baen has talked me into a line of "Jerry Pournelle Presents" books. One of the first of these will be a revised collection of these col- umns. Others will include books by Tony Bove and Cheryl Rhodes on how to use CP/M and word proces- sors and such, an authoritative guide to the IBM PC, and a tutorial on Modula-2. I'm editor of record, so I contract for these books, and that's greatly in- creased the paperwork here at Chaos Manor. Worse, Jim Baen has his stan- dard contracts on his IBM PC, and until a few days ago I didn't have a PC. I did have Zorro the Zenith Z-100, which in many ways is a better 128 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Circle 136 on inquiry card. "I built this 16-bit computer and saved money. Learned a lot, too." Save now by building the Heathkit H-100 yourself. Save later because your computer investment won't become obsolete for many years to come. Save by building it yourself. You can save hundreds of dollars over assembled prices when you choose the new H-100 16-Bit/8-Bit Computer Kit - money you can use to buy the peripherals and software of your choice. H-100 SERIES COMPUTER SPECIFICATIONS: USER MEMORY: 128K-768K bytes* MICROPROCESSORS: 16-bit: 8088 8-bit: 8085 DISK STORAGE: Built-in standard 5.25 "disk drive, 320K bytes/disk KEYBOARD: Typewriter-style, 95 keys, 13 function keys, 18-key numeric pad GRAPHICS: Always in graphics mode. 640h/225v resolution; up to eight colors are available COMMUNICATIONS: Two RS-232C Serial Interface Ports and one parallel port 128K bytes standard. Optional. DIAGNOSTICS: Memory self-test on power-up AVAILABLE SOFTWARE: Z-DOS (MS-DOS) CP/M-85 + Z-BASIC Language Microsoft BASIC Multiplan SuperCalc WordStar MailMerge /, ,- Data Base Manager Most standard It 8-bit CP/M Software The H-100 is easy to build - the step-by-step Heathkit manual shows you how. And every step of the way, you have our pledge -"We won't let you fail." Help is as close as your phone, or the nearest Heathkit Electronic Center.t And what better way to learn state-of-the-art computing techniques than to build the world's only 16-bit/8-bit computer kit? To run today's higher-speed, higher-per- formance 16-bit software, you need an H-100. It makes a big difference by processing more data faster. Dual microprocessors for power and compatibility. The H-100 handles both high-performance 16-bit software and most current Heath/Zenith 8-bit software. Want room to grow? The H-100's standard 128K byte Random Access Memory complement can be expanded to 768 K bytes - compared to a 64 K standard for many desktop computers. And the industry-standard S-100 card slots support memory expansion and additional peripheral devices, increasing future upgradability of the H-100. High-capacity disk storage, too. The H-100's5.25"floppy disk drive can store 320K bytes on a single disk. The computer also supports an optional second 5.25" and external 8" floppy disk drives. And an optional internal Winchester disk drive will be available soon. For more information, circle the reader service number below. Better yet, visit your Heathkit Electronic Center for a demonstration! The H-100 gives me the most for my computer dollar! Heathkit Heathkit Electronic Centers are units of Verltechnology Electronics Corporation. Heath Company and Veritechnology Electronics Corporation are subsidiaries of Zenith Radio Corporation. CP/M is a registered trademark of Digital Research Corporation. Circle 168 on inquiry card. ERG/68000 MINI-SYSTEMS D Full IEEE 696/S100 Compatibility HARDWARE OPTIONS D 8MHz, 10 MHz, or 12 MHz 68000/68010 CPU D 68451 Memory Management Lj Hardware Floating Point D Multiple Port Intelligent I/O D 64K/128K Static RAM (70 nsec) D 256K/512K/1MB Dynamic RAM (150 nsec) Q Graphics-Digital Graphics CAT-16000 D DMA Disk Interface G SMD Disk Interface D Tape Streamer Backup D SVi" or 8" Floppy Disk Drives D 5MB-474MB Hard Disk Drives □ 7/10/20 Slot Back Plane D 20 or 30A Power Supply O Desk Top or Rack Mount End. SOFTWARE OPTIONS D 68KFORTH 1 Systems Language □ CP/M-68K 2 0/S with C, 68K-BASIC, 68KFORTH', FORTRAN 77, Z80 Emulator, Whitesmiths' C, PASCAL □ IDRIS 3 O/S with C, PASCAL, FORTRAN 77, 68K-BASIC 1 , CIS COBOL 4 , INFORMIX 5 Relational DBMS □ UNIX 6 SYS III O/S with C, PASCAL, FORTRAN 77, BASIC, RM COBOL 7 , ADA', INFORMIX 5 , Relational DBMS D VED 68K Screen Editor □ Motorola's MACSBUG and FFP Package Trademark 'ERG, 'Digital Research, Whitesmiths, 'Micro Focus, 5 RDS, Inc., ■Bell Labs, 'Ryan McFarland, «U.S. DoD 30 Day Delivery - OEM Discounts since 1974 Empirical Research Group, Inc. P.O. Box 1176 Milton, WA 98354 206-631-4855 machine, and the MPI 150G dot- matrix printer, which is faster than the letter-quality Diablo and NEC printers, and plenty good enough quality for contracts and business documents. We set up Zorro out in the auxiliary office where the whole staff as well as the kids can get at him, and de- mand has picked up a lot— so much so that people were chafing to get the printing done so they could get back to work. MPI came to the rescue. That's one great little printer. The MPI ("The Printer People") troops sent an up- date board for the T50G. It was sim- ple to install, and it loads the printer with 68K bytes of memory. Now when we want to print a contract, we do just as we always did, but when Zorro has sent the entire file over to the MPI 150G, we can start editing something else while the printer con- tinues its work. The time saved is quite significant. It's even more significant when we're printing Write files; it seems that Wordstar takes quite a long time to go through the text files and do all the necessary formatting. The MPI printer is so fast that it can nearly keep up with Wordstar! However, for Write, program listings, and all the myriad details that one uses a printer for, having that memory is little short of wonderful. I know there are various boxes of memory that sit between the com- puter and the printer, and I've always been tempted to get one, but I never have. I suppose one reason is that early on MacLean set me up with a "spooler," which is something a bit different; the spooler, or at least the one I had, is a software timesharing system that let the computer print during pauses when nothing else was happening. It almost drove me mad. The printer was in the other room, but I could hear it. Whenever I'd pause for thought, the printer would start; as soon as I hit a key, it would stop. All pretense of creative thought went out the window, and I had that darned spooler erased from all my disks so I'd never be tempted to use it again. That somehow convinced me I didn't want printing going on when I was working. Then, later, I got a sec- ond machine and hooked it to the printer, and that became the primary printout system, and I found I could work while the printer was going in the other room, so long as it worked steadily and didn't depend on what I was doing at the time. It's only been recently that I find I wish I had ac- cess to the second machine while it's printing; and our experience with the . Z-100 and the MPI's magic memory has been so pleasant that I guess I'll start looking for a box to connect be- tween the Compupro Dual Processor and the NEC 7710 Spinwriter. Meanwhile, if you want a good dot- matrix printer, let me recommend the MPI. We also have its little brother, the MPI 99, which is destined to be attached to the IBM PC as soon as we get either a parallel-output board for the PC or the serial-interface adapter cable for the MPI 99. The Ultimate Language? Buz Overbeck of Garland, Texas, has evidently been following my lan- guage debate articles and has decided to solve the problem once and for all. He sent me the specifica- tions for the new language DeSade, which he thinks should come out of the closet. According to Overbeck, DeSade "is perfectly suited for brute-force appli- cations, slow and dirty program- ming, the crunching of numbers, and hacking in general." Some of the pre- viously defined functions are STRIP (X$), which removes everything; FLOG(X), which returns the floating- point logarithm; SLASH(X), which returns the integer portion of X; MAIM(X), which returns nothing; and SIN(X), which restores X to its original illegal value. Alas, \ cat\'\. really do justice to DeSade and its library function Libertine— at least not in a family-type magazine like BYTE. Perhaps that's just as well. That Won't Work... No one has yet deciphered my secret message encrypted in Charlie Merrit's public-key encryption sys- tem. I know for a fact that some 130 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. A PC for PEANUTS Why settle for a limited home system when Scoftsdale Systems will sell you a complete business system for less? Our PC Plus features on 8088 CPU, one 1 60K drive, 256K RAM with Ramdlsk and Spooler sofrwore, MS-DOS, Wordstar, Colcstor, Color Graphics Basic, o printer port, and your choice of an amber or green 1 2" monitor for $1 099. The PC Deluxe has 2 160K drives plus Moilmerge, Spellstar and Infostor. Doth systems run many programs written for the IDM-PC ®, and the computer boards ore warranted for a full year by over 70 nationwide Sanyo Service Centers. Don't settle for less, give us a call. PC PLUStm $1 099 PCDELUXEtm Call Hard disks, networking systems - Call ,X © SANYO TELEVIOEO ALTOS Single user sysrems now Include Word processing, spreadsheet ond graphics software (along wirh CP/M or CP/M-86). Local Installation of multi-user systems available via TRW. TPC Coll 800 $1849 1603 $2289 802H $4319 806/20 mb $4859 816/40 mb $9275 TERMINALS Adds Viewpoint 3A+-Emuiares the ADM-0A, detached keyboard, keypad, 12" green display, nationwide Adds service. S457 Viewpoinr60 $589 Wyse 50 $508 Wyse 100 $694 Televideo914 Coll Televideo924 $689 Televideo970 $1044 Altos II $724 ZenirhZ-29 $656 Zenith ZT-1 $469 Qume 102 $544 HOUSTON INSTRUMENTS DMP-29 $1795 DMP-40 $745 DMP-41 $2340 From the lowest-priced dual-floppy multi- user systems to true 1 6-bit 1 Mhz. mulli user systems. Local service available via TRW. We will configure, rest ond install yout systems fot on additional charge (coll fot prices). 5-80-2 $1998 5-80-10 $3629 5-86-10 $5795 5-86-40 $7995 8000-10 $4679 8000-14 $8118 ZENITH Low prices on the systems thot ore S- 100, 16 blt/fl bit. MS-DOS and CP/M compatible. Plus, they're backed by Zenith service virtually everywhere. The Z-100'5 feature two built-in 5'/* drives, 128K RAM, graphics ond 3 ports. Free software and specials on additional sofrwore. ZF-1 10-22 $2699 ZF-1 20-22 $2799 ZV-1 10-32 $4249 COLUMBIA Sanyo 8-bit Systems new lower prices. |Scottsdale Systems^ i 61 7 N. Scoffsdole Road, Suite D, Scoftsdale, Arizona 85257 21 (602) 941-5856 E3 v Call 8-5 Mon.-Fri. ■JJ/WL We participate in arbirrarion for business ond customers through the Defter Business Dureou of Maricopa County. SERVICE/ORDERING INTEGRATION: Prices lisred qt& for new equipment in factory sealed boxes wirh manufacturer's 1 warranty. We will pretest your equipment, integrate your system, configure your software, provide special cobles, etc., for an addirlonol charge. Coll for prices. ORDERING: MAIL ORDER ONLY. Prices listed are far cash. No C.O.D.s. We sell on a Net 30 basis to Fortune 1000 companies and Universities with good credit. P.O.'sadd 2%. charge cords add 3%. Az. residents add 6%. Prices subject to change, producr subject to availability. Personal checks roke 3 weeks to clear. 0-20% restocking fee for returned merchandise. Shipping extra -products are F.O.D. point of shipment. CP/M ond MP/M are registered trademarks of Digital Research. Wordstar is a I registered trademark of MicroPro International. IDM and IDM PC are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. TeleVideo" is o registered trademark of TeleVideo Systems. Inc.." SOFTWARE: 5old only w/systems, not warranted for suitability. ^lipj Each Columbia now comes with MS-DOS, CP/M-66, Doslco (with IBM-PC® compa- tible color graphics). Perfect Writer TM, Perfect Speller TM, Perfect Calc TM, Perfect Filer TM, Fast Graphs. Home Acc'r Plus, Space Commanders, Diagnostics, and The Columbia Tutor. The VP Is 3fl lbs. portable with a built-in 9" monitor. The 1 60 1 Is the desktop unit. Doth computers come with dual 320K drives, and are backed by Dell and Howell. VP $2349 1600-1 $2589 1600-4 OOmb) $3545 PRINTERS Gemini 10X $115 off Gemini 15, 15X Coll Delta 10's Coll Tolly 160L/froc $584 Tolly 180L/trac $799 Tolly Spirit $298 Anodex Coll IDS Prisms Coll T LETTER QUALITY Silver Reed 500 $409 Silver Reed 550 $619 Sanyo PR5500 Less Silver Reed 770 Call NEC 7710 $1965 NEC 2000s Coll OKIDATA DTC-380Z ~\ The new Microline 92's and 93's feature 160 C.P.S. draft mode, 40 C.P.S. correspondence mode. Standard parallel, serial card add $91. Microline 92 $175 off Microline 93 $290 off Microline 62 $134 off Pacemork 2350P Call Replaces the Daisywrirer 2000. Uses the same printwheel, ribbons, and tractor feed. Will run serial, parallel, or IEEE 466. 46K buffer standard, uses Diablo codes. $1044 pretty bright people using fairly large machines took a stab at it; so perhaps it's reasonable to conclude that Mer- rit's program works as advertised. For those who came in late, public- key encryption systems have two keys. One is published, and anyone can use it to encode a message. How- ever, once the message is encrypted, it can't be decoded except with the other, secret key. This means that you can give your friends the means to send you secret messages that only you can read. About a year ago, I encoded my Vita (whose plain text is known) and a "secret" message I made up and published both messages and the en- cryption key, with the stipulation that I'd have a reward for the first person to send me the plain text of the mes- sage. I made it available in my files at MIT MC and advertised my offer not only in BYTE but on other large electronic networks. (MIT MC is one of the larger machines at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. That's where my elec- tronic mailbox is located.) No one has it yet. There have been a couple of noble tries; one chap tried to disassemble Merrit's program in hopes of figuring out how Charlie did it. That didn't work, because the encryption algorithm is no secret: it involves factoring very large num- bers. Public-key encryption systems have two keys: one is published and anyone can use it, the other is secret. Another try is from Mr. Buttery in Australia, who used psychology: he figured out that I'd simply encrypted the original offer of a reward. Alas, that's not the answer. I've actually forgotten the plain text of my mes- sage (I do have it written down). It breaks into a grammatical but mean- ingless English sentence; there's no point in trying psychoanalysis. I'm beginning to believe Charlie Merrit has actually produced a near- ly unbreakable code that we can use on our micro systems. That has some interesting implications. More Mail . . . Alas, another 21 pounds of mail (as weighed by UPS) arrived today; that's a week's supply. It's physically impossible for me to answer it all; I do read every bit of it (so far), and much of it is very informative; it's as if I had my own intelligence service out there. Thanks. One of my most informative corre- spondents is Paul Chisholm of New Jersey. He says, "I'm writing this with Spellbinder, a.k.a. Word/125. Boy, is this thing modal! I'm used to input mode and command mode, but this 'edit' vs. command mode stuff is no fun at all." Coincidentally, there is a furious debate going in the "Editor People" mailing list on one of the nets I fre- quent. It concerns "modal" versus "modeless" editors. All the editors I use have "modes." Write, for example, has "insert" and "strikeover" modes; you toggle be- Volkswagens Weren't Meant To Carry Cows For years people have extended Pascal so they could pack in more and more large programs. But that's like extending a Volkswagen to carry cows. It might get the job done, but wouldn't something else work better? Nicklaus Wirth, the creator of Pascal, has a better solution. Modula-2. Not another extension, a new lan- guage. Modula-2 gives you all the simple elegance that made Pascal the most popular language of the last decade. Yet with even more power and flexibility. And it's easy. If you know Pascal, within hours you can be writing programs in Modula-2. LOGITECH Only Logitech's Modula-2/86 system (an exact and complete implementation of Wirth's Modula-2) translates directly into high-speed native code for PC-DOS™, MS-DOS™ and CP/M-86™. No other system speeds your Modula programs along faster than this native code compiler. And our high-level, symbolic debugger ensures your programs arrive in flawless running condition. Multi-level overlays, 8087 support, ROMable code, and a full library of standard modules make Modula-2/86 the perfect system for every professional application. Move up to Modula-2/86. The professional software development system. After all, you wouldn't carry cows in a Volkswagen. PC-DOS is a TM ol IBM. MS-DOS is a TM ol Microsoft. CP/M-86 is a TM ol Digital Research. 165 University Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94301 415-326-3885 r™ 132 R*ruary 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Circle 218 on inquiry card. Your troubles are over! THERE'S A NEW STAR IN WORD PROCESSING l\EUM 5TAR ANYONE FAMILIAR WITH WordStar® CAN USE NewWord /MergePrint IMMEDIATELY, AND ENJOY SUPERIOR PERFORMANCE AND EASIER INTERACTION— AT ABOUT ONE-THIRD THE COST OF WordStar®/MailMerge® NewWord makes it easy for you to turn to uncompli- cated, efficient word processing. Now you can get let- ter perfect, professional-looking documents without a great deal of sacrifice. The proof of NewWord's superior performance is in the printout. With dot matrix printers, NewWord is excep- tional, supporting every advanced capability including microjustification, variable line height/character width, and alternate pitches on the same line. NewWord's full range of features are what you'd expect to find only on the most expensive word pro- cessors. NewWord also gives you such advanced features as unerase deleted text, find a specific page in a document, and multiple-line headers and footers. Its versatility includes automatically changing ruler lines, on-screen display of boldfacing and underlining, and automatic indentation for programming. Yet, for all its sophistication, NewWord is simple to use. There are no complicated codes to memorize. On-screen menus of functions let you work effortlessly. And if you're familiar with WordStar, you'll be able to write faster and more effectively immediately. NewWord is entirely compatible with WordStar — key stroke, com- mand and file compatible. Even third party programs, video training and books. NewWord comes with a complete user manual, includ- ing: an Installation guide to personalize NewWord, a Do- It-Yourself tutorial, an Encyclopedia of facts explained with numerous examples, and a handy Pocket Reference of commands. We provide direct telephone support to NewWord users and dealers. A third party toll-free support service is also available as an option. Perhaps the best thing about NewWord is that at $249.00, NewWord costs less than programs featuring far fewer capabilities. And with merge print included, NewWord is an outstanding value. Let a New Star work for you. Call us today, toll-free 800-832-2244 (In California, call 800-732-2311) A\ ROCKY MOUNTAIN SOFTWARE SYSTEMS 1280-C NEWELL AVE., SUITE 1001; WALNUT CREEK, CA 94596 WordStar and MailMerge are registered trademarks o( MicroPro International, Inc. NewWord and Newstar are trademarks of Newstar Software, Inc. GREAT PRICES! GREAT SERVICE! Looking for a great deal on business software? 800-SOFTWARE is hard to beat. 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Their only job is helping you get the most out of the products we sell.) □ Quantity discounts available through our National Accounts Program. □ Purchase orders accepted. Please call in advance. □ Prompt U.P.S. or Federal Express shipping. □ Overnight delivery available. 134 BYTE February 1984 CHECK OUT ALL OUR INCREDIBLE BUSINESS SOFTWARE PRICES: $269 $389 $169 $279 CALL $399 $199 $119 $199 $299/mod $59 $119 $189 $129 CALL Diskettes CALL WE ALSO CARRY SOFTWARE FROM: Ashton-Tate, Aspen, ATI, CDEX, Digital Research, Fox & Geller, IMSI, I. U.S., Life- tree, MicroPro, Microsoft, Peachtree, Perfect, Software Publishers, Sorcim, VisiCorp and much, much more! WordStar® WordStar® Pro. Pack. SuperCalc® 2 SuperCalc 3 Lotus 1-2-3 dBase II Quickcode Crosstalk™ EasyWriter II System I.U.S. Accounting Norton Utilities" Perfect Link Multiplan 4-Point Graphics™ Hayes SmartModems Memorex or Maxell CUSTOMERS TELL OUR STORY BEST. "I very much appreciate your helpfulness and speed in filling my order. 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IKHSU ~*-*~W 800 SOFTWARE IS READY TO SERVE YOU. TO ORDER CALL TOLL-FREE 800-227-4587or 415-644-3611 □ Call for shipping charges, other low software prices or for a free catalog. □ Prices may change. □ International dealers and orders welcome: TELEX #751743 800-SOFTWARE UD. Write: 800-SOFTWARE 940 Dwight Way, Berkeley, CA 94710 Circle 5 on inquiry card. tween them with a single keystroke. I happen to like the strikeover mode as the normal one; text editors based on MIT's Emacs tend to use the op- posite philosophy. The important thing, though, is to get quickly from one to the other, and to have a way to tell which one you're in. (In most text editors there's a status line that tells you; in Write the cursor changes shape.) Write also has a command mode, a print mode, and a find/replace mode. In every case there's a dramatic on-screen change; you're in no doubt about which "mode" you're in. On the other hand, you don't have to leave the "text" mode for most text operations, which are ac- complished with single keystrokes. Thus, although Write has "modes," it tends toward the "modeless" end of the spectrum. By contrast, con- sider the simple editor built into most BASICs. You pretty well have to go to command mode to accomplish anything with it. Ed, the text editor that comes free with CP/M, is another "mode" editor, as is the UCSD Pascal source editor; in those you can't even move the cursor with- out going into command mode. What irritates Chisholm about Spellbinder is that he can't kill lines without changing modes. With Write that's a one keystroke command that can be made when you're in text mode. Obviously I prefer Write's method; on the other hand, I do pay for it. Many editors based on Emacs keep a big file of every bit of text you've killed and have the ability to "yank" back (unkill) that text at will. Multimode editors tend to have that feature; nonmoded editors tend not to. I don't happen to miss "unkill" or "oops" myself, but then Write won't let me kill anything larger than a line without asking me whether I'm serious. I wouldn't reject an "unkill" or "oops" feature in an editor, but I don't think I'd pay much for it, either. Anyway, Chisholm says, "Chalk up a 'nay' vote for Spellbinder." On the other hand, Marty Massoglia has been doing our Inferno game- in Pascal using Eaglewriter, which is Spellbinder under another name, and he's not unhappy with it. But he's writing programs, not text; he also has the patience of an IBM FOR- TRAN programmer. . . More on Editors Doug Hazen Jr. lives in Gainesville, Florida, where my mother went to college many years ago. He started off asking one or two questions and end- ed with a nine-page letter of queries, all sensible; but I'd have to write at least one book to answer all of them. One point he makes is that I may have been unfair to The Final Word. Why, he asks, can't I simply cus- tomize its command structure to my liking? After all, he says, "You didn't criticize Wordstar's commands, and it doesn't even pretend to be mnemonic or logical." Taking the latter point first, I've written so often about Wordstar's multiple-stroke commands that I guess I assumed everyone knows my views on the subject. For the record: I don't care for most of Wordstar's command structure. The part I do The proven Winchester subsystem drives for your IBM or compatible PC. 10, 15 or 25 megabytes of big system storage in a DiskSystenr you simply plug into your system and it's ready to use. At prices that make the speed and storage of a Winchester practical. Only $1495 for a 10 megabyte DiskSystem, $1795 for 15 megabytes, or $2245 for 25 megabytes. DiskSystems can be bootable from the Winchester. See your dealer today for DiskSystem power for your PC. I 2 INTERFACE INC |« Interface Inc 7630 Alabama Avenue Canoga Park, CA 91304 (213)341-7914 Telex: 662949 Dealer Inquiries Invited DiskSystems is a copyrisht of Interface Inc ■ IBM is a resistered trademark of IBM Corporation • Prices are sussested retail and are subject to chanse without notice Circle 452 for Dealer inquiries. Circle 453 for End-User inquiries. February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 135 ^H ^■k THERE ARE STILL PLENTY OF GOOD USES FORYOUR OBSOLETE DISKETTES. AS LONG AS IT'S NOT FOR STORING DATA. INTRODUCING THE DISKETTE THAT MAKES ALL OTHERS OBSOLETE. Janus. A revolution in diskette engineering. A new standard. Storing your critical data on any other diskette is a risk you no longer have to take. Janus. Twice as Strong. We construct our diskettes with stiffer jacket materials. 25% thicker than the other leading brands. And that makes them nearly twice as strong* Pick one up. You can actually feel the difference. Yet, we've carefully controlled the edge folds to create a stronger jacket without creating a thicker diskette. The fit in your disk drive is the same. It's a breakthrough that means your diskette won't crease as easily. And won't crimp, fold or warp as easily, either. Even at temperatures exceeding 100° F. A Janus diskette is less likely to jam in your disk drive. A Janus 10 mils jacket weighted with 500 mg deflects only ,349 inches. The competition s 8 mils jacket weighted identically deflects .55J inches. in a test of strength. Janus (top) bends less than the competition (above) when weighted the same. A full 3 7% less. That makes/anus nearly twice as strong. Janus. The Innovation YouVe Been Waiting For. We took a long, hard look at the problems with diskettes and set our sights on solving them. Diskettes had to be a lot stronger. Over 90% of all computer disk sub-system errors are caused by one culprit — physical damage to the diskette. And no one should ever have to be afraid of losing their irreplaceable data. We set out to re-invent the diskette. And we succeeded. The Semi Floppy Disk. Our thicker jacket material makes our diskette stiffer and less flexible. The "semi-floppy" disk. Janus. Ultimate Protection. We make a stronger diskette to protect your data. Other diskettes just store it. The diskette you use is worth far more than the money you paid for it. Failure can cost you your entire accounts receivable. Or your inventory. Or your novel. Thousands of dollars' worth of work hours. 100% Inspection Equals User Safety. We test 100% of both sides of each diskette. 6% become rejects. Yet 95% of these rejects would meet the standards of most other manufacturers. Our inspection standards are the highest. Because our diskette standards are the highest. Anything less than a Janus diskette is a risk you can't afford to take. Over 5,000 retailers are willing to back us up. For the one nearest you, call toll-free (800) 338-0100. Of course, there are still plenty of uses for your obsolete diskettes . . . Except storing data you intend to keep. We're proud of our diskettes. And every day we earn the respect of more and more people who tolerate nothing but the very best. Janus. For people who take their work seriously. I860 Barber Lane Milpitas, California 95035 (408)943-1600 (800) 338-0100 •1 JFHUISt '■'Our jacket material specifications are 10 mils ±/. The other leading brands 'are 8 mils ± /. Tlje Theory of Flexure for materials holds that a material gets stiffer with thickness according to a cube law. Therefore, by using J. 25 times thicker jacket material, we can achieve 1.25 x 1.25 x 1.25 or 1. 95 times the stiffness. © 1984 Janus Dysc Company Introducing the Most Powerful Business Software Ever! 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VERSA INVENTOR V" keeps track of all information related to what items are in stock, out of stock, on backorder, etc., stores sales and pricing data, alerts you when an item falls below a preset reorder point, and allows you to enter and print invoices directly or to link with the VERSA RECEIVABLES™ system. Versa In VENTORY™ prints all needed inventory listings, reports of items below reorder point, inventory value re- ports, period and year-to-date sales reports, price lists, inventory checklists, etc. •CQMPLrrRQNICS! 50 N. PASCACK ROAD, SPRING VALLEY, N.Y. 10977 VersaLedger ii™ $149.95 VersaLedger II™ is a complete accounting system that grows as your business grows. 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"CP/M is a trademark of Digital Research - *XEROX is a trademark of Xerox Corp. like is the cursor controls, which are grouped in a logical manner. I find it much easier to remember that " E, ~S, "D, and "X move the cursor up, right, left, down, than to remember the Emacs "philosophy" of 3~F for forward a letter and Escape-F for for- ward a word, etc. Obviously, there's no universal agreement on this. The Final Word is based firmly on MIT's Emacs editor, which was written by my friend Richard M. Stallman; and a lot of people are not merely fond of Emacs, they're fanatic supporters. I use Emacs when I'm connected to my ac- count at MIT, and I manage well enough. It's true that I prefer Write, on the grounds of transparency, but recall that I am a creative writer, and my requirements are much different from those of a programmer, or even of a technical writer. Second question: "One of The Final Word's most advertised and (seemingly) important features is the ability to recover from power loss, etc., without losing text or even your place in the text. Can Write do this?" No. I don't think I want it to, either. The Final Word accomplishes this miracle with a "swap file"; every now and then it writes off what you've done to disk without your asking it to. It's probably pure prejudice on my part, but I find that distracting. I don't want my editor doing things I didn't tell it to. On the other hand, I've been well trained to "save early and often," which I do. I have fast disks, and I save my text whenever I finish a unit. Still, I concede the point to The Final Word. Hazen also asks what I think of "what you see is what you get" editors. I couldn't care less about that fea- ture. Write has a "print to screen" command that lets me see on screen precisely what I'd see on paper, and that's plenty enough for my pur- poses. On the other hand, the out- put of my shop is pretty much con- fined to (1) letters and (2) standard manuscripts that are formatted as 26 double-spaced lines per page, each 60 characters wide, with page num- OPEN CIP AN ACCOUNTING DEPARTMENT FOR $395.00 Why staff up? With the Desktop Accountant™, all the accounting help your office needs can be at your fingertips! No matter what type of business you're in, Desktop Accountant will let you manage the financial end of it more professionally than ever before. A Complete System with Support Desktop Accountant includes accounts receivable, accounts pay- able, payroll and general ledger programs, along with comprehen- sive user manuals and training aids, including an audio cassette tape. And our telephone "hotline" ' ™ means personalized support. Produces 42 Reports. "Keeping the books" has never been so easy! 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To order Desktop Accountant or for c omprehensive literature, call toll-free: D 1-800-832-2244 (In California call 1-800-732-2311) or send orders to: 1280-C Newell Avenue, Suite 1201 Walnut Creek, CA 94596 /\ ROCKY MOUNTAIN SOFTWARE SYSTEMS Business Microcomputers and Software • California residents add &h% Sales Tax • Payment by VISA/Master- Card/COD/MO/Cashier's Check • All Brand Names are manufacturers registered Trade Marks* Ho sales lo Dealers* Foreig n orde r s please ca ll orwritebeforeordering • 1983 Rocky Mountain f^BJM^B [■H^F~ Software Systems. f^fflr^M y/SA New dimensions in Bible study. Requires APPLE II + , I and compatibles, TRS80. CP/M 2.2 (Z-80), KAYPRO, OSBORNE, COMMODORE 64. HE WORD processor the complete KJV Bible on disks $199.95 * TOPICS an index to over 200 Scripture subjects $49^95* * plus $3 postage/handling For information contact: Bible Research Systems P.O. Box 1389 Round Rock, TX 78680 (512)835-7981 "Software for personal Bible study." Circle 37 on Inquiry card. February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 139 bers and a very short header. I don't need fancy formatting. What I do like is automatic on- screen formatting. That is: Wordstar and most of the "what you see is what you get" editors insert various "invisible" formatting commands into the text stream. If later you change anything, such as the length of a word, you must consciously reformat the paragraph, otherwise it won't comgout right. For example, if you use a good spelling checker like The Word Plus, it will tell you that in making correc- tions it has changed the length of words and suggest that you REFOR- MAT your text. Write, on the other hand, works from explicit text-formatting com- mands. They're quite visible because they start with a dot; for example, you set the left margin to 10 by do- ing .lmlO and set the header margin (space between header and top of text) by doing .hm3 or whatever. Having done that, Write does the rest. When I edit already written text, Write automatically reformats it on screen. When I run The Word Plus, I can immediately print my text with- out reformatting, regardless of whether words changed length. And so forth. I prefer it this way. If I did a lot of newsletter publishing or intricate text layout, I'd probably have a dif- ferent view. I do know that Write is good enough to produce important documents; the report of The Citizen's Advisory Council on Na- tional Space Policy was printed here at Chaos Manor using Write, and it got a letter of commendation from the President, so it must have looked good enough. Actually, I expect much editor preference depends on what you're used to; as long as you have a decent text editor, these machines are so much better than what we had before we got them that we can loudly count our blessings. Still, I am making notes about what I want in my "ideal" editor and, who knows, maybe 111 use parts of it as an example when I start writing about how to program in Modula-2. results: ProType! Develop profes- sional typing skills. Quick. Private. Effective. Now. EXCEL EXCEL Systems Corporation • 655 Redwood Highway Suite 311 • Mill Valley • CA 94941 Ask your Dealer to demonstrate the entire EXCEL SYSTEMS line for you. Upgrade? That Compupro I'm writing this on a Compupro Z80. I want that clearly understood; maybe I can forestall some of the angry letters. Bill Godbout's Compupro com- pany has sold one whack of a lot of Z80 microprocessor boards. It still sells them— but he's trying to retire them. What Dr. Godbout really and truly wants you to get is a dual pro- cessor, 8085/8088 central processing unit, and while you're at it, get CP/M 8/16 that runs both 8-bit CP/M-80 (2.2x) software and 16-bit CP/M-86 programs. To encourage this, he's making two offers: (1) If you have Compupro CP/M-86, return the original master (you can keep a copy) to a Compupro Systems Center and the company will sell you a working CP/M 8/16 complete with BIOS for $100. (2) If you have a Compupro Z80 microprocessor, talk to your Com- pupro Systems Center, or even direct to Compupro; you can arrange to trade it in and get a Dual Processor 8085/8088 replacement board at half price. Now I know that some people won't consider this an upgrade, because the Z80 does have some pretty efficient instructions not pres- ent in the 8085. Phillipe Kahn of Borland says the reason the com- pany's Turbo Pascal is so efficient for CP/M-80 is that it works only with Z80 systems and makes maximum use of the Z80 instruction set. On the other hand, the micro world is moving toward 16 bits. There's more 8-bit than 16-bit soft- ware right now, and the Z80 will run more of it than the 8085, so perhaps this isn't the time to make the change. Perhaps. I have both systems, and there's very little I can't run on the Dual Processor— which also has Jim Hudson's 8087 piggyback board, thus enabling me to do even more wonders. Anyway, while Dr. Godbout and I were discussing his trade-in offer, he said he was contemplating calling Nieman-Marcus to get into its Christmas catalog. He could offer a $100,000 microcomputer. 140 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Circle 137 on inquiry card. Take one each Shirley machine. Each of the four users could have his own CPU and memory. They could also have their own RAM-disk if you'd like. You can make the RAM- disk as large as 4 megabytes and the individual memory area up to 16 megabytes. This requires the new 256K-byte memory chips, which aren't cheap. With two floppy disks, a hard disk, 16 megabytes of main memory, 1 megabyte of RAM-disk, five pro- cessors, and terminals, you could put together a Super- Shirley to sell for $100,000, and he was going to try to get that in the Nieman-Marcus catalog. Of course, Shirley doesn't normal- ly sell for anything like that; with four terminals it's still well under $20,000 for a four-user system. I don't know whether Godbout got his ad in that catalog, but he does have a point: it's going to be awhile before those 256K-byte chips make any practical difference to the or- dinary microcomputer user. Meanwhile, Godbout is developing a 1-megabyte S-100 static memory board that will take up only one slot. You can probably order one now; if you decide you want one, it will be about $6000, no small sum. Of course, that price will fall over the next year or so; memory prices always come down. As to why anyone would want such an expensive board, it will work at fantastic speeds, far higher than where the cheaper dynamic memory boards can work reliably I already have a Compupro 8-MHz 8086/8087 microprocessor board— and the com- pany is trying to increase that one's speed. Moreover, with a board like that you're tooling up for the real thing, when the 16032 boards come out. My conversation with Godbout got me to thinking. People are always asking me, "What should I buy?" Short of giving a specific machine for an answer, what should I say? But I have thought of something. Buy yourself a state-of-the-art de- velopment system— but don't get this year's model. Get something that be- tween one and one and a half years ago was the latest state of the art. That will be advanced enough for almost any nondevelopmental pur- pose. People will be writing software for it. The bugs will be shaken out and its servicing quirks will be known. Example: I'm writing this on a Compupro Z80, which was state-of- the-art three years ago, and I'm about to check spelling and print it on a Compupro 8085/8088 Dual Processor, which was state-of-the-art not more than two years ago. Both are reliable, quite sophisticated, and easy to use. Incidentally, I told Bill Godbout about a new company that's forming to challenge his supremacy in the de- velopment systems market. He said, "Love competition. I'd like to have somebody to steal something from for a change." Fixing up Adeline The Otrona company has changed hands, and no one in it seems ever to have heard of me. The company has severed its connection with Fred Whitney who used to be the local manufacturer's rep, and the West Coast sales people I knew are all gone. Thus I hear rumors of new boards and software for the Otrona, but I've not seen any. Meanwhile, Adeline, our Otrona, developed speech problems: that is, she worked fine, but the communica- tions port stopped sending, making it well-nigh impossible to transfer files out of Adeline and into our main system. (There's a story that goes with that, about why my 5-inch disk systems for the big Compupro Dual Processor aren't up and running, but it's for another time.) We also had a problem with the handle; not fatal, but annoying. No one at Otrona returned my calls, so it took a while to find a local dealer; but eventually we came up with Omni Unlimited, of Pasadena. Alex took Adeline over. Within an hour, John Erdwell of Omni had Adeline fixed and running. More- over, it didn't cost a cent; it seems Otrona had some problems with early machines and instructed success MNIT Create menus, use instructions, tutorials, demos - with winning results. Instant success. EXCEL Systems Corporation • 655 Redwood Highway Suite 311 • Mill Valley • CA 94941 Ask your Dealer to demonstrate the entire EXCEL SYSTEMS line for you. Circle 137 on Inquiry card. February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 141 authorized repair centers to treat the machines as if under warranty. I don't know if the company is still do- ing that as you read this, but as of November it is. We still use the Otrona as the travel machine. There's a good version of Write for Adeline, and she fits in an aircraft overhead rack quite nicely. I last took her to Austin, Texas, and got quite a lot of work done in evening hours. There are said to be better por- tables, but so far I've not tried one. Late edition: Otrona has success- fully reorganized. Ron Lingeman, the original designer of the machine, has become the vice-president of R&D and is happy as a clam with his return to the laboratories. The new president is Jim Linder, who enjoys sales and marketing. I met both at COMDEX. Communications have been reestablished and we are getting a PC-compatible update for Adeline Real Soon Now. They also have a very nice large amber screen add-on. With the big screen, PC-compatibility in addition to the original Z80, and lots of bun- dled software, the Otrona remains my favorite portable. Game of the Month We've got a ton of computer games around here. My method of deter- mining which one is most popular is to watch which ones the kids are playing when I go back to their end of the house. It's not quite a random sampling, but it's reasonable. This month the favorite seems to be Avalon Hill's Tactical Armor Com- mand. I'm glad of that, because I have a soft spot in my heart for AH; I've been playing its board games for at least 25 years, beginning with Tac- tics II. The following review is by Alex Pournelle, with assistance from Richard (13) and Phillip (15): Tactical Armor Command (Apple version tested; no joystick used). "Dad used to design board war games. I got interested in them because of him, but I have had little spare time and few opponents for a long time. Because of this, I hoped to see some good board-type games for computers, especially from a com- pany whose games I have admired, Avalon Hill. "They have done it. Tactical Armor Command, or TAC for short, is definitely an Avalon Hill game right from its rules through its playability. It even has the old Avalon Hill rule gaps— for instance, the game says "fire suppressed," though the rule book doesn't mention what that is. No matter; Avalon Hill gamers would be suspicious of anything perfect in its first release. "There is one perfect thing: the marriage of computer and board game. The last two board games I used to play were Tobruk (AH) and Air War (SPI). Both dealt with indivi- dual units, tanks in Tobruk and jet fighters in Air War. Both were in- credibly hard to learn and play. Air War had 100 pages of rules, tables, ex- amples, and notes; it took a friend of mine two weeks just to learn to fly straight and level! The computer can take care of this detail much better than you or I; TAC does this for a very Tobruk-like game. "You choose American, German, Russian, or British armor and troops in World War II. Your opponent, who can be the computer or another sa- pient being, chooses one of the others. You select how many "armor points" (which buy tanks, artillery, or troops and APCs) each side gets and then purchase your instruments of destruction. Then you each take turns moving on the board, attemp- ting to find each other's units, hiding in forests, laying smoke, and firing either directly or indirectly. Though the moves are entered one after the other, all moves are processed simultaneously, making the game more realistic. Combat resolution, if any, is shown after all moves are entered. All views of the playing field are shown in top view, just like any other tank board game. The hexagon paper, though, is gone: units can be anywhere. "Good points: the game is fun and refreshingly different. If your coor- dination isn't up to 4000 aliens a minute, try a little strategy. You can give more units to a lesser player or play the computer if you're alone. The computer, by the way, is a pretty good player— the game calls him "Major AI Logarithm." There is no time limit during planning stages, so plan on. Moving units is time- dependent and you can make mistakes, but this is so much more like reality that I am only impressed. I could wish for optional joystick unit movement if I were in a wishing mood. "Disadvantages: like any other Avalon Hill game, there are some endearing foibles as well as just dumb mistakes. There are not enough examples in the instructions, especially of indirect fire, messages given during combat, how to engage the enemy, what infantry is good for (and how to use it), what artillery can do for you, and what to do with every tank against every other. Avalon Hill provides good examples for its $12 to $20 box games; it certain- ly ought to for a more expensive com- puter game. You get to pick the units for both sides if you play the com- puter; I would like to see it do its own choosing. You have to write down what units you're tracking and where they are; the computer could do a lot more note-taking for you. If you try to point a gun in a direction it won't go, the computer just asks you again; there ought to be help on this. Most of these are minor nits, though: the game is very playable and takes only two or three test plays to pick up. I would like to see Avalon Hill add more scenarios and variable terrain so Tactical Armor Command doesn't become a bookshelf queen." (Note by JEP: the biggest disap- pointment to me was that although the Germans can have towed ar- tillery, the most famous antitank weapon of the war, the Flak 88, isn't in the game! Rommel changed armored tactics forever by bringing the 88's forward to fight as integral units with his tank armies; it would be interesting to see how that tactic fares in this game. I wish they'd add the 88s. . . .) Coming Attractions I'm never very good at predicting what I'll be doing, but next month is COMDEX. Meanwhile, I've been 142 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Items Reviewed Dedicate/32 $175 Otrona Attache $2995 Merrit Software . Otrona Corporation POB 1504 4755 Walnut St. Fayetteville, AR 72702 Boulder, CO 80301 (501) 442-0914 (303) 940-3445 Disk Doubler $19.95 Pascal MT + 80 $350 Evolving Technology Corporation MT + 86 $600 3725 Talbot St., Suite F Digital Research, Inc. San Diego, CA 92106 POB 579 (619) 224-3788 Pacific Grove, CA 93950 (800) 227-1617 Eagle 1600 Series $4495-8995 Eagle Multiuser PC $1995-4495 Shirley (Multipro MP-10) (hard drive 40-megabyte) $8490 Spirit Portable $4795 Compupro Upgrades — Eagle Computer Corporation Compupro 983 University Ave., Building C 3339 Arden Rd. Los Gatos, CA 95030 Hayward, CA 94545 (408) 395-5005 (415) 786-0909 Final Word $300 Spellbinder (alias Word/125) $495 Mark of the Unicorn Lexisoft 222 Third St. 706 5th St. Cambridge, MA 02142 Davis, CA 95616 (617) 576-2760 (916) 758-3630 IBM PCs and Other Computers Tactical Armor Command $40 Computerland of Woodland Hills Avalon Hill Game Corporation 28012 Ventura Blvd. 4517 Harford Rd. Woodland Hills, CA 91367 Baltimore, MD 21214 (818) 716-7714 (301) 254-5300 Logimouse $203 Turbo Pascal $49.95 Logitech Inc. Borland International 165 University Ave., #105 4807 Scotts Valley Dr. Palo Alto, CA 94301 Scotts Valley, CA 95066 (415) 326-3885 (800) 227-2400 Magic Keyboard $32.50 Wordstar $495 Write $239 Micropro International Dedicate/32 $175 33 San Pablo Ave. Workman and Associates San Rafael, CA 94903 112 Marion Ave. (415) 499-1200 Pasadena, CA 91106 (818) 796-4401 Zenith Z-100 Computer Zenith Data Systems $2899 MPI 99 $599 1000 Milwaukee Ave. MPI 150G $995-1345 Glenview, IL 60025 Micro Peripherals Inc. (312) 391-8865 4426 South Century Dr. Salt Lake City, UT 84107 (801) 263-3081 1 promised the new Eagle Spirit por- table (which I'll take to COMDEX) and a number of expansion boards for our IBM PC, including, I hope, Ciarcia's Quicksilver. Also on deck is Sweet Pea's plotter, Mouse Systems' Mouse compared to Logitech's, Lotus 1-2-3, concurrent CP/M with Logitech, DR Logo, and Lord knows what else. There are also 21 pounds of mail to deal with, and the unreviewed soft- ware pile continues to grow. I love it.a ]erry Pournelle is a former aerospace engineer and current science-fiction writer who loves to play with computers. ferry Pournelle welcomes readers' com- ments and opinions. Send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Jerry Pournelle, do BYTE Publications, POB 372, Hancock, NH 03449. Please put your address on the letter as well as on the envelope. Due to the high volume of letters, ferry cannot guarantee a personal reply. February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 143 The Texas Instruments makes the best software Best-Seller List* ^^^i The Home Accountant glfl ty. ;^I U Mu^ ■ m ■I ilWWW SuperCalc .KSOHCIM ■^r*— r^ These best-sellers are among the most popular business software programs for microcomputers as reported in Inc. magazine, September, 1983. m_ IB Professional Computer perform even better. See the difference the TI Professional Computer can make with these best-sellers and hundreds more software packages* Literally hundreds of third-party software packages are available for the TI Professional Computer. So with the TI Professional Computer, whether you need word processing, accounting, spreadsheets, data base manage- ment or advanced integrated programs, the best — and best- selling — software can help you meet virtually every business and professional need. But before you consider software alone, you should weigh one other very important point: the better the hardware, the more you get out of your software. It's no wonder critics have called it "the optimum personal computer." Popular Computing October, 1983 The TI Professional Computer's outstanding monitor resolution and 8-color graphics make best- selling programs like Lotus 1-2-3 ™ sharper, easier to work with. And the fact that you can put three times the graphic in- formation on your screen — in both color and monochrome — means you'll be able to take even greater advan- tage of the best graphics programs. For best-selling word processing pack ages like WordStar ™ TI's comfortable, typewriter-style keyboard is a natural. Anyone ■ 1 I m [ ■ 1 Our sharp, 8-color graphics give your displays even more visual impact. familiar with a standard type- writer keyboard can start to work immediately, without re-learning key positions. Texas Instruments has developed forward-looking programs to bring you innovative, easy-to-use technology. One such package is Natural- Link™, TI's exclusive natural language interface program. NaturalLink lets you access information from subscription data base inquiry services, such as the Dow Jones News/ Retrieval® service, in plain English. So you don't have to memorize special codes to get the outside informa- tion your business depends on. TI's revolutionary development of speech recognition is another way TI helps you get the most from your software. Leading third-party software suppliers are developing new programs to take advantage of TI's speech technology. In early 1984, with Speech Command,™ you'll be able to say things like, "Inventory analysis, please," and have a spreadsheet displayed in- stantly on your monitor. Voice- operation will make the TI Professional Computer easier to use than ever before. If you're ready for the best — and best-selling — programs, you're ready for the Texas Instruments Professional Computer. Now at participating ComputerLand stores and independent dealers. For the location nearest you, and answers to questions about your computing needs, call 1-800-527-3500. r Texas Instruments Creating useful products and services for you. 1-2-3 is a trademark of Lotus Development Corp. Dow Jones News/Retrieval is a registered trademark of Dow Jones & Company, Inc. WordStar is a trademark of MicroPro International Corp. NaturalLink and Speech G>mmand are trademarks of Texas Instruments Incorporated. Copyright © 1983 Texas Instalments 2773-04SW From the Rainbow to the VAX . from the PCjr, to the 370. Whitesmiths' C and Pascal Compilers continue to set the industry standards Host: Cross To: MS/PC-DOS CP/M-80 CP/M-68K CP/M-86 P/OS UNIX IDRIS/R11 y / / RSX-11 -"~ £>o- ={>a- p£>a Mui Motfem Mux lAH jMoctom m.j« tAN cept from Complexx. All you need is StationMate and an inexpensive shielded-pair cable. Besides local area net- . StationMate. The link you've been missing. See your local dealer or contact Complexx for the name Teleprocessing Office Network StationMate J> modem}- -W! 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Box 20539/San Antonio, Texas 78220/ 512-227-0585 digital encoding have made the initial identification of speech easier; spectral analysis of input is achieving smaller and smaller error rates in matching input against stored speech patterns, or templates; and the appli- cation of probability theory for de- tecting meaningful words among the random noise of human speech (there are over 11,000 discrete syllables in the English language to be sorted through) is also improving recognizer performance. But the steps forward have been incremental; even the best recog- nizers available today ("trained" by one speaker repeating a small set of input phrases over and over) are less accurate than keyboard data entry, although the gap is dwindling. The ultimate goal, a speaker-independent recognizer, capable of understanding a large vocabulary of nonstop human speech, is a long way off. Dick Eason, president of Voice Control Systems, one of the sponsors of the con- ference, makes the point by asking, "What do you do about 'Jeet?' [the contraction of 'Did you eat?']?" In his keynote speech, Dennis Klatt of MIT, observing what he sees as diminishing returns from all the re- search, wondered aloud if it might be time for the industry to begin explor- ing new directions. Unfortunately, none of the other speakers addressed the question that was foremost in the minds of many in the audience: what about the correlation between speech recognition and artificial intelligence? It may be that in order to perfect a truly robust recognizer, we may have to recapitulate the whole process by which a baby learns to make, and use, the collection of sounds we call language. The outlook? Commercial speech recognizers, initially speaker- dependent and with limited vocab- ularies, will become better, cheaper, and more commonplace for simple voice control and data entry. Over the long haul, developments may not happen as quickly as we would like to envision. ■ Ezra Shapiro is a technical editor at BYTE's West Coast bureau. He can be reached at McGraw-Hill, 425 Battery St., San Francisco, CA 94111. 154 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Circle 293 on Inquiry card. THE FILE CONNECTION 8" DISKETTE SYSTEM FOR THE IBM PC !»...( NV I I > t -lifl^^M ax ■ 1 i >V- \\ '. ;•: •• i' - ■ .'.' ■ ■ : I ■ 1' ■ Our "FILE CONNECTION" programs provide 8" diskette file exchange between the IBM PC and most Micro-Mini-Main Frame computer systems. Our "WORD CONNECTION" programs provide 8" diskette text document exchange between the IBM PC and many word processing systems. Contact us for information about the hundreds of 5 1 // and 8" diskette formats and systems which we currently support. FLAGSTAFF ENGINEERING / 2820 West Darleen / Flagstaff, AZ 86001 Telephone 602-774-5188 / Telex 705609 FLAG-ENG-GD Circle 458 on inquiry card. 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Letter Perfect w Mail Merge S 150 S 99 Micro Craft, (requires Z80CP M-Card) Verdict or Billkeeper S 995 S469 Micro Lab, Tax Manager S 180 $119 Micro Pro, (all require Z80-CPMCard) ♦ WordStar w Appltcard 8 CPM SPECIAL S 495 $325 WordStar' • Training Manual SPECIAL S 495 $239 MailMerge'" SPECIAL S 250 $129 SpellSlar" SPECIAL S 250 $129 ♦ WordStar Prolessional.4Pak SPECIAL S 895 S429 Microsoft, Mule-Plan (CP M or Appfe DOS) S 275 $175 Financial, Mutbtool (CPVM a DOS) S 100 $75 Budget, MurSlooKCPMor DOS) S 150 $115 ♦ Osborne/C.P. Soft, (Disk and Book) (Slat . Bus & Math) Some Common Basic Programs (75 each) S 100 S49 Practical Basic Programs (40 each) S 100 S 49 Peachtree, Requires CP M & MBasic, 641 Series 40 GL 8 AR SAP, all 3 S 395 S239 Series 9 Texl 8 Spell 8 Mail, all 3 $ 395 S239 Perfect. Perfect Writer S 495 $149 Perfect Speller S 295 S99 Perfect Writer Speller 2 Pak S 695 $199 Perfecl Filer S 595 S259 Peartsoft, Personal Pearl S 295 $195 Quark, Word Juggler (lie) S 239 S179 Lexicheck lie (use w/Juggler) $ 149 S 99 Sensible, Sens Speller, specify 80 Col Brd. S 125 $85 Sierra/On-Line, ScreenWnterProiessiona S 200 $135 Screenwriter II S 130 S 89 The Dictionary NEW! S 100 $69 General Manager 11 NEW S 230 S155 ♦ Silcon Valley . Word Handler S 60 $39 ♦ List Handler $ 50 $ 35 Software Publishing, PFS: File $ 125 $ 84 (specify l ore) PFS: Report S 125 $ 84 PFS: Graph S 125 S 84 BUSINESS Stoneware. DB Masler Version 4.0 S 350 S 229 DBUMilylorll S 99 S 69 System Plus. GLAP.4AR.3Pak S 995 S555 Videx. Applewnler II preboot disk S 20 S 15 Visicalc80col preboot disk S 50 S 39 UltraPlan (specify board)) S 189 S 129 VisiCorp 'Personal Software. Visicalc 3.3 S 250 S 169 Visicalc Enhanced (lie) NEW 1 S 250 S 179 VisiFile or VisiDex. each S250 $ 179 UTILITY & SYSTEM Beagle. Apple Mechanic S 30 S 22 Double-Take S 35 S 25 Typefaces (Req. Ap. Mechanic] S 20 S 15 DOSS Boss or Utility City, each S 30 $ 22 Tip Disk #1 S 20 $ 15 Pronto DOSS S 30 $ 20 Alpha Plot S 40 $ 27 Central Point. Filer. DOS 3.3 and Utility S 20 S 15 * Copy II Plus (bi! copier) S 40 S 30 Einstein. Compiler, for Applesoft BASIC S 725 S 35 Epson, Graphics Dump S 15 S 9 Hayes, Terminal Program S 100 S 65 * Insoft, GraFORTH by Paul Lulus S 75 S 59 Microsoft, AIDS. S 125 S 75 Coboieo S 750 $ 559 Fortran 80 S 195 S 149 COMPLETE LINE IN STOCK ♦ Omega, Locksmith(bi1 copier) S 100 S 75 Penguin, Comp. Grphcs. Sys NEW! S 70 $ 53 Graphics Magician NEW $ 60 $ 41 Phoenix.ZoomGralix S 40 S 34 Quality, BagofTncks NEW S 40 $ 29 ■L.L»lM*«»l"r«**iiWUi Beagle Bros., Beagle Bag S 30 S 22 Broderbund. Choplifter S 35 $ 26 Arcade Machine S 60 S 40 Lode Runner S 35 S 25 Apple Panic S 30 $ 21 BudgeCo. Prnbalt Constr Sel $ 40 $ 27 ♦Continental, Home Accountant S 75 S 49 Datasoft. Azlec or Zaxxon, each S 40 $ 27 Edu-Ware. (Large Inventory} Call Einstein, Memory Trainer $ 90 S 70 Hayden, Sargon II (Chess) $ 35 S 29 Infocom.Zoitt I, II, or III, or Slarcross.each S 40 S 27 Koala, Full line in slock, CALL Call Learning Co.. (Large Inventory) Call Lightning, Mastertype S 40 $ 27 Micro Lab, Miner 2049er $ 40 $ 27 SierraiOn-Line, Ultima II $ 60 S 40 Sir-Tech, Wizardry $ 50 S 39 Spinnaker, Kindercomp S 30 S 20 Sub Logic. Flight Simulator II S 50 S 37 Terrapin. Logo S 150 S 99 OTHER BRANDS AND PROGRAMS IN STOCK. CALL. 8" CP/M-80 SOFTWARE MUCH MORE IN STOCK ASHTON-TATE. dBase II Financial Planning Lang, Friday BLUECHIP.Milltonaire DIGITAL RES.. CBASIC CBASIC Compiler (CB80) Pascal MT- CIS COBOL PL1 C Compiler FOX > GELLER, Quick Code dull, dGraph INF0COM.Starcross.Zotkl.il or III, each Deadlmeor Pianerfall. each MICROCRAFT. Verdict or Billkeeper. each MICROPRO WordStar- MailMerge" WordStar Prol . 4 Pak (Call) MICROSOFT, Mulliplan COBOL-BOCompilerSPECIAL LIST OUR PRICE PRICE S 700 S 700 S 295 S 70 S 150 S 500 S350 S850 S550 S350 S 295 S 99 S 295 S 50 S 60 S 995 S 495 S250 S 895 S 275 S 750 S 385 $ 439 $ 249 S 43 $ 99 $ 339 S 239 S 575 $ 375 S 250 $ 185 S 62 S 185 S 34 S 40 S 495 $ 239 S 129 $429 S 195 $350 PLOTTERS LIST OUR PRICE PRICE BAUSCHiLOMB, HOUSTON DMP-40.lpenCationdelivety $725 DMP-29,8penCallondelivery. $1695 DMP-tlCallondelivery $2250 AMDEK.DXY-100.10 , x14",Para S 749 $599 Amplotll,lOx14.6color,SP S1299 S 999 rvi HP!2C.Calcuiator HPtlC. Calculator 41CX. Calculator 4lC. Calculator S 120 S 90 S 325 S 195 4lCVCalculator.w2.2KMem S 275 Call on accessories and software. $ 99 $ 75 $ 275 $ 149 $ 219 A tor the ATARI RANA10O0 Drive. 320K KOALA Padw Micio illustrator S 449 S 100 S 369 S 75 LIST OUR PRICE PRICE S 45 $ 32 S 60 S 45 DISKETTES BROWN DISC 1 each. Pulse ). DS-DO. 48TPI lOeach. Pulse II. DSOD.96TPI CDC 100each. SS SD. 3ST (Apple. Atari) S 450 S 169 lOeach. SS'SD,3ST|Apple. AtariJ S 45 $ 18 100each,SS'DD,40T(Apple,IBM) S 550 $179 10 each, SS DD. 40T (Apple. IBM) S 55 S 19 100each.DSDD,40T,(IBM,HP) S 750 $295 10each.DS'DO.40T(!BM,HP) S 75 $ 35 DVSAN. lOeach. SSSD (Apple, elc) S i0ea*.DSDD48T|IBM.HPeicl S 89 MAXELL. 10 each. MD1.SSDD S 65 10each.MD2.D5DD S 75 $ 39 MEMOREX 10 each. SSDD. Type A (Apple Alan) S 45 $ 25 10each,DSDD.TypeB|IBM HP) S 60 S 35 VERBATIM 10each.MD525-01. SSSD S 49 $ 25 10each.MD34.DSDD $ B4 $ 45 * GENERIK " DISKETTES - AS LOW AS $1 t00eachSS.SD.35TiackiAppic.Atan] S 415 $130 IOOOoaehSS.S0.35Tr,ick(AppieAlari) S4150 S 995 tOOeagh DS. DD.-10 Track (IBM HP) S 626 $170 1000eachDS.DD40TrackllBM HP1 S6260 S1400 Wjackels noiabes top qua : uy 90 day limited warranty by us GENERIK™ DISKETTES Each at 1000 quantity. SSSD $1.00 Each DSDD $1.40 Each CDC SSSD $1.69 Each Minimum order quantities apply ■ 1983 by s«e above money back guarantee COMX Corporator) j s |,y COMX Corporation not us. MODEMS r (ACCESSORIES PRICE PRICE ANCHOR. SgnalmanMK I Modem (RS232] $ 99 $ 75 MarkXIl $ 399 $ 269 HAYES, IBM-PCSmartmodeml200B S 599 $439 IBM-PC Smartcom II Software S 119 $ 89 Slack Chronograph (RS-232) S 249 $ 189 SlarjkSmartmodem300(RS-232) S 289 $ 225 Smartmodem 1200 (RS-232) $699 $535 Micromodem100|S-100bus) S 399 $275 Miaomodemlle(forlheApplelf) S 329 $ 239 IBM-PC lo Modem Cable S 39 S 29 NOVATION IBM-PC Access 1-2-3 Package S 595 $ 445 ApplecatllModem,300BAUD S 389 S 269 212AppleCat.1200BAUD S 725 S 559 PC-Cal with Crosstalk $ 595 $ 419 Cat S 189 $ 139 J-Cal S 149 $ 104 212AutoCat S 695 $ 579 SmartCall03212 S 595 $415 TRANSENDSSM. Transanal for Appell S 89 S 69 ModemCardlortheApplell S 299 $ 259 Transmodem1200 $695 $559 S OFTWARE. SEE APPLE OR IBM UTILITY SOFTWARE SECTIO i MONITORS acSe? ♦ AMDEK. 12 Green, #3000 S 200 $ 135 ♦ 12" Amber, #300A S 210 $149 ♦ 12Amber.310AforlBM.PC S 230 $ 159 ♦ 13' Color I. Composite S 379 $289 ♦ 13 Color II. RGB, Hi Res S 529 $439 DVM . Color H or 111 to Apple II IF S 199 $ 175 NEC. 12 Green.ModelJBI201M S 249 $159 12Color.CompositcJC1215M S 400 $299 12 Co!or.RGB.IBMModelJC1203 S 699 $569 ♦ PRINCETON,RGBHiRes,HX-12 S 795 $499 OUADRAM,Quadchrome12"RGBCo!or S 795 $499 Ouadrscreen 17.968x512 S1996 $1595 SANYO. 12 Green. ModelDM8t12CX S 260 $199 TTX,SmarlTerminal3000 S 599 S 499 ZENITH, 12 Green Model ZVMI23 NEW' S 200 $115 PRINTERS AND ACCESSORIES DOT MATRIX PRINTERS: LIST OUR PRICE PRICE Call EPSON, FX80 MXIOOFT.BOCPS.w.Grartrax • S 995 $ 639 FX100 Call Apple II Graphics Dump Program $ 15 $ 9 LEADING EDGE, GorillaBanana S 250 $209 MANNESMAN TALLY, 1 60L, 80 Col. CALL 180L.132COI, CALL Spirit, 80 CPS CALL OKIDATA,82A,80col„120cps.Para S 349 Call 83A.132col.120cps.Para $749 Call 92.160CPS,60Col.Para. $599 Call 93,160CPS.136Col„Para. $999 Call 2350P,Pacernaik, 350 cos, Para S2695 Call 2410P,Pacemark, 350 cps. Para S2995 Call ORANGE MICRO, Grappier f, tor Apr* $165 $119 PRACTlCAL,Mnt*ufferln4jne64K.Para. S 349 $ 259 Mtrobutlerln4jne64KSenal S 349 $ 259 ♦ STARMICRO..GemmilO"X,120cps.2.3K S 499 S 289 Gemini 15"X,120cps,2.3K Call Call IBM-PC to Epson or Star Micronics Cable $ 60 $ 35 Appl e IF and Cable for Epson or Gemini S 95 $ 59 LETTER QUALITY - DAISY WHEEL PRINTERS: JUKI,6100.17cps.80Col,Parallel S 700 $ 539 SILVERREED,EXP550P.18cps.3piich S 895 S 595 EXP550S,18cps,3pitch S 995 $650 ♦TTX.1014.13crjs,ParaSSer.PinSFncljon S 649 $499 SUPPLIES: Tractor Feed Paper, Ribbons. Daisy Wheels CORVUS 6 Meg S2095 S1695 11 Meg 52750 S2350 Drives Are Without Interlaces 20 Meg S3750 $3250 IBM-PCInlerfaceManual.SW&CableKit S 300 $ 249 *IBM-PCOmniTransporter,4PakSpecial S1895 51495 Apple Interface. Manual. SWSCableKit S 300 $249 Other Interfaces, Omm-Net. Constellation. Mirror. CALL, • MEANS A BEST BUY AD #987 — — -.——l.,— . .. _--., ATI/MM AUnTCnilC All Mail: P.O. Box 23068, Portland, OR 97223, Include telephone number and double check your figures lor SI&H. UHUhHINu INhUHMAIlUN AND I tHMo; All items usuaiiy-msiock C.istiiivs Clit-cks. Money Oitfers.Foini.i(;lO00Cliechs.in[IGi)vorMment Checks, we immediately honor Personal or olher Company Checks allow 20 days lo clear No C O D Piices reflect a 3%cash discount so ADD 3°r,lo above prices lor VISA or MC For U S Mainland. add3°o(S5m]nimum| lor shipping, insurance and handling (SI&H) by UPS UPS ground is standard so add 3MS 10 minimumi more lor UPS Blue lor SI&H Add 12°° total tS' 5 minimum] lor SI&H lor US Postal, APOot FPO For Hawaii. Alaska and Canada. UPS is in some areas only, ail others are Postal so call, wnle, or specily Postal Foreign orders ex cepi Canada lor SI&H add i8 (.or$25minimumlor SI&H excepl lor monitors add 30°° or $50 minimum tor SISH Pncessub]ec!tochange. lypo errors, and availability so c a II to verily All goods are new include warranty and ate guaranteed to work Due loour low pricesand our .iSsuranctMhat you willgei new unused products. ALL SALES ARE FINAL Call belore return- ing goods lor repair or replacement Orders received wrth msuHicienl SI&H charges will be refunded ORDER DESK HOURS6 AM 106P M PST. Monday Ihrough Fnday and 10 to J Saturday 6AM hereis9AM m New York OUR RErCnENCuOi We have been in computers and electronics since 1958 a computer dealer since 1978 and in computer mail older since 1980 Banks 1st Inierstale Bank, (503)643 4678 We belong to the Chamber ol Commerce (503) 6-14 0123 Belter Business Bureau and Direct Marketing Associaiion. or call Dunn and Bradsueetil you are a subscriber Faslrak " and Genenk " are trademarks ol ComX Corporation. CASH & CARRY OUTLETS: Over-the-counter sates only. Open Monday through Saturday 10.00 until 5U0. PORTLAND, OREGON. 11507-0 S.W Pacilic Hwy, Terrace Shopping Center. Trgard, On 99W between 217 and 1-5 Call 245-1020. SEATTLE, WASH., 3540 128th Ave. SE, Bellevue, WA 98006, Tele : 64 1-4736, in Loehmann's Plaza near Faclona Square. SE ot Hwy. 405 S 90 and at SE 38lh S Richards 156 BYTE February 1984 Formerly Computer Exchange LOW PRICES TO PROFESSIONALS WHO KNOW WHA T THEY WANT AND KNOW HOW TO USE IT! THE IBM-PC SUPPLY CENTER IBM is a trademark of IBM Corporation 256K IBM-PC System Includes Two 320K Disk Drives by CDC 90 Day Warranty By Us Call For Details And Configurations 'or the IBM-PC or XT DRIVES AND ACCESSORIES CONTRPL DATA OR landon 320K/360K DS DD DISK DRIVES With Detailed Installation Instructions 60 Day Warranty by Factory Authorized Distributor Same as now COOQ installed by IBM. \>L.CV $239 For One, $199 HALF HEIGHT MAYNARD ™c T E %k Floppy Drive Conlrol 8rd. for up to 4 drives S 195 S 165 samewilh Parallel Port S 275 S 205 DAM A 2 5 Meg 5 'Dnve System (Jan) S1550 S1195 nMNM,25Me9HardDiskSyslem Call QUA13HAM 6 Meg. Removable S2295 S1795 nilAniQK 6Meg,Fi»ed SI995 S1595 Mm™ IOrV '12Meg. Fixed S2250 $1750 AVAILABILITY M [**S»» S2650 S205 ° AVAILADILlir 27M C g,Fi,ed S2895 S2295 72 Meg. Freed S6500 $4950 VISTA. IBM-PC XT 6MBBackup lotHatdDlsk.V1200 S1549 S1049 LIST OUR PRICE PRICE MEMORY CHIP KITS !££& motherboard tOOMested With 90 cay warranty ♦ 64KKil.200NS.9chips.4164 S50 S 45 16KKil.200NS.9ctiips.4116(forPC-lmo1hertx>ardl S 50 $ 16 AMnPlf 4-IN-1MultipleBoard. Color «I»IL»CIV Graphics. Mono. I28K S 599 S 519 ComboPlus,64KSPC S 395 S 279 ComboPlus.256K.SPC S 695 S 475 MegaPlusll,64K,2-SPC S495 S 345 MegaPlijsll,256K,2-SPC S795 $ 495 256K MegaPius II Expander S 395 $ 295 SixPakPlus.64K.SPC S395 S 295 SixPakPlus.256K.SPC S 695 S 495 SixPakPlus.3e4K.SPC S 895 S 595 IOPIUSII.2SPDG S 315 S 195 PCner.LANK.il S1490 S1290 /VC Supervision, monochrome board S 850 S 680 Ul/O Z Pius 64. las! Z80B. 64K para port S 875 $695 * ConnX 256K RAM Ca,tl "* Fasl,ak ' nAM * sk emula "" and spooler softwa'e. PI IRTIQ PC Pedestal Mor Display IsUn I l«.3to9tootkeyboardcable Vertical CPU'System Stand' Monochrome Ext. Cable Pair nEnCULuS.MonochrcmeBoard KeyTrOniC.KB5t50.Std keyboard |< n -,|-. Koala Pad" ■ I LI CJId Programmer's Guide UAVMADn UlilincuiltlCaiiUFC Sll $ 79 MHTIMMnU.Moduleslorabovecard Call SandSlar.noRAMcard S 199 S 169 SandSlar.256KCard S 499 S 395 S 695 S 256 S 80 S 65 S 50 S 35 S 25 S 19 S 40 S 30 S 499 $349 S 269 S 199 S 150 S 109 S 15 S 12 MIT'WSWT RAMCard256K MIOKUIXJr I Sy5temCaId256K SystemCard64K Mouse MOUSE SYSTEMS, PC Mousew software nnpwn remcsurfcrwuii UnV^niU PC net" Circuil Board Kit Monochrome Graphcs Card PLANTRONICS ColorPlus. 1 6 color brd. w Para Port QU\DRAM r Quadlink NEWEST VERSION S Quadboard, no RAM. expandable to 2S6K Quadboard 64K, expandable to 256K r Quadboard 256K, 6 function Quadboard II . no RAM. expand to 256K Quadboard II. 64K, expandable to 256K Quadboard II. 256K. 6 function Quad512 l .64K plus serial port Quad512 ■ . 256Kplus serial port Quad5i2-.512K plus serial port Quadcrjlor I, board. 1 6colors Quadcolor II. board, use with Guadcolor 1 Quadctirome. 12'RGBMonilor Quadscrcen, 17 .968x512Momlor Microfazer. w Copy. P P. 8K, #MP8 w P.S. Microfazer, w Copy. P P. 64K. #MP64 w PS Moolazer.w Copy. P P. 128K. #MP128w P.S. Microfazer, Snap-on, 8K. PP. Epson -fMEB.wP.S. S 179 Microfazer. Snap-on, 64K, P P. Epson. #ME64.wP.S. S 319 All Moolazers are expandable, (w copy to 512K) (Snaa-on to 64K] T*»r*mar 'SIMATE.64K ICLIIICII istMATE,256K S 589 S 439 Graphics Master TGPRODUCTS.jo,s,,ck WICO, IBM-PC Mouse SOFTWARE for IBM-PC or XT BUSINESS ALPHA. Database Managcrll ASHTON-TATE * dBasell.requiresPC-DOS8t28K dBase UUser's Guide ^Bookj Everyman s DB Primer iBook] The Financial Planner Fnday APPLIED SOFT. TECH. Versalorm ASK MICRO. GL AR, AP. INVc PR each BPI.GLAR APorPR ♦ CONTINENTAL. Home Accountant - FCM {Filing Caiaoging. Mailing) Property Management DATAMOST. Write-On IWord Processor) DOW JONES. Market Analyzer Markel Manager Market Microscooe EAGLE SOFTWARE Monev Decisions ♦ EINSTEIN. Writer NEW 1 Memory Tramei NEW 1 Speier NEW' Mailer NEW' LetterScenes NEW' FOX SGELLER. OuickcooelMSDOS) dGraphiMSDOS) dUtiliorlBMPCDOS HAYDEN. IBM Pie Writer Pie: Speller HOWARDSOFT Real Estate Analyzer II Tax Preparer 1984 lUS.EasyWnterlMWPI EasySpeilerll EasyFilerlaDBMS) BusinessSystem:GL • AR ■ AP GLAR.AP.PR.OEoilNV.each * INSOFT Dala Design leasy to use DBMS) LIFETREE Votkswrilei ♦ LOTUS. 1-2-3 MICROCRAFT Verdict or Billkeeper. each MICRO LAB. Tax Manager MICROPRO. WordStar MaiiMerge SpeilStar ' * WordStar Professional. 4 Pak Slarlndex ' InloStar ' Report Star' StatBurst LIST PRICE S 295 S 700 S 30 S 15 S 700 S 295 S389 S 495 5 595 S 150 5 125 S 495 5 130 S 350 S 300 S 700 S 150 S 300 S 80 S 150 S 80 S 300 5 295 S 295 S 99 S 200 S 100 5 250 S 295 S 350 S 225 S 400 S1495 S 595 S 225 S 285 5 495 S 995 S 250 S 495 S 250 S 250 S 695 S 195 S 495 S 350 S 195 OUR PRICE S 195 S385 S 20 $ 12 S 395 S 199 S 265 S 295 S 395 S 89 S 89 S 329 S 89 S 279 S 239 S 525 S 129 S 199 S 55 S 95 S 55 S 195 S 179 S 179 S 59 S 135 S 69 S 189 S 220 S259 S 149 3 299 S995 S 395 S 169 S 195 S 329 S 469 S 169 S 239 S 129 S 129 S 429 S 109 S 259 S 199 S 115 BUSINESS * MICROSOFT. Multiplan Word Word with Mouse Financial Statement LIST PRICE $ 275 S37S $475 S 100 $ 150 S 165 $ 250 MONOGRAM, Dollars S Sense NORTH AMERICAN BUS. The Answer ♦ OSBORNE COMX, (Book 8 Business. Statistics 8 Math Programs on DS.-DD Disks) Some Common Basic Prog |70each) S 100 Practical Basic Programs (40 each) S 100 PBLCORPORATtON.Personallnvestorl 1 S 145 PEACHTREE.PeachPak(GL.AR8APl S 395 Peach Texl5000 S 395 PEARLSOrT.PersonalPeartiDBMSSMIS) S 295 k PERFECT. Petted Writer" Perfect Speller ' or Pertecl Calc '", each Wrrter ^ Speller. 2 Pak Perfect Filer - SOFTWARE ARTS. TKiSolver SOFTWARE PUBLISHING. PFSFile PFS Report PFS Write PFS:Graph SORCIM.SuperCalcll SuperCaiclll SSI'SATELLITE, WordPerfect Personal WordPerfect STC'SOFTEC.TrteCreator STONEWARE. Advanced D.B. Master SYNAPSE, File Manager SYNERGISTIC, Data Repoder T/MAKER.TiMaketlll VISICORP,VisiCalc4 VtsiFileorVisiSchedule S S S S 595 S 299 S 140 S 125 NEWI S 140 NEW! S 140 S295 S 395 S 495 S 195 S 300 $595 $ 100 S 250 $ 275 S 250 S 300 S 300 Visi Word with VisiSpelJ ( 1 2BK) S 375 OUR PRICE $ 175 $275 S 339 S 69 $ 109 $ 110 $ 169 $ 69 S 69 $ 99 S 239 $239 $ 195 S 149 5 99 J 199 $ 199 $ 219 $ 94 $ 84 $ 95 $ 95 $ 195 $ 265 $ 375 $ 149 $ 195 $ 395 $ 67 $ 169 $ 169 $ 179 $219 $219 $269 UTIL TY & SYSTEM 1 983 CL SOFTWARE AWARD: "Copy II PC by Centra! Point Soltware is still the best software buy of 1 983 and 1 964. It will copy more copy protected software and faster than any other backup system. Unlike other copiers it makes an exact duplicate of your original and it does 100% venlicaion of copy. Documentation is excellent." • CENTRALPOINT.CopyllPC Backup S 40 S 35 *COMX. Fastrak ' . RAM Disk emulator and printer spoo er program Works on any PC DOS version or RAM Card Menu Driven. S 10O $ 59 UTILITY & SYSTEM LIST OUR PRICE PRICE DIGITAL RESEARCH ConcutrenlCP'M-86" $ 350 $ 226 CBASIC86" S 200 $ 135 CP.M-86- % 60 $ 40 Pascal'MTt (CP'M-86] S 400 $ 269 Pascal.'MT- (MSDOS) $ 600 $ 399 Pbl(MSDOS) S 750 S 499 Access Manager (MSDOS) S 400 $ 179 DisplayManager(MSDOS) S 500 $ 339 SpeedProg Pkg.(CP'M-86) S 200 $135 CISCOBOL-86 S 850 $ 525 DR LOGO-B6 S 100 $ 69 CBASICCompiler(86otMSDOS.each| S 600 $ 365 HAYES.SmartcomlHDataComm.) S 119 $ 89 MICROCOMMicroterminal(OataComm) S 100 $ 65 MICROSTUF.CrosslakXVIIDalaComm.) $ 195 $ 129 MICROSOFT. muMalrtmuSimp S 300 $ 225 Business BASIC Compiler S 600 $ 450 Pascal Compiler $ 350 5 255 C Compiler S 350 $ 225 BASIC Compiler S 395 5 285 Fortran Compiler $ 350 $ 255 COBOL Compiler S 750 $ 559 BASIC intepeter S 350 $ 255 NORTON. Norton Utilities 2.0t4orograms S 80 $ 65 ROSESOFT.Prokey $ 75 $ 49 HOME & EDUCATIONAL $ 29 $ 75 $ 27 $ 39 $ 139 $ 19 S 40 S 5 EPYXAulo. Sim., Temple ofApshai s 40 OilBarons S 100 ♦ ARMONK, Executive Suite $ 40 BLUE CHIP, Millionaiio or Tycoon, each $ 60 BPI SYSTEMS, Personal Accounting S 195 ♦ BRODERBUND, Apple Panic (Color) S 30 COMPREHENSIVE. PCTulor(DOS 1 I) S 60 CONTINENTAL. Home Accountant • S 150 DATAMOST.PigPonorSpaceSlrike.ea S 30 DAVIDSON, The Speed Reader II S 75 INFOCOM.DearllineorSUSPENDED.ea. S 50 ZorklorZorkllorZorklll.ea. S 40 ♦ INSOFT.WordTrixorQuotnx.each NEW! S 35 MICRO LAB. Miner 2049 $ 40 MICROSOFT, Flight Simulator S 50 MONOGRAM. Dollars 8 Sense S 165 PBLCORP„Per50nallnvestor S 145 SPINNAKER, Snooper Troops | tor 2) S 45 Story Machine or Face Maker S 35 STRATEGIC. IheWarpFaclor S 40 SUBLOGIC. Might Mission Pinball S 40 22 $ 49 $ 33 S 27 $ 29 $ 29 $ 33 $ 110 $ 99 $ 35 $ 24 $ 30 $ 27 * Means a BEST buy. AD #987 c 1983 by Conroy-LaPointe, Inc. All rights reserved. Circle 86 for IBM Peripherals, Circle 87 for Apple, and Circle 88 for all others. onoEROESk I DLL rntt (800)547-1289 Order Desk Hours: 6AM lo 6PM PST Oregon TOLL FREE 1800)451-5151 Portland: 245-6200 Hot Line For Information On Your Order 1503)245-1030 BYTE February 1984 157 Benchmarks and Performance Evaluation The art of benchmarking computer languages, programs, and systems by timing them with a standard test is a popular, but inexact, science. You find only what you are looking for— speed — and nothing more. Running a benchmark program will measure the speed of the system you are testing, but how do you measure how easy an application is to learn and use, how consistent its commands are, and how well-integrated the new integrated software packages are? This month's theme articles attempt to answer some of these questions by looking at the limitations of benchmarks and con- sidering what can replace them. The new levels of sophistication in software and hardware are difficult to evaluate. The simple benchmarks of the past, such as the Sieve of Eratosthenes popularized in BYTE, the Whetstone benchmark for FORTRAN, and millions of instructions per second (MIPS) ratings, no longer offer rele- vant information about the new generation of computers. Speed and reliability alone are not the determining factors in the deci- sion to purchase a particular computer or application. How quickly it can be learned and put to use effectively are vital factors in the new era of mass- market consumer computers, although these factors can be difficult to test. The quality of a system must be considered as well. Evaluating computer systems as a whole is a new alternative to the traditional practice of measur- ing a system's speed. Jerry Houston of Gifford Computer Systems offers a humorous and in- formative look at the uses and abuses of benchmarks from a user's perspec- tive and explains why the winners of benchmark tests are not necessarily the systems of choice. Jack Carroll and Mary Beth Rosson of IBM take an- other look at speed versus usability, arguing for quality in computer inter- faces and suggesting tests for system quality. Performance evaluation is becoming a popular term (especially in the mini- computer/mainframe world) for analyzing or simulating the performance of hardware and/or software. Brian Boyle of Gnostic Concepts presents the variables necessary for an equation to evaluate software performance. Sergio Mello-Grand offers an exhaustive set of printer benchmarks to help you find out how fast your printer really is. Avram Tetewsky of Draper Lab- oratories discusses some of the tests to validate that software works cor- rectly and reveals the results of some extensive benchmarks for FORTRAN compilers. Peter Marvit of Yates Ventures and Mohandas Nair of Intel come clean in the confessions of the misuses of benchmarks. Finally, Andrea Lewis guides you through the standard features and op- tions available on the 1984 model word processors, while Arthur Naiman provides a 100-point checklist for evaluating word-processing programs from his book, Word Processing Buyer's Guide. —Bruce Roberts 160 Don't Bench Me In by Jerry Houston 168 Beyond MIPS: Performance Is Mot Quality by John M. Carroll and Mary Beth Rosson 175 Software Performance Evaluation by Brian Boyle 1 93 The Art of Benchmarking Printers by Sergio Mello-Grand 218 Benchmarking FORTRAN Compilers by Avram Tetewsky 227 Benchmark Confessions by Peter Marvit and Mohandas Nair 235 The Word-Processing Maze by Andrea Lewis 243 Evaluating Word-Processing Pro- grams by Arthur Naiman Illustration by Robert Tinney 158 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 159 Don't Bench Me In Benchmarks are a popular way to compare both hardware and software. But how meaningful are they? Suppose we're playing a game, and you can select any athlete in the world to have on your team. The big problem is which one to pick. But before you can make a choice, you have to know what game we're play- ing. After all, even Babe Ruth in his prime would not have fared well in the pole vault. The point is, you can't find an answer until you completely specify the problem. Yet, people still ask questions such as "Which is the best compiler?" without specifying what they mean by "best." Asking "Which is the best com- piler?" is as misguided as asking "Which is the best tool in the world?" A tool derives value from a specific application, and outside the context of the application, the comparison of one tool with another is meaningless. Unfortunately, many people com- pare programs without taking into account the application of the pro- grams. Instead, these people use benchmarks— programs that test a computer's speed— to judge the worth of the software or hardware under question. The great lure of benchmarks is that, in a world of too much choice, they promise fast, easy answers sup- ported by hard facts. Clearly, bench- by Jerry Houston marks contain no sales hype. They are impartial. They appear to reduce volumes of product literature and manuals to tidy little tables that talk in numbers, which is very scientific. They offer to save time, eliminate error, and take all the risk out of some of the most important decisions a business can make. Or do they? It's dangerous to rely on bench- marks for help in deciding which computer, which language, or which implementation of a language to select. Many of the critical qualities that make a product suitable for a given application are not addressed, and may not even be addressable, by conventional benchmarks. Qualities such as reliability, compatibility, maintainability, and support are im- possible to measure with a bench- mark, but they spell the difference between a useful tool and a booby trap. What is the standard unit of reliability, of compatibility, of sup- port? How do you look at a table and determine if a product will be a time saver or a time vampire? One of the most popular general- purpose benchmarks is the Sieve of Eratosthenes, probably the most user-unfriendly title in the business. (I'm not sure how to pronounce "Sieve," let alone "Eratosthenes.") Eratosthenes, head of the Alexan- drian library around 200 B.C., was the most wide-ranging scholar of his time. He calculated the circumference of Earth without using an 8087 math- ematical coprocessor, and the library he headed was the very embodiment of Western civilization. Some scholars argue that when the library burned, Western civilization burned with it. Meanwhile, the gods have made the fame of Eratosthenes more enduring than Mylar. His technique for finding prime numbers has been adapted to modern computer lan- guages and is now a classic bench- mark used to rate languages and computers. It seems reasonable to ask just what prime numbers have to do with the workaday world where most computers are used. Accounting departments tend to be more con- cerned with the prime rate than with prime numbers. When your chief financial officer learns that a software bug will delay the income statement the bank had to have yesterday, he will find little solace in the fact that your state-of-the-art computer can quickly generate integers with no divisors except themselves and 1. Ironically, the specialists of his day called Eratosthenes "Beta," or second 160 tebruary 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. rate, for his alleged superficiality. In the computer trade, "Beta" has come to mean "not thoroughly tested," as in "a Beta copy of a new C compiler." It would be appropriate if "not thoroughly tested" were stamped on hardware and software that has been subjected to the benchmark named after our Greek who lived 2200 years ago. A Case Study The dubious utility of general- purpose benchmarks was brought home to our company after we con- ducted an extensive series of bench- marks on seven C-language com- pilers compatible with CP/M-86 (see "Comparing C Compilers for CP/M-86," August 1983 BYTE, page 82). After it took us almost as much time to measure performance as it would have taken us to write our own C compiler, we were struck by some curious phenomena. The ap- parent loser in our time and efficien- cy benchmarks, Computer Innova- tions' C86, was the compiler that our staff programmers regularly used both before and six months after we conducted the tests. I am not a programmer; I'm a civilian. My job is to whine. So when I complained to our programmers that they should think about hopping on the world the next time it came around, they all explained that they had each tried the other compilers and found lots of good and bad points. But they felt that for the tasks they were handling, Computer In- novations' compiler was best. The reason they cited most frequently was something that became evident while we were conducting the bench- marks but that was not reflected in the tabular results. Computer In- novations' C86 was the only compiler we tested that ran every benchmark we tried and gave the expected results, and we were lifting routines from articles, books, Unix libraries, and anywhere else we could find them. Our staff had chosen to use a com- piler whose main benefits were com- patibility and reliability. It ran rou- tines taken from a variety of other im- plementations of C. And it ran them the first time. These features, not evi- dent from the benchmark results, were revealed only by long ex- perience with the compiler itself. My faith in general-purpose bench- marks was undermined further when I learned that the Mark DeSmet compiler, which appeared to have done quite well in the bench- marks, was considered by our staff to be a lightweight C compiler. A sim- ple case of being misled by a bench- mark? Not quite. It turned out that our staff had nevertheless been tak- ing advantage of a powerful feature of the DeSmet compiler (an advan- tage which, of course, was not brought out by the benchmarks) and had turned a lightweight C compiler into a novel and extremely productive programming tool. I call it the anti- compiler. Data such as "number of times per week documentation is thrown against wall" might be useful in evaluating a product. Because our programmers primari- ly do system-level work, as opposed to applications programming, speed is very important. Speed to us means assembly language. The DeSmet C compiler, it turns out, lets you mix assembly code with C code. This means that, in the middle of a C pro- gram, you can insert #ASM and start writing in assembly language. This feature has streamlined the way we write assembly code. Before we had the DeSmet com- piler, we attacked a major assembly project head-on. We planned a struc- ture, wrote the program, and re- signed ourselves to debugging a maze of assembly code. The DeSmet compiler enables us to write a pro- gram initially in C. This process is fast. The program runs relatively slowly, but we can make sure that it does everything we want. Once the C version of the program works, we convert one C subroutine into in-line assembly code, compile the new hybrid C-and-assembly version, debug it if necessary, and proceed to convert the next C subroutine into in- line assembly language. Eventually, the entire program is converted to as- sembly language, piece by piece, pro- ducing code that is well structured, well tested, and usually well ahead of schedule. The benchmarks give no indication of this capability of the DeSmet compiler. We give a C compiler high points for compatibility with other versions of C, for reliability, and for ease of as- sembly-language interface. But we are relatively indifferent to its speed. In fact, the more a project calls for speed, the less we are concerned with the speed of the compiler because we know that the critical routines will have to be written in assembly language. None of the qualities that we con- sider most important for our applica- tions were addressed in any of our published benchmarks, and I'm not sure how to devise a benchmark that could quantify them. Perhaps data such as "number of times per week documentation is thrown against wall" or "number of support calls returned per thousand" might be useful in evaluating a product. In any case, the point here is not that we ignored our own benchmarks and found the C compilers that are really "the best." We use the compilers that are most suited for our particular jobs. For people who want programs that they will write from scratch, that will execute quickly, that will require minimal assembly code, and that will take up minimal RAM (random- access read/write memory) space, the compilers we have been using may quite possibly be "the worst." The Ascendancy of Waste Benchmarks are best at measuring efficiency and speed. Efficiency, how- ever, is threatening to become a dead issue. Efficiency means the amount of memory required to run a pro- gram. As technology sprints along, processors are being produced that can address huge expanses of mem- ory. Soon, little children will have to teach their parents what "gigabyte" means. Meanwhile, the price of semi- February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 161 conductor as well as mass-storage memory continues to drop. Both trends drastically reduce the pressure to produce and use efficient programs. One of the most remarkable indi- cations of computer technology's ad- vances over the past few years is the dwindling importance attached to program size. Not so long ago, pro- grammers would spend months par- ing away a few kilobytes from a piece of code; but now, the programmer's time is valued much more highly than those kilobytes. Apple's Lisa is a monument to the enormous amount of RAM now routinely sacri- ficed to make programs more "user friendly." With this new attitude toward efficiency, a strong point of benchmarking has been made trivial. Speed Thrills With all the vast changes wrought by the stampede of technology, one relationship has remained un- touched: time is money. This is true whether it is a programmer's time or a user's time. Therefore, the faster a program runs, the more time and money can be saved. However, there are limits to the extent that increased speed can improve a program. For in- stance, it does no good to have a word processor wait twice as fast for you to type your next character. For many applications, though, faster is better. Speed is where benchmarks come into their own. Measuring overall speed, however, can be a little tricky. A compiler may be fast when it runs tasks out of main memory but slow when it does file handling. Even in the unlikely event that all other factors— compatibility, reliability, documentation, support— are equal, you still have to know which opera- tions you are timing and which ones must be fast when you use speed benchmarks. Job-Specific Benchmarks Probably the best use of a bench- mark is to measure the time it takes a given hardware-software combina- tion to run a program that will actual- ly be run in real life and represents the dominant use of the proposed system. If, for example, an engineer- ing firm has an application that in- volves repeatedly inverting a big matrix, then the ideal benchmark would be a matrix inversion with rep- resentative sample data. This is, of course, a far cry from finding out how fast the same system can gener- ate prime numbers. The ideal benchmark is not a gen- eralized exercise that can be pub- lished in a magazine and distributed to millions; it's a carefully planned demonstration in which the specific application intended for the product is simulated as closely as possible. Where I work, it is not unusual to receive test programs that we are to run and report on. The Department of the Army is particularly fond of this shopping technique. It goes to the initial trouble of developing a benchmark that fits its application, and the rest is up to systems houses. In effect, the Army is benchmarking us. Upon receiving a custom bench- mark task, a systems house really begins to earn its living. The bench- mark is run on equipment that offers different levels of speed, cost, and versatility. If the job can be done on a fast but expensive disk emulator, we offer that option. Because most of our systems are based on the Compupro with a 16-bit, 8-MHz 8088 as well as an 8-bit 8085, we can sacrifice 8-bit compatibility in order to increase speed 40 percent by using a 10-MHz, 16-bit-only 8086 central processor. Another alternative is run- ning the benchmark on an expensive hard disk that has a fast voice-coil- head actuator rather than a less ex- pensive one with a slower stepper motor. We present all these trade-offs to the customer along with realistic timing data. The customer still has to make a choice, and in many cases it is an extremely difficult one; how- ever, he doesn't have to choose blind- ly, guided only by a meaningless off- the-shelf benchmark. But, you might say, setting up such a simulation is hardly a benchmark at all. It's a demonstration. The whole beauty of benchmarks is that you don't have to spend all that time designing tests and entering repre- sentative data. Benchmarks are sup- posed to be fast and decisive. They shouldn't be a lot of work— they should give you something for nothing. Right? Wrong! That idea went the way of the free lunch. In most cases, you get out of a benchmark just what you put into it. The time spent designing a job-specific benchmark that suits your needs is insignificant compared to the time you will spend using the tool you eventually select. Do generalized benchmarks have a place? Of course they do. Bench- marking is the great pastime of the computer world, the great sporting event for software hackers and hard- ware nerds. Benchmarks are the Olympics. You watch, you marvel, you enjoy. You root for your favorites and revile the opposition. You argue that the results were unfair and that the rules should be changed. You forget the results and lose bar bets to obnoxious friends with better mem- ories. But you don't base major busi- ness decisions solely on benchmarks. How to Make a Selection If you can't rely on generalized benchmarks, and you don't have the time or skill to design a job-specific benchmark, then how do you select a computer or a program? Unfortu- nately, it's not easy. You have to realize that a major software or hard- ware purchase is like a marriage. It is a long-term commitment for better or for worse. Marry in haste, regret at leisure. There are three important ways to research a product, and you should use all three: 1. Read the trade magazines for reviews. You can usually judge the validity of a product review the same way you judge a movie review. If it is in-depth and genu- inely enthusiastic, you probably have a good product. If it is super- ficial, full of cliches, and apologetic (the reviewer says the documenta- tion looked good but there was not enough time to open it), then ig- nore the review, not the product. Don't confuse the product with the review. 162 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. D B M DBMS, n., A buzzword for Data Base Management System. A structure in which to collect information on a given subject in one or more files. A software program enabling you to store, manipulate and retrieve your information contained in those files. Fully relational data base management -Multiple file and disk access. | Fully menu driven - Presented in : J "English" 1 3 simple and automatic program \I generators - A complete package. Calculates and compares figures -Quickly generates valuable reports. Probase® by the PROBASE arou P Fully Relational Data Base Management System (DBMS) Probase's' Quick Cen "tells" your computer how to enter, find, sort, calculate, analyze and present information. Easily add, change, delete, or browse through your data. Probase's'ab/7/ty to combine and collect data on a given subject from many separate files allows you im- mediate access to all of your information - Bookkeeping, Cost Accounting, Inventory, Personnel, Portfolio Analysis, Sales, etc. Menu Cen joins files together in an easy-to-use selection list. Report Gen compiles virtually any comparative reports you need, including projec- tions and forecasts. And prints them in any format you choose. Probase®Requires No Training Press a 'function' key for help. Concise documentation with samples on-screen assists you with your current task. And returns where you left off. Complete documentation includes a handy 2-part tutorial manual. Easy Enough For Non-Technical Users Probase's three program generators (Quick, Menu, Report) create data base management applications according to your direction -automatically. Enter your requests using simple selections and fill-in- the-blank menus. Inquire, generate a report, create or up-date your data bases, design entry screens... Programming and code entry are completely eliminated, so you don't need to be a programmer, or even have computer experience, to produce professional automated business reports. Powerful Enough For Programmers Access 3 different files at once and work with as many as you need within a single program. Combine your files in "one-to-many" or "many-to-one" relationships. When you program in Probase; all of your tools are immediately available: Macro Instruction Language, Subroutine Calls, Programmable Function Keys and more. Program, test and debug without an outside editor, assembler or compiler. Make changes and corrections instantly. Free disk space... Probase; efficiently compresses screens and program tables onto your disks. And Probase" need not be present on disk when you run your applications. Enjoy more disk storage capacity and faster throughput by eliminating extra program code. Write or Call Today and Find Out How You Can Put Probase' To Work For You. Try Probase' Free For 30 Days^ Visit your local dealer or call 800-258-7070 for your copy of Probase. If not satisfied, simply return it within 30 days for a prompt, courteous refund, whatever the reason. ■ See for yourself how useful Probase 'can be for you. Available in PC-DOS, MS-DOS and CP/M86 (all using 128k) and CP/M(64k). Enjoy the newest, most effective data base management systems. Circle 104 on inquiry card. Probase® Another Solution® from Data Technology IndustriesTM 707 A Whitney Street San Leandro, CA 94577 800-258-7071 (415)638-1206 Circle 260 on inquiry card. Treat your personal computer to famous Diablo letter-quality printing. MTI has the Diablo 620 & 630 API ready for you. The best letter-quality printers on the market. At MTFs best prices. Whether you buy, rent or lease our equipment, you'll find MTI is the one source for all the terminals, peripherals, systems, applications expertise and service you'll ever need. At good prices. Call us today. New York: 516/621-6200, 212/767-0677, 518/449-5959 Outside N.Y.S.: 800/645-6530 New Jersey: 201/227-5552 Ohio: 216/464-6688 "QED" Discounts VISA & MasterCard mti systems corp. Diablo A Distributor Applications Specialists & Distributors, New York, New Jersey and Ohio. DEC, Intel, Texas Instruments, Altos, Lear Siegler, Dataproducts, Diablo, Esprit, Intecolor, Racal-Vadic, MICOM, Digital Engineering, U.S. Design, Cipher, Protocol Computers, MicroPro, Microsoft, Polygon and Select. WON THE PUKE WAR In every battle, we came up the victors. Not only in price, but in service and support as well. 1-800-957-5117 Call to order: (in NJ 609-424-4700) We carry: Intertec Data Systems Corvus Concept Corvus Hard Disk C. Itoh Printers THE Y NETWORKING EXPERTS TriStar Data Systems 2 Keystone Avenue Cherry Hill. NJ 08003 609-424-4700 215-629-1289 WE SERVICE WHAT WE SELL 2. Talk to friends or colleagues or fellow members of computer clubs, and talk a lot. Most people are reluctant to admit that they wasted money on a product; it's stupid to waste money, and peo- ple usually want you to think that they're smart. The same rules apply as when you ask about someone's vacation. The first response is always, "We had the greatest time ever. Absolutely fabulous." Only if you start trading travel stories do you find that the paradise in question is a malarial swamp, the hotel is a convention center for cockroaches, and the airport boasts the world's largest network of sinkholes. Again, keep them talking. Value the advice of a user who was not involved in the decision to buy (and so whose pride is not at stake) more than the advice of someone who actually selected the product. 3. Find a reputable dealer. Good dealers are well aware that a ma- jor purchase is a marriage between dealer and client. In a good sale, the client returns and buys more goods and refers friends who in turn buy and buy again. This sort of sale enhances both the self- esteem and the bank account of the dealer and generally makes business fun. Good dealers love it if they sell you the right product, and they will often do some home- work for you to make sure you make the right choice. They will certainly do more than look up some benchmark results. To a good dealer, selling you the wrong product is like driving off a cliff: there are a lot of exciting possibil- ities, but they're all bad. These three rules are reliable ways of selecting software and hardware, much more reliable than the general benchmarks you see published so often. Stay true to these rules, and you'll be able to look beyond the numbers and break away from the bench. ■ Jerry Houston is vice-president of marketing at Gifford Computer Systems (POB 1917, San Leandro, CA 94577). 164 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Circle 363 on inquiry card. THUNDER 186 single ooard computer. THUNDER 186 utilizes a highly integrated 80186 microprocessor from Intel to bring all the features required of an SI 00 bus computer system together on a single height IEEE-696 board. WyW^fl!^WWijMp[JjB 80186 micro-processor (10 Mhz 8086 -erformance). Floppy disk controller, controls both 5Vt" and 8" disk drives simultaneously. -> RS232 serial ports with full handshaking, parallel printer port. !r 128K bytes or 256K bytes of no waitstate mic RAM with parity, /ull IEEE-696 (SI 00) bus compliance. JP-™' * nui^iJR 186 is the only single board 16 bit computer that requires no additional boards to complete a functional system. THUNDER 186 is fully supported by our full line of operating systems: MS-DOS**, CP/M-86* MP/M-86* and CONCURRENT CP/M-86*, which are all available immediately. Thunder 186 includes CONCURRENT CP/M-86 in the low introductory price. 128K Byte version 256K Byte version $1250.00 $1595.00 LIGHTNING 286 286 replaces the Lightning One as the fastest board on the SI 00 BUS. We have incorporated the Intel 80286 microprocessor on a CPU board that again brings new levels of performance to micro- computers. The 80286 is capable of supporting up to 16 megabytes of physical memory and up to 1 Gigabyte of virtual address space when utilized in virtual address mode. In real address mode, the 80286 is compatible with the vast library of 8086/88 programs already written. We have the three major operating systems available immediately on our Lightning 286, no need to wait for third party support to take advantage of this exciting new processor. *CP/M-8B and CONCURRENT CP/M-86 are trademarks o! 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Dept 0201 Order Status Number: 588-5654 P.O. Box 6689. Stateline. NV 89449 In Toronto call (41 6)828 0866 Dept 0201 Order Status Number: 8280866 2505 Dunwin Drive. Unit 1 B Mississauga. Ontario. Canada L5L1T1 800255-8950 In PA call (717)327-9575 Dept 0201 Order Status Number: 3279576 Customer Service Number: 327-1450 477 E. Third St.. Williamsport. PA 17701 CANAOI AN ORDERS: All prices are subject to shipping, tax and currency fluctuations. Call for exact pricing in Canada. INTERNATIONAL ORDERS: All shipments outside the continental United States must be pre-paid by certified check only. Include 3^ (minimum $5 00) shipping and handling. EDUCATIONAL DISCOUNTS: Additional discounts are available to qualified Educational Institutions. APO & FPO: Add 3% (minimum $5.00) shipping and handling. Circle 76 On. inquiry card Beyond MIPS*: Performance Is Not Quality Two users examine the quantifiable aspects of system quality by John M. Carroll and Mary Beth Rosson Performance is the most common term of measurement used in the world of computing. Performance refers to the effective speed of a device, hardware or software. It refers to reliability. It refers to so many things that you could easily come to regard performance as a synonym for quality. But there is a danger in this— quality must not simply be equated with performance. Perfor- mance does not take into account usefulness or usability, which are critical determinants of the ultimate quality of a system, particularly a microcomputer system. In this article, we consider three aspects of quality. First, we discuss the meaning of quality and em- phasize the contributions of factors other than system performance as typically measured. Within this broader context, we consider how the quality of a computer interface might be analyzed. We focus on users' needs and on how readily those needs can be accomplished. We argue that high-quality devices are those that support the user's fluent accomplishment of typical tasks. Finally, we describe how an analysis of quality might be incorporated into the design process. Devices can be designed for high performance; we * millions of instructions per second urge that they be designed for high quality. What Is Quality? Usually, when we ask "Does a device work?" or "How well does it work?" we intend the industrial- engineering sense. We presuppose an ideal operator. It is easy, though, to imagine examples in which this assumption is overly generous. A bicycle with pedals positioned so far from the seat that a typical rider can- not reach them may be a high- performance bike for that ideal operator, but something is seriously wrong with it for the typical operator. Frequently, computer application systems are like that high- performance bike: neither usable nor useful. Imagine a new word pro- cessor with twice the processing power of previous systems and a minuscule probability of hardware defects. With respect to performance, it is rated a quality system; but if you are a novice and want to use the sys- tem to type and print a one-page let- ter, you may not agree with this rating. Very often, there will be no simple procedure to accomplish your goal; despite the "quality" of the parts, the pedals seem to be designed for people with far longer legs. Thus, you may need to sort through icons, negotiating selection and movement, single and double mouse clicks, copying dummy documents, and so forth. Or you may need to traverse a more rigidly structured, but equally inscrutable, hierarchy of menus or be faced with a vacant screen that awaits commands but gives no hints. Consider a scene we have observed often in studying users of commer- cial word processors. The operator is presented with a menu of options immediately prior to seeing the text- input area. Under the menu is the following prompt: Type ID code to select CHOICE; press ENTER. The user need not in fact select any op- tional CHOICE to move to text input, but invariably the user does. Having done so, the user is once again prompted: Type ID code to select CHOICE; press ENTER. Again, the user selects an option (often reselect- ing his prior CHOICE). Indeed, this cycle of redundant selection and reselection can continue for many minutes. And unfortunately it ac- complishes little or nothing. The default CHOICEs are satisfactory in most cases; CHOICE-looping only delays the goal of getting to the typ- ing display (see references 3, 4, 8). The issue of quality is not limited to inexperienced users. For ex- perienced operators, measures of performance, such as processing speed, may indeed become more im- 168 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. portant determinants of quality; these users may operate in a mode in which variations in system capacity are more apparent (see references 6 and 10 for discussions of the effects of system response time on users' productivity). However, even for routine users, other factors are much more important. Good system per- formance may make a tedious pro- cedure more acceptable, but it will not eliminate the negative impact on quality. Nor will performance alleviate the problem of long-term skill learning— often, experienced users fail to acquire the most effective methods for accomplishing their goals (see reference 9). In a high- quality system, these problems would be addressed not by improv- ing system performance but by mak- ing the more effective methods trans- parent to the user and by making rel- evant procedures easy to learn and execute. Even if the usability of a system is high, its quality might be severely im- paired by its usefulness to its intend- ed audience. For example, if a user is shy when it comes to writing about sensitive matters, or if a person can- not type fluently, an electronic mail system would not be useful. By the same token, if someone is principally concerned with filling in forms, then most word-processing systems would not be useful. Finally, if someone works in a highly interactive team en- vironment, a calendar application without provisions for sharing data would be of very limited use. The term "quality" has meaning only when considered from the per- spective of real users performing real activities on a system. The level of performance in the context of an ideal user may contribute to quality con- sidered from this perspective, but much more important is the extent to which the system supports users in the pursuit of their own goals (both what they want to do and how they want to accomplish it). How can quality, in this sense, be measured? Measuring Quality In order to measure the quality of a system, we need to know (a) who the intended users will be, (b) what they will want to use the system for, and (c) how they will want to achieve those goals. Such a description would turn the focus on users and their needs, which is essential to evaluating system quality. The measurement itself is made through psychological experimentation: em- pirical studies of representative users performing representative tasks. The representativeness of the users and their tasks is key. The quality of a system designed to be used by secretaries cannot be assessed by having programmers try it out. Pro- grammers aren't secretaries. The background knowledge that can be assumed for one group cannot be assumed for another. A system that is just fine for programmers could be If one system elicits better performance on typical tasks by typical users, then that is the higher-quality system. a disaster for secretaries. For example, it is routine for programmers to in- voke an application before using its function. This is not at all obvious to nonprogrammers. Secretaries with no computer experience might at- tempt to type their first word- processor document on the top-level control menu. (We have observed this kind of error with nonprogram- mers learning to use a variety of word-processing systems.) Converse- ly, secretaries routinely specify pitch and style of type fonts; a system designed for such users could address such functions more techni- cally than could a comparable system designed for use by programmers. Just as background knowledge varies among user groups, so do their typical goals in using the sys- tem. Secretaries seldom compose text. Far more typically, they key in and revise text that someone else has composed. This arrangement would be reversed for typical programmers. Accordingly, testing the quality of a word-processing system for secre- tarial users would place relatively greater emphasis on keying and revi- sion tasks than on composition tasks. And the reverse would be true for a word-processing system designed for programmers. Typical Tasks, Typical Users Indeed, the characterization of typical tasks and user groups can and should be more in-depth than our simple example. The tasks of legal secretaries differ from those of cor- respondence secretaries in many rele- vant ways. Typical tasks can be analyzed in greater resolution than composition versus transcription/ revision: some secretaries may deal exclusively with one-page memos and letters; others may often tran- scribe lengthy technical reports. Assessing the quality of a system re- quires us to identify the intended users and their typical tasks and measure a representative group of such users performing such tasks with the system. For a system designed for cor- respondence secretaries who typi- cally type brief memos, a measure of quality would be the average time re- quired to type an average memo. Two systems, both designed for this user group (possibly among other groups), could be compared on this basis. If one system elicits better per- formance on typical tasks by typical users, then that is the higher-quality system. Of course, systems often provide a variety of functions intended for diverse groups of users. For these systems, different user groups must be demographically represented in any test and asked to perform the particular tasks typical of their group. If the principal group is secretaries and the secondary group is mana- gers, then both must be proportion- ally represented in the tested sample of users. The secretaries might be asked to transcribe memos and the managers might be asked to prepare performance plans. Our considerations don't stop there. Users vary not only in their job-related backgrounds but also in their computer-related backgrounds. Systems optimized for cor- respondence secretaries with no computer experience might be less February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 169 than optimal for members of the "same" user group who are ex- perienced with word processors. When we begin to imagine the inter- actions of experience on different systems, this issue can become quite complicated. Nevertheless, we must pay attention to distinctions in system quality for users of different experience levels. Thus, one measure of quality for a word-processing system intended for secretaries might be the time required for a secretary without computer experience to create and print her first letter; another measure might be the time required for an experienced secretarial user to create a table with a complex format. In a quality system, basic functions are learned easily, which aids the initiation of novices. But just as important, ad- vanced functions should be acquired naturally when appropriate, which supports productivity and the development of expertise in the longer term. Current system designs in many cases do try to accommodate distinc- tions between different experience and expertise levels (as well as some of the other distinctions we have discussed). However, in no case has the quality of a design been serious- ly ascertained. The IBM Display- writer provides a menu interface to make learning easier and a menu- bypass facility to support fluent and productive skilled use. The Apple Lisa system presents an interface organized by the desktop metaphor for ease of learning and Apple-key commands for the convenience of more experienced users. We would argue that although both systems are addressing the right issues and adopting reasonable approaches to these issues, their success is unknown. The quality of both systems on these grounds (and others) must be determined empiri- cally. Analyzing Quality We have argued that system quali- ty is more than mere performance. We have tried to show how usability and usefulness are the final deter- minants of system quality and how they can be assessed empirically. But we can do better: we can try to understand the components of usability and usefulness; we can try to understand what quality is. Our starting point is how users want to achieve their goals. We want to expand the framework presented in the preceding section to include consideration of the particular ap- proaches, methods, and subskills that are employed when users try to address a goal (such as typing a buck slip) with an application system. Knowing that 90 percent of cor- respondence secretaries can key in and print out a one-page memo in less than 15 minutes provides an assessment of quality. But knowing a larger number of more specific facts (e.g., 85 percent make the mistake of miscoordinating coded keypress commands at least once in the course of requesting a print job to be queued) provides a more detailed HARD COPY MADE EASY. &&&- SHA^ - 16^ Picture CRT information in full color with the new KODAK INSTAGRAPHIC ™ CRT Imaging r-M A outfit. $igu LIST PRICE* This new Kodak imaging outfit makes recording CRT graphic displays as easy as taking a photograph! Just hold the Instagraphic camera and cone over a 12- or 13-inch-diagonal CRT screen, and press the button. 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Queuing a print job might present the user with a variety of specific problems in one system: awkwardly worded prompts, icon- cluttered displays, inconvenient defaults, multiple-keystroke com- mands, etc. In another system, the problems might pertain to the com- mand or menu protocol for selecting the pitch and style of type fonts. From the macro-level standpoint, the quality of the two systems is equal; we have assumed that in both cases an identical proportion of represen- tative users can successfully ac- complish a representative task. But from the more detailed level of how the users accomplish particular subgoals, there is a trade-off in quality between components of the macro-level task. A trade-off is not a choice between equivalents. The relative usefulness of the two systems we have imagined might differ considerably. The system for which type-font selection was dif- ficult might still be more useful than the system for which queuing a print job was difficult. After all, being forced to accept default pitch and style is not as great an obstacle to get- ting real throughput as is being un- able to queue a print job. The default type font may not be exactly right, but it will always be better than no printout at all. The relative difficulty of system subtasks must be collated against the goals people bring to the situation in order to assess the use- fulness of the system (see reference 2). In the short term, it may be satisfactory to know that typical users spend an average of 15 minutes key- ing in and printing out a buck slip. After all, if the state of the art is 18 minutes, you might realize a produc- tivity savings of about 15 percent in the system of higher quality. But in the longer term, we need to under- stand better where the 15 minutes (or the 18 minutes) is going and how it affects the usefulness of the system. Indeed, understanding those details is the key to improving the quality of systems. 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People & technology 844 Manatawna Ave., Phila., PA 19128 tem quality that can contribute di- rectly to the designing of higher- quality systems. Although this dis- cussion has focused on the assess- ment of completed systems, many of the measurements we have discussed could be made on mock-ups of inter- faces, on simulations of systems, and on prototypes. We believe that making such mea- surements during the early stages of the system-development process is the only way to ensure the design of quality systems (see references 5 and 7). Consider, for example, the imple- mentation of contextual dependency in a menu-driven word-processing system. The notion is that only func- tions that make sense in a given con- text are available to the user. The payoff is obvious: it protects the user from the often costly errors associ- ated with inappropriate menu selec- tions (reference 3). But the implementation of the prin- ciple is not so obvious. We could in- corporate the dependency either in the display of options or in their selec- tion . In the first case, the physical ap- pearance of the menu would vary from mode to mode and the user would be faced with possible prob- lems stemming from a failure to recognize the mode and its inherent limitations on functions. In the se- cond case, the physical appearance of the menus is constant, but its response to the user's action varies: sometimes certain functions are "not available," leading to possible user frustration. The choice of a good solution to this design issue cannot be known a priori, nor can it be indi- cated through macro-level usability benchmarking. The ultimate choice will be very much a function of the details of the application, the menu content, and the instances of contex- tual dependency most likely to be en- countered by a typical user. The computer industry will very likely continue to focus on the goal of improving system performance. And it clearly should; performance factors like reliability and response time have a variety of obvious, and not so obvious, effects on user satis- faction and productivity. (The exact nature of these effects is still a mat- ter of controversy; see references 1, 6, 9.) But increasingly there is an awareness that mere performance is not enough, that it is not the same thing as quality. As computers be- come tools and toys for everyone, their ability to adapt to human needs and propensities becomes the prin- cipal determinant of real system quality. We have outlined a simple, yet systematic, empirical approach to the measurement, analysis, and de- sign of system quality. We know of no scrupulous case studies of this ap- proach, but the momentum of the entire industry is overwhelmingly heading in this direction. In the next few years, the study of system qual- ity should be one of the most active areas in computer science research. ■ John M. Carroll has a Ph.D. in psychology from Columbia University. Mary Beth Rosson has a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. Both are members of the Research Staff at IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center (POB 218, Yorktown Heights, NY 10598). References 1 . Boies, S. J. "User Behavior on an Interactive System." IBM Systems Journal, 13, 1974, pages 1-18. 2. Bullen, C. V, and J. L. Bennett. "Office Workstation Use by Administrative Managers and Professionals." IBM Research Report, RJ 3809, 1983. 3. Carroll, J. M., and C. Carrithers. "Blocking User Error States in a Training System." Sub- mitted to ACM Communications. 4. Carroll, J. M., and R. L. Mack. "Learning to Use a Word Processor: by Doing, by Think- ing, and by Knowing." Human Factors in Computer Systems, J. Thomas and M. Schneider, eds. Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1983. 5. Carroll, J. M., and M. B. Rosson. "Usability Specifications as a Tool in Iterative Develop- ment." Advances in Human-Computer In- teraction, H. R. Hartson, Norwood, NJ: Ablex, forthcoming. 6. Doherty, W. J., and R. P Kelisky. "Managing VM/CMS Systems for User Effectiveness." IBM Systems Journal, 18, 1979, pages 143-163. 7. Gould, J. D., and C. H. Lewis. "Designing for Usability— Key Principles and What De- signers Think." Manuscript in preparation. 8. Mack, R. L, C. H. Lewis, and J. M. Carroll. "Learning to Use Word Processors: Problems and Prospects." ACM Transactions on Office Information Systems, 1, 1983, pages 254-271. 9. Rosson, M. B. "Patterns of Experience in Text Editing." CHI '83 Conference on Human Fac- tors in Computing Systems, Proceedings. Boston, December, 1983. 10. Shneiderman, B. "Response Time and Display Rate in Human Performance with Computers." To appear in Shneiderman's Designing Interactive Computer Systems: A Software Psychology Approach. 172 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. KING OF THE S-100 JUNGLE You'll reign supreme when your S-100 system is equipped with Macrotech's high performance products. Our full megabyte high speed dynamic RAM and 16 channel intelligent DMA I/O boards provide the edge you need in today's competitive jungle. Our one slot MAX dynamic RAM is field expandable from 256K to one megabyte. You get far more than just the low price per kilobyte of $2.39. You get: • IEEE 696 full parity detection • Virtual disk support in all popular Digital Research operating systems • High Speed Z80, 8085 — 6 MHZ; 8086, 8088, 68,000—8 MHZ No Wait States • On-board refresh • 1 6-24 bit Memory Mapped Addressing option • DMA fully supported in strict compliance with IEEE 696 Our ADIT 16-channel serial I/O board is no pussycat either. An on-board 6 MHZ Z80B provides intelligence for a large array of commands. Plus important things like: • Resident virtual disk interface • Memory to memory DMA • 24- bit DMA addressing • Field expandable from 4 to 16 channels • Full compliance with IEEE 696 Macrotech makes every slot in your computer really count! To get the rest of our story on the ADIT or the MAX, write or call us. In the S-100 jungle Macrotech products can be your key to success. MACROTECH INTERNATIONAL CORP. 9551 Irondale Ave., Chatsworth, CA 91311, [213] 700-1501 Dealer/Distributors: Priority One Electronics (800) 423-5922, [213] 709-51 1 1 Soft Machines (217) 351-7199; In England: Fulcrum [Europe] (0621) 828-763 Circle 227 on inquiry card. BYTE February 1984 173 — COMPETITIVE EDGE — P.O. Box 556 Order Line 800-336-1410 Plymouth, MI 48170 Info Line 313-451-0665 LOMAS THUNDER 186 128K OR 256K SINGLE BOARD 80186 COMPUTER INTEGRATED BY COMPETITIVE EDGE IN A LOW PROVILE 4 SLOT S-100 CABINET INCLUDES DISK CONTROLLER TWO SERIAL AND ONE CENTRONICS PARALLEL PORT, (2) 5" IBMPC COMPATIBLE FLOPPY DRIVES & 128K FOR . . . $1995 or ONE 5" IBM PC COMPATIBLE FLOPPY DRIVE AND ONE 10 MEGABYTE HARD DISK FOR (BOTH SYSTEMS INCLUDE CONCURRENT CP/M-86™) . . .$3195 For 256K Thunder 186 instead of 128K add $240 to above prices. 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BUDGET 15 SLOT COMPETITIVE EDGE INTEGRATED SYSTEMS WITH DUAL 8" DOUBLE SIDED DRIVES AND COMPUPRO BOARDS 85/88, DISK 1, RAM 16, I/O 4, CP/M 2.2 . . .$2995. 6MHz CPU Z, DISK 1, 10 4, RAM 17, CP/M® 2.2 .. . $2895. 10 MHz 86 or 68K, RAM 21, I/O 4 CPM® . . . $3695. DISK 3 & Q540 QUANTUM 40 MEGABYTE HARD DISK SUB-SYSTEM WITH SYSTEM . . . $2995. SEPARATELY . . . $3195. HARD DISKS ARE BURNED IN. DISK 1 — $327. DISK 3 — $525. DISK 1A — $459. SPUZ — $459. 68K CSC — $561. 68K A&T — $459. 8086 CSC — $561. 85/88 SSI — $297. ENCLOSURE 2 DESK — $599. ENCLOSURE 2 RACK — $645. CP/M68K — $242. 20 SLOT MOTHERBRD — $195. 12 SLOT — $129. RAM 17 — $329. RAM 22 — $1155. RAM 21 128K 8-16 — $657. 2-8" DRS & CAB — $1095. DUAL SLIMLINE DRS & CAB 2.4 MB — $1050. SPECIAL 1-8" FLOPPY & DISK 3 & Q540 IN RACK MOUNT, CPM 80 & 86 — $3495. DUAL 8" SLIMLINE 2.4 MB DRIVES 3ms STEP RATE, IN CABINET WITH DISK 3, Q540 HARD DISK CP/M 2.2 AND CP/M 86 RACK OR DESK — $3995. TELETEK SYSTEMS AND COMPONENTS INTEGRATED BY COMPETITIVE EDGE FOUR SLOT S-100 SYSTEM WITH SYSTEMASTER, 2-8" DRS, CP/M 2.2 $1995 SAME IN 15 SLOT CABINET WITH Z80A, 64K TWO SERIAL 2495 10 MEGABYTE HARD DISK SUB-SYSTEM FOR ABOVE $1495 INCLUDES TELETEK HDC HARD DISK CONTROLLER. FOR 20 MEGABYTE 1995 TWO USER TURBODOS SYSTEM, SYSTEMASTER, 2-Z80A SLAVES, (2) 8" FLOPPYS 2.4 MB, 15 SLOT $4095 6 USERS, 10MBHARDISK 7995 TELETEK SYSTEMASTER — $585. SBC-1 64K — $575. SBC-1 1 — $995. HDCTC HARD DISK CONTROLLER — $525. CP/M 135 TURBODOS — $750. TERMINALS, PRINTERS ETC. QUME 102 GREEN $539 F10 55CPS 1395 PRISM 80 COLOR 1295 TELEVIDEO 924 . 695 IDSMICROPRISM 475 QUME108GR 695 1550SERIAL 725 PRISM 132 COLOR 1495 C.JTOHF1040 1095 IBM CABLE 45 TELEVIDE0914 575 SHEETFEEDER F10 495 QUME 102 AMBER 549 C.ITOH 1550 675 PRISM 132 1095 U.S. ROBOTICS S-100 IDS PRISM 80 950 QUME 108 AMBER 710 8510 SP PAR 625 300/1200 BAUD MODEM .315 8" DOUBLE SIDED DOUBLE DENSITY DISKETTES 5" DSDD DISKETTES FOR IBM PC™ WITH LIFETIME WARRANTY — QTY 10 $27 QTY 10 $24 8" SINGLE SIDED DOUBLE DENSITY DISKETTES 5" SSDD DISKETTES FOR APPLE™' ' WITH LIFETIME WARRANTY — QTY 10 $26 QTY 10 $19 Most Software for CP/M,® , CP/M-86™, MSDOS™, PCDOS™, & MP/M-86™ DIGITAL RESEARCH PASCAL MT + 86 — $375. CB86 CBASIC COMPILER — $375. CB80 CBASIC COMPILER — $325. DRI "C" FOR 86 — $225. dBASE II — $425. THE BEST WORD PROCESSOR AVAILABLE LEXISOFT'S SPELLBINDER — $275. It has many features not found in any other word processor COMPUTER INNOVATIONS "C" — $295. SORCIM SUPERCALC II — $199. MICROSOFT FORTRAN 86 — $250 MS "C" COMPILER — $350. MULTITOOL WORD — $275. All prices subject to change, minimum $3. Shipping, manufacturer's warranty's apply CP/M, CP/M-86, MP/M-86, CCP/M-86 are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Digital Research Inc., Compupro is a Godbout Company. IBM is a trademark of International Business Machines, Apple is a trademark of Apple Computer Inc., Supercalc II is a trademark of Sorcim Inc., Spellbinder is a trademark of Lexisoft Inc., Thunder 186, Lightning 1 and Lightning 286 are trademarks of Loma Data Products Inc. 174 BYTE February 1984 Circle 63 on inquiry card. Software Performance Evaluation Some helpful guidelines borrowed from a successful hardware model On the grand scale that measures difficulty, relevance, and necessary skills, the job of software perform- ance evaluation falls somewhere between the role of test pilot and drama critic. While obviously subjec- tive, the criteria for evaluation must be rigorously and narrowly defined: it is not the reviewer's task to rank the intrinsic social or intellectual values of, for example, Lotus 1-2-3 versus Pac-Man, but rather, to report to pro- spective consumers the quality of the rendition of the subject matter. In this article, I'll try to document some of the criteria used for software performance evaluation. Though not an easy task, there are some straight- forward approaches. Also included is a text box that discusses a surprising- ly accurate means of evaluating a pro- cessing system's performance. The knowledge gained in successfully constructing a hardware performance measuring tool can be used to guide reviewers in evaluating software. The evaluation of software applica- tion packages is only one of the cate- gories of analysis performed at Gnostic Concepts Inc. We regularly examine computer hardware, operat- ing systems, and support, training, and distribution schemes, as well as market data and projections. At either end of this spectrum are areas of interest readily amenable to quan- titative analysis. At the microcom- puter end, a system based on an In- tel 8088 processor running at 4.77 MHz (megahertz) can perform a spe- by Brian Boyle cific number of 32-bit ADD instruc- tions in a given time. A 5V4-inch Win- chester disk with known rotational speed, head-movement time, and transfer rate can access a known number of fixed-length records in a certain time. At the market end, statistical analyses can accurately determine and predict the number of dentist's offices in the United States today and during the next decade. It would thus be tempting to assume that a software application package lying somewhere along this path from microcomputer to market can be treated objectively and numer- ically using the same tools. In a na- tion of numbers, the ultimate goal of any evaluation is usually to obtain a number, set of numbers, or semi- quantitative indicators. Quantifying Hardware Despite the obstacles, there is a possible software performance-eval- uation methodology for arriving not at a single (scalar) value but a char- acteristic set (vector) of values, based principally on experience in hard- ware evaluation. The accompanying text box depicts the relatively "simple" methodology for arriving at a single Figure of Merit (FOM) for a given hardware configuration. Clear- ly, a single value is an oversimplifi- cation that overlooks many specific advantages and disadvantages of the system within a particular environ- ment: a system ideally suited for video games is different from a sys- tem optimized for scientific array computation or business database processing. Realistically, however, a CAD (computer-aided design) sys- tem for integrated circuits, for in- stance, has many of the requirements of each, so a single scalar value has some foundation in reality. Obviously, quantification of some- thing as complex and personal as personal computer application soft- ware is far more difficult than hard- ware evaluation, but you have to start somewhere. Lacking any other scale, potential users still want to know "what's hot and what's not," even when the limitations of such an over- simplification are spelled out. Software Evaluation Of course, there are aspects of soft- ware performance evaluation that lend themselves to the same kinds of quantitative techniques that are used in the hardware-evaluation approach discussed in the text box. Like test- piloting, quantitative limitations are tested, wherever feasible, both up to and beyond their stated limits: up to validates the claim; beyond evaluates how user friendly, or user hostile, the system is when pushed over the edge. Response times under given loading conditions can be measured quite accurately: using a personal computer's RS-232C port allows it to simulate both a terminal and a tire- less, methodical user/evaluator on another system. Not only can much of the process be automated, but February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 175 thousands of measurements accurate to the millisecond are possible. Still, there remains the problem of assigning interpretation to these quantitative values. What is an ac- ceptable response time? To whom? When? The problem wanders out of the realm of measurement and into the twilight zone of experimental or industrial psychology, management science, or opinion sampling— all on the borderline of applied guesswork. Yet, despite the obvious difficulties and differences, the hardware per- formance-evaluation model provides useful insights into an approach, or set of approaches, to software perfor- mance evaluation. At the very least, there is a suggestion of a divide-and- conquer approach in which the sep- arate factors and terms of the soft- ware are evaluated and weighed in- dividually before recombination. Perhaps the most useful concept transportable from the hardware model is the suggestion of the units of measurement. The units in the hardware FOM are the square root of the product of the word width (in bits) and the (practical) memory ad- dress length (also in bits). All of this is divided by nanoseconds and mul- tiplied by a dimensionless value pur- portedly relating the "value" of bits- out relative to bits-in. Intellectual Leverage The last factor, the "value," or "in- formation multiplier," characterizing the intellectual advantage of the ma- chine, is closely analogous to the mechanical advantage factor of simple machines like levers and pulleys, in which you trade increased motion for increased force. A good computer system (hardware plus software) is expected to give us what Xerox scientist Lynn Conway called "intellectual leverage." If the bits/sec- ond were liters/second or electrons/ second, then information flow, or throughput, would be fluid flow or current in amperes. When multiplied by the knowledge-enhancing "force" (pressure or voltage), the resultant value is work/second or power (equivalent to watts). Any software performance mea- surements should be consistent with 176 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. this line of reasoning. Raw perfor- mance measurement applies it direct- ly. A typical data-processing program can be rated by the product of: 1. the number of records processed in a given time 2. the size of the records in bits (more often bytes) 3. the complexity of the structures ma- nipulated, usually the order or binary logarithm of the number of branches in the graph of the data structure represented as a binary tree 4. the transformation factor or ratio of the information-theoretic complex- ity of the records output compared to those input The concept of the order of an al- gorithm is frequently used in theo- retical analyses that compare differ- ent sort, search, merge, and trans- form techniques. A sequential search, for example, is said to be of order(n) because its run time increases lin- early with n, the number of items in the list. A binary search, in which the search domain is narrowed by one- half at each step, is said to be of order(log(n)) because its run time in- creases by only one step for each power of two, or doubling, of the number of items. Of course, the complexity (and run time) of each step is typically greater for the binary search, so the sequen- tial search may actually be faster for short lists, but for a sufficiently large n we know that the order will domi- nate algorithmic performance. Simi- lar theoretical performance estimates can be made for frequently used fea- tures within an operating system: context-switching (between pro- cesses), interrupt-handling overhead, and subroutine or procedure calls are examples that account for a majority of the instructions executed in typical general-purpose computer systems. Theoretical, Experimental, and Observational Evaluation When it comes down to it, the modes of software evaluation are the same as those of physics. Simple behavior of small numbers of well- understood features can be theoreti- cally modeled and predicted, such as the reflection of light, the collision of billiard balls, and the surprisingly in- dicative hardware FOM. Then there are the properties that can be mea- sured experimentally, like the speed of sound, light, or programs under specified conditions. Finally, there are those aspects like astronomy, cosmology, human psychology, and other observational sciences, in which you are unable, or not allowed, to take apart the mechanism to ex- periment, and your theories are never really verifiable. This last aspect is the most difficult and most chal- lenging. Another lesson to be learned from physics is the uncertainty principle that says (among other things) that to some degree the act of measuring a phenomenon affects the outcome and changes the result. You can see this in the case of a program-perfor- mance monitor running on the same machine, and competing for the same resources, as the program it is attempting to evaluate. Such internal instrumentation of a program, in which checkpoint code is inserted in- to the program source and compiled with it, can be very revealing, but you must remember to correct for the ef- fects of the monitor itself, both in tim- ing and, even more subtly, in opera- tion. An actual relevant side effect of the uncertainty principle is the unspoken realization that the whole is greater than, or sometimes less than, the sum of its parts. At the trivial end of the spectrum, a dynamite set of pro- grams—word processor, spreadsheet, graphics, database, etc. —is a dud if the components each use mutually incompatible formats. A little farther up the scale, if they communicate only through disk files or, worse yet, files and conversion programs, they may add up, but they certainly don't multiply or enhance one another. A major feature of the Unix operating system from Bell Laboratories is not so much its multiuser as its multipro- cessing capabilities; it uses the pipe mechanism to pass data among con- currently running programs without passing through a vastly slower disk file. Finally, there is semantic incom- Text continued on page 180 THE 22-SECOND OF DESKTOP /*■• * From $698 Suggested U.S. retail price for the MT160 (80 columns) SMARTER, FASTER, STRONGER. In the computerized business of the eighties, more decisions will hinge on getting the right information in the right hands at the right moment. How well you do that will ultimately depend on the performance and durability of your printer. In the Tally MT160/180 series, a powerful 16-bit microprocessor master- minds document flow. That means saving valuable seconds when seeking the shortest possible print path. And printing at top speed all day long. Some machines claim 160 cps but can't hold that speed because they're not engineered or built like a Tally. You can quickly run down the extensive menu of print styles and word processing enhancements, making selections at a touch. On L models, switch from draft mode to letter quality just as easily and get results the Creative Computing magazine calls "superb." All 160/ 180 models have adjustable tractors and friction feed paper handling. And both parallel and serial interface ports are built in. So you're ready to print right out of the box. The spreadsheet you see above was produced in a scant 22 seconds. In an age when every moment counts, that's desktop performance at its best. ^^^V^V^^I S^^#V^4^J For more information and the name of your nearest dealer, call toll free: 800-447-4700.* TALLY •In Illinois: 800-322-4400 In Canada: 416-661-9783 Circle 229 on inquiry card. BYTE February 1984 177 Quantifying Processing System Performance — the MilliYAX The Figure of Merit The someivhat formidable Figure of Merit (FOM) formula in table 1 is based on some common-sense concepts that measure "work per time," just like the story problems of grade-school days: Tom can chop a cord of wood in three hours, ferry in four hours, and Bill in two hours. How long . . . ? To determine how much wood the wood- choppers could chop if they chopped together, our math book said to take the reciprocal of the sum of their rates in cords/hour, for a combined time of 12/13 hour per cord. We were also taught to assume independence and ignore the prac- tical facts that Tom and ferry can't stand to work together and that "Wild Bill" is fast but too dangerous to work with. The hardware FOM is simply a quanti- tative measure of how much data (in bits) can be fetched and stored in a given period of time (in nanoseconds) multiplied by the amount of value-added work that can be performed on that chunk of data to trans- form it into useful information. The FOM is a surprisingly accurate approach for predicting processing-system performance. For evaluation purposes, the processing system does not include fetch and write cycles from mechanically dependent mem- ory devices such as floppy disks, hard disks, and tape. Nor does it consider input (e.g., keyboard) or output (e.g., printer) interac- tion times. On-board memory access, in- cluding any cache memory, is included. You could arrive at the denominator (time) using raw MIPS (millions of in- structions per second) figures, but such numbers offer a precise yet inaccurate mea- sure of system performance, as misleading as Wild Bill's performance as a wood processor. A more complex but accurate denomi- nator for the FOM formula takes into ac- count the several levels of memory in most computer systems. The typical processor clock rate and memory cycle time can be misleading if used blindly: the memory may not always be as fast as the processor or synchronized (in step) with it, resulting in wait states. Conversely, on many micro- coded processors, memory fetches are much faster than typical instruction execution time. Using a technique developed in the days when processors were much faster than memory, many sophisticated systems em- ploy a fast auxiliary cache memory between the processor and main memory. The effec- FOM* Where: K n P n c W eff Where: Win, W ex . Waddr Where: Maddr Where: Mmin Mmax W insl Where: HinQt Where: Where: T, ra l>reg Where: n reg And: ' amr Where: Where: K x n p % x (1 + ryVs x W eff x W inst x W add , / T avg = a constant to force the "value" of a VAX-11/780 to 1000.0 milliVAX = the number of main (general-purpose) processors in the system = the number of special-purpose coprocessors in the system (if any) = the effective processor word-width (in bits) = (W inl X W ext )V2 = the internal word-width, usually the register-length = the external word-width, usually the data-path or bus-width = the effective processor typical maximum memory address-width (in bits) = log 2 (M addr ) = the effective useful maximum main memory address = (Mmin x M max )'/2 = the useful minimum main memory configuration = the useful maximum main memory configuration = the effective processor instruction field-width (in bits) = log 2 (n in8l ) = the effective number of distinct operable instructions n„ 'mod nnul + n n the number of separate memory reference operation codes the number of separate memory address modes the number of meaningless combinations of op-codes and a-modes the number of separate nonMRI(memory reference instructions) the average operation cycle time normally executed by the processor ' ira x ''reg "*" V ' ira + ' amr) ' ira x '"'reg + ' ira "*" ' amr I ira ' I amr ™" ' amr X n ron ir) X (1 ~ Rregv ^ reg — ' a TV X R r , the inter-register ADD time (in nanoseconds) the register access ratio (what fraction of references are to registers) 1 - Probability that an instruction references memory (not registers) 1 + 2 x Preference is to main memory) - 2 x Preference is to register) 1 + 2 x (1/log 2 (M addr )) - 2 x (1/log 2 (n reg )) 1 + 2/W addr - 2/log 2 (n reg ) the number of general-purpose registers of width W jnl the average cycle time to reference main or cache memory the main memory cycle time (in nanoseconds) the cache memory cycle time (in nanoseconds) the cache "hit-ratio" (what fraction of memory references are to cache) 1 - cache "miss-ratio" (probability a reference to Main not in cache) 1 + 2 x Preference is to Main Memory) - 2 x Pfsame address in cache) 1 + 2 x (1/log 2 (M addr )) - 2 x (1/log 2 (M cam )) 1 + 2/W addr - 2/log 2 (M cam ) = the cache memory size in Kbytes "©1983 Gnostic Concepts Inc., A McGraw-Hill Company Table 1: The processing-system figure of merit (FOM). tiveness of the cache in minimizing accesses of a slower main memory depends on the "hit rate"— the average fraction of memory references to data or instructions that are in the cache. The cache's overall utility is a product of its speed and probable hit rate; the latter depends on the cache size and characteristics of the program(s) being run. Smaller systems generally lack cache memory but have internal registers with even faster access times that the FOM characterizes by the interregister add time. In assembly-language code and good com- pilers, these registers are used as a sort of "minicache" for intermediate results, off- sets, bases, pointers, counters, and other frequently used values, so that the number of such registers and their flexibility 178 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. determine their hit rate. For simplicity's sake, our FOM does not include the opposite end of the speed spec- trum, mass storage— usually disk. Disk storage is normally the rate-limiting fac- tor in most small computer systems. This lowest level of memory is classified as level 5, after registers, cache, main, and optional level 4 memory (typically bubble memory), CCD (charge-coupled device), or disk-cache devices. The greatly improved throughput of the hard disk owes less to its greater size than to its much faster random-access speed. This is not to be confused with the transfer rate, the speed of loading data once the proper track and sector are reached, which is usually quite fast. Random-access time is the search-plus-seek time necessary to reach the data in the first place, usually measured in tens or hundreds of millisec- onds. Admittedly, the chunk of data trans- ferred is usually large, so the vast initial overhead is spread across the hundreds or thousands of bytes accessed. Nonetheless, speed and volume of disk reading and writ- ing utterly dominate most business appli- cations. Work Per Time Still Works Best As you might expect from a work-per- time measure, the denominator of the FOM expression expresses a typical mean data access time, the average of the access times for the various memory levels weighted by their projected, relative fre- quencies of use. The numerator expresses "work" and is a function of word size (width of data manipulated per access) and memory size (how much data you can stuff in memory without special addressing tricks or faulting to the next level of mem- ory). This raw volume of data is multiplied by the power of the instruction set, a value indicating how few instruction cycles are necessary to accomplish a single high-level operation. None of these factors can reasonably be read directly from a product's specification sheet. Word length, for example, could be taken either as the internal register length or the external data path width, which may be different. As an empirically vali- dated compromise, the FOM uses their geometric mean (the square root of their product). This yields the expected 8 and 16 for the symmetric 8085 (8 by 8) and 8086 (16 by 16), respectively, but yields a "word length" of 11.3 for the 8088 because of its asymmetrical 8-bit external, 16-bit in- ternal architecture. The geometric mean is similarly used as DEC VAX IBM Parameter Description Units 11/780 PC XT FOM : Figure of Merit mVAX 1000.0 79.2 n p : Number main processors 1 1 n c : Number of coprocessors 1 1 We„: Word width, effective bits 32 11.3 W int : Word width, internal bits 32 16 W ex .: Word width, external bits 32 8 W addr : Width, useful address bits 21 17.7 M addr : Memory, useful configuration Kbyte 2048 202.3 M min : Memory, useful minimum Kbyte 512 64 M max ; Memory, useful maximum Kbyte 8192 640 W inst : "Width" instruction set bits 8.8 7.7 n inst : Number useful operations 445 210 ^mri ■ Number mem-ref operation 96 64 ''mod ■ Number addressing modes 16 12 n nul : Number null combinations 1218 630 ■'nmr ■ Number non MRI instructions • 127 72 ' avg • Time, average operation nsec 585 1928 ' ira ■ Time, inter-register ADD nsec 515* 1677 R n reg • Register "hit-ratio" (%) .57 .40 n reg ■ Number full-word GP-registers 14 7 T ■ 1 amr ■ Time, average memory-ref nsec 165 420 ' mem ■ Time, memory cycle nsec 400 420 ' cam ■ Time, cache access nsec 150 00 "cam ■ Cache "hit ratio" (0/0) 94 00 Mcam : Cache memory size Kbyte 8 00 *A combination of integer and long ADD. Table 2: A sc mple Figure of Merit computational value for the VAX 11/780 and the IBM PC XT. a normalizing and scaling function to com- pute a reasonable memory-size parameter from the minimum and maximum memory configuration for a system. Taking the binary logarithm of this number converts its units back to bits, namely the word width required to address such a memory configuration. Experimentally, this turns out to be a much better measure than the theoretical maximum address range, which may go as high as 2 24 or even 2 32 . The final factor in the formula, the power of a system, may seem the most technically obscure, subjective, or simply arbitrary. All other things being equal, the processing capability of a system obviously increases with the size of its instruction set, but certainly not in direct proportion. As important to many compiler designers as an instruction set's size is its orthogo- nality, the fraction of potential instructions that are actually meaningful and useful. Like words in the English language, the frequency of instruction use follows (ap- proximately) a logarithmic distribution: the most common eight instructions (or words) occur as frequently in common usage as the remainder of the most com- mon 64. This is the rationale for applying the log 2 function to the total number of meaningful combinations of instructions, address modes, etc. The binary logarithm of the full set of combinations captures the log-normal frequency of instruction use and the advan- tages of symmetrical architectures such as the National Semiconductor 16000. Table 2 is an example shoiving the values used in the FOM computation for two typical processing systems. MilliVAX versus the Real World Does the hardware FOM actually cor- respond to anything we can relate to in the real world? In scanning any recent trade journal it is virtually impossible not to catch at least a dozen bar charts compar- ing brand-X supermicrocomputer to the DEC VAX-11/780, particularly in a Unix environment. If Helen of Troy possessed "the face that launched a thousand ships," then, to me, a reasonable unit of feminine beauty would be the milliHelen—the pre- cise amount of beauty required to launch one ship. Similarly, the FOM constant, K, can be adjusted so that the ubiquitous VAX-11/780 has a figure of merit of pre- cisely 1000 to create the semiwhimsical unit called the milliVAX, in which all Text box continued on page 180 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 179 IBM • APPLE • FRANKLIN • OSBORNE • KAYPRO • For Savings For Selection • For Service Other companies waste time and overhead producing expensive catalogs. Computers and More doesn*t. Putting the latest products and best prices In our customers' hands, not catalogs, is our goal. 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Versaform t I M List Handlei Wordstar Bank Street Writer Screenwriter tl Magic Window Magic Call Zorkl Zaxxon Choplilter Frogger Wizardry Jumpman 147 49 CALL CALL CALL 84 84 84 397 169 264 CALL 59 249 47 CALL 97 99 27 27 26 24 .39 29 The Catalog Challengers! 3620 - 30th Street ! SAN DIEGO, CA 92104 TO ORDER (619) 291-1442 TRANSTAR • QUADRAM • DAVONG • CORVUS • Text box continued from page 179: small systems can be measured. FOM Agrees with Actual Performance Not surprisingly, the computed FOMs for various microprocessor-based systems agree with the marketing hype only as to relative performance, yet even the most ad- vanced supermicrocomputers reach only a few hundred milliVAX. A bit more sur- prisingly, the FOM value seems to predict rather accurately the number of users that can be supported concurrently with reason- able responsiveness. Each user seems to re- quire about 20 milliVAX as an absolute minimum, 30 or 40 for comfort, 60 for high performance, and hundreds for cer- tain computationally intensive programs. On this scale, a VAX-11/780 would sup- port 50 to 64 users minimally, 32 comfort- ably, and 16 to 20 with high performance. At the loiv end of the scale a Z80-based per- sonal microcomputer rated at 30 milliVAX is acceptable for one undemanding user; for comparison, a DEC PDP-8 (the first com- mercially successful minicomputer, with 4096 12-bit words of memory) has a value of 30 milliVAX and supports one to three users. The IBM PC provides 80 milliVAX (actually sufficient for 2 to 3 users, but not configured as such for marketing reasons). The Altos 586 enhances this to 130 milli- VAX and five users by employing the full 16-bit 8086 processor and twice the PC's typical memory. Finally, most of the M68000-based, cache-enhanced super- microcomputers vying with VAXs hit the charts at 200+ milliVAX, for a realistic 22 to 16 users. The point is that the FOM is actually a reasonable indicator of system capabilities. Text continued from page 176: patibility, in which the commands/ keystrokes in one program mean dif- ferent, even conflicting, things in another. How do you quantify the benefits of compatibility? Again, physics has a model: the RMS (root-mean- square). A hundred violins sound only 10 times as loud as one, because they are not "in step" and (like in- compatible programs) combine de- structively nearly as often as con- structively. Rather than adding end to end, they add "at right angles," since any two vectors are randomly oriented with respect to each other. < Circle 81 on inquiry card. THG MOST IMPORTANT DATA SAVING D6VICG YOU'LL BUY It's not a disk drive or a cassette recorder, and it can't store a single kilobyte. But it could save an entire disk full of data, or a week of work. Because this is the Personal Conditioner™ from Gould— an inexpensive version of the Gould Line Conditioners big computer systems use. By now you probably know that a noisy AC line can make your computer lose data, drop entire files, even shut down completely. But did you know that typical line protection devices just filter out the highest surges and worst glitches? That means potentially harmful noise often passes right through. And none of them do anything at all about undervoltages, so a brownout can put you out of operation. So if you're serious about saving data, you need a Gould Personal Conditioner™, It's much more than a surge suppressor or noise filter. It actually creates the smooth power your computer needs. Even if your AC power drops as low as 96 volts, the Gould Personal Conditioner™ will keep supplying 120 volts of clean power. You can add a Personal Conditioner™ to your system for less than $200. Sure, you can save a few dollars by getting something less effective. But which would you rather save— a little money, or your data? For the name of your local computer dealer carrying the Personal Conditioner™ call Toll Free 800-854-2658. In California, (619) 291-4211. Gould Inc., Power Conversion Division. ■> GOULD Electronics Circle 155 on inquiry card. BYTE February 1984 181 The length of the diagonal so formed is given by the Pythagorean theorem as the square root of the sum of the squares, or RMS. The combined value of cooperating programs is directly additive, or even multiplica- tive, when they actually support each other. Totally random combinations of mutually incompatible programs can be summed using the RMS value. Software Evaluation Criteria Once the errors and effects of mea- surement are taken into account and methods for rationally combining in- dividual component values are deter- mined, the basic components of eval- uation must be specified. The follow- ing three Cs should be tested by any software performance-evaluation scheme: 1. Correctness of the operation: does the program (or system) do all that it is intended or is claimed to do with no side effects? 2. Completeness of user support: are the documentation, on-line aids, tutorials, training, and other aspects sufficient for operation? 3. Consistency of the package: is there a uniform conceptual model and consistency of actions and commands that minimize ambiguity? For correctness, first check all the specifications you reasonably can to determine whether the program does all the things it claims to. Second, check that the program doesn't do anything it is not supposed to do under both ordinary and exceptional circumstances. Third, check to see that the program always does the same things at the same point, regardless of how that point was reached. This so-called Markovian behavior often is the bane of ordinary testing procedures. The problem with both the second and third requirements is that pro- grams tend to be tested by program- mers. Programmers do not necessar- ily think like unskilled users, and even they gain expertise after some time. Short of an endless supply of new users or an eraser for certain sections of the brain, the only way to simulate the bizarre states users may get them- selves into is by methodically testing the progression from state to state, typically using a personal computer- based user simulator, running a pro- gram called a finite state machine (FSM.) Such a program, or checklist for human use, assigns a state num- ber to each conceptual state the pro- gram occupies, as determined by its previous inputs or conditions. It then determines experimentally the (pos- sibly) new state reached for each possible input. A well-behaved sys- tem has only as many states as are conceptually distinct— when a word processor is in a command mode, for example, it should not matter whether the last command was an ADD or DELETE, unless the differ- ence is necessary (e.g., for an UNDO command). Completeness of the user support is a frequently overlooked aspect of the system-evaluation process. (Shame on those systems analysts speak" C when using atilesottwaretool programs. »M- — otBASlC . \ \ * . „ rmo Microsoft. , Machines c °'£g. 80 _Tandy .„.,.« inc.: W b DU NSW 2220 (61?) K yo<03)263-03 100: Japan. Advanc BA STOC FEATURES SKSgsssss-* rSSagSsBss soon'. ORDER NOW nrice 1S $350, and ™a<^*jas si's -sffj Compute and print client tax returns - i in minutes -i ^e-i^fc, on your microcomputer with MICRO-TAX ■i wiiiiij /- ,---- That's right, in just minutes you can have a client's completed tax return in your hand. Think about it. . .you increase client volume, you increase your , Plus, you save the cost of your computer service bureau— and you have complete client security. FEDERAL AND STATE PACKAGES TO MEET EVERY NEED. MICRO-TAX* offers four Federal tax packages and 25 state packages (fully integrated with the Level II Program), so you can select the programs that best meet your needs: Level I— Federal Individual Package: for individuals preparing their own taxes. Level II— Federal Professional Individual Package: for accountants, registered agents, tax attorneys, and other tax professionals. Level III — Federal Partnership/Corporate Package: for those who pre- pare Federal Partnership, Corporate, and Subchapter S returns. Level IV— Overseas Tax Package: addresses the unique tax situations of United States Expatriates. Levels II, III, and IV have a depreciation module and automatically, com- pute underpayment penalties and minimum tax. In addition, Levels II and III automatically compute self-employment taxes, and Level II computes income averaging. FLEXIBLE DATA ENTRY. With MICRO-TAX* you can organize data entry in a sequence similar to that of manual tax preparation, or you can choose another sequence. The menu driven system makes data entry simple. MULTIPLE PRINTING OP- TIONS. You can input client tax information at the time of inter- view and produce forms imme- diately, or enter data during the day and batch print returns at night. MICRO-TAX* prints your returns on IRS forms, IRS ap- proved substitute forms, or with transparent overlays. TAXNET*— TELETEXT SUP- PORT NETWORK. MICRO-TAX* customers can now have access to an electronic mailbox and instantaneous memoboard through the TAXNET* "*H teletext support network. With TAXNET,* you can send information, ask questions, get answers and updates— directly through your computer and a modem. TAX ORGANIZER. Now MICRO-TAX* offers a Tax Organizer. You get botl the software and the forms, so each year, you can send your clients an organizer with the prior year's client data printed on it. HARDWARE COMPATIBILITY. MICRO-TAX* is compatible with your IBM PC/XT,* DEC Rainbow,* Radio Shack,* or any other personal computer with CP/M-80,* PC DOS,* or MS DOS*— from Apple* to Zenith.* So, take the tedium out of tax preparation— save time and money— Call Micro-Tax' lor complete details, .. V~-, or call your local dealer. miT*" '^ssss^ FULL FEDERAL MICRO-TAX- PERSONAL COMPUTER SYSTEMS 1983 FEDERAL FORMS AND SCHEDULES INCLUDED •J3 .:. '■- : - 3 UJ :/- E£ Li CJ X < Jc X c: o ■- :■■ :-n -r. so -■- ' O y. CM CO -T. in |M X •J: pi E o m -- 1 a. 5 jts §£« -S.E Udu. Level 1, Individual $195. • ' • • ■ • • • Level II, Professional Individual siuiin • • Level III, Partnership/ Corporate S1D0O. • • • • • • • Level IV, Overseas S2000 • • • • ' • • ■ • • • ' ' • • • • • • All forms and schedules subject to final IRS changes for 1983 tax year. • 25 Integrated state returns available • Orders taken for yearly update packages • Transparencies: Level I, S150; Levels II, III. IV. $250 each. 'C'PM — :rademark ol Digilal Research. Inc . DEC Rainbow — trademark ol Digilal Equipment Corp . MICRO-TAX and TAXNET — trademarks ol Microcomputer Taxsyslems. Inc.: MS DOS — trademark ol Microsoll Corp.: PC DOS IBM PC. and IBM XT- trademarks ol IBM. Apple— trademark ol Apple Computers: Zenith — trademark ol Heath Company and Zenith Radio Corp.: Radio Shack — trademark ol Tandy Corp MICRO-TAX* MICROCOMPUTER TAXSYSTEMS, INC. 6203 Variel Avenue, Suite A Woodland Hills, CA 91367, Dept. 1B Phone (213) 704-7800 (Area code changes to (818), effeclive January 1984) Circle 243 on inquiry card. Circle 130 on inquiry card. 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Mail Cashier's Check, Money Ord., Pens. Check [2 wks w dr.] Add $4.00 1st item (AK, HI, PR., Canada add S10.00 f iret item) $1 .00 ea add'l shpg. S. handl. Shipments to IL address add 6% tax. Prices subj. to change. WRITE for fraa catalog. Return policy for defective on arrival replacements only: 90 day mfr. wty. ALL ELEK-TEK MERCHANDISE IS BRAND NEW, FIRST QUALITY AND COMPLETE. ELEK-TEK Jnc 6557 N. Lincoln Av»., Chicago IL 60645 (800)621-1269 (312)677-7660 who fail to recognize that the user is part of the system.) Support may be categorized as external or internal and passive or active. Manuals and other documentation are external/passive and should realistically be divided into three levels for three audiences: • Level 1 (why) is a managerial over- view describing the purpose of the program/system, its capabilities, and its limitations. • Level 2 (how) is an operational guide to the use of the program/sys- tem, step by step, function by function. • Level 3 (what) is the technical ref- erence manual for the programmer or experienced user, detailing the in- tricacies of each function, the func- tions' idiosyncrasies and implemen- tations, as needed. Such manuals and accompanying materials (such as key caps, tem- plates, reference cards, etc.) should meet reasonable standards: Is the text clear, complete, and readable in nor- mal English? Are there clear and use- ful graphics of proper size and color? Is there a table of contents, an index, and a glossary of terms? Training (live, video, or audio) is external/active and may occur at mul- tiple levels, depending on user ex- perience and sophistication: • Level 1 (novice) explains the rou- tine capabilities and the handling of the normally encountered exceptions in the normal fashion (usually "manual" rather than "automatic" mode)— those in which operator errors are harmless or easily re- coverable. • Level 2 (occasional) explains the time-saving and powerful shortcuts that bypass much of the novice-level error checking. • Level 3 (expert) explains every- thing else about the system. Menus and static Help screens are considered internal/passive because they provide support for the user from inside the system but are not generally context-sensitive— they are Markovian in that they read the same regardless of where the user is in the program's operation or how the (usually confusing) state was arrived at. On-line context-sensitive Help messages take into account where the cursor is (what field of what screen of what program) and possibly how the user got there. Ideally, when an input is disallowed by the system, these Help messages reference the of- fending portion of the input and ex- plain what is wrong with it. Better still, there is user control over the ex- planatory verboseness versus cryptic terseness of the system, depending on the user's current level of ex- perience (novice, occasional, or expert). Such internal/active on-line user aids (Help messages, menus, and tu- torials) should comply with certain behavioral expectations for easy use; for instance, is the Help or menu transition-graph a hierarchical tree? Do the Help and menu structures have escape mechanisms? Are the context-sensitive Help messages and menus accurate? Consistency, the third C in the software-evaluation checklist, is the best predictor of how well the user will get along with the program/sys- tem. While, as Emerson said, "a fool- ish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds," a uniform conceptual model smooths the user's interaction with the system. Unpredictable be- havior, whether in a human, a pro- gram, or a St. Bernard, is an impedi- ment to understanding. A good program relates to people who sometimes do make mistakes they would like to recover from and who do not always refer to things in the same way. An "undo" facility, where practical, is far better than merely asking five times whether the user is absolutely, positively, sure that all those files should be deleted. After a while, such redundancies merely irritate, and the overload of too many warnings actually reduces the attention paid to them. Aliasing, allowing the same com- mand or option to be expressed in different ways, is a human touch with real value to the novice and oc- casional user. If one form is faster or 184 February 1984 (9 BYTE Publications Inc. The truth about information management: The Knowledge Manager beats dBASEover 250 ways. ". . .the leading seller is no longer the best." You get more from the Knowledge Manager, Relational data manage- ment, ad hoc queries (like IBM's SQL/DS), spreadsheet, math and statistics, printed forms manage- ment, screen I/O management, a full-scale programming language. All for less than the list price of dBASE. Plus you can now get a text processor, a forms painter, color graphics and a run-time version. Time (in minutes) lo sort* a two-field record on one numeric field. Records dBASE II KnowledgeMan 1.000 2.000 5.000 10,000 6.15 14.93 64.16 205.50 5.38 11.13 33.73 69.53 •K-MAN VI.05. dBASE II V2.3D, IBM XT, 256K RAM, heavily populated directory. All completely integrated: So you can do just about anything you wish. Like financia l mo deling, order entry, job costing o; decision support. Vvn>.v.\,,i wnY\n\U»A Z55 otA"*** ,*<■* 1 T***' ,o»"» ,„■<>■• ««»*" Mfi no (>o i>5 -%^-~ o" ,,...« » *T;r;>«\ Sft£V5»"" Dealer inquiries invited. :ViVi'iKai? m®n KnowledgeMan is a trademark of Micro Data Base Systems, Inc., dBASE II of Ashton-Tate, SQL/DS of IBM. Current release is 1.05 as of 11/1/83. Please send me: □ Free feature-by-feature comparison □ Forms painter information □ Graphics information □ Text processor information □ Run-time package information D Please accept my order for KnowledgeMan Package $500.00 D Shipping and Handling* 10.00 (Indiana residents must add 5% sales tax— $25.00) Machine: Operating Systems: □ PCDOS □ MSDOS □ CP/ M-86 Disk Format: □ 8" 1BM-3740 SS/SD □ 5%" IBM PC SS □ 5Va" Victor/ Sirius □ 5 1 /4" DEC Rainbow (Dig. RX50) *Add $20.00 if outside U.S., Canada or Mexico □ Check or money order enclosed (must be drawn from U.S. bank in U.S. currency) MasterCard No. VISA No American Express No Expiration Date Bank No. (if M.C.) Signature VISA and MasterCard orders may be placed by phone (317) 463-2581. Name Title Company_ Phone ( Address _ City State Send To: Zip. fl\ MDBS/Consumer Products flTW P.O. Box 248 ^r* Lafayette, IN 47902 © Phone:(317)463-2581 Or Contact Your Local Dealer. PRICES SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE Circle 238 on inquiry card. BYTE February 1984 185 Circle 235 on inquiry card. Multi-function RS-232 Transfer Switches MFJ-1240 $7995 Choice of 8 models Multi-function RS-232 transfer switches let you switch your computer among printers, modems, terminals, any RS-232 peripherals; monitor data/ line failure, protect data lines from surges, and use as null modem for less cost than a switch alone. Switches 10 lines (2,3,4,5,6,8,11,15,17,20). LED data/line indicators monitor lines 2,3,4,5,6, 8, 20. Metal oxide varistors protect data lines 2, 3 from voltage spikes and surges. Push button reverses transmit-receive lines (2,3). PC board eliminates wiring, crosstalk, line interference. 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Acoustic/ Direct Coupled Modem Use with any $ JfSjgPL phone anywhere t£!3 MFJ-1233 Acoustic/Direct Coupled 300 baud modem. Versatile. Use with virtually any phone, anywhere. Use battery or 110 VAC. Direct con- nect mode: Plug between handset and base. Use with single or multi-line phones. Acoustic coupled mode: Use with phones without modular plugs. Quality muffs give good acoustic coupling, isolates external noise for reliable data transfer. Originate/answer. Self test. Carrier detect, ON LEDs. RS-232, TTL compatible. Reliable single chip modem. Crystal controlled. Aluminum cabi- net. 9x1 1 /2x4 in. Other models available. Order from MFJ and try it. If not delighted, return within 30 days for refund (less shipping). One year unconditional guarantee. Order yours today. Call toll free 800-647-1800. Charge VISA, MC. Or mail check, money order. Add $4.00 each for shipping and handling. CALL TOLL FREE . . . 800-647-1800 1 601-323-5869 in MS, outside continental USA ENTERPRISES INCORPORATED He Road, Slarkwilia. MS 39759 ... 186 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. J more efficient than others, it doesn't hurt to have the system remind the user once in a while of the shortcut; in fact, it's an ideal and painless way to learn because it hands the user a tool at the precise moment needed. Context dependence or independ- ence refers to commands meaning conceptually identical actions in dif- ferent program contexts. This can be as simple as having Conrrol-D always meaning delete in word-processing, database-management, and spread- sheet programs. It could mean that Control-D deletes different things depending on where the user is in the program— referring to a directory, file, page, paragraph, sentence, word, or character. The point is that the concept remains consistent with the specifier (command, option, etc.), independent of the context in which it occurs. The Human Factor Evaluation criteria for programs to serve people include: 1. Routine operation: can the pro- gram accept and handle normal cases? 2. Exception handling: can the pro- gram recognize and treat rarer cases? 3. Basic performance: can the pro- gram provide its users with ade- quate power? 4. Basic integrity: does the program work coherently and predictably? Routine operation, the way the program works in normal cases, can be rated according to a checklist of pertinent questions: 1. Does the program have appropri- ate default conditions? 2. Are commands/keys/menus con- sistent and reasonably mnemonic? 3. Is system optimization for rule- versus exception-handling appro- priate for the actual normal/abnor- mal mix? 4. Can the system adapt to user needs and preferences and does it support "scripting" or execution of stored commands? Exception handling, the program's treatment of various levels of less fre- quent cases, should be geared to the overall efficiency of the system but balanced for user comfort. If excep- tions that occur 1 percent of the time were to require 10 times the normal processing in order to save 10 percent processing on the other 99 percent, the trade-off would be wise, because 10 times .01 plus .9 times .99 is less than one. The following useful ques- tions can be asked to rate exception handling: 1. Can the user undo errors? 2. Can the user switch between nor- mal and exception modes of pro- cessing—for example, between "command" and "data" modes? 3. Does the program allow a user to perform all "seemingly unwise," but possibly necessary, operations (with appropriate warnings)? Evaluation of the package's perfor- mance examines ease of interaction (especially for novice users), speed of interaction (especially for experi- enced users), and speed of operation (both measured and predicted). Ease of interaction may be rated by the following major points: 1. Is the system command-driven, menu-driven, or otherwise? 2. Is the level of detail appropriate or too great for comfort? 3. Do menus have the proper num- ber of options (five to nine en- tries)? 4. Do commands have a uniform syntax and reasonable options? Speed of interaction is sometimes at odds with ease of interaction, so it is valuable to have multiple modes or levels for the various levels of user sophistication and experience. Speed is a phantom quality and should fall behind ease of use in overall ranking; a system that cannot be used without a manual has a speed approaching zero. Therefore, these questions are pertinent: Are lengthy commands and sequences readily avoidable? If Shift and Control characters are used, are they used reasonably? Can prompts, menus, and Help messages be suppressed or avoided? ISESACA SOFTOARE FOR CP/M. TOP QUALITY BOTTOM PRICE. Nevada makes it easy and economical to get the software you want and need. Need a better BASIC? We've got it. Is BASIC not solving your business or engineering problems? Nevada COBOL or FORTRAN will. The media praises Nevada, and it's priced right: just $39.95-about 1/10 what comparable quality costs. For about half the price of one competitive pack- age, you can own the entire Nevada Software library! So don't wait; order one or two or all of our bargains-today. ©V -. ^P»^J Finally, a better BASIC. This straight- ^j^^ *^Wg|^^^ s forward language lets beginners write X^^jl^^^*^*^ useful programs without limiting them to & e simple programs. New Nevada BASIC'S ^ interpreter has Prof. Starkweather's great jy^ < &° built-in full-screen text editor. You can define o^'lv^-e^ single- and multi-line functions. Plus there are *C? -jSP full-matrix operations, Random Access and Sequen- 6 tial files, program execution with a simple command, BCD Math-no round-off errors. With Nevada BASIC, micros can run like minis costing thousands more. Whether you do business computing or learn computing for business, COBOL is the language; more business application software is in COBOL than in all other languages combined. Based on ANSI-74 standards, Nevada COBOL offers many advanced features: Random Access 5 ^ 0< and Sequential files, debugging capa- bility, COPY statement, character string, 16 bit binary and decimal data types. Colleges use the fine documentation as class room texts. It's field- proven by 10,000+ worldwide business, government and education users. Join them. COBOL Application Package-Book I. Superior user documentation that saves even experienced programmers many hours. "If you want to learn or teach some- one FORTRAN, this is the package to buy." ACCESS, v'" 1 y»7 FASTPAK™+8087 includes one runtime library (87BASIC or87MACRO), the 8087 chip the 87/88GUIDE, and installation instructions $375 MATRIXPAK™ manages a MEGABYTE! Written in assembly language, our runtime package accurately manipulates large matrices at very fast speeds. Includes matrix inversion and the solution of simultaneous linear equations Callable from MS Fortran 3.1 3, MS Pascal 3.1 3, SSS Fortran, and MicroWare 87MACRO, 87BASIC, and RTOS compilers each $1 50 87/88GUIDE - an excellent tutorial on writing 8087 code and interfacing it with compilers Full of code that runs! $30 MICROSOFT FORTRAN 3.13 MICROSOFT PASCAL 3.1 3 These new IEEE compatible compilers support both double precision and the 8087 each $289 MICROSOFT C COMPILER includes Lattice C and the MS Librarian. .$399 64K RAM Upgrade $59 SuperSoft Fortran 340 SSS 8087 Support 50 SuperSoft Voice Drive 895 87BASIC+ 75 TRACE86 Utility 1 25 Microsoft Business Basic Compiler 495 Computer Innovations C86 345 STSC APL*PLUS/PC 545 64K QUADRAM 31 9 Sandstar WS2 Hard Disk System 1 355 Novation 21 2 SmartCat 495 HALO Graphics call Energraphics call 188 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Circle 253 on inquiry card. Printers Prowriter 1 20 cps, 4 fonts (includes pro- portional), 8 sizes, 1 60 x 144 dpi, Iriction & tractor feed. A worthy rival of Epson. The BPI is IBM-PC compatible. Prowriter $399.88 Prowriter BPI (IBMPC) .... 459.88 Starwriter 40 cps, 1 36 columns 10 4 12 pitch. The Prtntmaster is the 55 cps version. The A1 Starwriter (18 cps) has the same specs. A10 Starwriter $609.88 Starwriter 1 21 9.88 Prinlmaster 1569.88 A10/F10 Tractor Feed ...289.88 A1 0/F 1 Sheet Feed 61 9.88 DIABLO 620 $999.88 620 Tractor Feed 1 89.88 630 1979.88 630 Tractor Feed 289.88 620/630 Sheet Feed 61 9.88 EPSON RX/FXEpsons CALL IDS/DATAPRODUCTS P-480 (MicroPrism) $429.88 P-Series 132 1239.88 w/4-color 1 669.88 INFORUNNER Riteman $349.88 MANNESMAHN TALLY MT-160 L Spirit B*». The MT-1 60 L ( 1 60 cps) features 8 fonts (including a correspon- dence font), parallel & RS-232C interlaces, friction/tractor feed. The MT-1 80 L is a 136 column version. The Spirit (80 cps) features 4 fonts, italics, dot graphics A friction/tractor feed. MT-160 L $649.88 MT-180L 849.88 Spirit 329.88 MEMOTECH DMX-80 Thm DMX-80 printer (80 cps) features 10, 12 & 17 cpi, sub/ super scripts, underline, friction/ tractor feed & dot graphics. It uses most Epson code, so it's easily installed on software. Service nationally by Panasonic. DMX-80 $389.88 NEC 201 0/2030 $879.88 2050 999.88 3510 1549.88 3530 1 639.88 3550 1899.88 2000/3500 Tractor 239.88 2000/3500 Sheet Feed ... 61 9.88 7710/7730 2159.88 Roland DG DM-121 Monitors Superior quality & workmanship characterizes the Roland DG DM-1 21 series. A composite video output (NTSC) on a 12" diagonal screen, the DM-1 21 features 80 columns by 25 lines, 18MHz bandwidth, 640 dots by 200 lines video resolution. Green or amber screen. Roland DG DM-1 21 G (12" green) Roland DG DM-121 A (1 2" amber) $174.88 $179.88 OKIDATA Microline Series The 92/93 printers (1 60 cps) & the 84 (200 cps) are exceptional. Tough, reliable, they produce superior draft quality, correspon- dence quality & graphics. Features include 10, 12 & 17 cpi, a correspondence font, sub/super scripts, underlining, dot graphics (120 x 144 dpi) S friction/pin feed (adjustable tractor is optional on the 92, standard on the 93). The PC Plug-n-Play ROMs turn the 92/93/84 into 1 00% IBM-PC compatible printers. Our very best selling printer line. The 84 Step 2 (200 cps) is a high-speed matrix printer with 1 0. 12,17 cpi, plus correspondence modes in all sizes. Dot graphics are standard ( 1 20 x 1 ' 4 dpi). Microline Series $CALL QUADRAM OuadJet SCALL SMITH CORONA Messenger The Memory Correct III M.ssenger ( 1 ;' cps) features 10, 1 2 & 1 5 cpi, variable line spacing, backspece, auto-correction and a dual parallel/RS-232C interlace. True daisy wheel printing makes it an exceptional typewriter & printer. Ideal for the home or small office. Memory Correct III Messenger 609.88 SILVER REED EXP 550/500 The EXP-550 ( 1 8 cps) S the EXP- 500 ( 1 2 cps) features 1 0, 1 2 & 1 5 cpi, variable line spacing. backspace, S Diablo 1610/20 code emulation. Optional tractor feed. EXP-550 (Par.) $669.88 EXP-550 (Ser.) 689.88 550 Tractor 139.88 EXP500 (Par.) 439.88 EXP-500 (Ser.) 469.88 500 Tractor 129.88 STAR MICRONICS Gemini/Delta Radix Series Gemini 10X $299.88 W/RS-232C 399.88 Gemini 15X 419.88 Delta 10 529.88 Delta 15 669.88 Radix 10 719.88 Radix 15 839.98 PowerType (18 cps Letter Quality) 399.98 TOSHIBA P 1350 $1759.88 CABLES Parallel cables tor the Columbia MPC IBM-PC, Osbome-1.TRS-80 (Model I/II/III/IV& 16). Standard Centronics (Male-to-Male & Male-to-Female) $39.88 VIC-20/Commodore 64 Parallel Card/Cable 69.88 Apple ll/ll+/lle Parallel Card/Cable 89.88 QUADRAM Microfazer A print buffer with pause, copy & reset controls. It comes with a 9V power supply and cable to printer. There are so many buffer sizes (from 8K to512K), & so many configurations (Parallel/Parallel, Parallel/RS-232C, RS-232C/Par- allel & RS-232C/RS-232C) that you should call (800) 3430726 for prices. Monitors JB 1205M (amber) $179.88 JB 1 201 M (green) 1 59.88 AMDEK 300A(12' amber) $164.88 300G ( 1 2" green) 1 49.88 31 0A (amber) CALL QUADRAM QuadChrome 690 x 240 resolution, 80 columns x 24 lines, 1 6 colors & exceptional performance. Cable included. OuadChrome(RGB) $509.88 PRINCETON GRAPHICS HX-12 Same spec's & performance as the QuadChrome. PGS HX-12 (RGB) $499.88 Modems US ROBOTICS Password PC Modem 0-300/1 200 baud direct-connect modem with auto-dial/answer, full/ half duplex, voice/data. Uses LSI technology. Cables & power supply included {specify type of computer). The PC Modem has all of the above, plus a parallel port, real-time clock & memory to 256K. Password $379.88 PC Modem $CALL 'Courier 479.88 "Uses Osborne-1 modem port & includes Telepac communica- tions software for the Osborne. DC HAYES Smartmodem 0-300 or 0-300/1 200 baud direct- connect modems with auto dial/ answer, full/half duplex, power supply a modular cable (RS-232C cable optional). 1 200B is an in- board modem for the IBM-PC & includes Smartcom II The MfcroModem lie is a 300 baud in-board modem for the Apple II series. Includes SmartCom I 300 $219.88 1200 539.88 1200B(IBM PC) 459.88 Micromodem lie $259.88 Peripherals Forthe IBM-PC. We carry a variety of peripherals for the IBM-PC, including: Quad- ramQuadboards, Quad 51 2+, Quadllnk, QuadDisk, Quad I/O, QuadJet & single-function boards: AST products; Tandon's TM-1 00-2 double-sided drives; QCS's 1 2, 20 & 26 MB Hard Disk Subsystems; a Hard Disk/Tape subsystem; Tecmars Graphics Master; the Paradise Multi-Display Card; Titan MultiFunction Cards; & the Eagle PC and the Columbia 1600-1 personal computer systems. Call (603)881-9855 for information; call (800) 343-0726 for prices & orders. Forthe Apple II... We also carry numerous Apple ll/ ll+/lle peripherals, including: TBL Products Cooling Fan; the Pkaso Printer Cards; Microsoft's Z80 Cards, RamCards & Premium Packs; Videx's Video- Term, UltraTerm & Enhancer II; Rana Elite Disk Drives; AMTs MicroDrive; Saturn Systems Accelerator II & Memory Boards; Quadram's eRAM 80 Column Card; & the Novation Apple Cat II. We also carry the Franklin Ace 1000 & Ace 1 200 OMS personal computer systems. Call (603)881-9855 for information; call (800) 343-0726 for prices & orders. Information/Orders: (603) 881-9855 Orders Only: (800) 343-0726 No Hidden Charges: • You get FREE shipping on all orders within the 48 states. • We never charge extra for credit card purchases. • Credit cards are not charged until order is shipped. • We accept CODs up to $1000 (add $10 handling fee per order) payable with certified check or money order. • Easy payment terms: We accept all major credit cards, certified checks, money orders, company checks or personal checks (allow 21 days for personal checks). • We have a $50 minimum order. • Company Purchase Orders are accepted on a limited basis & upon approval only. Sorry, no APO or foreign orders accepted. • All our equipment is shipped with full manufacturer's warranty. We are an authorized dealer for all products we sell to insure full warranty support, & we're autho- rized for warranty work on a number of printers. We also offer extended warranty plans for many printers. • We prepared this ad in January, & prices do change, so call to verify them. • Our Computer Showroom is now open in Amherst, New Hampshire, five miles west of Nashua (one hour from Boston). • For a catalog, send $1 with your name, address & the type of computer you own. HIGH TECHNOLOGY AT AFFORDABLE PRICES THE BOTTOM LINE MILFORD, NH 03055 □ TELEPHONE (603) 881-9855? Circle 39 on inquiry card. IB* 0&> u-d'fc^^ ORYX ^m^SYSTEMS APPLE/ FRANKLIN ASHTONTATE dBase II $ 389 ASPEN SOFTWARE Grammalik S 60 Proofreader 42 BEAGLE BROS. Apple Mechanic S 22 DOS Boss 17 Utility City 22 BROOERBUND Bank Street Writer . . .$ 45 General Ledger w/AP. 305 Payroll 275 CDEX Vtsicalc Training $ 45 CHARLES MANN Class Scheduling $ 299 CONTINENTAL SOFTWARE Home Accountant .... $ 49 DOW JONES Market Analyzer $ 245 Market Manager 219 Microscope 529 HOWARD SOFTWARE Tax Preparer 84 $ Call LINK SYSTEMS Datafax S Call Datalink 79 LOGO CORNER Krell Logo $ 75 MICROPRO Wordstar (Special) w/ CP/M Card. 7 col & 64KI . $ 350 Infostor (Includes CP/M, 70 col.. 64K) . 350 Pro Pok (WS/MM/SS/lndex) . 399 MICROSOFT Cobol-80 . $ 499 Fortran-80 145 TASC Compiler .... 119 A.L.D.S 79 Multiplon(DOS)... . 169 OMEGA .J 69 PEACHTREE (CP/M) Peachpak 40 G/L + A/R + A/P (Special) .$ 215 Sei.es 40 G/L, A/R, A.'P ea. . 195 Peachcalc . 279 Telecommunications 279 Complete Graphics/ Apple Tablet 86 SIERRA DESIGN Homeword $ Call SOFTECH Basic Compilers' Runtime $ 169 Softeach 94 UCSD P-system Set ... 469 SOFTWARE PUBLISHING PFS: File $ 79 PFS: Graph 79 PFS: Report 79 SUPERSOFT Basic Tutor $79 Fortran 299 SYSTEMS PLUS Landlord $ 375 VISICORP Visicalc (II or HE] $ 165 Visischedule 195 CP/M SOFTWARE PENGUIN SOFTWARE Complete Graphics ... 5 50 Graphics Magician ... 39 COMPUVIEW •V-Edit 8080 Z80. IBM/PC $ 130 •V-Edit CP/M 86, MS DOS 160 DIGITAL RESEARCH •Pascal MT + W/SPP . . $ 389 MAC-PUG 149 ZSID (Z80) Debugger . 85 CP/M 2.2 125 C Basic 2 95 PL/180 375 C Basic Compiler (CB-80) 299 Access or Display Mgr. 299 C Language/compiler 260 Concurrent CP/M 2.0 . 225 All 8" - 86 Version of Above $ Call INFOCOM •Deadline $ 49 'Starcross 39 'Suspended 39 •Zork, I. II, III (each) ... 39 Planet Fall 49 LEXISOFT •Spellbinder $ 239 MARK OF THE UNICORN •Final Word $ 199 MICROPRO •WordStar $ Call •InfoStar $ Call ■Pro-Pack (WS/MM/SS Index) . $ Coll All others $ Call MICROSOFT Basic 80 $ 239 QUALITY DISCOUNTS d-BASE II CORNER Ashton-Tate d-Base II $ Call Bottom Line Strategist FPL 259 410 189 Human Soft dBase Plus $ 95 Fox & Geller Quick Code $ 175 DUIil 58 Software Banc d-Base II Users Guide: S 15 20 Anderson-Bell Abstat $ 349 Tylog Systems dBase Window I 199 'All above available on PC-DOS Basic Compiler 24V Fortran 80 . Cobol 80 Macro 80 MuMalh/MuSimp . MuLisp/MuSlar. . . 'Multiplan 330 449 130 189 155 169 fy PICKLES & TROUT CP/M for TRS-II $ 1 80 PRO/TEM SOFTWARE 'Footnote S 105 REVASCO Z80 Disassembler $ 85 SORCIM •Supercalc III $ Call Superwriter (w/Speller 8. Mailer) . S 169 PEACHTREE CORNER ► PeachPak 4 (GL, AP. AR) $ 215 ► General Ledger / Accounts Payable / Accounts Receivable / Sales Invoicing / Inventory Control / PeachPay Payroll Each 389 ► PeochText 1 60 ► PeochText w/ Random House Thesaurus 195 ► Spelling Proofreader 95 ► PeachCalc 90 ► Job Cost System 399 ► Client Posting & Accounting 399 ► Graphics Language 259 ► Business Graphic System 199 MICROSTUF •Crosstalk NORTHWEST ANALYTICAL •Statpak $ 365 OASIS The Word Plus S 103 Punctuation and Style 99 ORGANIC SOFTWARE •Datebook S 229 ■Milestone 229 SELECT Select Word Processor S 329 STAR SOFTWARE SYSTEMS •Legal Time, Billing 845 Property Mgmt 845 'Acc't Partner 299 SUPERSOFT •Diagnostic II $ 89 Disk Doctor 74 FORAAATS AVAILABLE All prices below are for 8" standard. Other formats are available. Some formats subject to "Download" fee and require minimum 2 weeks for delivery. Please inquire. "Fortran 4 299 Basic-8086 225 C Cross Assembler . . . 400 ■Scratchpad 187 T MAKER III 215 IBM /PC Please see CP/M listing. All products with a * in front are also made for PC/DOS and are priced the same unless otherwise specified. ALPHA SOFTWARE Data Base Mgr. II .... $ 179 Mailing List 72 Executive Pkg 105 Type Faces 79 Question 35 Apple-I8M Connection 189 CENTRAL POINT Copy II PC $ 34 CONDOR III w/Training $ 445 CONTINENTAL Home Accountant .... $ 89 DIGITAL RESEARCH Concurrent CP/M 86.. $ 225 CP/M-86 39 Cobol 86 499 Pascal MT + 86 (MS DOS) 375 SPP 86 130 C Basic 86 135 Pascal MT+ (PC/DOS) 385 DR Logo 109 DOW JONES Market Analyzer S 245 Market Manager 219 ECO-SOFT Microslat $ 230 FINANCIER Tax Series 99 Financier II S 119 GRAPHIC SOFTWARE Super Chartman II .... $ 299 Super Chartman IV . . . 199 Both (above) 350 LEXISOFT SpellB.nder $ 239 LIFETREE Volkswriter S 135 PEACHTREE Please see listing under CP/M PeochText 5000 $ 215 SORCIM Supercalc III S Coll 190 BYTE February 1984 SUPERSOFT C Compiler - 8086 ... $ 350 Star Edit 180 Disk Edit 75 Basic Compiler 225 Fortran IV PC/DOS or 8086 299 8087 Support 40 Diagnostics II 89 Scratch Pad 187 SYSTEMS PLUS Landlord (prop mgmt) $ 375 Runtime Basic (req d for above) .... 45 . . . and many more! APPLE/ FRANKLIN BOARDS ALS CP/MCard $ 299 ALS Smarterm 249 ALSZ-Cardll 142 ABT Keyboard 99 Axlon Ramdisk 128K . . 299 Bit 3 Dual Comm-plus . 209 CCS 7710 Asynch Serial 119 Central Point Alaska . . 119 Eait Side WildCard .. U0 Microioft 16K Romcord 69 Microioft Soflcord . . . . 219 Microsoft Softcard + . . 429 Microioft Premium Softcard (HE) 335 Microtek Printer \/f ... 75 Microtek Dumpling-16 195 Microtek Dumpling-GX 119 Mountain A-D/D-A ... 279 Mountain Music System w/Software ... 299 PCP 4 MHZ Appli- Card + 88 Card 599 PCP 88 Card 16 Bit + 64K 475 Prometheus Versacard 159 Prometheus Graphitti Cord 99 SSM ASIO Serial l/F w/cable 129 SSM AIO-2 Serial/ Parallel 179 Street Echo II Speech Synthesizer l/F 129 Tymac Parallel l/F w/cable 79 Videx Display Enhancer 99 Videx Display Enhancer II 109 Videx Func. Strip 59 Videx Videolerm VT 600 235 Videx Ullralerm 299 Wetper 16K Rom Cord 69 IBM /PC BOARDS MONITORS DISK DRIVES DISKETTES AST RESEARCH ComboPlus 64K Clock/ Calendar, 5erial 4 Parallel, l/F, Expand- able to 256K $ 279 MegoPlus 64K, Clock/ Calendar, Serial Port, Expandable to 5I2K w/Megapak 269 Extra ports available for Megaplus and I/O Plus II includes Game, Parallel 4 Serial 40 Megapak 256K upgrade for Megaplus $ Call I/O Plus II Clock/Calen- dar and Serial Port ... 115 LNW Products $ Call MAYNARD ELECTRONICS Floppy Drive Controller $ 155 Floppy Drive Control- ler w/Parallel Port ... 209 w/Serial Port 219 Sandstar Mem. Card — 3 modules cop- . . 194 Sandstar Multifunction Card - 6 modules cap. 93 Sandstar Modules S Call QUADRAM Quodboard 64K, Clock/ Calendar, Serial & Parallel Ports, Software S 279 Microfazer Stack Printer Buffer (expandable to 512K) ► Parallel/Parallel 8K . . 132 ► Parallel/Parallel 64K 188 ► Serial/Parallel 8K . . . 170 ► Serial/Serial 8K 170 Quodlink 64K Memory, Game Port allows Apple Software to to on IBM/PC $ Call TECMAR Products ....$ Coll XEDEX/MICROLOG Baby Blue $ 425 TALL TREE 512K JRAM Memory Board $ 699 Amdek V.deo 300A Amber $ 149 Amdek RGB 425 NEC 12" Hi-Res Green. 187 Sanyo 12" Hi-Res Green 199 USI Hi-Res 12" Amber . 159 NEC JB-1260 Green ... 119 PGS RGB Color $ Call NEC JC 1216 RGB 475 Panasonic Monitors ... $ Call Quadram Quadchrome J Call Taxan 12" Amber 149 Taxan 12" Green 136 Taxan 12" Med. RGB . . 323 Taxan 12" High RGB .. 512 Taxan RGB Cable for PC 17 Sony Profeel 12/19/25" $ Call Teac Half Hgl S 259 Superfive Hall Hgt (App) 9 Panasonic Hall Hg! ... 205 Tandon TM 55 2 S 255 Tandon TM-100-2 239 Davong D5I 501 Hard S Cull Davong DSI-512 Hard S Call Davong DSI-519 Hard S Call Corona 5MB Hard ... 1.395 Corona 10 MB Hard ,. 1.795 CDC 1800 270 Corvus $ Call Tall Grass S Call Vista Solo 143K S 259 Vista Solo S. Controller 329 TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORNER *** SPECIAL *** Hayes Smart mod em 12000 / Hayes Smartcom II Software AST I/O Plus II Clock Calendar and Serial Port $ 689 Above w/Smarlmodem 300 399 Hayes Smartmodem 1200 & Smartcom II Software . . 575 MODEMS PRINTERS Novation Apple-Cat II S 259 Hayes Micromodem II . 259 Anchor Mark I 79 Anchor Mark VII 119 Hayes Smartmodem 300 .... $ 205 Hayes Smartmodem 1200 ... 495 Hayes Chronograph ,. 189 Novation 212 Auto-Cat 565 US Robotics Auto-Dial (lull auto answer 300/1200) 459 US Robotics Auto-Link (auto answer 300/1200) 410 US Robotics Password 379 DISPLAY CARD CORNER Hercules Graphics Board $ 359 Orchid Monochrome Graphic Adapter 360 Plontronics Colorplus 389 USI Display Card (color/monochrome) $ Call Amdek MAI Card $ Call Tecmar Graphic Master $ Call C. Itoh Startwriter F10 . S 1 .149 C. Itoh Prownter 8510 . 379 C. Itoh Prownter 1550 . 689 NEC 3550 S Call NEC 8023A 475 Okidata Microlme 82A J Call Okidata Microline 83A S Call Okidata Microline 92 . S Call IDS Prism 80 (w/4 options) 1,399 IDS Prism 132 (w/4 options) 1,547 IDS MicroPrism 399 Silver-Reed Daisy Wheel S Call Star Micronics Gemini 10X 319 Star Micronics Gemini 15X $ Call GE Printers $ Coll Epson FX 80 599 Transfer T130-P 699 Transfer T-315P Color . 519 Transfer T 120P 475 Mannesman Tally MT160I 475 MT160L 585 Spirit $ Call . . . and much more. 3M 5 DS. DD, Box . BASF 5 DS, DD, Box Maxell 5" DS, DD, MD2, Box Verbatim 5" DS. DD, Box Ultra Magnetics 5" DS, DD, Bonus Box (12 Diskettes) 40 37 ( PLOTTERS ] Enter P100 Sweel P Apple/Franklin, IBM/PC % 595 Strobe M100 Plotter w/ l/F Apple/Fronkln 499 Strobe M100 Plotter (RS 232) 539 Panasonic Digital Plotter % Call MISC. Chalk Board S Call Koala Technologies Graphic Tablet S 95 Symtec Light Pen IBM/PC U0 Symtec Light Pen Apple/Franklin 200 TG Joystick IBM/PC ... 49 TG Joystick Apple/Franklin 46 Versa VersaWnler Tablet IBM/PC, Apple/Franklin 235 Wico Analog Joystick. . 59 Wico Apple Adapter . , 18 Wico IBM/PC l/F Card S Call Keytronic Keyboard IBM/PC 209 Keytronic Keyboard Apple/Franklin 249 Curtis PC Products .,..$ Call Electronic Protection Series S Call CP/M is a registered trademark of Digital Research. IBM and the IBM logo are registered trademarks of International Business Machines. Apple and the Apple logo are registered trademarks of the Apple Computer Company. Franklin and the Franklin logo are trademarks of the Franklin Computer Company. Please: We welcome: ► Wisconsin residents add 5% for sales tax. ► COD (Add $2.00 per shipment. Cash or certified check required.) ^^f\ ► Add $3.50 for shipping per software and light ► Visa, MasterCharge & American Express. (Add 4%.) ^**^t$%9 items. For multiple and other items, call. ► Checks. (Allow 1-2 weeks for clearing.) ^^"L. y3 ^ ► Foreign - add 15% handling & shipping for Workinq Hours* ^^^ Q/2>0^^fl prepayment. (Infl money order.) Mon.-Thurs. 8:30-5:30 • Fri. 8:30-6:30 ^^fvCV^JJSlB |< " ' ► Prices are sublet to change without notice. Sut 10;00 _ 2; 00 . Central!, me ^^\ ^U^illll if' ► All Items sub|ect to availability. -^^^»*s\ " ^^>S ■■■■■■5 Store prices are strictly retail. ^^^CAV\^J J 'H9UE5 ORYX SYSTEMS, INC. ^<^d^mmmmS^ I ^WB CRAFTSMEN OF THE NEW TECHNOLOGY ^< K lV ^^^2 !BT I po. Box 1961 ^i^C^s^^l ! !F ^m^aaJ^ Wausau, Wl 54401 ^^^AjV^ II II il I MM[__%3[ K0. * For technical information and ^-'^rf l \C»\L ^■^^W I - - '■ ^L ^Bv^ ^r/t^ in Wisconsin: 715-848-1374 ^--\ CY^VT^fl 'I WM\ W\ ^B^/Bw Infl Telex: 260181 ^^V i«l '■■»> Wil iW ORYX SYS WAU ^^"^.rt \^*^j H '' i |j li 1 ^. m^ M M \W o ^a::Kii8:::::::::K8::8 r"" ^ "' Circle 279 on inquiry card. BYTE February 1984 191 ADDS VIEWPOINT from your point off view ■ llMr IF YOUR COMPUTER CAN HANDLE ANOTHER TERMINAL, HERE'S THE TERMINAL IT SHOOLD HANDLE. Now that many desk-top micros are multi-user, you can add an inexpensive Viewpoint® terminal to dramatically increase your micro's productivity. For more powerful computers, the ADDS Viewpoint puts power on every desk at substantial savings. Even though the ADDS Viewpoint is very inexpen- sive, it is still packed with features. The screen tilts for comfortable viewing. Detachable stepped and sculptured keyboard. Numeric pad, cursor control keys and three discrete function keys. Character highlighting (blinking, underlining, reverse video, half or zero intensity). Full 24 lines by 80-character screen with 96 displayable ASCII codes. There are even optional keycaps for foreign languages. All this, with EIA RS-232-C or CCITT V.24 communications interfaces. ADDS has a complete line of Viewpoint terminals, offering color, IBM compatibility (monochrome or color) and exceptional intelligence. Ask your ADDS dealer for details. Quality, features, functions, competitive price. . . MILL NHS IIP. Viewpoint is a registered trademark of Applied Digital Data Systems Inc. 192 BYTE February 1984 Applied Digital Data Systems Inc. A Subsidiary of NCR Corporation 100 Marcus Blvd.. Hauppauge, NY 1 1788 — (516) 231-5400. Circle 26 on inquiry card. The Art of Benchmarking Printers New tests of speed are needed for dot-matrix and daisywheel units Developing good benchmarks for computer systems is not an easy task, but benchmarking computer printers is not much simpler. Even if you limit the evaluation to units with list prices under $3000, which excludes the more expensive "page" and "line" printers, the task is still complex because of the great variety of dif- ferent functions available on today's printers. Benchmarking efforts can be divid- ed into two principal areas because of the different natures of dot-matrix and fully formed character printers. Dot-matrix types are most popular among personal-computer users and provide an economical and flexible output with reasonable quality. Fully formed character printers, which generally include the more costly and slower units, provide excellent letter- quality output and are popular among companies and professionals who require high quality in their business correspondence. The main distinction is, however, the printing technologies employed; two sets of benchmarks are required. In this article, I'll document the development of two sets of bench- marks, one set applicable to dot- by Sergio Mello-Grand matrix printers and the other to fully formed character (daisywheel) print- ers. You'll also find a detailed discus- sion of the rationale behind each ap- proach and, finally, how several dot- matrix and daisywheel printers per- formed when subjected to these tests. The actual benchmark listings and test texts are included so you can put your printer through its paces and make some comparisons of your own. Two sets of benchmarks are required: one for dot- matrix printers and one for daisy wheel printers. Dot-Matrix Printers Dot-matrix units employ a printing technique in use for nearly two dec- ades. The printhead has an array of small pins that are independently propelled against an inked ribbon, transferring dots onto the paper behind them. Each pin is activated by an electromagnetic field controlled by the printhead's control electronics. Depending on control codes, one or more pins of the array can be ac- tivated at the same time, producing a single dot or a pattern of dots aligned vertically. By moving the printhead horizontally, it is then pos- sible to print a line of characters formed by a controlled pattern of dots. The basic technology of creating characters through dot patterns is responsible for both the high flexibil- ity and the limited quality of dot- matrix printers. The flexibility stems from the fact that the same array of pins can be used to print any charac- ter without waiting for the mechani- cal rotation of a specific character to a printing position. The reduction in printing quality comes from the dis- crete nature of the dot pattern used to approximate the shape of each character. Flexibility and quality take on dif- ferent meanings for each dot-matrix printer. Setting aside each printer's mechanical tolerances in the print- head positioning system (the shaft- to-bearing relation is important because of potentially disturbing vibrations during the head motion), the main element that determines printer flexibility and quality is the pin array. February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 193 Older or less expensive dot-matrix printers use a seven-pin, one-line ar- ray to generate characters from a 5 by 7 dot matrix (each character is a pat- tern of dots in a cell 5 dots wide and 7 dots high). These units are not very flexible because the combinations of dot patterns available in such a small matrix is very limited. For instance, a 5 by 7 matrix doesn't provide de- scenders, forcing lowercase letters such as g, j, p, q, and y into unnatural shapes. Almost all modern dot- matrix printers use a nine-pin in-line array and form characters from a minimum 7 by 9 matrix. This pro- duces true descenders and a closer approximation of traditional charac- ters. Print quality is improved by the denser pattern of dots whose in- dividual boundaries are less visible than those from a 5 by 7 matrix. The introduction of nine-pin in-line arrays has been a major improvement in dot-matrix printers and has result- ed in new capabilities that have great- ly expanded their flexibility. For in- stance, selecting an appropriate pat- tern, in conjunction with appropriate horizontal stepping, it is now possi- ble to have compressed or empha- sized boldface and double-width characters. In the emphasized mode, a printer moves in smaller steps, forming characters out of a horizon- tally denser matrix (e.g., 18 by 9). In order to achieve even better print quality and compete with the more expensive and slower fully formed character printers, several modern dot-matrix printers also use a double- pass approach or adopt special print- heads with nine or eighteen "stag- gered" pins. The double-pass approach prints a line in a first pass and, after a tiny vertical shift, reprints the same characters over the same line. This technique provides a near-letter- quality output at the expense of per- formance. Double-pass printing means at least half-speed printing, an often acceptable compromise when the basic printing speed is 100 cps (characters per second) or more, as in almost every modern dot-matrix printer. Some units also offer a sort of combination of emphasized and double-pass modes that provides a "correspondence" quality in which characters are formed from an 18 by 18 or larger matrix. To achieve both correspondence quality and high speed, some dot- matrix printers employ printheads with staggered pins capable of print- ing overlapping dots. The final effect is similar to that achieved with a dou- ble pass but without any perfor- mance penalty. Although 9-pin staggered heads have been adopted by some printer manufacturers, better results often are obtained with 18-pin staggered heads. These include two 9-pin arrays located side by side with a half-dot vertical shift. With these heads, the second array's pins hit ex- actly in the boundary position of the first array's pins. Besides providing correspondence-quality capabilities at full speed, 18-pin staggered heads offer an even higher flexibility in the patterns used for characters. This brief discussion on the dif- ferent printheads shows that a com- parison among printers based ex- clusively on speed has limited mean- ing. To have a more accurate picture of a particular printer's true capabil- ities, it is necessary to take into con- sideration some elements of quality. Because a low-quality seven-pin printer has the same speed as a near- letter-quality 18-pin staggered unit doesn't mean that the two printers are comparable from a user's point of view. The first unit might be used only for rough-draft printouts and the second might be used for busi- ness correspondence, two activities with very different values for the user. In designing these benchmarks, I have tried to account for this inequal- ity by including tests for correspon- dence printouts. You should put equal care into evaluating the results. Remember that any benchmark, no matter how well designed, is only an approximate quantitative comparison that does not take into account very important subjective elements that can be of much greater importance. Furthermore, even the quantitative results are only an approximation, with several limits imposed by some technological restraints. For instance, I had to face the prob- lem of printers' buffers. Modern printers have an internal buffer that accepts a certain amount of data from the system at high speed, enabling functions such as bidirectional and double-pass printing. A 128-character buffer may be enough for these functions, but several printers offer buffers as large as 48K bytes. Such buffers let a printer store an entire document in its memory, leaving the system free to start a new job while the printer outputs the previous document from its own memory. From the system's point of view, the printer has done its work once it has acquired the whole document in its memory. If you write a benchmarking program using the system's clock, the result for a 48K- byte buffered printer might be astonishing (something in the order of thousands of characters per sec- ond). Without underestimating the im- portance of huge printer buffers, I have decided to base my measure- ments on "physical" printing times rather than on "logical" printing times. Such a choice might obviously underrate the real operating perform- ance of a highly buffered printer but is a necessary step in a realistic printer benchmark. After all, several operating systems offer spooling cap- abilities that provide an almost zero logical printing time, but this doesn't mean that users have no interest in physical printing time. Another major problem I had to face in these benchmarks is the soft- ware support for each printer's con- trol codes. Activating an advanced functionality in a modern printer re- quires the transmission of one or more control codes to tell the printer's controller that a certain operating mode is to be used. Control codes are needed for underlining, for italics, and for each of the printing modes selectable (emphasized, double-pass, enlarged, compressed, etc.). Unfortunately, no standard has yet emerged in the chaotic area of dot- matrix printer controllers; each manufacturer uses different codes. With IBM's recent support of certain control codes, a tentative de facto 194 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 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From a user's standpoint, this means that a certain software package fully sup- ports some printers and offers only basic functions on other printers. A word-processing program, for exam- ple, might take advantage of the im- mediate underlining capabilities of a popular printer (such as the Epson) and might not take advantage of a similar capability in a different printer because its control codes are incompatible. On the first printer, an underlined line then might be print- ed at full speed; on the second printer, it might require a continuous output of a character and subsequent over-strike with the underline character. If benchmarked in such an environment, the second printer might very well show a comparative- ly poor performance even though its intrinsic capabilities are equal to the first one's. In the absence of a clear industry standard, I didn't want to penalize any printer manufacturer choosing a specific set of control codes, so these benchmarks had to be executable with any unit, no matter how exotic its control codes. As a direct conse- quence of this choice, I had to give up my original idea of using a popular word processor and a pop- ular spreadsheet for some of the tests. Depending on the program chosen, some printers would have been directly supported and others would not, which is an unjust and discriminatory approach to bench- marking. Word-processing and spreadsheet printout simulations therefore have been conducted direct- ly with some simple BASIC programs that set the appropriate control characters and then print a series of lines of text. Thanks to the nature of dot-matrix printing, there is no difference in printing one certain sequence of characters and then a different se- quence of other characters. This fact lets us use strings of regular charac- ters without having to select a se- quence in which the frequency of each different character approximates its frequency in typical English. This is the main issue in benchmarking fully formed character printers. In these benchmarks I have chosen the character A, but any other letter will provide similar results. In designing the following 14 benchmarks, I have tried to utilize the fundamental capabilities of today's dot-matrix printers to evaluate their performance. The advertised printing speeds are generally higher than the measured ones. This depends on the different benchmarking procedures used. Manufacturers measure their units' performances at full speed, without taking into account accelera- tions and decelerations at the begin- ning and end of a line. I have viewed performances from the user's per- spective, which means that accelera- tions, decelerations, and even car- riage returns and linefeeds have to be considered for a more realistic esti- mate of a printer's performance. Bench 1 The first test, which stresses the ac- celeration/deceleration and linefeed capabilities of a printer, is the output of a single character at the beginning of a line and the repetition of the pro- cess on new lines 50 times. Almost all units, even if intelligent and capable of printing in a bidirectional, optimized way, struggle pretty hard in order to minimize the delays con- nected with the repetitive starts, stops, and linefeeds of this test. This obviously is unfair when measuring performance in terms of the rate of characters per second. Nevertheless, this test shows immediately some sharp behavioral differences among apparently similar printers and can be useful as a first element of com- parison. Bench 2 Extending the Bench 1 test, I print a string of 10 consecutive As at the beginning of a line and repeat the process for 50 lines. In some printers, the time required to complete this test is just a little longer than the time for Bench 1. This shows clearly that, for short lines, the overhead induced by accelerations, decelerations, and linefeeds is much more important than the theoretical printing speed. Bench 3 As a further extension of the previous tests, I print a string of 20 As at the beginning of a line and repeat the process for 50 lines. This test, besides providing a logical con- tinuity with the two previous ones, is useful in estimating throughput in applications such as label-printing with a single-label horizontal format. BASIC-language listings with short lines are also approximated by this test. As the printers work at full speed in the middle of the string, the cps rating improves, although it is still far from the "official" rates. Comparing the times for Bench 2 and Bench 3, it's interesting to note that the additional 500 characters in- volved in the second test require only a few additional seconds to be printed. Dividing 500 by the result of the subtraction between Bench 3's and Bench 2's times, you can obtain a first estimate of the "full-speed" theoretical performance of a printer. In general, this speed is at least equal to the advertised one, which means that the manufacturers are not "cheating." As I have already said, the companies are simply measuring the printing speed in a theoretical way. Bench 4 I print a string of 40 As and repeat the process the usual 50 times. This text can be used as an approximation for a typical listing. Again, increasing the number of printed characters per line, the measured performance shows a significant improvement, sometimes reaching 70 percent of the advertised speed. Bench 5 By printing a string of 60 As 50 times on consecutive lines, I am able to approximate a general text print- out. The measured performance shows a further increase, with some printers hitting 75 to 80 percent of the rated speed. Bench 6 Going to 80 characters per line, the maximum line length for the most popular dot-matrix printers (operat- ing at the standard 10 pitch), I print 196 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. It's perfect because you can change it. Which is one thing you can't do with canned account- ing programs. Instead, you're stuck doing bookkeeping their way. Well, rather than let your accounting soft- ware run your business, we suggest you run our business accounting software: Sensible Solu- tion Management. Straight out of the box, it's ready to get down to business with single-entry general ledger, accounts payable and receiv- able, payroll, inventory control and order entry. Canned Accounting vs. The Sensible Solution The Typical Sensible Accounting Solution Package Management Can the program be changed to suit special needs? No Yes Can you use your business's existing forms? No Yes Is source code included in the program's price? No Yes Can you easily transfer your data when you buy a new computer? No Yes But instead of locking you in to our way of accounting, we also supply you with source code and The Sensible Solution Language so you can modify the program to take into account your needs. You can change it to use your business forms and checks. Work in your company's com- mission rates. Add space for your product codes. Or do just about anything else your way. So if you've got accounting software you can't change, change to the Sensible Solution. And kick the canned forever. The Sensible Solution" The Sensible Solution Programming Language for most single and multi-user operating systems is $695 (single-user) or $995 (multi-user) with Accounting Modules at $250 each. For more information, wnte or call. O'Hanlon Computer Systems, 11058 Main Street, Bellevue.WA ! Phone (206) 454-2261. Telex 152974. Dealer and distributor inquiries welcome. Circle 272 on inquiry card. BYTE February 1984 197 50 lines of As. Several printers per- form at 80 to 85 percent of the official speed, which, after all, is not too bad when you consider that it includes all the necessary starts, stops, and line- feeds. Some printers, though, run at a lower performance ratio, often be- cause their paper-advance motor is not very fast or because they do not provide bidirectional printing. By comparing the times for Bench 6 and Bench 3 it's possible to get a better estimate of the abstract "full speed" of each unit. This is obtained by dividing 3000 (the number of additional characters) by the result of the subtraction between the times of Bench 6 and Bench 3. As can be seen in table 1, this abstract "full speed" is in most cases even higher than the one claimed by the manufacturers. Bench 7 After testing the straight printing speed with different length lines, it's interesting to see what happens when a printer operates on format- ted text, such as the output of a word-processing program. To emu- late this environment, I print 50 times a string composed of 10 blanks fol- lowed by 60 As. In this way, I can ap- proximate typical letter text with two 10-character margins on both sides. A Guide to Tables 1 and 4 The numbers in parentheses beneath the printer model numbers indicate the advertised printing speed in characters per second (cps). The numbers in the shaded columns are the times (minutes-.seconds) it took the printers to complete specific tests. The numbers in the adjacent, unshaded columns are the approximate print- ing speeds in characters per second for each test. Intelligent printers, with logic- seeking and look-ahead capabilities, can analyze a buffer's content and op- timize the printing path by skipping the leading blanks. Less intelligent units can't do so and will "print" 10 consecutive spaces at the beginning of each line, using a significant (10 to 15 percent) overhead. As shown in table 1, some intelli- gent units print the 70-character strings (with 10 leading spaces) of this Bench 7 in the same amount of time required to print the 60-charac- ter strings of Bench 5. This confirms that those units recognize leading spaces and optimize their printing paths accordingly. Bench 8 Stressing even more the logic- seeking capabilities of modern dot- matrix printers, I have designed a benchmark in which a short string of Epson MX-80 Epson RX-80 Epson FX-80 Diablo 11 Okidata 82A Okidata 92 IDS 480 Gemini 1 0X (80) (100) (160) (100) (120) (160) (110) (120) Bench 1— Print 00:18 2.8 00:17 2.9 00:13 3.8 00:08 6.2 00:11 4.5 00:16 3.1 00:12 4.2 00:13 3.8 A on 50 con- secutive lines Bench 2— 00:23 21.8 00:22 22.7 00:16 31.2 00:13 38.4 00:12 41.7 00:12 41.7 00:16 31.2 00:17 29.4 Print a string of 10 As on 50 lines Bench 3— 00:30 33.3 00:27 37.0 00:21 47.6 00:18 55.6 00:16 62.5 00:15 66.7 00:20 50.0 00:22 45.5 Print a string of 20 As on 50 lines Bench 4— 00:43 46.6 00:39 51.3 00:29 69.0 00:29 69.0 00:24 83.3 00:21 95.2 00:30 66.7 00:33 60.6 Print a string of 40 As on 50 lines Bench 5- 00:55 54.5 00:5158.8 00:37 81.1 00:40 75.0 00:32 93.8 00:28 107.1 00:39 76.9 00:42 71.4 Print a string of 60 ,4s on 50 lines Bench 6— 01:08 58.8 00:62 64.5 00:45 88.9 00:51 78.4 00:40 100.0 00:36 111.1 00:48 83.3 00:52 76.9 Print a string of 80 As on 50 lines Bench 7— 00:55 63.6 00:5168.6 00:37 94.6 00:41 85.4 00:32 109.4 00:28 125 00:39 89.7 00:43 81.4 Print a string of 10 spaces and 60 As on 50 lines Table 1: The results of running the 14 benchmarks for dot-matrix printers on eight members of the dot-matrix family. 198 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. characters (10 As) appears in different positions on five consecutive lines. In the first line, the string is printed in positions 6-15; in the second, in posi- tions 16-25; this continues until the fifth line, in which the string is printed in positions 46-55. In each line, leading and trailing spaces fill the "free" areas from positions 1-60. A loop repeats this sequence 10 times. A clever unit will print the first string, stopping at position 15, per- form a linefeed, and continue print- ing the second string from positions 16-25. The printer will then perform a new linefeed and start printing the third string from position 26. A simi- lar technique will be used for the fourth and fifth lines. A not-so-intel- ligent unit, not recognizing the op- timized "stair-step" pattern, will in- stead print some of the blanks. A printer without any logic-seeking capability will print all leading and trailing blanks, with an execution time similar to that of Bench 5. Bench 9 Another interesting printing exam- ple is the simulation of a typical spreadsheet output with a regular table of numbers evenly spaced in rows and columns. To evaluate the printers' behavior in such a case, the benchmark prints a string with an alternate sequence of five spaces and five 2s 50 times. This process prints a table of 50 rows and 10 columns, each column being 10 characters wide and composed of a five-digit right- aligned number (11111) preceded by five spaces. Intelligent printers with good look-ahead capabilities will recognize each five-space sequence and will skip at high speed to the nearest digit. Intelligent printers without this capability will optimize their path more simply, avoiding the first five spaces of each row. Less in- telligent units will print each line just as if it were a regular 80-character sequence. Bench 10 All the benchmarks described in the preceding pages were conceived for the basic operating mode of 10 characters per inch (cpi) with the standard character set. So far, no compressed, double-width, empha- sized, or double-pass operating modes have been considered in the benchmarks. Because they are rele- vant to some users, I have included five additional benchmarks dealing with these advanced capabilities. Although the modes tested are fair- ly common, some printers don't sup- port them. For these units, the table of results indicates N/A (not avail- able). In this test, after setting the Text continued on page 203 Bench 8— Print 10 times 5 strings of 50 spaces and 1 As with different displacement Bench 9— Print a string of 8 alternate groups of 5 spaces and 5 7 s on 50 lines Bench 10— Same as Bench 5 but with em- phasized mode, i.e., 18 by 9 matrix Bench 11 — Same as Bench 5 but in double- pass mode, i.e., 9 by 18 matrix Bench 12— Same as Bench 5 but in cor- respondence mode Bench 13— Same as Bench 5 but in com- pressed mode Bench 14— Same as Bench 4 but in double- width mode 00:32 93.8 00:32 93.7 00:31 96.8 00:21 142.8 00:26 115.4 00:18 166.7 00:32 93.7 00:36 83.3 01:05 61.5 00:60 66.7 00:43 93.0 00:53 75.5 00:39 102.6 00:35 114.3 00:46 87.0 00:51 78.4 01:36 31.2 01:30 33.3 01:01 49.2 N/A N/A N/A N/A 01:09 43.5 02:33 19.6 03:53 12.9 01:04 46.9 01:07 29.9 02:04 24.2 01:47 28.0 N/A N/A 01:13 41.1 N/A 01:44 28.£ 03:28 14.4 02:36 19.2 02:35 19.4 N/A 01:52 26.8 00:52 57.7 02:36 19.2 01:01 49.2 00:44 68.2 00:41 73.2 00:32 93.8 00:29 103.4 00:39 76.9 00:48 62.5 01:02 32.3 00:41 48.8 00:50 40.0 00:41 73.2 00:37 54.1 00:49 40.8 00:57 35.1 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 199 Listing 1: Dot-matrix printer benchmarks 1 through 9 in BASIC. The text discusses benchmarks 10 through 14, which use benchmarks 4 and 5 in emphasized, double-pass, correspondence-quality, compressed, and double-width modes. Results of these benchmarks on three typical dot-matrix printers are shown in table 1. 10 FOR 1=1 TO 50 20 LPRINT "A" 30 NEXT I 10 FOR 1=1 TO 50 20 LPRINT "AAAAAAAAAA" 30 NEXT I 10 FOR 1=1 TO 50 20 LPRINT "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA' 30 NEXT I 10 FOR 1=1 10 50 20 LPRINT "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA' 30 NEXT I 10 FOR 1=1 TO 50 20 LPRINT "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA' 30 NEXT I 10 FOR 1=1 TO 50 20 LPRINT "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" 30 NEXT I 10 FOR 1=1 TO 50 20 LPRINT 1 AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAA' 1 30 NEXT I 10 FOR 1=1 TO 10 20 LPRINT" AAAAAAAAAA 30 LPRINT" AAAAAAAAAA 40 LPRINT" AAAAAAAAAA 50 LPRINT" AAAAAAAAAA 60 LPRINT" AAAAAAAAAA 70 NEXT I 10 FOR 1=1 TO 50 20 LPRINT" 11111 11111 11111 11111 11111 11111 11111 11 111" 30 NEXT I 200 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. With FingerPrint; you've got Apple in the palm of your hand. 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For I example, you can \ connect portable computers to any avail- able serial printer. Just in. watch for the js lights to indicate your circuit is complete, and start working. Best of all, the Smart Cable is priced competitively with conventional cables and custom cables. To be a success these days you've just got to have the right connections. Call us today at 800-227-6703 tin California 800-632-7979, in Canada REACH FORTHE TO MAKE ANY CABLES. w*. W' 800-663-9767) to make yours a whole lot easier. IQ TECHNOLOGIES, INC. 11811 N. E. First Street Bellevue. WA 98005 TELEX 701 472 IQTECH UD Text continued from page 199: printer into emphasized mode, I printed a string of 60 As on 50 con- secutive lines, as in Bench 5. In emphasized mode, the print- head moves in smaller steps, forming a character from a horizontally denser matrix. This produces a better-quality printout but at the ex- pense of speed, as is clearly indicated by the results. This benchmark, when compared to the similarly structured benchmarks that follow for fully formed character printers, gives you a good idea of the com- parative performance of a dot-matrix printer operating in "quality" mode and a fully formed character printer operating in its native high-quality mode. Bench 11 A popular approach used by dot- matrix printers in order to obtain a better output quality is to print a line and, after a very small vertical shift, reprint the same characters on top of it. In this way, characters are printed from a denser matrix, which provides a better quality. In order to test the performance penalty caused by this operating mode, after setting it, I once more printed a string of 60 As on 50 consecutive lines. The bench- mark's results show clearly that the throughput is, in general, a little less than half the standard one. Bench 12 Some printers let the user select an operating mode in which empha- sized and double-pass modes are combined to obtain an even denser dot matrix and, consequently, a bet- ter correspondence quality. After this mode is set, this benchmark prints the usual string of 60 As on 50 con- secutive lines. Suffering from a dou- ble overhead, the printers that use this sophisticated operating mode often perform slowly but sometimes compensate with outstanding print quality. Bench 13 Most printers offer a compressed operating mode that fits 132 charac- ters in an 8-inch line. This operating mode sacrifices part of the quality available in the standard printing mode but shouldn't generate any ad- ditional overhead. Bench 13, based on the traditional string of 60 As printed on 50 consecutive lines, con- firms that the printing time in com- pressed mode is often roughly equiv- alent to the printing time in standard mode. Bench 14 In order to test the double-width mode, I first activated it with the ap- propriate control codes and then printed a string of 40 As on 50 con- secutive lines, just as I did in Bench 4. As standard double-width charac- ters use a horizontally expanded matrix (double the standard one), 40 characters cover the entire 8-inch width of the standard European paper. The benchmark's results demonstrate that, as expected, the printers' performance is almost half the basic one, estimated by Bench 4. Other Considerations Although I have examined and tested several printing possibilities, I haven't covered the broad spectrum of possible applications and operat- ing modes of a modern printer. Some modes (such as underlining, italics, slanted, etc.) haven't been con- sidered because, generally, they do not involve a performance degrada- tion of a printer. Their expected per- formance should be similar to the performance measured for the stan- dard operating mode. Some modes, obtainable through a combination of basic operating modes (such as double-width com- pressed) offer performances that can be estimated by joining the bench- marks' results for their basic elements. Other modes, such as high-resolution graphics, have not been considered because only a few of today's printers provide good graphics support as standard. Those that do show a large resolution variability that might have penalized the units with densest dot resolution. Today, quality rather than quantity is the most relevant factor in graphics printing. This is probably also true Epson QX-10 ™? Graphics? GRAPHIC POWER FOR THE EPSON QX-10 v with one key . . . ■ Draw Circles ■ Squares ■ Lines ■ Axis, etc. also zooming and panning, multiple screens, animation and much more . . . 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February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 205 Circle 356 on inquiry card. Exclusive six-function card expands workspace, increases speed, and boosts memory up to 576K. The TITAN™ is the only expansion card that gives your IBM PC or XT both hard disk SASI interface and a parallel printer port. This advanced package also includes a pair of RS-232C serial ports, real-time clock/ calendar with battery back-up, plus a choice of memory expansions. And everything slips into a single slot! Pick a TITAN with parity-checked dynamic RAM from 64K to 576K. Each comes ready to run, complete with four super software selections. PSEUDO-DISK™ makes the RAM act like an exceptionally fast disk drive. PSEUDO-PRINT™ print spooler lets your computer calculate while the printer is running. WHATIME™ keeps track of date and time so you don't have to enter them at each system restart. HARDISK™ makes a 10MB Winchester addition plug-in easy Yes, it's a lot for one slot. And it's available now to add new utility to your IBM system. Let us help you expand your IBM's productivity. For information on our multi-function boards and other Titan microcomputer products, see your computer dealer or contact: Titan Technologies, Inc., P.O. Box 8050, Ann Arbor, MI 48107; Telephone (313)662-8542. Sales and Marketing by The MARKETING RESOURCE GROUP, Costa Mesa, CA. mu Titan - TECHNOLOGIES, INC. FORMERLY 5ATURN SYSTEMS OF MICHIGAN IBM PC and XT are registered trademarks oflnternational Business Machines Corp TITAN, PSEUDO-DISK, PSEUDO-PRINT, WHATIME, and HARDISK are trademarks of Titan Technologies, Inc. zero-order approximation must take into consideration the relative fre- quency of each character in the English language. In the first-order approximation of English, each character has its own probability of occurrence according to the statistical analysis of average English text. The random-text generator that creates the benchmark sample to be printed takes into account these different pro- babilities. With this approach, the benchmark becomes more realistic and, if the probabilities are really representative of average English text, the benchmark can approximate the real performance of the fully formed character printer being tested. Not satisfied with the first-order approximation obtained with in- dependent characters "weighted" with frequencies of appearance in English text, Shannon decided to study a second-order approximation that considers the probabilities of se- quences of two letters (digrams). From statistical studies of the lan- guage, it is known that the digrams jb or jc never occur in English and that th and ed occur very frequently; it is possible to achieve a better statistical approximation, along with a potentially better optimization. In the second-order approximation of English, the random-text generator considers not only the different fre- quencies of each character but also the probabilities of a character follow- ing the preceding one. The bench- mark text will have a digram structure the same as in English and will be an even better approximation of real text. In the case of my benchmark, the second-order approximation reflects the correct character se- quences of the English language and eliminates unrealistic sequences such as jb, jc, and the many others that can be generated by the first-order ap- proximation random-text generator. Of course, a similar approach to the one followed for the second-order ap- proximation can be adopted for a third-order approximation, based upon the frequency of three-charac- ter sequences (trigrams). Fourth- order approximations can be ob- tained for four-character sequences and so on for fifth- , sixth- , and, gen- erally, nth-order approximations. In practice, highly accurate approxima- tion results are almost impossible to obtain due to the exponential growth of the frequency matrixes. A fourth- order correlation matrix for a 96-char- acter set would include 96 4 (84,934,656) elements, each a floating- point number indicating the frequen- cy of a certain tetragram. Obviously, then, even a large number-crunching supercomputer could have trouble with such a huge matrix. Moreover, for the purpose of this article, the im- provement in the benchmark's ap- proximation of reality obtained by go- ing to third- and fourth-order approx- imation would be only minimal. After all, the main concern here is the rotational delay from one character to the following one while maintaining correct frequencies of character oc- currence and correct two-character sequences. Rather than face the huge complex- ities of fourth-order approximations, Shannon decided to adopt a different approach, leaving the character level and passing to the word level. In- stead of approximating an English text with random sequences of char- acters, he decided to make an ap- proximation with random sequences of English words. Again, you can follow a zero-order approximation approach by choosing random words from a dictionary as if their fre- quencies were equal. A better ap- proach, though, is a first-order word approximation, in which words are weighed by the random-text genera- tor according to their frequency of oc- currence in average English. An even better approach is a second-order word approximation that takes into account the word frequency and the probability of a word to follow another word. As an example of this second-order approach, Shannon supplies the fol- lowing nonsense sentence: The head and in frontal attack on an English writer that the character of this point is therefore another method for the letters that the time of whoever told the problem for an unexpected. This sentence, which Shannon uses as an example of statistical ap- proximation to ordinary English text, 206 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. (la) The head and in frontal attack on an english writer that the character of this point is therefore another method for the letters that the time of who ever told the problem for an unexpected. The head and in frontal attack on an english writer that the character of this point is therefore another method for the letters that the time of who ever told the problem for an unexpected. The head and in frontal attack on an english writer that the character of this point is therefore another method for the letters that the time of who ever told the problem for an unexpected. (lb) The head and in frontal attack on an english writer that the character of this point is therefore another method for the letters that the time of who ever told the problem for an u nexpected. The head and in frontal attack on an english writ er that the character of this point is therefore another met hod for the letters that the time of who ever told the probl em for an unexpected. The head and in frontal attack on an e nglish writer that the character of this point is therefore another method for the letters that the time of who ever tol d the problem for an unexpected. Figure 1: The Shannon test (573 characters) at a width of 80 characters in la and 60 characters in lb. has been adopted by almost all man- ufacturers of fully formed character printers for evaluating the perform- ance of products. Thus, the univer- sally adopted Shannon test for mea- suring the expected performance of a fully formed character printer is not a test purposefully designed for benchmarking. It is only an adopted test, derived from an example in Shannon's book. When Shannon wrote his book, he had no intention of specifying a printer benchmark for 1980s fully formed character printers. The main problems with the so- called Shannon average-English test are the incorrect statistical frequen- cies of characters with respect to average American-English text, and the use of a limited subset of charac- ters. How much this distorts the eval- uation of a fully formed character printer's benchmark is hard to say, but it is obvious that the Shannon test is not at all the best possible benchmark for this type of printer. Before trying to define a better benchmark, however, it's interesting to analyze in more detail the two main limits of the Shannon test. To do so, I considered the version of the test used by Diablo Systems Inc. (see figure 1). By counting the occurrence of each alphabetical character (plus "space") in Shannon's test, I obtained the data shown in table 2, column 3. This frequency data then can be com- pared with several other frequency data computed by linguistic and be- havioral researchers. Among the many efforts to estab- lish a "definitive" frequency count for words and characters in English, the most comprehensive work is the re- search done at Brown University and published in 1967 by H. Kucera and W. H. Francis, Computational Analysis of Present-Day American English. A huge amount of English text (approx- imately 1 million words) from a large variety of authors and sources American First-Order Fourth-Order ASCII Shannon English English Shakespeare Character Number Test Average Test Test space 32 18.421 17.241 16.500 18.205 a 97 6.316 6.300 5.700 7.712 b 98 0.526 1.279 1.600 2.023 c 99 2.105 2.574 1.600 1.517 d 100 2.632 3.274 4.300 3.793 e 101 12.105 10.444 9.300 9.482 f 102 3.158 1.939 2.000 2.528 g 103 0.526 1.618 1.700 1.264 h 104 7.895 4.560 5.000 3.666 i 105 3.684 6.079 6.600 4.425 i 106 0.000 0.132 0.200 0.253 k 107 0.526 0.540 0.700 0.759 1 108 2.632 3.404 3.900 3.413 m 109 1.579 2.108 1.900 4.425 n 110 5.263 5.889 5.500 5.057 111 6.842 6.331 7.200 6.700 P 112 1.579 1.682 1.600 1.138 q 113 0.000 0.089 0.100 0.000 r 114 6.842 5.097 4.500 4.172 s 115 2.105 5.380 5.900 6.068 1 116 12.631 7.725 8.600 6.827 u 117 0.526 2.256 1.800 3.287 V 118 0.526 0.827 0.800 0.506 w 119 1.053 1.565 0.900 1.138 X 120 0.526 0.163 0.200 0.126 y 121 0.000 1.424 1.900 1.517 z 122 0.000 0.078 0.000 0.000 Table 2: A comparison of character frequencies for the foui daisywheel-print ir tests discussed in the text. February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 207 13 12 11 LEGEND: AMERICAN ENGLISH AVERAGE SHANNON TEST 12 10 m n o p q CHARACTER Figure 2: American English average character frequency compared with the Shannon test. (literature, newspapers, etc.) was analyzed and a frequency count made for each of the approximately 40,000 different words. In 1976, R. Solo and J. King, from the University of Idaho and the University of Chicago, respectively, published a character-oriented fre- quency analysis based on the word list of Kucera and Francis. Here's an example of the procedure for count- ing total frequency of characters. The word note has a frequency of 127 per million. The frequency totals for the letters n, o, t, and e are incremented by 127. This procedure was used for each word on the Kucera and Francis list. Unfortunately, the analysis by Solo and King on character, digram, and trigram frequencies, developed to analyze the structure of words, doesn't take into account the "space," a very important element in a printer's benchmark. This unfor- tunate omission can be corrected in the table for character frequencies by inserting a mathematically deter- mined space frequency and by recal- culating all the other frequencies accordingly. A correct space frequency for the English language can be computed from the same work by Kucera and Francis that was used by Solo and King for their frequency counts. Dividing the 4,576,585 characters in the sample by its 953,456 words re- sults in an average word length of 4.8 characters, which can also be used as a letter-to-space ratio. Recomputing the Solo and King frequencies and including spaces results in the data shown in column 4 of table 2, which might be considered the best basic frequency count for the purposes of this article. Comparing this data with that calculated from the Shannon test (see figure 2), it's evident that Shan- non's sample is not a particularly good approximation of character fre- quencies in average English text. Since 1948, when Shannon wrote his book, computers have greatly simplified the statistical analysis and simulation of text, and, taking advan- tage of such resources, it is certainly possible to define a better bench- mark. Following the pattern used by Shannon, it is possible to construct first- , second- , and third-order char- acter approximations based on the work by Solo and King for character, digram, and trigram frequencies and first-order word approximations based on the work on word frequen- cies by Kucera and Francis. At this point, with a simple pro- gram based on a random generator that considers the different probabil- ities of each character, it is possible to create a first-order character ap- proximation of English text to be used as an alternative benchmark to Shan- non's test. The approximate 1000-character text shown in figure 3 is the result of such a weighted ran- dom-text generation and, although it is certainly not a piece of fine litera- ture, it can be used as a first alter- native benchmark. Analyzing its character frequencies, reported in col- umn 5 of table 2 and in figure 4, it is apparent that this first-order char- acter text offers a better approxima- tion of average English character fre- quencies than Shannon's test text. As previously discussed, second- , third- , and fourth-order character approximations would provide an even better sample text. Unfortu- nately, digram and trigram counts (tetragrams are not available) from Solo and King do not include spaces and, in this instance, there is no way to recompute relative frequencies as 208 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Circle 197 on inquiry card. ' THE BEST IS OUT... JUKI LETTER QUALITY, DAISY WHEEL PRINTERS ARE NOW AVAILABLE NATIONWIDE AT$699 C There's no mystery about it! Juki's Model 6100 bi- directional, daisy wheel printers are full featured and priced right! Designed to perform word processing and graphic functions including bold face, subscript, superscript and shadow, the Model 6100 prints at 18 cps, has a propor- tional spacing control and utilizes 100 character drop-in daisy wheels. The Juki printer uses IBM Selectric Ribbons and is compatible to IBM, Apple, Osborne, Kaypro and most other personal computers. But that's no secret! 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N.CA.NV.A2 201/368-3666 ntor hh uoiweutilnopnhe oif rilpnah h elydnuetrueffoaarootci h hmaebls oitmkog esthasls wlnosea edl acitf iehnteagtrdh yteolhose feens omnootcsesh eu oha eb c o mfaes ennynttey ifl hhbvy hotahltllltt dtnmd vnsdutisd aegnfiotrcn a spv iy ei fethtlngiorrn nept ntk aenaovmhot enilegeariontessptawo orf rairarug ome itmbadtt lhadutjhttssdltlanmaoaldiotorpernhti o s hiiaossseie ri drcey hidttiedsnerytteli osvioks a eh peap ogbid iw treaeeis nuc nlgi ntgt oden h oppttnroret n rlj pylbnbd ifeesnn ka rnlh rteteivyiyint i arolato te e a morapsrthennr hoai nntte irscnegrndid d ocopse s tbd dho esua bcii ia talyb seces efe uit ohuorshssosoemlfie msfddco odtb he sir i tvhihietuihed fx aseer sdec oo nho ulseosotft avgeybs rt odolif eeuiih o ger kma bhyothat rlrrklersg rasgi rdtrpis dctt a hnheostsbddalyamtp ntnrn ee hs tnwaed thd 1 u oewgedatelytseh ithhindftex dsss luo pet hal itdhofwabl uq 1 onraes dt t atlon osasa hmrytndntei gas geciooriiia koomg fn eoicatiavyeewedry tms nedabeido Figure 3: American English first-order random approximation (1000 characters). I did for single-character counts. Thus, it is not possible to create a second- or third-order character ap- proximation based on their extensive work. Other researchers, working on smaller samples, have fortunately considered spaces in their digram, trigram, and (also) tetragram counts and have been able to create second- , third- , and fourth-order random ap- proximations of English text. Among these researchers is W. R. Bennet Jr., whose work at Yale University re- sulted in the 1976 publication of Scien- tific and Engineering Problem-Solving with the Computer. In part of this book, Bennet considers the popular idea that enough monkeys, given enough time, could pound away at typewriters and eventually reproduce the great works of literature. Instead of messing with a multi- tude of monkeys working at type- writers, Bennet developed a series of simulation programs to do the same job in a much faster and neater way. An early program simulated a mon- key working on a traditional type- writer with equal probability for each character (zero-order approximation). Of course, even with the fastest com- puter, Bennet probably would still be waiting for a barely acceptable piece of literature resulting from this program. A second program introduced a virtual typewriter with a different probability for each character. For this simulation, Bennet used frequencies from Act III of Shakespeare's Hamlet, a 35,224-character text. Even with this approach (as you can imagine look- ing at our own first-order approxima- tion text in figure 3), Bennet had lit- tle hope of obtaining a readable piece of literature, let alone competing with Shakespeare. Using more advanced virtual typewriters, capable of pro- ducing second- , third- , and fourth- order approximations, Bennet's "monkeys" showed significant im- provements, producing almost intel- ligible fourth-order text (90 percent of the words appear in an English dic- tionary). Thanks to Bennet's research, it is possible to use a fourth-order ran- dom (monkey) approximation of Shakespeare's Hamlet, which, in turn, is a good example (especially in literary terms) of English prose. Such a simulated text, as published by Bennet, is shown in figure 5. Com- paring this text's frequencies with those of Solo and King (see figure 6) reveals a closer similarity than in Shannon's text or in my own first- 12 11 10 to o 9 CD 3 Z 8 Ul oc cc => 7 o 8 6 u. o 5 3 - 1 - LEGEND: AMERICAN ENGLISH AVERAGE - FIRST-ORDER ENGLISH APPROXIMATION i_ A 1 1 rt *k - / > n \ A , lf\ 1 \ '/ \ // tT ft \ n it i \\ v tf 1 i\ 1 y \ V i \v \/-- ' a s \ '/ ~~ >^— - »\ // I 1 i , i 1 I 1 i 1 Ay 12 10 abcdefghi jklmnopqr st uvwxyz CHARACTER Figure 4: American English average character frequency compared with first-order approximation. 210 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. order approximation. Consequently, I adopted this text as an additional benchmark for measuring the perfor- mance of fully formed character printers. So far, I have considered only lowercase English text with a charac- ter set limited to the 26 basic charac- ters of the alphabet plus the space. But almost any actual text includes uppercase characters, digits, and punctuation marks. Periods, com- mas, and apostrophes generally have a higher frequency than characters such as q, j, and x. Moreover, in almost all business letters and manuals, for which fully formed character printers are primarily used, digits have an appreciable frequency of appearance. Unfortunately, even with several visits to computer science, linguistics, and English departments at Stanford and the University of California at Berkeley, I couldn't find a good analysis of character frequencies that included capital letters, punctuation marks, and digits. A long computer- ized search through the comprehen- sive Language and Language Be- havior Abstracts DataBank didn't solve the problem either. I also struck out with direct inquiries to com- panies such as Diablo, which prob- ably has this data but considers it proprietary. a go this bare and judgement of timedious retch and not lord whal if the easelves and do and make and base gathem i ay beatellous we play means holy fool mour work from inmost bed be confould have may judgement was it massure's to lady would hat prime that's our thrown and did wife father 'st livength sleep tith i ambition' to thin him and force and law's may but smell so and spursely signor gent much chief mixturn ecstance of the me to like crafts did too my mome fair your do himself it perce as makes so but our heart ourself and be armont i does unsee a sent statio hamlet the is tongs musince hyperationse and hamlet heave madamnable must as frank on hecat now by and stings he's borruptis free our els the speak it soul o broad fore you as aught of ment ape a broom modestill be but is man ef fence are Figure 5: Fourth-order approximation of Shakespeare's Hamlet (796 characters). Because I wanted to have at least one benchmark text with an ex- tended character set, I decided to cal- culate my own frequencies through a computerized analysis of an English text. For a change, I decided not to use Shakespeare or other classical literature but opted for a different kind of text: the on-line Unix manuals. This choice means that the sample benchmark I eventually ob- tained is not an approximation of average English but an approxima- tion of some technical computer literature; frequencies are skewed due to computer-jargon characters. Speaking of Unix, the frequencies of slashes and backslashes are much higher than in an average English text. Nevertheless, because a lot of fully formed character printers are used to print computer-related manuals, reports, and articles, a benchmark approximating this en- vironment might be appropriate and interesting. In order to build a representative frequency table for the potential 256 ASCII (American National Standard Code for Information Interchange) characters, I have analyzed (using a PDP-11/70) a sequence of over 1V 2 million characters from the Unix on- line manuals. The results from this analysis are shown in table 3, which lists the frequencies for the 96 ASCII characters (codes 32 to 127) relevant for fully formed character printers. These frequencies have been recal- culated from the raw Unix analysis CO w o o o o cr LU m 3 Z 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 LEGEND - AMCDIP AM CKtm ICLI AWCDAAC SHAKESPEARE TEST 1 \ \ /"A 7 \ \\ / y A \\ \\ ft / It // - \t V A / 1 \ f s / It It It // 1 l 11 \ 1 / 1 1 9 1 V*^"" I \ 1 i 11 1 1 1 1 \ r 10 J I m n p CHARACTER t w Figure 6: American English average character frequency compared with fourth-order Shakespeare approximation. February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 211 Character ASCII Number Frequency Approximation Character ASCII Number Frequency Approximation space 32 29.694 28.300 P 80 0.313 0.100 ! 33 0.011 0.000 Q 81 0.007 0.000 " 34 0.104 0.100 R 82 0.151 0.200 # 35 0.016 0.000 S 83 0.448 0.300 $ 36 0.019 0.000 T 84 0.397 1.000 % 37 0.032 0.000 U 85 0.156 0.100 & 38 0.007 0.000 V 86 0.022 0.000 1 39 0.243 0.400 W 87 0.041 0.000 ( 40 0.441 0.800 X 88 0.092 0.000 ) 41 0.445 0.100 Y 89 0.055 0.000 * + 42 0.065 0.100 43 0.026 0.000 Z 90 [ 91 0.016 0.073 0.000 0.000 1 44 0.554 0.800 \ 92 0.017 0.000 - 45 0.463 0.500 ] 93 0.072 0.000 46 0.975 1.300 94 0.008 0.000 / 47 0.463 0.600 _ 95 2.164 2.200 48 0.191 0.200 96 0.126 0.100 1 49 0.490 0.400 a 97 4.350 4.500 2 50 0.211 0.300 b 98 0.916 0.900 3 51 . 0.082 0.000 c 99 2.067 2.200 4 5 52 0.069 0.100 53 0.092 0.100 d 100 e 101 2.238 7.681 1.800 9.400 6 54 0.038 0.000 f 102 1.587 1.000 7 55 0.048 0.000 g 103 1.061 1.500 8 56 0.109 0.100 h 104 2.198 2.000 9 57 0.027 0.000 i 105 4.251 4.100 58 0.073 0.000 j 106 0.044 0.000 ,' 59 0.110 0.100 k 107 0.290 0.200 < 60 0.025 0.000 I 108 2.589 2.800 = 61 0.033 0.000 m 109 1.817 2.000 > ? 62 0.028 0.000 63 0.014 0.100 n 110 o 111 4.153 3.935 4.600 3.200 @ 64 0.006 0.000 p 112 1.496 2.200 A 65 0.233 0.300 q 113 0.071 0.000 B 66 0.075 0.000 r 114 4.006 3.700 C 67 0.197 0.100 s 115 4.057 4.300 D 68 0.146 0.100 t 116 5.286 5.700 E 69 0.315 0.000 u 117 1.742 1.100 F 70 0.080 0.100 v 118 0.439 0.300 G 71 0.061 0.200 w 119 0.661 0.800 H I 72 0.046 0.100 73 0.452 0.500 x 120 y 121 0.272 0.823 0.600 0.900 J 74 0.011 0.000 z 122 0.073 0.100 K 75 0.023 0.000 { 123 0.009 0.000 L 76 0.127 0.000 | 124 0.024 0.000 M 77 0.199 0.100 } 125 0.009 0.000 N 78 0.284 0.100 126 0.009 0.000 79 0.229 0.100 DEL 127 0.000 0.000 Table 3: The frequencies and approximations of characters in on-li ne Unix manuals. Nearly V/i megabytes were analyzed to compute this extended frequency table that includes numbers, punctuation r narks, and other symbols. 212 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. ( o t r d l e l r /o r n e lv» (800)392-7081 Calif., Alaska, Hawaii & all info Call (213)725-3080 PC & XT iii s IBM PC & XT COMPUTERS Call for price & availability SOFTWARE FOR IBM PC H Bottom dBase I Financial Planner Flight Simulator Friday Home Accountant Plus. . Multiplan 1-2-3 Payless Tax 2 PC Tutor Peach Pak IGL, AR, AP) , Punch Text 5000 PFS: File PFS: Report Property Management . . Real Estate Analyser . . . Report Manager Spell Guard Spellstar SuperCalc I SuperCalc II Super Writer igBr. x Mai TKJ Solvt VisiCalc/Cdex . VisiWordS Wordstar Wordstai Wordstar Professipnal. . Wordstar & Mailmerge . . . .S295 . . $395 . . .$489 . . . S49 . . .5199 . . . S99 . . $299 . . .SI 49 . . -SI 75 . SCALL . . .$135 . . . S59 . . S239 . . .$237 . . . S9S . . . 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BYTE February 1984 213 isno ca tleu-tteeilnia/ nea ndeni b c Gex itPsot._an nkmt e c eg . ep metgeraa lrta per veglrS A e es_ eDcitl aso c xr_mfamr? _/_hp lghmlr rTrb Tt lb 1 i fa Hr Thiyits-y eae ca ux alt aesefess sig uip tter' Taiaektn i rnu ey _e aTscteiadlnoh i*ns gse Ti mugans 4hee_a_ nelht;rons wn lo n egota If/ esg (ss ec (tseattrr ete ig m e(elslon2fbte i o aee lrrr,e. oe 'n -w bd tte_(ri .nxst0ee lpudlep ,c n5 n na e ew soA TRer it iead isas n _i a lnntsiomo.t h oee nye i ea.lrhg e oheb nt/t.euxeydht e ole Era tl T fin nrota.hin bn e hhtt- eor iMang d( i lnpl r s ai Irt de e s ew p, /o R tes lbtlnpappmrlSgeae. fp_(' m m s aO reo d tucecd,ttdc0 _w pT/n p 2 ni iai tepSlpntas vlw p os m nee_ U.tdea 1 a,o eg cxntb t oeooee2npa o pae n(snner ( ss cic,losp ) ey fsn htioh _- cr rhu ." sc e t mFva. t_eytrlc etcceh _s8w rpr etm nNt c e dt ai_u e tn e lho Cr s s semi lr r afoyti hsTd a r a. emioddd eimfa "i _me sd uyG,wA oz sgp h, ' _e 1 Figure 7: First-order Unix on-line manual approximation (1000 characters). after removing all control characters and marks below ASCII code 32. From this new frequency table I im- plemented a random-text generator to produce a 1000-character bench- mark text that is a first-order approx- imation of the Unix-English language in the on-line Unix manuals (see figure 7). The main distortion of the sample is shown by the very high fre- quency of spaces, due to the exten- sive formatting structure used in the manuals. Except for a few special Unix characters, the relative frequen- cies of the other characters are generally similar to those from the Solo and King analysis (once the higher frequency of spaces is ac- counted for). On the whole, the ap- proximated Unix-English text, which includes digits, punctuation marks, and uppercase characters, is a dif- ferent and interesting benchmark, capable of testing the whole rota- tional spectrum of a fully formed character printhead. The final benchmark sample that I felt should be included in this analysis is a spreadsheet-like output. As in the benchmark used for matrix printers, I have used a table of 20 rows of eight numbers each. Each row is divided into eight columns of 10 characters each (including spaces). Each cell of the hypothetical spread- sheet output includes a randomly generated integer number in the 0-100,000 range. This benchmark gives us a good idea of numerical output performance and of a printer's space-skipping capabilities. A sample run is shown in figure 8. Table 4 shows the results of running these fully formed character printer bench- marks on two daisywheel printers. Conclusion Printer benchmarking first must be divided according to the printing technology employed. Then, appro- priate tests must be developed to simulate the activities for which the printer was designed. For dot-matrix types, printing speed, intelligence, and printing modes should be ex- amined. Character sequence has lit- tle or no effect on speed in this type of printer. Daisywheel printers need carefully designed benchmarks that approximate the occurrence frequen- cy of native (in this case, English) lan- guage characters because printwheel rotation limits performance. ■ Sergio Mello-Grand (1143 Quince Ave. , Sunny- vale, CA 94087) is the U.S. editor for the Italian technical magazines Informatica Oggi and Bit. 65186 86886 72976 79885 7370 49031 45452 10725 95051 70387 53186 97116 32093 95613 93451 53494 56442 67122 70257 74077 66688 45394 33414 15685 73627 54288 42597 5545 76827 51354 56405 74106 66186 23145 46426 12856 48497 5532 36300 57126 99011 29015 65778 93911 37997 89034 79789 94676 32307 41284 42499 73174 21938 22025 76374 68251 71593 93397 26246 51668 47245 13732 48370 60907 17698 32866 24490 56984 81152 12449 903 7263 16765 71262 52515 93270 61210 55527 71912 43501 10248 34220 83417 91239 45280 19383 82151 57365 84916 11437 98103 58168 61535 69495 85183 38162 22848 6673 35294 27894 58461 10405 17385 26760 51437 87751 41523 10817 54858 35716 47947 65592 93389 36555 21137 43900 89837 78093 28871 48652 16720 99033 86292 40669 72822 59267 44970 71495 84761 35193 6961 41211 33548 40026 63873 81243 6154 69109 60926 62177 72066 70226 86018 26575 84855 38915 83783 46780 8735 38782 94658 7736 70130 46809 18940 14795 34231 23672 5856 26533 Figure 8: A spreadsheet simulation featuring eight columns of five-digit random numbers with filling blanks (1600 characters). 214 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Diablo 630 (31.8) NEC 7710 (55) NEC 3510 (35) Transtar 140 Brother HR-25 Brother HR-15 (40) (13) (23) Olivetti Praxis 41 Shannon Test (80 characters wide), 573 characters plus CR/LF 00:15 38.2 00:13 44.1 00:20 28.6 00:17 33.7 00:28 20.5 00:44 13.0 01:24 6.8 Shannon Test (60 characters wide), 573 characters plus CR/LF 00:16 35.8 00:13 44.1 00:20 28.6 00:18 31.8 00:29 19.8 00:45 12.7 01:25 6.7 First-Order English Random Approximation (60 characters wide), 1000 characters plus CR/LF 00:28 35.7 00:24 41.7 00:35 28.6 00:31 32.3 00:50 20.0 01:18 12.8 02:30 6-7 Fourth-Order Shakespeare Random Approximation (60 characters wide), 796 characters plus CR/LF 00:23 34.6 00:19 41.9 00:29 27.4 00:25 31.8 00:41 19.4 01:03 12.6 01:58 6.7 First-Order Unix On-Line Manual Random Approximation (60 characters wide), 1000 plus CR/LF 00:31 32.3 00:24 41.7 00:37 27.0 00:31 32.3 00:52 19.2 01:16 13.2 02:28 6.8 Spreadsheet Simulation (20 rows of eight 10-character col- umns with five-digit random numbers and spaces), 1600 characters plus CR/LF 00:29 55.2 00:27 59.3 00:38 42.1 00:39 41.0 01:30 17.8 01:33 17.2 03:22 7.9 Table 4: A comparison of seven d "carriage return and linefeed." aisywheel print ers using the I enchmark test ; discussed in the text. 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Circle 454 on inquiry card. ^_ 12 *Suggested retail price IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. WordStar is a registered trademark of MicroPro International Corporation. SuperCaTcZ is a registered trademark of Sorcim Corporation. The Digital Research logo and products are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Digital Research Inc. All rights reserved. ©1983 Digital Research Inc. Benchmarking FORTRAN Compilers Insights into comparing FORTRAN compilers FORTRAN, or FORmula TRANsla- tion, is a high-level programming lan- guage. This means it is "easy to use" or "designed for people," in contrast with low-level machine language, which is difficult to use. Unfortunate- ly, computers don't understand FOR- TRAN— they understand only ma- chine language. To convert FOR- TRAN to machine language, we use a FORTRAN compiler. FORTRAN was designed to be easier to use than machine language, but it was also designed to make scientific formulas easy to program. However, because scientific formulas can be long, FORTRAN programs also need to be fast. Otherwise, a weather-forecasting program might take 20 hours to come up with a fore- cast you need in 10 hours. This is where benchmark testing of FORTRAN compilers can be useful, because a benchmark can tell you which compiler creates the fastest by Avram Tetewsky code. In a compiler benchmark test, you present the same FORTRAN program— the benchmark— to several compilers, compile the program, and run the resulting machine code from each compiler. The compiler that generates the fastest-running ma- chine-code version of the benchmark is the winner. Some classic bench- mark programs are the Sieve of Eratosthenes (a method of finding prime numbers) and Whetstone (a mix of different arithmetic computa- tions originally done in the ALGOL computer language). However, these benchmarks have a shortcoming in that they use only local data, that is, small amounts of data located in one area of memory I believe that, to be fair, a benchmark should also test how efficiently a compiled program deals with large amounts of data located in all areas of memory. After all, compilers may have different ways of managing Compiler Microsoft FORTRAN and LINK-80 Supersoft FORTRAN -66 and LINK-V2 Microsoft FORTRAN-77 and LINK-V2 DEC FORTRAN-77 for VAX 11/780 IBM VS FORTRAN-77 for MVS 370 operating system and LINKEDIT "Not including operating-system space; V indicates virtual Disk Space (bytes) Library Space on Disk (bytes) RAM Space* (bytes) 40K 89K 240K 208K 30K 117K 124K 1460K 48K 128K 128K V500K 818K 924K V 2048K Table 1: Disk and RAM requirements for FORTRAN compilers. For the mainframe systems, specifying RAM size is difficult because of the virtual-memory capabilities of the main- frame. (Virtual-memory capability allows a computer to run programs larger than its physical memory can hold.) large amounts of memory; some ways may be more efficient than others. Finding out which way is better can be very important if you intend to use your FORTRAN com- piler on programs that use a lot of data. Another shortcoming of the classic benchmarks is that they do not test the compile and link times of a com- piler. In other words, while the classic benchmarks do tell you how fast the compiled program runs, they do not tell you how long it took the compiler to generate the compiled program. Without this information, you may discover that your superfast code takes a superlong time to compile. Finally, the classic benchmarks do not measure how well compilers handle I/O (input/output) and array- subscript operations. If they per- formed this measurement, you would know how well a compiler handles programs that have many I/O statements and matrix opera- tions. To test how well a FORTRAN com- piler manages large amounts of data from all over memory (called global data), how fast it compiles, and how fast the compiled code runs, I de- cided to write my own benchmarks, the results of which are presented in this article. I would have included the listings of the benchmark programs, too, but they are longer than this ar- ticle and there is no room for them. Also, I could not benchmark com- plete I/O and matrix operations 218 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Comments and Compiler Setting Setting Definitions Microsoft FORTRAN None INTEGER*2 defaults Microsoft FORTRAN-77 Always optimizes $STORAGE:4 INTEGERM by default SNODEBUG No subscript checking SNOFLOATCALLS This gives fastest 8087 support CALL MBPRQQ Treat R*4 and R*8 as declared Supersoft FORTRAN-66 Defaults to INTEGER*2 There is no INTEGERM CALL SUBOF°/o No subscript checking DEC VAX FORTRAN-77 FORTRAN/nodebug/ optimize/no check IBM VS FORTRAN-77 Optimization = 2 Choose this setting for reliability Table 2: Compiler option settings. because of a lack of time. You'll notice that I benchmarked mainframe as well as microcomputer compilers. I did this to give you an idea of how closely microcomputer- compiler systems are approaching mainframe-compiler systems in terms of execution speed. Besides benchmarking, another way to compare compilers is by the amount of disk and RAM (random- access read/write memory) space that they need. For your convenience, table 1 lists the amount of disk and RAM storage space that each com- piler needs. This is essential informa- tion to have when you read the benchmarks because you may find that the compiler that did so well in the benchmarks won't fit in your computer. All the benchmarks in the world won't mean a thing if your compiler does not compile standard FOR- TRAN. The two standard versions are FORTRAN-66 and FORTRAN-77. The numbers stand for 1966 and 1977, the years in which FORTRAN was standardized by ANSI (American National Standards Institute). For a sizable fee, the National Bureau of Standards Software Test Center (5203 Leesburg Pike, Suite 1100, Falls Church, VA 22041) will test a com- piler to ensure that it meets ANSI specifications. Among microcom- puter software companies, only Digital Research has decided to brave this test; most mainframe compilers are already certified. If Digital Re- search's compiler (which is not yet available) passes the test, it will be a virtual guarantee that its compiler will run most existing standard FOR- TRAN code. None of the microcom- puter compilers I benchmarked have been tested by the National Bureau of Standards, but they have been tested by the marketplace, so you can be reasonably sure that they are all pretty much standard FORTRAN. To Be Fair . . . So many variables are in the typical hardware-compiler system that it's difficult to make a fair comparison. For instance, when you compare a compiler that runs on the IBM Per- sonal Computer with one that runs on an Otrona Attache, you are com- paring more than the compilers— you are comparing the computers, too. To be as fair as possible in my bench- mark comparisons and be sure that I'm comparing oranges to oranges, I've tried to set as many variables as possible the same way from compiler to compiler. For instance, each com- piler has a variety of switch settings that disable or enable options such as optimization, subscript checking, and default storage. I used the set- tings shown in table 2. When I measured execution times, I was careful to separate operating- system and I/O-dependent overhead from the results. For example, most mainframe systems are multitasking, so that the computer sandwiches in your program with several others. If you used a stopwatch to measure the time it took the mainframe computer to run your program, you would ac- tually be measuring the time the computer took to run your program, several other programs, and the operating-system program that keeps the whole mess straight. To accurately measure the execu- tion time of my mainframe bench- marks, I used job-step time, which includes only a small amount of operating-system time. In addition, I performed the tests at 6:00 a.m. to in- crease the likelihood that no other tasks would be running on the com- puter. I also set up the measurements so that I/O to the terminal was ex- cluded. For example, it took my DEC Computation Time in Microseconds Type Type Microsoft FORTRAN of of 4.77 MHz 8.0 MHz DEC VAX IBM 3081 D Data Computation 8088 & 8087 8086 & 8087 FORTRAN FORTRAN local addition 28.5 17.0 0.3 0.18 global addition 44.5 26.5 1.3 0.57 local subtraction 30.2 18.0 0.8 0.26 global subtraction 45.3 27.0 1.8 0.58 local multiplication 31.9 19.0 0.5 0.36 global multiplication 46.1 27.5 2.8 0.66 local division 53.7 32.0 5.1 0.84 global division 68.0 40.5 5.9 1.04 local cosine 721 430.0 96.31 6.51 global cosine 758 452.0 103.8 6.83 local arc cosine 551 329.0 94.6 11.01 global arc cosine 588 351.0 98.31 11.40 local arc tangent 278 166.5 31.4 4.99 global arc tangent 317 189.0 33.5 5.48 local exponential 499 298.0 48.9 8.98 global exponential 536 320.0 52.9 9.31 local natural log. 467 279.0 45.7 7.77 global natural log. 506 302.5 49.4 8.36 local square root 138 82.5 36.7 6.34 global square root 176 105.5 49.6 7.09 Table 3: Single-precision computation speed with local and global data (global data is labeled COMMON in FORTRAN). February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 219 Listing 1: The Timer routine for Microsoft FORTRAN version 3.1. EXTERNAL TICKERS INTEGER*4 ITIME1 , ITIME2 , CENTI CALL TICKER (ITIME1) CALL TICKER (ITIME2) CENTI = ITIME2 - ITIME1 TICKER BY W. CLAFF FOR MICROSOFT FORTRAN V3 CONTACT THE BOSTON COMPUTER SOCIETY ONE CENTER PLAZA BOSTON MASS 02108 IBM-SCIENCE SUBGROUP FOR MORE INFORMATION EXTRACT TIME FROM DOS CONVERT BCD TIME FROM DOS TO CENTI SECONDS TICKERS SEGMENT ' CODE ' PUBLIC TICKER TICKER PROC FAR PUSH BP MOV BP, SP PUSH AX PUSH BX PUSH cx PUSH DX MOV AH, 2CH INT 021H XCHG CX, DX MOV AL, CH MOV BL, 100 MUL BL MOV CH, ADD CX, AX MOV AL, DH MOV BL, 60 MUL BL MOV DH, ADD AX, DX MOV DX, MOV BX, 6000 MUL BX ADD CX, AX ADC DX, LES BX, DWORD PTR 6[BP] MOV ES: [BX] ,CX MOV ES: [BX+2] ,DX POP DX POP CX POP BX POP AX POP BP RET 4 TICKER ENDP TICKERS ENDS END (Digital Equipment Corporation) VAX computer 3 seconds to perform a benchmark and an additional 3 sec- onds to update the terminal with the results. If I hadn't taken steps to separate the terminal I/O time from the true results, I would have come up with a misleading benchmark time of 6 seconds. With microcomputer benchmarks, most of the results can be obtained with a stopwatch. You can also check the time automatically with the Supersoft compiler's timer call if you are using the Supersoft compiler or with the Timer routine in listing 1 if you are using the Microsoft compiler. (W. Claff , the author of Timer, notes that some systems are more accurate than others. For example, an IBM PC with or without a Quadboard is ac- curate to only 0.05 second, while a Seattle Gazelle is accurate to 0.01 sec- ond.) The only benchmark that is best timed with a software timer is the global- versus local-data bench- mark. This is because of the short times involved. I usually did not include the time to load information from the micro- computer's disks when I measured compiling and linking time. Even when I did include the loading time, it made little difference because microcomputer compile and link times are relatively long compared to disk-load times. I attempted to have scratch files on one drive and the source on the other to minimize disk- drive head-movement times. You may notice in the benchmark results that I mention an 8-MHz 8087 arithmetic processor chip. Although this item is not yet available, it soon will be. To calculate the effect of an arithmetic coprocessor, I took the fac- tual increase in compiler speeds that such a coprocessor affords at 4- and 6-MHz clock speeds and extrapolated the increase to 8 MHz. Benchmark Results Tables 3 and 4 show the differences in computation speed when data is local or global. To get a good feel for the difference, I used many different types of algebraic and trigonometric computations with both single- and double-precision numbers. 220 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 800-451-2502 or 617-641-1241 in Mass. 617-641-1235 for Technical Support 1 661 Massachusetts Avenue Arlington, MA 02174 Banc On Us! WHAT IS SOFTWAREBANC? 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BYTE February 1984 221 r Computation Time in Microseconds Type Type Microsoft FORTRAN of of 4.77 MHz 8.0 MHz DEC VAX IBM 3081 D Data Computation 8088 & 8087 8086 & 8087 FORTRAN FORTRAN local addition 31.0 18.5 2.4 0.16 global addition 46.2 27.5 4.7 0.47 local subtraction 31.9 19.0 2.5 0.28 global subtraction 46.1 27.5 5.0 0.34 local multiplication 33.5 20.0 5.5 0.53 global multiplication 47.8 28.5 6.6 0.70 local division 55.3 33.0 8.9 1.20 global division 69.6 41.5 11.3 1.49 local cosine 736 439 231 9.26 global cosine 766 457 234 9.90 local arc cosine 581 347 148 16.90 global arc cosine 612 365 150 17.37 local arc tangent 303 181 52.7 5.91 global arc tangent 332 198 55.7 6.32 local exponential 525 313 90.9 10.63 global exponential 555 331 94.1 11.26 local natural log. 494 295 86.4 11.45 global natural log. 523 312 98.3 11.90 local square root 152 91 49.0 8.70 global square root 183 109 54.0 9.23 average ncrease in time due to use of global data 22.6 13.5 3.7 0.38 Table 4 Double-precision computation speed with local anc global data Notice that the microcomputer compiler is much slower than the mainframe compilers. Also, on all machines global data does indeed take longer to process. But the most important point of this table is how much longer one compiler takes to process global data than another compiler. The average increase in computing time due to global data is shown at the bottom of the table. There, you see that the IBM 3081D computer and its FORTRAN com- piler take the least additional time to handle global data. Table 5 shows the results of the compile- and link-timing tests. I also listed the sizes of the compiled code for the smallest FORTRAN bench- mark program that I could write. The benchmark program I used just adds two floating-point numbers together and uses a formatted WRITE state- ment to send the output to the screen. What Your Benchmark Will Never Tell You You can't depend on benchmarks to make your mind up for you because some things can't be benchmarked, such as ease of use and suitability. During my testing of FOR- TRAN compilers, I formed some opinions and made some observations. Microsoft FORTRAN, Version 3.44 for CP/M-80 Systems Despite an error in format-repetition fac- tors, lack of complex variables, and no back- spacing on sequential data files, this is a solid product. While it does have INTE- GERS variables, it does not allow for INTEGERS do-loop control. In addition, you must follow a rigid ordering of state- ments, the worst being that all declarations must appear before the COMMON state- ments. Finally, you are limited to 64K bytes minus the CP/M operating-system data plus code. Unfortunately, LINK-80 steals 13K bytes of this space. On the plus side, it has a fast compile and link time, requires only a small amount of disk space, and, with the addi- tion of Phoenix's PLINK-I1, an overlay linker, you can build some extremely so- phisticated programs. Alas, Microsoft no longer updates FORTRAN. Microsoft FORTRAN-77 ANSI Subset, Version 3.1 for MS-DOS This compiler, after several miserable releases, works well. The manual is of high quality , the code it produces is very fast, and the price is right at $350. The major shortcoming is that this two- pass compiler produces scratch files that are about two to three times larger than the input source file. Besides taking a long time to compile, dual 350K-byte floppy-disk drives are inadequate for large programs. High-performance machines such as the IBM PC XT, Seattle Gazelle (hard-disk or 8-inch drives), or an Otrona 8:16 with 96-TPI drives might be a better choice. For PC owners, a 3Z0K-byte drive C: (RAM) disk would also work (power supply permitting). Finally, the restriction that no array can be larger than 64K bytes, and that multi- ple large arrays must be in separate labeled COMMON blocks, still prevents one from running some mainframe programs. Microsoft is working on new versions that will ease this restriction and also support the COMPLEX variable type. Supersoft FORTRAN-66, Version 1.07 for MS-DOS The main virtue of this compiler is that it can be used on a dual 350K-byte floppy- disk system. While it has many nice ex- tensions to the FORTRAN-66 language, too many of them are nonstandard. Super- soft has fixed many of the problems in ver- sion 2.1, now in beta test. In addition, IBM PC graphics will be supported, and a rewrite of the manual is promised. Supersoft FORTRAN limits programs to 64K bytes of data and 64K bytes of code. Although this compiler has COMPLEX variables, it lacks INTEGERS variables. In an attempt to ensure that only the sub- routines used by a program would be in- cluded in the executable file, Supersoft made the poor design decision to automat- ically break up object modules into separate files for each subroutine. This creates a mess at link time. Digital Research FORTRAN-77, for CP/M-86 and MS-DOS This will be available early in 1984. While I have received the manuals (they are excellent), I can only relay the company answers to my questions at this time. This is a full ANSI-77 FORTRAN with 8087 support. Large memory models are included. The total number of elements in any one array can't exceed 64K bytes. In addition, DR1 claims that the scratch files are % to Vi of the input source file size, so a dual 350K-byte system should be ade- quate. DRI FORTRAN programs can also call routines written in DRI C or 8086 assembly language. 222 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. A flawless future is in sight with 3M diskettes. When it comes to keeping track of precious data, predictable means reliable. Being able to count on every diskette, every time. At 3M, reliability is built into every diskette. We've been in the computer media business for over 30 years. And we've never settled in. We're constantly improving and perfecting our product line, from computer tape and data cartridges to floppy disks. 3M diskettes are made at 3M. That way, we have complete control over the entire manufacturing process. And you can have complete confidence in the reliability of every 3M diskette you buy. Look in the Yellow Pages under Computer Supplies and Parts for the 3M distributor nearest you. In Canada, write 3M Canada, Inc., London, Ontario. If it's worth remembering, it's worth 3M diskettes. Circle 354 on inquiry card. 3M hears yOU. 3M Source Pass 1 Rel Pass 2 Object COM/EXE File Compile File Compile File Link File Size Time Size Time Size Time Size Compiler (K bytes) (seconds) (K bytes) (seconds) (K bytes) (seconds) (K bytes) Microsoft FORTRAN and Microsoft Linker for CP/M-80 (with floppy disk) 2* 7 2 - — 13 8 Microsoft FORTRAN-77 and Microsoft Linker for MS-DOS (with hard disk) 0.25 8 1.38 13 0.84" 40 31 Supersoft FORTRAN-66 and Microsoft Linker for MS-DOS (with hard disk) 0.25 5 0.5 5 0.75 43 20 "This size is due to the operating system rather than the compiler **A 15K-byte scratch file was also used Table 5: The compile and link times for three compilers, as well as the size of the output files for the smallest program I could write. Compiler Hardware Execution Time Microsoft 4-MHz Z80A' 40 min FORTRAN 4-MHz Z80A with 9511 and 9512 coprocessors 8 min, 38.0 sec Microsoft 4.7-MHz 8088 without 8087 10 min FORTRAN-77 4.7-MHz 8086 without 8087 6 min, 44.0 sec 4.7-MHz 8088 with 8087 57.0 sec 4.7-MHz 8086 with 8087 40.7 sec 4.7-MHz 8088 with in-line 8087 33.0 sec 4.7-MHz 8086 with in-line 8087 26.7 sec 8-MHz 8086 without 8087 4 min, 1 .3 sec 8-MHz 8086 with 8087 24.3 sec 8-MHz 8086 with in-line 8087 15.7 sec Supersoft 4.7-MHz 8088 without 8087 7 min, 40.0 sec FORTRAN-66 4.7-MHz 8086 without 8087 6 min, 50.0 sec 4.7-MHz 8088 with 8087 2 min, 1.0 sec 4.7-MHz 8086 with 8087 1 min, 32.0 sec 8-MHz 8086 without 8087 3 min, 29.0 sec 8-MHz 8086 with 8087 55.1 sec Unix FORTRAN-77 10-MHz 68000 software 2 min, 14.0 sec DEC VAX FORTRAN-77 DEC VAX 11/780 with floating point 3.0 sec IBM FORTRAN-66 IBM 4341 Model I with floating point 2.3 sec IBM FORTRAN-77 IBM 3081 D with floating point 0.3 sec Table 6: Compiled IEEE program execution times. "In-line 8087" means that the com- piler has been set to assume that an 8087 coprocessor is available. The clear winner in compile and link time is Microsoft's FORTRAN compiler for CP/M-80 computers. It is also a single-pass compiler, which means it takes less total time to com- pile code. Table 6 shows the results of a traditional execution-speed test. I used the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) digital- signal-processing Remez exchange program as a representative number- crunching program rather than one of the classic benchmark programs. Because the IEEE program can be run in 64K bytes, I was able to use the program on all the computers. No clear software winner emerges because the hardware makes so much of a difference. But, in terms of FORTRAN execution speed, the best microcomputer software-and- hardware combination is Microsoft's FORTRAN-77 for MS-DOS and the Otrona Attache or Seattle Gazelle computers. This combination com- pleted the IEEE program in 15.66 seconds. In a final benchmark, I tested video-screen I/O. The test consisted of writing 100 lines to the screen. CP/M-80 version 2.2 scored 5 seconds on the Otrona Attache 8:16; MS-DOS version 2.0 scored 17 seconds on the IBM PC. Both computers used I/O- mapped video via the operating- system console calls. It's important to remember that the benchmark results are not the only thing to consider. You also have to consider price versus performance, price versus product support, price versus legacy, and what your applica- tion of the compiler will be. Perhaps in your application of the compiler, fast compile times mean nothing but price means everything. Remember to give benchmark results their proper rank in the hierarchy of com- piler features that are important to you.H Acknowledgments While I have read a few books on the theory and design of compilers and operating systems, I could not write a compiler or operating system. Even though I feel that I am fully qualified to benchmark compilers and to contribute suggestions for en- hancing them, I would like to acknowledge the pro- gramming effort, R&D funds, marketing expense, and product support that go into each and every compiler. Hats off to all. I would also like to thank J. Pearson of the Boston Computer Society IBM Science Engineering Subgroup; B. Roberts and R. Krajewski of BYTE; W. Clafffor his comments about MS-DOS and the Seattle Gazelle and for his general expertise; E. Sabine of the CSDL Computation Support Staff; and L. Wittwer for his Heath H-89 Z80 measurements and his general expertise. The following people and organizations con- tributed to this article: Bridge Computer, Otrona, S. Freid, L. Heyl, D. Deno, C Sacco, C. Ogren, C. Fraiser, R. Russel, P. Matthews Jr., J. Mori, V. Ivanovic, K. Hvatum, P. Vernam, S. Deutsch, R. Butler, R. Williams, F. Grant, ]. Veale, and Draper Laboratories Division 15L management. All the opinions expressed in this article are mine alone and not those of Draper Labs. Avram Tetewsky is an employee of C. S. Draper Laboratory (555 Technology Square, MS 92, Cam- bridge, MA 02139). He received the Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1978. His hobbies are computers, cats, jogging, and music. 224 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. I ,S COMPLEX COLOR GRAPH! S ■ I ■ M ■ P ■ L ■ E HyperGraphics is the unique new authoring system that allows you to create custom color graphic screens and animation in minutes. This unique communications language was written to provide the easiest to use graphic software available for the IBM pc, xt, pc jr. and compatibles. Only software application programs written in HyperGraphics s allow the user to store up to 1,000 color graphic screens in 320 kb. and to create any graphic symbol and even animation using only the 10 function keys and two key strokes! 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ITM SOFTWARE DISTRIBUTORS (800)334-3404 226 BYTE February 1984 Circle 172 on inquiry card. Benchmark Confessions A close look at sometimes subjective tests by Peter Marvit and Mohandas Nair Everyone has opinions on three subjects— sex, religion, and bench- marks. While the first two are in- fluenced by cultural and personal tastes, benchmark results often mas- querade as objective fact cloaked in scientific methodology and absolute numbers. Figures don't lie, but liars figure, as the saying goes, and bench- marks are prime targets for selective interpretation and general confusion. In presenting our philosophy of benchmarks in this article, we will focus on complete computer systems, but the principles involved are gen- eral and can be adapted to cover specific peripherals. We have not tried to encompass the entire field of benchmark methodology, but rather, provide guidelines and considera- tions for all who read and perform benchmarks— computer users, sales- men, and designers. Benchmarking is, at best, problematic, and at worst, a gross distortion of reality, but you can make the best of an impossible situation if you enter this fray armed with specific directions. When we look at the role of bench- marks we need to ask questions, such as: What are they? Who uses them? How are they used? Under- standing the background and inten- tions of benchmarks is the key to in- terpreting the results. How those results are reported is also crucial. Complete information must be given if the results are to be meaningful. We recommend a point-to-point list of what may be included in a good benchmark write-up. The delicate issue of benchmark design and validity requires a great deal of thought. This article skims over many parts of the problem and points toward several avenues of investigation. The Role of Benchmarks A benchmark is an objective, reproducible measure of perform- ance (e.g., execution-speed compari- sons, object size, or device interrupt latency measures). It assists us in placing system performance within a continuum, be it a list of times mea- suring I/O (input/output) perform- ance, or the like. Thus, from an in- dividual standpoint, benchmarks are a means of comparing one system to others. Benchmarks form a strong feedback mechanism to manufac- turers and software designers so that they can gauge how their creations will rate in the marketplace. How- ever, the inherent attractiveness of using benchmark reports in adver- tisements demands of the buyer the skill of differentiating the sales pitch from the benchmark information. But even if we have this skill, what's so important about benchmarks? A computer purchase is roughly analogous to buying a car. Obvious- ly, the decision-making process varies but very few people only think about performance and nothing else. Clearly, many other factors may be brought into the decision-making process. Benchmarks are but a part of the selection, decision, or evalua- tion process. Some individuals take benchmarks very seriously while others are unaffected or not highly influenced by them. All in all, bench- marks have a place in the compari- son/evaluation process. The Audience We classify the audiences for benchmarks into engineers (makers), marketers (sellers), and users (buyers). Each has its own needs and methods of evaluating benchmarks. The engineer wants to optimize the system's design. The benchmark is a test that analyzes parts of a computer system and displays bottleneck areas or poorly performing components that can be improved. By varying a single element in the system, an engineer can improve the system per- February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 227 formance, using a benchmark pro- gram as the measuring instrument to compare one system configuration against another. Marketing people want to sell a product. They would love nothing better than a single number that conclusively shows that their com- puter outperforms the competition. Benchmarks also provide some in- dication about who the competition really is and what market niche the computer should target. Unfortu- nately benchmark results serve as lit- tle more than advertisements. Finally the user wants objective comparisons between the different computer systems he might pur- chase. Benchmarks appeal to his need for (theoretically) unbiased re- porting of a system's performance. However, each user's needs vary depending on experience. Of course, the ideal solution to benchmarking is to take the final applications that the users perform and run them on the various computers. This usually proves impossible, especially for complex applications. To further the problem, future needs can rarely be anticipated and so any testing will be speculative. Again, this leaves us looking at existing benchmarks, armed with the ability to discern fact from advertising hype. Hence, let's consider how benchmarks are mis- used, in our attempt to isolate a solution. Misuses of Benchmarks In benchmark reporting, we have discovered a very narrow but distinct path between truths and lies. Devel- oping the skill of telling not-really- the-truth and not-downright-lies is important for successful benchmark- ing. Many people look upon bench- marks as marketing hogwash, only coincidental with facts. Ironically, incomplete information is as dangerous as lying in the bench- mark world. Consider an article pub- lished in EDN magazine highlighting a Unix-based benchmark with perfor- mance numbers for various com- petitive systems (see reference 1). Under the subheading "Test Results Tell the Story" we read, "System capabilities are subject to interpreta- tion, but the results of a simple benchmark provided by the manu- facturer tend to support claims of fast processing." But results don't tell the story. The story requires much more informa- tion such as details of configurations used, the methodology used in tests, etc. A comment on performance serves no purpose to the true bench- marker, but feeds incomplete infor- mation to readers who enjoy sweep- ing, unsupported ideas, even if true. Ironically, we received a copy of a benchmark report, generated by Teus Hagen and Andrew Tenenbaum from Amsterdam, entitled "Two Programs, Many Unix Systems" (see reference 4) that highlighted the same pro- Benchmarks indicate who the competition really is and what market niche a computer should target. cessor-bound benchmark program. They ran this program on a multitude of competitive systems. With amaz- ing coincidence, the results they derived on the systems were identical to those published in the EDN arti- cle. However, Hagen and Tenenbaum drew the following conclusion: "None. You should take these mea- surements with a grain of salt, or bet- ter yet, an imperial gallon of salt." In two reports with the same results, we encounter two different messages. Such situations are common but this does not negate their contradicting effect on a fast-reading, often over- looking audience. Possibly, further detailed information could clear up any confusion about how these con- clusions were derived. But the lack of detailed information is not the only stumbling block in benchmark reporting. For example, consider person M who endeavors to buy a used car. M visits a reputable dealership, isolates a few choices, and finally decides on a beautiful car that has been kept indoors, under beautiful lighting. The car is dry, clean, and reasonably priced. M pur- chases the car, drives it off the lot, and discovers, on a rainy day, that the car leaks. Benchmarks can provide a showroom atmosphere to flawed products in a similar manner. By highlighting the good and over- shadowing flaws, a benchmark re- port can deceive an audience until that terrible rainy day. Picking Valid Benchmark Reports As we discussed before, bench- mark reports can deceive more than inform by giving incomplete data. However, the effect that benchmarks have on us can be approached ration- ally—as rationally as one approaches any form of advertising without dis- counting everything. The following considerations may assist in develop- ing this rational approach toward reading and writing benchmarks by being less caught up in the results and more involved with how the in- formation is presented. Look at any benchmark report and consider the following: • Who originated/authored the report? Obviously a report on the XYZ computer done by the company that created the product will show the XYZ to be successful. Unbiased reports are hard to obtain but one technique would be to get bench- marks from other companies that in- clude the XYZ computer in their reports as a competitive measure. Thus, if you want to benchmark XYZ, don't obtain benchmark reports from them, ask other companies for their reports that involve XYZ. Chances are they would report on the XYZ rationally. • Determine the objective of the report. Here emerges the need for abstracts, detailed introductions, and summaries. Readers usually tend to read the introduction, the graph, and run to the conclusions of a bench- mark report; thus, the need to iden- tify and establish the message in any report. If you don't get the message clearly, drop the report— it will do more harm than good. Examples of clearly directed reports/articles are references 5 and 13. • Descriptions are needed of the methodology used. Without a suc- 228 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. cinct description of how the bench- marks were performed, there is no use describing the results. The reader wants to reproduce these results to completely trust them, and com- ments on the technique used would be helpful. Descriptions of the pro- grams or benchmarks used and fur- ther descriptions of the environments where testing took place are crucial to a successful benchmark report. • Are source listings provided? Documented source code or listings of the actual benchmark program will give the readers a clearer under- standing of what was performed. From this, we can reproduce the benchmark and criticize or applaud the technique. There's something about actual code that makes it all seem so technical and accurate. • Detail the systems used in the benchmark. The report should give exact detail about the systems on which the benchmark was run. This would guard against readers who assume too much about the results obtained or the use of systems that are unmarketed, souped-up versions used only for the benchmark. Still sticking to our concern for reproduc- ibility, we need details of the system configuration. The system configur- ation should be included in any benchmark report. •Results are never forgotten. Bench- mark reports always display results, results, and results. "We beat them by 5X (times) performance difference" is all we hear. The public seems to crave a single, definite X value that, to them, describes complete system performance in comparison to other competitive systems. We realize that an average number like 1.5X or 2X is nothing but an average estimation of comparative system performance. Comparative X values are useless unless the results are linked with what is being compared; e.g., 2X (times) better than system Y in I/O capability. Benchmark results are usually rep- resented graphically as well as in raw number form. We suggest that results be displayed in absolute raw num- bers in combination with either a relative graph or an absolute graph. The main aim of benchmark re- ports is to inform, display results, and discuss findings. As in any scientific experiment, raw numbers or graphs are irrelevant scribblings without careful analysis and interpretation. In other words, when you hold a bench- mark report in your hand next, look for a position or conclusions taken by the author. If the author has not made one, don't make one yourself. Benchmark Design Questions about benchmark pro- grams and their design still remain. A look at benchmark programs today is a study in dichotomies: simple single-task processes vs. complex multitask global programs. Current taste favors the former. If the author of a benchmark report has not made a conclusion, don't make one yourself. First and foremost, small single- task programs are easier to use and understand. People can usually com- prehend their purpose and method without difficulty. They seem to test a single element in a computer sys- tem (e.g., processor speed, disk ac- cess, etc.). Like minimalist art, streamlined programs have an ele- gant aesthetic. Because they are (pre- sumably) easy to run, reproducing results presents few problems. These small programs often suffer from their simplicity, however. As men- tioned before, the well-placed spot- light of a single benchmark focuses attention on one aspect of system performance, ignoring the rest. The question of exactly what the one pro- gram actually measures rears its for- midable head again. The gargantuan global benchmarks provide a stark contrast. Usually transported via many reels of mag- netic tape and the child of laborious years of effort, these complex tasks require considerable expertise and time to set up and run. They produce voluminous statistics on many as- pects of a system's performance. Since their design supposedly re- flects the requirements of typical computer loads, the results should predict real-life situations. Unfor- tunately, the global benchmark de- sign is frequently not independently verified and the results are often cryptic— hardly the stuff for man- agerial decisions. Completeness can also be a problem. One missing soft- ware utility used at the beginning of the benchmark stymies the rest of the run since subsequent tests rely on previous results. To compound the problem, standardization from sys- tem to system is difficult due to dif- ferences in language and operating system versions, enhancements, and omissions. One approach to system bench- marks is to use the following paradigm. To admittedly oversim- plify the matter, a system benchmark could consist of an I/O loop and a central processing unit loop. You in- troduce parameters that determine how many times the individual loops are iterated. That way, you can have a program that is as I/O-bound or processor-bound as desired. To test different application conditions, you merely vary those parameters and the number of programs running concurrently. This conceptual model offers four advantages: (1) basic modules can be easily coded; (2) each module can test a discrete function; (3) individual modules are easily run and understood; (4) programs can be combined to produce complex tasks that simulate real-world appli- cations. Many problems and considerations are inherent in benchmark imple- mentation. The actual coding is non- trivial. For example, each language has certain strengths and weak- nesses, but a programmer must be careful that the benchmark measures system performance and not his or her own cleverness. Certain languages (and hardware, for that matter) tempt the programmer to use tricks that bias the test. For example, a micro- processor might decrement faster than add and so appear faster with an addition-only program. Code transportability must be considered. Benchmark programs should be doc- Februaiy 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 229 editing /'listing /other\ / USER \ /L^functions\ users \ program a / system^-\^ management / LOGICAL / RECS '^\"~-\^COMPILING \ physical \ file \ management \, SORTING OTHER \ / UTILITIES \ / Figure 1: Estimates of the job functions per- formed by a typical microcomputer system. umented and conform to commonly accepted language standards. Compiler efficiency also has a tre- mendous impact on system speed. Assembly-code can circumvent this problem but introduces computer- specific dependencies. How a higher- level language is implemented might provide hidden optimizations; two different compilers operating on the same source code can produce dramatic differences. In this light, and considering language structures, benchmarking using two different lan- guages is ludicrous. Determining the importance of each portion of a benchmark requires a good understanding of a computer system's actual use. Many operating systems can provide empirical data about what tasks are performed how often using what resources. Figure 1 shows one possible job mix on a medium-sized computer. To design even an individual benchmark module, you must clear- ly define its purpose. An ill-con- ceived program can measure many aspects of a system— none of them properly. A well-constructed and tar- geted program can effectively focus on a single performance element and form a valid building block for a benchmark. For example, an I/O loop might exercise moving data within pages in memory, from disk to disk, from memory to disk, etc. You must isolate individual performance fac- tors, without getting caught up in little details, until you form an ade- quate model on a computer system. Benchmark designers and discern- ing readers must remember that dif- ferent types of users need different benchmarks. Special consideration is necessary to fulfill the needs of office automation, word processing, scien- tific, multiuser, or database applica- tions. Indeed, system performance in each area depends on the proper match of hardware and software as well as basic computing speed. For example, the public is acutely in- terested in benchmarking multiuser environments, although they are especially difficult to measure ac- curately. The entire topic of bench- marking requirements covers a wide and barely touched area. Given the confusing variety of factors involved in benchmarking, it's a wonder that anyone even attempts such an oner- ous task. Conclusion In this article, we have attempted to explain a formalism that creates a framework for credibility in the de- velopment and reporting of bench- marks. There is still much more to in- vestigate and discuss. We hope that areas such as detailed benchmark de- sign for specific applications, actual mechanics of benchmark execution, benchmark evaluation, and the pos- sibility of standardized benchmarks will be attacked and covered in the future. Unfortunately, in the bench- mark world, it's not who knows but who shows that counts. We have no lemon laws for benchmarking that guard against misrepresentation. But we do have methodologies and gen- eral techniques that assist us in our understanding or development of benchmarks. The role of reader is seldom con- fronted but demands mention. The audience, if polite, will permit mis- representation in benchmarking and if aggressively critical, will nurture clear and honest benchmark report- ing. In short, this article is not a thorough treatment of the deep sub- ject of benchmarking. Consider this as a starting point for discussion and ammunition against credible reports. We encourage you to read the refer- ences for more insight. We are also anxious for your opinions and in- volvement in this controversial sub- ject.! References 1. Legg, G. "Virtual Memory Workstation Achieves High Graphics Resolution." EDN, April 14, 1983, pages 67-78. 2. Intel Corp. "The Intel SBC 286/10 Single Board Computer as a Xenix Engine." Num- ber 8. May 1983 (order #230676-002). 3. Intel Corp. "Eratosthenes Sieve Prime Number Benchmark on the SBC 286/10 Board." Number 7. March 1983 (order #21094-002). 4. Hagen, T. and A. Tenenbaum. "Two Pro- grams, Many Unix Systems." Unpublished. 5. Grappel, R. Q, J. E. Hemeway. "A Tale of Four Microprocessors: Benchmarks Quantity Per- formance." EDN, April 1, 1981, pages 179-185. 6. Gilbreath, J. "A High-Level Language Bench- mark." BYTE, September 1981, pages 180-198. 7. Curnow, H. J. and B. A. Wichman. "A Syn- thetic Benchmark." Computer Journal. Volume 19, number 1. February 1976. 8. Benwell, N. 1975. Benchmarking. Toronto: J. Wiley & Sons. 9. Spooner, C. R. "Benchmarking Interactive Systems: Modeling the Application." Proceed- ings of the 15th meeting of the Computer Per- formance Evaluation Users Group (CPEUG), pages 53-63. 10. Davies, D. J. M. "Benchmarking in Selection of Timesharing Systems." Proceedings of the 14th meeting of the CPEUG, November 1981, pages 276-36. 11. Cabrera, L. F. "Benchmarking Unix: A Com- parative Study." In Experimental Computer Performance Evaluation, eds. D. Ferrari and M. Spadoni, North-Holland, Amsterdam. 12. Cabrera, L. F. and J. F. Paris. "Comparing User Response Times on Paged and Swapped Unix by the Terminal Probe Method." Proceedings of the 14th meeting of the CPEUG, November 1981, pages 157-168. 13. Gilbreath, J. and G. Gilbreath. "Eratosthenes Revisited," BYTE, January 1983, pages 283-326. Acknowledgments The authors would like to thank Gene Dronak of AIM Technology, David Billstrom of Oregon Software, and Madeline for her inspiration and help. Peter Marvit (4962 El Camino Real, Suite 111, Los Altos, CA 94022) is a senior analyst at Yates Ventures. His interests include backpacking, anima- tion, singing, cooking, and eating. Mohandas Nair (5200 NE Elam Young Pkwy., Hillsboro, OR 97123) is a technical marketing engineer at Intel Corp. He has aB.S. and an M.S. in computer and information science. Nair, who is interested in art and fencing, is also a guitarist and vocalist. 230 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. DISCOVER THE DYSAN DIFFERENCE Four Reasons Why The Dysan isWxth Paying For 1 100% Surface • Tested Only Dysan provides fully usable diskette surfaces that are truly 100% error-free across the entire face of the diskette. 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Auto-Load • Certification Dysan's unique quality control methods reflect technological leadership in designing, producing and testing precision magnetic media. Each diskette is un- erringly certified by Dysan - built, automated and microprocessor controlled certifiers. Your system and data base will benefit from Dysan's diskette reliability and unsurpassed quality. O Dysan, •/CORPORATION Corporate Headquarters: 5201 Patrick Henrv Drive Santa Clara, CA 95050 (800) 551-9000 BYTE February 1984 231 YOUR PROGRAM HERE The Chaplin character licensed by Bubbles, Inc., S.A. 232 BYTE February 1984 The best software for the IBM Personal Computer. Could it be yours? Attention, all programmers. Here's a chance to reach the top. If you've written software that's completed and runs on the IBM Personal Computer, we could be interested in publishing it. (We also could be interested if it runs on another computer. If we select your software, we'll ask you to adapt it to our system.) But be advised. Our expectations are great. Because the software we publish must be good enough to complement IBM Personal Computer hardware. In fact, the more you take advantage of all our hardware capabilities (see the box at right), the more interested in your software we become. Think about incorporating color graphics into your program, for example. Use sound. Consider the power of our keyboard and remember to utilize the ten programmable function keys. In all cases, we're interested in "friendly" software — with emphasis on quality and wide appeal. Programs with the greatest chance of being published must be easy to use, offer a better way to accomplish a task and provide something special to the user. What kinds of programs? All kinds. Education. Entertainment. Personal ^ finance. Data management. Self improvement.*^ Games. Communications. And yes, business. We select programs that will make the IBM Personal Computer an even more useful tool for modern times. r ~1 IBM PERSONAL COMPUTER SPECIFICATIONS User Memory Display Screens Permanent Memory 64K-640K bytes Color or monochrome (ROM) 40K bytes 1 Microprocessor 1 16-bit, 8088 Auxiliary Memory High- resolution 80 characters x 25 lines Upper and lower case Color/Graphics '■ 71'xt mode: \ 16 colors 2 optional internal Operating Systems 256 characters and | diskette drives, 5'4" DOS.UCSDp-Svstem, symbols in ROM 160KB/180KB or CP/M-86t Grciphics mode: 320KB/360KB Languages 4-color resolution: ' per diskette BASIC, Pascal, FORTRAN, 320h x 200v Keyboard MACRO Assembler, Black & white resolution: 83 keys, 6 ft. cord COBOL 640h x 200v attaches to Printer Simultaneous graphics & system unit All-points-addressable text capability 10 function keys graphics capability Communications 10-key numeric pad Bidirectional RS-232-C interface Diagnostics 80 characters /second SDLC, Asynchronous, Power-on self testing 18 character styles Bisynchronous protocols Parity checking 9x9 character matrix Up to 9600 bits per second | j So, if you think your software is the best, consider submitting it. If it's accepted, we'll take care of the publishing, the marketing and the distribution. All you have to do is reap the benefits of our royalty terms. And you're free to market your program elsewhere at any time even if you license it to us. We're offering the ladder. Think about taking the first step. For information on how to submit your program, write: IBM Personal Computer, External Submissions, Dept. 765 PC, Armonk, New York 10504. ===== = The IBM Personal Computer A tool for modern times For more information on where to buy the IBM Personal Computer, call 800-447-4700. In Alaska or Hawaii, 800-447-0890. tUCSD p-System is a trademark of the Regents of the University of California. CP/M-86 is a trademark of Digital Research, Inc. Circle 174 on inquiry card. BYTE February 1984 233 Pulse brown disc THE COMPUTER'S HEARTBEAT The Universal BVS' Diskettes. NEW - Pulse I - 48 TPI Pulse II - 96 TPI Up to 1.0 MB. NEW - Superior Magnetics for a LIFETIME. NEW - Packaging - 2, 6, and 10 Pacs. FOR USE WITH ALL PCs brown disc manufacturing, inc. w KIIS G&rden of Ihv Gods Houd Colorado Springs, Co »0!H)T JJ (SOO) 654-4871 TELEX 450827 234 BYTE February 1984 We're Driving the Drive Market. Circle 40 on inquiry card. The Word-Processing Maze How to find your way through all those "new" features If you're in the market for a word processor, you might feel safer buy- ing some land in Florida. Wild claims seem more prevalent than usual as more and more companies square off on the already-scarred word-process- ing battlefield. Only certain species of rabbit are known to produce more "generations" than the word-process- ing industry. If you trust the comparison charts, you buy the program with the most red dots next to it. But is it that simple? What's really going on? What is a "style sheet"? Do you need hori- zontal scrolling? Do you need the fea- tures of a "dedicated" word proces- sor? What if you're "dedicated" to your old word processor? It's true, word-processing software is getting better all the time. With 16-bit computers and more sophisti- cated screens to run on, word-pro- cessing programs are adding fea- tures, dropping prices, and trying every gimmick to get attention. This article describes some new features you'll be hearing about and will help you create a mental checklist of what you want in your next word proces- sor. (Also see "Evaluating Word-Pro- cessing Programs" on page 243.) by Andrea Lewis If you're in a store where you can test one of the new dazzlers, start by typing in some text. This is a little like kicking tires, but it does tell you some things. Watch for wordwrap at the right margin of the line you're typing. If a word won't fit on the line, it should automatically move down to the next one. (Reverse wordwrap- good buzzword— occurs when you delete something and words from below move up.) Not only is this quick and handy while you're typing, but it indicates the much broader design concept of automatic refor- matting. Most of your text entry is in insert mode, but make sure you can switch to overtype mode— replacing existing characters as you type. It should be available as a simple toggle and comes in handy for some editing operations. Be Selective about Selecting Next, most people try out one of the Big Three: Delete, Copy, or Move. To perform one of these operations, you must first choose the exact text you want to work on. Stop for a minute, take your attention away from the commands themselves, and consider the process of selecting text. This single process will, in time, cause you immeasurable grief if it is the tiniest bit awkward, slow, or dif- ficult. The system should provide many options for selecting the text you want. Imagine the agony of selecting every word character by character or every sentence one word at a time. Look for fast, flexible text selection: by character, word, sentence, and paragraph— with options to extend to multiples of each item. The use of a mouse makes text selection much easier. Before you can select text, you must position the cursor in the right vicin- ity, involving some combination of scrolling and cursor movements. A mouse is handy because you can scroll by variable amounts using the scroll bars. If you are going to scroll with the keyboard, the system should implement Page-up and Page- down keys to move you up or down by one screen. To scroll longer dis- tances, look for Home and End keys, a jump to page n command, and the ability to mark text and jump to marker x. Horizontal scrolling is a necessity February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 235 now that most word processors per- mit very wide documents. Find out which keys move the document left and right and in what increments. No Big Deal You were about to carry out a com- mand before text selection, cursor movement, and scrolling sidetracked you, so now turn your attention back to the command interface. You should be able to see the main com- mand menu on the screen while you are entering text. Find out how easy it is to choose a command, by point- ing at it (using keys or a mouse) or by typing its first letter. Look for ease in moving back and forth between in- sert mode and the commands; it shouldn't be a big deal. Try some simple editing commands like Delete and Copy to see how easy or difficult it is to choose commands. Reserve judgment on the com- mand interface as a whole until you look at the more intricate commands, those with a submenu or more than one field to fill in. The important thing here is that, as much as pos- sible, the commands be task-ori- ented, so that all the information you need is in one place. For example, the Replace command should prompt you for all the information it needs: the search text, the replace text, the direction of the search (forward or backward), and if it is case-sensitive and whole-word-sensitive. (Whole- word-sensitive means don't find oc- currences of the search word within other words. Case-sensitive means search only for text in which the up- percase and lowercase letters match the search string. Some new systems do case-sensitive replacements auto- matically, that is, if the replacement word begins a sentence, its first let- ter is automatically capitalized.) You should also be able to specify con- firming or nonconfirming, that is, whether you want to individually ap- prove each replacement or globally replace all occurrences at once. It is important to notice how logically and efficiently the command interface is organized. Check to see if the command fields are filled in automatically with defaults or likely responses. It is desirable to have com- mands with lots of options, but you don't want them to obstruct what you do 99 percent of the time. The Formatting Jungle The term "formatting" covers a lot of ground in word processing. How do you get from screens full of free- form text to the printed page with running headers, page numbers, cen- tered titles, paragraphs, sections, tables, footnotes, and bold or italic characters? And how much of this can you see on your screen during editing? Functionally and visually, formatting features on microcom- puters are finally meeting— or sur- passing—those on dedicated word processors. You'll keep hearing the phrase "what you see is what you get." It means that the word processor auto- matically reformats all the text while you are working, so you always see a reasonable facsimile of the for- matted document on the screen. If there really is a next generation on the way, automatic reformatting is its single most distinguishing feature. The screen looks just as it's supposed to, without gaps after a deletion, without unjustified margins when they should be justified, and without Reformat keys or commands. Instead of control codes indicating bold or underlined letters, the letters appear bold or underlined. Centered text stays centered, even if you change its length. You get the idea. In short, the formatting actions are not only automatic, but, once as- signed, they become implied in the text. Special formatting commands assign the formatting properties that are not visible within the text itself. It's a subtle concept, but one that judges the effectiveness and elegance of a system's formatting repertoire. A few formatting techniques re- quire special mention: Formatting tabs: tabular material was a problem in the past because word processors simply expanded tabs in- to spaces. If you changed the number of characters between tabs, you threw the alignment off. Today, real tab stops exist, which are a lifesaver for anyone working with columns. Look for a specific tab-setting command and the ability to see tabs on a ruler on the screen. Also look for align- ment selection— left, right, center, or decimal— for the text at any tab stop. And, if you're really serious about tables, look for column operations, such as deleting an entire column or adding the figures in a column. Formatting running headers: usually, word processors keep text for run- ning headers in one place and then print it on each page. Look for the following options for formatting run- ning headers: positioning at the top or bottom, different text for even and odd page numbers, expanding page numbers within the headers, and changing or eliminating the header on the first page. The package should allow any number of lines in the run- ning header. Formatting footnotes: at last, some microcomputer word-processing sys- tems include specific commands for footnote management. If your work includes any documents requiring footnotes, don't settle for a system that doesn't handle them. Your word processor should number the foot- notes and automatically put foot- notes and their references on the same page during printing. There should also be an option to print all the footnotes at the end, if you prefer. Since the footnotes are usually stored at the end of the document during editing, some systems provide a foot- note window that you can open to edit the footnotes without losing sight of the main text. Format definitions: the ability to create format definitions rather than the for- matting macros of yesteryear is in the works. Format definitions (or style sheets) are powerful tools, especial- ly if you want a standard format for a certain type of document. The for- mat definition is an entity, separate from the text, that the user creates to describe certain format properties. It includes such formatting information as indents, justification, running headers, font names, double-spacing, and tabs. If you store the formats separately and apply them to the documents later, you can establish standards for company documents or for your own use. 236 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Introducing ER99B9Ufi|ISQI9Qim^|KH The Sophisticated Robot Kit for Unlimited Imaginations Enter the realm of SCORPION and let imagination 6e your guide. New from Rhino Robots, SCORPION provides extraordinary experimental capabilities at a surprisingly affordable price. With a complete 6502 microprocessor on board, SCORPION is ideal for experiments in artificial intelligence, pattern recognition, hardware and software development, mobile robot theory and language. Two KIM, SYM, AIM compatible expansion slots are provided. The system can be expanded to a 64K 8 bit computer, complete with keyboard and CRT. And SCORPION'S 32 instruction command set allows for full interrogation and control via its RS-232C link. A 250-page manual contains detailed instructions for assembly and use. Get acquainted with SCORPION today. Available now at computer stores and directly from Rhino Robots. RS-232C interface and power cord enter a 12-pin connector to serve SCORPION'S communication and power needs Controller can be easily expanded to run 2 additional motors (6 total) and provide 18 more I/O lines. Cover not shown A bumper is provided on either side of SCORPION. Each bumper has 2 microswitches that are actuated upon collision. These 8 microswitches give the on-board computer detailed information about which section ol SCORPION has encountered an obstruction, thus allowing intelligent recovery to take place. The computer card provided with SCORPION is assembled and tested in the factory prior to shipment to ensure ease of assembly and trouble-free operation upon receipt. r *V Chassis made of .052" thick aluminum. Entire system is punched out on CNC punches to insure accuracy and quality. Large 4.5" diameter molded wheels, driven by size 28 stepper motors, provide powerful traction for SCORPION Each wheel can be run at any of 70 speeds in either direction. 2 lamps and 2 phototransistors. centered on the wheels and mounted on the PC board below SCORPION, provide the ability to detect floor brightness and allow the system to be programmed to read codes and follow complicated paths. A CdS cell at the focus of the optical scanner gives the system the ability to recognize up to 127 different brightnesses in its environment. A polished, chrome-plated parabolic optical antenna provides the gain necessary to give the optical scanner its viable sensitivity. 2 small stepper motors allow movement of the optical scanner in horizontal and vertical modes Instructions provide the capability of resetting and moving each axis and making a scan along each axis A 2" diameter speaker, whose frequency and duration of tone can be controlled from the host computer, is provided at the front. The speaker can be used to make robot noises, generate complicated sounds and play tunes SCORPION'S 2 eyes can be programmed to go on and off in any sequence to indicate intelligence, surprise or other expressions $660.00 complete. FOB Champaign, Illinois. Shipping included on pre- paid orders. A Manual only: $20.00 prepaid. < Dealer inquiries welcome. iin«iiifi«nnsyi Coming soon from Rhino Robots: Voice, memory expansion and sonic distance detecti plus other SCORPION accessories. Circle 315 on Inquiry card. RHINO ROBOTS, INC. 3402 N. Mattis Ave. P.O. Box 401 Champaign, IL 61820 217/352-8485 Getting What You Saw Be sure the word processor you buy works with your printer and takes full advantage of it, that is, be sure it has the correct printer descrip- tion file. If your printer has propor- tional fonts, make sure your system supports them. The word processor must know the width of every char- acter in the proportional fonts you use to calculate line breaks and justify the text. Find out if the printer description file has all the informa- tion you need. To justify with propor- tional fonts, most systems microspace between words, making the space be- tween words on a line equal. Your output looks even better if the system microspaces between the letters of the words. Other print options to look for in- clude choice of continuous or sheet- fed paper, background printing, and prompts for font (print wheel) changes during printing. Most new systems also offer direct print (or hot print), which lets you type directly from the keyboard to the printer- handy for addressing a quick envelope. Currently, no microcomputer word processors display text in two or more columns on the screen and re- format them as you type. [Editor's Note: There is now at least one: Jack II for the IBM PC from Business Solutions. ] A few let you enter text as usual (in a single column) and then specify more than one column for printing. The system wraps and justifies the columns before printing, and you get multicolumn output. This is a good feature, especially if you print a newsletter or brochure with your word processor. I Take It All Back For the "what have I done" and the "oh no," an Undo command is a must, and most word processors to- day implement one. The Undo com- mand takes back your last action, as if you never did it. The Undo com- mand responds in two possible ways if you execute several in a row. It may undo only the most recent action (even if that action was an undo), or it may work successively backward through your actions, undoing each one in turn. Both are useful. You can experiment with formatting by undo- ing your most recent action. Change some formatting, look at it, undo it to compare it to the original, and so forth. How much text can the Undo command handle? The worst errors are usually the ones involving the most text, so it defeats the purpose of this command if there is much of a limit. Chunky All good word processors have a way to expand user-assigned abbre- viations into their longer definitions. A glossary (or boilerplate) is a real time-saver for anyone doing business or legal documents. First, you assign abbreviations to chunks of text, such as the paragraph that describes your warranty or a phrase like "the party of the first part." When it's time to in- sert the text into the document, you simply type the abbreviation and ex- pand it. The important questions are how many abbreviations can you have, how long can the chunks be, and how easy is it to do the expan- sion? It's supposed to be a time-saver, so a single keystroke should expand the abbreviation. Mouse Pointers The initial reaction to using a mouse with a word processor is usually: "I don't want to keep mov- ing my hands on and off the key- board." Well, that's true, you don't. Depending on how well the program differentiates between text entry and editing and formatting, the mouse can really shine at selecting text and commands. It allows easy scrolling and text selection. To carry out a com- mand on the selected text, point the mouse at it and push a button. If the system is designed for this device, lots of operations can be performed only with the mouse. Of course, any system that works with a mouse should also have a keyboard equiva- lent for every function. Window Shopping A good system allows two, maybe more, windows open at once. Look for a Window command with the op- tion of opening it vertically or hori- zontally. You want the ability to see different parts of a document, or dif- ferent documents, through the win- dows. It should be easy to cross win- dow borders and to copy or move text from one window to another— some- times called cut and paste. Multiple windows allow you to see what is happening when you merge docu- ments. Make sure you can merge at any location in a document, not just at the end. Spelling and Hyphenation To cut down on overhead, most systems don't build in spelling or hyphenation utilities but rather pro- vide them as separate utilities. Hyphenation can exist with varying degrees of accuracy. Some programs hyphenate according to a set of rules about where it is safe to insert a hyphen (before "ing" or between double consonants, etc.). If an on-line dictionary already exists for spelling, the hyphenator should use it to look up proper hyphenation. This is slower but more accurate. Some spelling checkers also provide minor syntax checking, such as alerting you when you type the same word twice in a row. Still Waiting So far, generating an index or a table of contents automatically is still the exclusive property of dedicated word processors or mainframe pro- grams. Look for these features on microcomputers 12 to 18 months from now. Summary I hope this list of new word-pro- cessing features helps you weave your way through the ads, brochures, and demonstrations. Plan ahead for the features you want and need so your word processor will be viable for years to come. In addition, don't lose sight of such design qualities as auto- matic reformatting, easy text selec- tion, and a logical command inter- face. They make a real difference in efficiency and ease of use in the long run.B Andrea Lewis (1034 N.E. 90th St., Seattle, VJA 98115) is a freelance writer. 238 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Number One AM- On Products for IBM PC The Multifunction Cards that let you get the most out of your IBM PC. AST Research Number One Add-Ons let you realize the full potential of your IBM PC or PC- XT without wasting valuable slot space. By combining your memory and input/output requirements on a single card, you can take advantage of more of the capabilities IBM designed into the PC, while leaving space for future enhancements as they are introduced. AST Research multifunction boards can add user memory from 64K to 51 2 K to your PC bringing your PC memory to its maximum of 640K. You also receive the added features of serial ports, parallel ports, a clock calendar, game adapter port, and SuperPak'" — the utility diskette with the most powerful disk emulator and print spooler software available. SixPakPlus'" — Up to 384K memory, serial port, printer port, optional game port, and clock calendar on a single card. 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AST Research Number One Add-On Products are available at Computerland, Entre, Busi- nessland and other computer stores world- wide. Contact AST Research, Inc. for the dealer nearest you. (714) 540-1333/863- 1333 TELEX: 295370ASTR UR PCnet is a registered trademark of Orchid Technology, Inc. Circle 6 on inquiry card. WE UNLEASH TH POWERFUL GRAF ^*'** | *j # <% EWORLD'S MOST HKS TECHNOLOGY. You'll never see Infocom's graphics on any computer screen. Because there's never been a computer built by man that could handle the images we produce. And, there never will be. We draw our graphics from the limitless imagery of your imagi- nation—a technology so power- ful, it makes any picture that's ever come out of a screen look like graffiti by comparison. And nobody knows how to unleash your imagination like Infocom. Through our prose, your imagination 1 makes you part I of our stories, in control of what you do and where you go— yet unable to predict or con- trol the course of events. 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Discover firsthand why thousands upon thousands of discriminating game players keep turning everything we write into instantaneous bestsellers. Step up to Infocom. All words. No graffiti. The secret reaches of your mind are beckoning. A whole new dimension is in there waiting for you. (For more information on Infocom games contact: Infocom, Inc., P.O. Box 855, Garden City, NY 11530.) inFocom The next dimension. For your: Apple II, Atari, Commodore 64, CP/M 8," DEC Rainbow, DEC RT-U, IBM, MS-DOS 2.0, NEC APC, NEC PC-8000, Osborne, TI Professional, TI 99/4A, TRS-80 Model I, TRS-80 Model III. Circle 182 on inquiry card. The first software that's trulvcompatible with the ultimate personal computer. Every software ad you read seems to be talking about 'integrated software'. But it was 1-2-3™ from Lotus® that actually gave the phrase real meaning, because we combined spreadsheet, information management and graphic functions in one simple, powerful program. A program that is faster and easier to use than any other software available today. In short, the tasks it can perform are really impressive, but why it can perform them is even more important. Because we feel the real criterion for any management tool is its ability to let the human mind flourish and accomplish more than it ever has before. That's why with 1-2-3 the thought process is not in- terrupted, so your mind no longer has to wait for your hands. To the novice, it makes everything plausible. To the expert, it makes anything possible. The results: Business decisions come faster and easier. 1-2-3 from Lotus is truly compatible with the most . important personal computer or all — the human mind. And isn't that what integration really should mean? Call 1-800-343-5414 (In Massachusetts call 617-492- 7870) and find out more about 1-2-3 from Lotus. Lotus The hardest working software in the world. Circle 220 on inquiry card. 1-2-3 and Lotus are trademarks of Lotus Development Corporation. All rights reserved. Evaluating Word-Processing Programs A 100-point checklist simplifies the decision-making process How to Keep Score In the case of all yes/no questions, yes is the answer that earns the points. When keystrokes are being counted, control characters count as a stroke and a half. So do shifted characters. Shifted control charac- ters—or any other combination of three keys you have to hold down at once— count as two keystrokes. If a program can't do the function at all, it gets a five-keystroke penalty. Count cursor arrows with auto- repeat for a minimum of 3 (it takes a while to get started) and a max- imum of 10 (to move from the top to the bottom of the page or from one end of a line to the other). If a question asks, "Is there a one- stroke command to . . . ," count con- trol characters (but not shifted con- trol characters or other three-key commands) as one stroke. TTiis article is reprinted by permission of McGraw- Hill Book Company from Word Processing Buyer's Guide by Arthur Naiman (New York: McGraw- Hill, 1983). by Arthur Naiman Since some microcomputer key- boards have special function keys like those on dedicated word processors, and since certain word-processing programs have been designed to work with them, such programs may get different scores, depending on the system they're used on. But for dedicated word processors (which always use the same hardware), and for word-processing programs that can't take advantage of special func- tion keys, the score won't vary. If a file name is required, assume it consists of eight characters. Be sure to include every keystroke— Return, Enter, etc. Remember that you can give partial points (for partial perfor- mance) on any item. Since the checklist is so long, I've boldfaced certain key words through- out, to help you find particular items more quickly and easily. Safety and error handling — 10 points How hard is it to lose text? (4) Are there hard-to-avoid fatal error(s) that are likely to occur: about 1% of the time? (-25) about 2% of the time? (-50) about 3% of the time? (-75) How well are errors documented? (2) How clear are the error messages? (1) Is verification of saves automatic? (1) Are backup copies automatic? (1) Can you save to either disk, or switch disks without exiting the program? (1) Subtotal for safety and error handling: Documentation— 18 points Is the training manual: well-organized? (3) readable? (3) complete? (1) Is the reference manual: complete? (3) well-organized? (2) understandable? (2) Is there a good, complete index? (1) Are the manuals typeset? (1) If not, is the text proportionally spaced? (V2) Is the layout intelligent and the design graceful? (1) Are there special kinds of documen- tation, other than manuals (like a February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 243 reference card, on-screen tutorial, training tape, etc.), that you find useful? (1) Subtotal for documentation: Ease of use and human engineer- ing— 18 points Is the workfile held in memory or on-and-off disk? (no score, but an important consideration) How many keystrokes does it take to go through the following sequence of 23 commands? 1) open a new text file (don't count the characters in the file name itself); 2-4) center, boldface, and underline a title; 5) skip a line; 6) indent the next line of text 5 spaces; 7) indicate the end of that paragraph; 8) skip a line; 9) indent the next paragraph 5 spaces; 10) put a page break at the bottom of that paragraph; 11-14) reset the top, bottom, left, and right margins (just count the com- mands, not the numerical values); 15) order the file to be double-spaced (if single-spaced is the default), or vice versa (again, not counting the numerical values); 16) save the file; 17*) print it out; 18*) stop in the middle of printing out; 19) return to the text; 20) delete a word (5 characters and a space); 21) delete a line (60 characters or more); 22) save this new version of the file, keeping the old version for backup; and 23) begin printing out again at the top of the page. [*Systems with virtual representa- tion can skip these two steps (17- 18), since it's just as likely that a mistake will get caught on the screen as in a printout.] Fewer than 55 strokes— 5 points 56-60 strokes— 4 Vi points 61-65 strokes— 4 points 66-70 strokes— 3V2 points 71-75 strokes— 3 points 76-80 strokes— 2V2 points 81-85 strokes— 2 points 86-90 strokes— IV2 points 91-95 strokes— 1 point 96-100 strokes— V2 point more than 100 strokes— no points How easy is it to remember com- mands (thanks to mnemonics, cursor diamond, and other logical key place- ment, menus, logical command structure, reference card, key tops, dedicated keys, reconfigurable com- mands, etc.)? (3) Is the main editing menu suppress- ible, or not normally on the screen with the text? (V 2 ) Is there a way to know: what page of the printout you're on? (%) your location with respect to the entire file (what percentage of it is behind you, for example)? (%) Can you find out the total size of the file you're editing without exiting the program? (V2) Can you do that and return to where you were in the file in less than 3 key- strokes (or two control characters)? (V4 additional) Can you copy the program as often as you need to? (2) Total program size: Less than 25K? (1) 25-35K? (%) Or— on dedicated word processors, and other systems where the soft- ware and hardware are integrated— Workspace more than 30K? (1) Workspace more than 20K? (V2) Are the editor and formatter loaded together? (1) If not, can you keep the workfile in RAM while switching from the editor to the formatter? (V2) How often does the program have to go to the disk to access overlays? (never, because whole program resides in memory— 1; only goes to overlays occasionally, for special jobs— V2; overlays are essential part of program— 0) Can you: rename the file you're working on without abandoning the edit? (V4) rename a file other than the one you're working on without leaving the program? (%) delete a file other than the one you're working on without leaving the program? (%) Can you get a directory of files on the disk without exiting the word- processing program? (—1 if not) Does this directory also give you the size of each file? (V2) Can you ask for just part of the directory? (%) Is there a type-ahead buffer (key- stroke storage)? (1) Will this program run memory- mapped? (V2) Subtotal for ease of use: Editing power — 25 points What is the total number of com- mands this program offers you (for editing, formatting— everything)? [Count every possible option.] more than 170—4 points 150-170-3V2 points 130-149-3 points 110-129—2% points 90-109—2 points 70-89— IV2 points 50-69-1 point 30-49— V2 point fewer than 30— no points Is there wordwrap? (1) Ease and power of basic cursor move- ment, insertion and deletion com- mands (6) [The next 16 questions will give you a reasonable score for this item for programs that use conventional techniques. For other programs, you have to make this judgment subjectively] Is there a one-stroke (or one-control- character) command to move the cursor: right one character? (—1 if not) left one character? (—1 if not) up one line? (—1 if not) down one line? (—1 if not) (two-stroke or two-control-charac- ter commands count half for the next 11 questions) forward one word? (V2) backward one word? (V2) to the end of the line? (V2) to the beginning of the line? (V2) to the top of the screen? (V2) to the bottom of the screen? (V2) to the beginning of the file? (¥2) to the end of the file? (V2) Is there a one-stroke (or one-control- character) command to: 244 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. m > r - r - CO O ID co Version(s) (of software) Operating system(s) and/or machine(s) Price Overall score Safety and error handling Documentation Ease of use Workfile in memory or on and off of disk Editing power Formatting power Responsiveness and support CPT 8100 G-2 ded. word proc. $15,000 94% 9 16% 143/4 M 24 26V4 4 DICTAPHONE DUAL DISP. D ded. word proc. 13,500 85V4 7 16% 12 D 183/4 26 3 /4 4 PIE WRITER (W/ PRO/FORMAT 2.1 (2.2) Apple II, Flex, IBM PC, TRS-80 Color Computer 200 84V4 91/2 15 13 M 201/2 221/4 4 A. B. DICK MAGNA SL 7 ded. word proc. 14,500 83 8 I6V2 93/4 D 193/4 25 4 WRITE 1.4 CP/M 400 821/t 10 151/2 163/4 M 19 171/2 31/2 MICOM 2001 5.1 R ded. word proc. 12,000 821/t 73/4 153/4 103/4 M 201/2 231/2 4 WORD STAR 3.0 CP/M, Apple II, IBM PC 500 80 71/2 11% 13 D 213/4 22 4 NEW SCRIPT 7.0 TRS-80 Models I & III 125 79V4 8V2 151/2 123/4 M 183/4 193/4 4 WANGWRITER 5503A 3.1 ded. word proc. 6,400 74 8 16 131/2 D 183/4 141/2 31/4 WANG SYSTEM 5, MODEL 3 3.2 ded. word proc. 11,500 70 6 143/4 103/4 D 18 17V4 31/4 MINCE & SCRIBBLE 2.6 + 1.3 CP/M, UNIX, PDP-11 275 671/4 7 121/4 8 D 181/4 173/4 4 SCRIPSIT 2.0 TRS-80 Model II* 400 61 1/2 2 14V4 73/4 D 18 1/4 16V4 3 MAGIC WAND 1.11 CP/M 400 61 1/4 3V4 123/4 8 M 171/4 20 EASYWRITER 1.0 IBM PC" 175 35 —24 14V4 111/4 M 121/2 163/4 4 'Similar Scripsit program also available for Models I & III "Very similar program called Easywriter Professional available for the Apple II Table 1: Composite scores of some word processors. delete a whole word? (V2) delete a whole line? (V2) switch between insert and write- over mode? (1) either mode missing (—5) Is there continuous and unlimited: forward scrolling? (V2) backward scrolling? (V2) Can the scrolling speed be altered? (%) Can you call up any page in the text by number? (IV4) Can you move the cursor where there is no text? (V2) Can you: copy blocks of text? (%) move blocks of text? (Vt) delete blocks of text? (1) make a new file out of a block of text without having to stop editing the file you're working on? (.%) insert another file into the one you're editing (V2) Can you: find a string anywhere in a file? (1) replace a string anywhere in a file? (1) search backward as well as for- ward? (Vi) do many substitutions all at once, without having to approve each one? (1) Can you see each change for ap- proval if you want? (—2 if not) In doing finds or substitutions, can you tell this program to ignore caps/lowercase? (¥2) Look for whole words only? (V2) Can you: make substitutions that affect more than one file at a time? (V2) store stock phrases in memory and insert them with a coded com- mand while typing? (%) Are there other special global capa- bilities? (%) Is there a command that moves the cursor to where it was before the last command was executed? (Vt) Is there a split-screen feature? (1) Can you edit one file while printing out another? (1) Are there other special editing fea- tures that appeal to you? (IV2) Subtotal for editing power: Formatting power — 25* points [*With virtual representation, pos- sible total of 30] February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 245 Can you vary: the top and bottom margins? (—1 if you can't) the side margins? (—1 if you can't) character spacing? (1) line spacing? (1) the tabs? (%) each tab setting individually? (V2) Are there decimal tabs? (V2) Are there automatic indents? (V2) outdents? (V4) Automatic page numbering? (1) Can you choose: where on the page the page num- bers go? (V2) what text (if any) accompanies them? (%) Can you get headers and footers printed automatically on each page? (1) Are there special features like hori- zontal scrolling to help with format- ting extra-wide text or tables? (V2) Will the program allow you to bold- face on printers that are capable of it? (%) Is there overstriking? (1) Are there subscripts? (%) super- scripts? (V4) Can you underline continuously, i.e., under spaces and punctuation as well as letters and numbers? (V2) (—1 if program can't underline at all) Can you automatically center lines? (%) Is there automatic two-column print- out? (V2) Do you have a choice of single-page or continuous printout? (1) Can you link files during printout, either by embedding a line at the end of each file or by specifying the files to be linked when you give the print command? Either (1) Both (IV2) Can you have multiple copies of the same file printed out with one com- mand? (V2) Can you embed a command that makes the printout stop and wait for your instructions? (V4) Can you stop printout from the key- board? (—2 if you can't) Can you print from the middle of a file? (1) Can you justify the right margin? (1) Is there true proportional spacing on printers that allow for it? (2) Is there on-screen formatting? (2) (line breaks— ¥2; page breaks— ¥2; centering— V2; other formatting in- formation displayed— V2) [An extra 5 points is given for virtual representation (which is machine dependent). To qualify, the screen must display all of the following (par- tial points as indicated): full page (at least 54 lines) of text (1) underlining (V2) double underlining (V2) boldface (1) justified right margins (1) proportional spacing (1)] Is there automatic hyphenation? (1) If not, are there conditional hyphens? (V2) Is there a conditional page break fea- ture? (1) Can you ask for a no-break space? (V4) J Is there an instant print feature? (¥2) Are there other special formatting features that appeal to you? (IV2) Subtotal for formatting power: Responsiveness and support — 4 points (Based on reputation, users' com- ments, what the vendor says, etc.) Program Name: Version #: Operating system(s) it runs under and/or machine(s) it runs on: Price: $ Publisher: Vendor(s): Overall score: Scores in specific areas: Safety and error handling (10): Documentation (18): Ease of use (18): Editing power (25): Formatting power (25*): (*With virtual representation, a total of 30 is possible) Publisher support (4): Special notes: ■ Arthur Naiman is the author of several books on computers and is currently loorking on more. They include Introduction to WordStar and Computer Dictionary for Beginners. EPROM PROGRAMMER & (IV ERASER FOR THE 80'$ SI 5 PROGRAMS OVER 300 DEVICE TYPES MOS (8K - 256 K, SINGLE & 3 VOLTAGES) BIPOLAR PROMS, 40 PIN MICROS Stand Alone \ 256K Buffer (200 ns) ; Integrated keypad EPROM simulation Fast algorithm [ Power down sockets Temp compensated Ref. voltages 1 6 formats & 8 baud rates Auto-user friendly-mode BVT6K COMPUTER SYSTEMS CORP |B'.V'T'.«'.B1 S1B-F S15F $995 OVER 26 FUNCTIONS Edit n . t CRC check # ?|'^ e Block Move * 16 Diagnostic Insert And More I (305) 994-3520 4089 S. Rogers Circle #7, Boca Raton, FL 33431 BUV-IIA $95.50 • Heavy duty • Timer • Safety switch • 110/220 voltage BUV-IIB $66.50 I • Heavy duty • Safety switch • UV indicator OTHER COMPLETE SYSTEMS S15R (remote) $695 S15P(4key) $795 S15B (bipolar) $895 S15G(gang) $1095 246 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Circle 41 on inquiry card. Taxan monito when precisioi % coun Dedicated i jAXAN offers a col jilete limRtf monitors including p een and amber, onochrome, plus medium and high resolution RGB monitors. •& «*>i TAXAIM TSK Electronics Corporation 18005 Cortney Court City of Industry. CA 91748 (213) 810-1291 Circle 364 on inquiry card. POPCOM Is a trademark ol PRENTICE Corporation. MHHMM Automatic or manual dialing and answering for all voice and data calls. Voice and data transmission during the same call — ends the 3 separate calls ("I'm going to send," "I'm sending," "Did you get what I sent?") Smart modem compatible — works with widely available communications software. Flexibility — compatible with 103, 113, and 212A dial-up modems; connects to all standard single and multi-line equipment. Fast, easy setup — 'tune' tells when the three cables are properly connected. Adjustment-free operation — no manual switches to contend with. The X100 automatically takes its instructions from your PC or terminal. Automatic computer briefing — reports to your PC all call-progress tones ... dial tone, busy signal, remote ringing, talk, even line disconnect — so your computer can do more. "In-Use" light on multi-line phones — protects against inadvertent interrup- tion. Smart Interface — automatically adapts itself to various RS232 cables. Versatile Installation — fits conveniently on wall, desk or floor. Circle 295 on inquiry card. See your dealer or write for more information. Make the connection between yourself and the challenging world of information. Q Please send me literature on POPCOM products. □ Please call me immediately. NAME TITLE COMPANY TEL: ADDRESS STATE ZIP PRENTICE CORPORATION, 266 Caspian Dr., P.O. Box 3544, Sunnyvale, CA 94088-3544, (408) 734-9855 0102 With the p-System from For: IBM PC & XT CORONA COLUMBIA EAGLE COMPAQ COLBY DOT HYPERION Do you feel stifled by your operating computer to perform other tasks while system? The p-System from NCI will printing. release you. It is the complete program This opora tj ng system is stable, friendly development environment for the IBM ilnd t , asy to ust , Command options are Personal Computer and compatibles. This presented on a menu requiring only a is the fast p-System with the special singk , keystroke. The 8087 Numeric p-machine emulator developed by NCI. Coprocessor Support allows extremely fast The p-System from NCI gives you floating point calculations and the everything you need in one system at far asynchronous I/O lets you use serial less than the cost to add similar utilities printer and communications routines, to any other OS. It includes a powerful with the p _s ys t om you can choose either screen editor, a multi-function file UC SD p asca l, Fortran 77 or Basic as your manager and KAMdisk support for fast programming language. NCI also offers access to files. Dynamic memory | lari j t ij s k support for the IBM XT, allocation lets you create programs larger Corona, Columbia, Corvus, Tallgrass, than (S4K and a print buffer frees vour Davong, Genie 5+5, QCS, Datamac, SPEED. PORTABILITY. RELIABILITY. IBM Personal Computer and IBM Personal Computer XT are trade marks of International Business Machines Corporation, Tf of the Regents of the University of California. OMNINET is a trade mark of Corvus Systems Inc. 5 i 5 is a trade mark of Genie Computi allocation lets you create programs large than (S4K and a print buffer frees vour Microdisk and Santa Clara. Corvus OMNINET support can easily be added as well as memory cards from AST Research and Tall Tree Systems, the Colorplus card and the Hercules graphics card. When you buy the p-System from NCI you get technical support and complete documentation. For full details call or write: Network Consulting Inc. Discovery Park, Suite 110 - 3700 Gilmore Way Burnaby, B.C. Canada V5G 4M1 (604) 430-3466 tion. Colorplus is a trade mark of Frederick Electronics Reviewer's Notebook Last month I mentioned a few of the new printers we had received. This month I'll mention one more, plus another type of output device— a plotter. And we'll even cover some software for a change. The HP 7475A The arrival of the Hewlett-Packard HP 7475A plotter ties in nicely with all the attention that is being placed on the graphics capabilities of per- sonal computers, especially in televi- sion commercials. In these commer- cials, all you have to do is press two keys and your complete financial pic- ture appears in four or more colors. Nice, even if the number of key- strokes is vastly underestimated. But if you want to take your financial por- trait around to your associates, you're going to need either a very good camera or a plotter. And you can't beat a plotter for resolution and speed. The HP 7475A is the enhanced ver- sion of the popular HP 7470A plotter. The earlier version had only two pens and could handle only 8V2- by 11-inch paper. But it was fast, ac- curate, and sold for the moderately inexpensive price of $1795. The new plotter sells for about the same price as the older one, but it has several superior features— six pens instead of two, the ability to handle larger paper (11 by 17 inches), a better character font (the letter "O" is actually curved rather than octagonal), and even automatic pen capping, which keeps pens from drying out. Of course, these features would be useless if there weren't any software to take advantage of them. Fortunate- ly, the people at Hewlett-Packard have been very successul at getting the major graphics software houses to write driver programs for the HP 7475A. At last count we had received more than 10 packages, including by Rich Malloy Lotus's 1-2-3, Supercalc3, and Graph- talk. In typical HP tradition, the HP 7475A has more control keys than you could ever hope to become even vaguely familiar with, but it is an im- pressive little graphics machine nonetheless. We'll have a more de- tailed article on it in the future. The MT-160 Printer Getting back to printers, we should mention another of the printers be- ing offered by Mannesmann Tally. The MT-160 is a real workhorse, though it may be one of the smallest office printers around. Priced at $795 ($695 without a near-letter-quality mode), the MT-160 is a fairly reason- able value considering its capabilities. It can print at 160 cps (characters per second) in draft mode and 80 cps in near-letter-quality mode. As for pitch, it can print at 10, 12, and 16.5 cpi (characters per inch), and it is the only printer I have seen lately that can also print at 20 cpi. For graphics it is compatible with the Epson. And it has both a serial and parallel port. To top things off, the MT-160 offers a unique and simple way to set its vari- ous parameters: you merely press a "yes" or "no" button in response to a series of questions it prints out. And it remembers this configuration even after you turn the machine off. Friday! and Peachtext 5000 After all this talk about hardware, I should mention two software pack- ages we've received for the IBM PC- one a database manager, the other a collection of practically everything. The database manager, called sim- ply Friday!, was announced last April by Ashton-Tate amidst tremendous hoopla. This easy-to-use application program written in dBase II was sup- posed to revolutionize offices. Practi- cally anyone could use it to do prac- tically any office task. Now that Friday! has been out for a while, we must agree with some of the hype. Friday! is a good product. And while it is true that practically anyone can use it, there is a definite limit to what you can do with it. Two things are particularly objectionable. First, each field of data is limited to 32 characters. And although 98 per- cent of your data will fit in 32 char- acters, the 2 percent that doesn't will sure keep you from saying T.G.I.F. Second, although our IBM PC has 500K bytes of memory, Friday! acts as if it still has only 64. In order to use all of its 200K bytes of code, Friday! must constantly load small program modules from the disk drive and overlay them onto a 64K-byte mem- ory space. Practically every other time we hit a key, Friday! goes out to the disk and pulls in another overlay. A nice product, but I'll wait for Saturday! Another event that happened last April was that the folks at Peachtree Software decided to knock Wordstar off the Softsel software Hot List by of- fering Peachtext 5000, available for the IBM PC, the Compaq, the Texas In- struments Professional Computer, and the Zenith Z-100. It didn't knock Wordstar out of the Top Ten, but it's a real contender. It combines a good word processor with a thesaurus, a no-frills spelling checker, a no-frills spreadsheet, and a no-frills database manager, all for $395. Only the word processor and the thesaurus are real leaders in their field, and I have minor complaints about all of these programs. Also, these packages are not exactly "integrated" with each other. But you can't beat the price. If you can afford to buy only five software packages for your MS-DOS machine, try just this one. If it doesn't meet all your needs, it will give you a good idea of what will.B Circle 267 on inquiry card. February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 251 Software Review ProDOS by Rob Although Apple Computer's DOS 3.3 operating sys- tem has more software available for it than any other per- sonal computer operating system, it does have some minor problems. Originally designed as an operating system for small floppy disks, DOS 3.3 doesn't easily support 8-inch floppy disks or the increasingly popular Winchester-technology hard-disk drives. Typically, vendors of larger disk drives have resorted to supply- ing DOS patches or special modified versions of DOS 3.3. Due to its heritage, DOS 3.3 also doesn't support very large files, or interrupts, which are necessary for local networking and other more advanced applications. To remove these limitations, Apple is releasing Pro- DOS, a totally new operating system for Apple II and lie computers. According to Bill Schjelderup, product marketing manager at Apple Computer Inc., ProDOS is "designed to overcome the limitations inherent in DOS /MYDISK/ PRODOS BASIC. SYSTEM STARTUP LETTERS GAMES UTILITIES SYS SYS BAS DIR DIR DIR /MYDISK/LETTERS/ LETTERS/ TOM. J TXT MARY. S TXT MOM TXT /MYDISK/UTILITIES/ /MYDISr (/GAMES/ UTILITIES/ GAMES/ ~~ SUPERZAP DEBUGGER APA HEXDEC BIN BIN BIN BAS ARCADE DIR ADVENTURES DIR DISK/GAMES/ADVEN rURES /Ml ADVENTURES/ ZURK BAS CAVE BIN QUEST BAS / VIYDISK/GAMES/ARC *DE ARCADE/ * VIDEOBALL BIN APPLE. WARS BIN GERBIL.WARS BAS Figure 1: A typical ProDOS directory structure. The pathname, shown above each directory listing, describes the path followed to reach a particular directory from the volume name on down. If the volume specified is mounted anywhere in the system, ProDOS will find it regardless of which drive it's in. Moore 3.3 and provide a significantly improved base for applica- tions software development." Although ProDOS doesn't make DOS 3.3 obsolete, Apple expects that most new applications will be written under ProDOS because of the numerous advantages it offers. New Features ProDOS provides a variety of new features and greatly enhanced performance over DOS 3.3. Some of the new ProDOS features include • support for Apple's Profile 5-megabyte Winchester hard-disk drive on an Apple II or lie • automatic time and date stamping through built-in drivers for the Thunderclock clock/calendar card (avail- able from Thunderware Inc., 44 Hermosa Ave., Oakland, CA 94618, (415) 652-1737) or through user-installed drivers for other clock/calendar cards •Unix-like nested directory structures and file types that are compatible with the Apple III SOS operating system so that disks can be interchanged between the two machines • file sizes that can range from 1 byte to 16 megabytes, and the ability to randomly access any type of file • up to 256 different types of files, including a number of reserved user-defined types • support for up to four interrupting devices through user-installed interrupt handlers • a uniform machine-language interface that lets assembly-language programs easily access and use all the ProDOS features • use of Apple's 64K-byte extended 80-column text card as a high-speed pseudodisk for ultrafast file accesses For the average user who programs primarily in BASIC, ProDOS adds a number of new commands and increases the flexibility of many existing DOS 3.3-type commands. In fact, the DOS command structure is extensible— ProDOS includes provisions for additional user-added commands to provide special features or allow customization for a particular application. ProDOS is also much friendlier to outside peripheral vendors than DOS 3.3. ProDOS will automatically recognize and use other disk devices of all sizes, pro- viding they are designed to follow the interface-protocol guidelines described in the ProDOS Technical Reference Manual. For software developers, it will now be possible to 252 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. create one disk that will load on either the Apple II or Apple III. The boot loader, common to both ProDOS and SOS, recognizes the type of machine it boots on and at- tempts to load SOS into an Apple III or ProDOS into an Apple II or He. All you have to do is include both operating systems and the necessary files on the same disk. Volumes, Directories, and Pathnames A number of differences are found between ProDOS and existing operating systems like Apple's DOS 3.3 or Digital Research's CP/M. Where DOS 3.3 or CP/M specify disks by their physical drive location (e.g., S6,D1 for DOS 3.3 or B: for CP/M), ProDOS uses volume names to specify disks rather than the drive locations. Under DOS 3.3 or CP/M it's easy, for example, to delete the wrong file or initialize the wrong disk by inadvertently insert- ing the disk in the wrong drive. With ProDOS, errors like these don't occur. If ProDOS can't find the specified volume in a particular drive, it searches through all the drives attached to the system until the volume is found or the last drive is searched. To help keep disk storage organized, ProDOS uses a Unix-like system of nested directories known as a hierar- chical directory structure. In addition to having a main directory on each disk (or volume), ProDOS also allows subdirectory files within the main directory. Each sub- directory can hold files of any type, including further subdirectories. This nested directory structure makes it easy to keep large amounts of disk storage organized. (Figure 1 shows an example of a typical ProDOS user's disk directory structure.) To specify which directory is accessed at any given time, ProDOS uses pathnames. A pathname describes the path to follow through the various levels of direc- tories until you reach the directory where your program resides. For example, if you wanted to run a program called Videowars in a subdirectory called Games, which was in the main directory of a volume called Mydisk, you could type RUN /Mydisk/Games/Videowars To avoid having to retype the entire pathname every time you access a particular directory, ProDOS lets you set up a pathname prefix, which specifies a default direc- tory. If you enter a pathname without a leading slash, it is automatically appended to the path stored in the pathname prefix, and the result is used as the actual pathname. Using the previous example, we could set the pathname prefix to /Mydisk/Games/ and then simply type RUN Videowars. ProDOS's nested directories and pathname facility add some unique capabilities to your software. Programs can now keep their own directories and file types, avoiding some of the confusion encountered when all the pro- grams on a disk are lumped into a single large directory. On a large hard disk, you can easily partition the disk into logical areas for various types of programs and data At a Glance Name ProDOS Type Disk operating system software Manufacturer Apple Computer Inc. 20525 Mariani Ave. Cupertino, CA 95014 |408) 996-1010 Hardware Required Apple II or He computer with a minimum of 64K bytes of memory for operation with Applesoft BASIC; supports l28K-byte memory configuration with Apple's extended 80-column text card Description Single-user, single-task operating system with significant per- formance improvements over Apple's DOS 3.3; includes hierarch- ical directory structures, numerous predefined and user-definable file types, directory time and date stamping, support for up to four interrupts, file sizes up to 16 megabytes, and block-oriented disk I/O; ProDOS disks are compatible with Apple III SOS disks to allow easy file sharing between the two machines Special Features A 64K-byte column adapter card in the Apple lie auxiliary slot can be used as a pseudodisk to provide significantly faster file accesses; ProDOS provides support for Apple's Profile 5-mega- byte hard disk with the Apple He interface card Software Software utilities available for ProDOS include Filer, a program to initialize and copy whole disks or individual files; Convert, used to transfer files to or from DOS 3.3 disks; Exerciser, to access ProDOS machine-language calls and functions; BASIC. SYSTEM, a DOS command interpreter and user interface for Applesoft BASIC; and Help, which adds a series of help screens to the BASIC user interface; a BASIC Programming Examples disk can be used along with the ProDOS tutorial material in the documentation Documentation ProDOS User's Manual provides a tutorial on the Filer and Convert programs; ProDOS Technical Reference Manual describes internal organization, machine-language calls, organiza- tion of BASICSYSTEM. and how to interface additional device drivers and interrupt routines to the ProDOS system; BASIC Programming with ProDOS provides tutorial material and describes how to use ProDOS features and files from programs written in Applesoft BASIC ProDOS Packages ProDOS User's Manual with /Utilities disk including Filer and Convert BASIC Programming with ProDOS with BASIC/Examples disk ProDOS Technical Reference Manual with the Exerciser pro- gram on disk ProDOS Tool Kit package includes 6502 macro assembler, text editor, and debugger with 6502 Assembler/ProDOS Tools Manual (The above packages were tentative at the time this article was written.) Price and Availability The price was not available at the time of writing; it is due to be released in early 1984 and shipped with new Disk II systems after that February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 253 'SEEDLING file" "SAPLING" FILE TO 512 BYTES MAIN -SYSTEM MEMORY LANGUAGE- CARD AREA RAM 1 DATA BLOCK DIRECTORY ENTRY "KEY" BLOCK 513 TO 128K BYTES INDEX BLOCK DIRECTORY ENTRY "KEY" BLOCK UP TO 256 512 BYTE DATA BLOCKS $FFFF $D0O0 $C000 $BE00 $9800 $0800 $0400 $0000 APPLESOFT IN ROM PERIPHERAL ROM's SYSTEM I/O SYSTEM GLOBALS ($BF00-$BFFF ) BASIC GLOBALS l$BE00-$BEFF] BASIC. SYSTEM PROG + 1K FILE BUFFER BASIC "HIMEM" $9000(36K)OF BASIC WORKSPACE BASIC "LOMEM" TEXT SCREEN 1 ZERO PAGE. STACK PAGE. INPUT BUFFER $FFFF $F00O $E000 $D000 DISK DEVICE DRIVERS PftODOS MLl RESERVED FOR FUTURE USE ALTERNATE *K RAM BANK PRODOS MLl (1) USER AREA HOLDS PROGRAM. VARIABLES, HI-RES GRAPHICS SCREEN AREA "TREE" FILE 12BK + TO 1GM BYTES UP TO 128 INDEX BLOCKS UP TO 327S8 512 BYTE DATA BLOCKS Figure 2: ProDOS file-storage methods. ProDOS uses a growing "tree" structure to provide efficient storage of files that can range from 1 byte to 16 megabytes. Files smaller than 513 bytes are stored in a single data block and are referred to as "seedling" files. "Sapling" files have an index block that holds block numbers of up to 256 data blocks, thus providing storage for up to 64K bytes. The largest files, stored as "tree" files, use a master index block to designate up to 128 index blocks, each of which can point to 256 data blocks. As files grow or shrink during system operation, the file-storage method is automatically changed as the file size crosses the boundaries between "seedling," "sapling," and "tree" sizes. files without having to resort to such tricks as making the hard disk look like a number of separate, fixed-size floppy disks. Blocks and Files Rather than dealing with physical disk tracks and sectors like DOS 3.3 does, ProDOS reads and writes 512-byte blocks. The conversion from disk sectors to blocks is handled by each disk's driver routines. For ex- ample, if ProDOS were reading a block from a disk that stored data in 128-byte sectors, the disk driver would read four sectors and supply the data to ProDOS as a single 512-byte block. Since ProDOS simply supplies a block number to the disk driver, it is completely indepen- dent of the physical disk-sector sizes or the number of sectors per disk track. Figure 3: A memory map of a 64K-byte Apple II or lie with Pro- DOS and SYSTEM.BASIC installed. ProDOS is stored primarily in the language-card area of memory, and BASIC. SYSTEM resides in the area formerly occupied by DOS 3.3. Coincidentally, a ProDOS system provides about the same amount of free BASIC user space as a DOS 3.3 system. To efficiently accommodate files that can range from 1 byte to 16 megabytes, ProDOS stores files in three dif- ferent ways (shown in figure 2). Depending on a file's size, it will be stored as either a "seedling" file, a "sap- ling" file, or a "tree" file. Files with sizes between 1 byte and 512 bytes are stored as seedling files— the data is stored in a single disk block. A sapling file can range in size from 513 bytes to 64K bytes. ProDOS creates an index block that holds the block numbers of up to 256 data blocks, each of which can store 512 bytes of data. Files larger than 64K bytes are stored as tree files that can consist of up to 32,768 data blocks or 16 megabytes of data. To store a tree file, ProDOS uses a master index block that holds the block numbers of up to 128 index blocks, each of which can specify 256 data blocks. As files grow or shrink during disk operations, ProDOS changes the storage method automatically— the entire process is completely transparent to the user. Inside ProDOS From the BASIC user's point of view, many ProDOS commands are virtually identical to existing DOS 3.3 commands. However, ProDOS is a completely new design internally. It is normally located in the language- card area of memory and prevents the use of Apple's In- teger BASIC that is loaded there, under DOS 3.3. (Figure 3 shows a memory map of a 64K-byte Apple II or He with ProDOS installed.) When used with assembly-language programs, ProDOS uses only the memory above hexa- decimal BFOO, leaving 45.75K bytes of free memory space in a 64K-byte machine. Also unlike DOS 3.3, ProDOS doesn't include any user interface. All commands are passed to ProDOS through a set of 24 machine-language calls to the ProDOS MLl (machine-language interface), which are similar to the 254 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. FEATURES INCLUDE: 16 Bit CPU With 128K RAM Memory Expandable to 256K, Two 320KB Slimline Disk Drives, Floppy Disk Controller, Monochrome Monitor and Adapter, Parallel and Serial I/O's. BEST OF ALL! TEN DAYS FREE TRIAL! ALL YOU PAY IS SHIPPING! FOR MORE DETAILS CALL OR WRITE TO: TAVA CORPORATION 16861 Armstrong, Irvine, California 92714 714/261-0200 Headquarters/Telex: 181667 Answer Back COMPDSHACK IRIN IBM® COMPATIBILITY AFFORDABLE PRICE TA\fl\PC THE SMART COMPUTER USER WANTS REAL VALUE WITH IBM COMPATIBILITY! CirC | e 348 on inquiry card THE TAVA PC. The ultimate Personal Computer. It gives you IBM PC® Compatibility at a fraction of the cost. Choosing a personal computer is a difficult decision. But, when your deci- sion is a TAVA PC, it's not hard at all! The TAVA PC runs under DOS 1.1, 2.0, CP/M86®, and p-System®. You can choose from a large library of all the most popular IBM PC software products such as dBasell®, Lotus 1-2-3®, Visicalc® and thousands more. ©JAVA CORPORATION trademark of ASHTONTATE 1983 tCalifomia residents add 6% sales tax. dBASE II is a registered LOTUS 1-2-3 Is a registered trademark of Lotus Development CP/MS6 is a registered trademark of Digital Research. Inc. UCSDp is a registered trademark of Softcch Microsystems IBM PC is a registered trademark of IBM Corp. Visicalc is a registered trademark of Vlsicorp ii'ii'i* L Uli UI Figure 4: A detailed block diagram of an Apple II or He with Pro- DOS and BASIC. SYSTEM installed. Arrows indicate the flow of control through the system. ProDOS includes device-driver routines for Apple's Disk II floppy-disk and Profile hard-disk drives. Also in- cluded are drivers to handle the /RAM pseudodisk and a Thunderclock clock/calendar card. Any other disk or clock/calendar devices require additional routines installed. Other interface cards with on-board ROM drivers will be recognized and operate properly, providing that they follow Apple's various interface guidelines. set of calls used by the Apple Ill's SOS operating system. No provision for user-entered commands exists within ProDOS itself. Instead, ProDOS is designed to work with various .SYSTEM programs, which translate user- entered commands into the appropriate ProDOS calls. (Figure 4 shows a block diagram of a typical BASIC user's ProDOS system.) To maintain a consistent DOS interface while allow- ing Apple to alter the internal code in the future, Pro- DOS uses a 256-byte page of memory as a ProDOS globals page. The globals page is used to hold the ad- dresses of all disk-driver routines, interrupt handlers, the clock-calendar routine (if installed), and the call address of ProDOS itself. It also holds a memory bit map that is used to indicate which pages of memory are currently used so ProDOS won't overwrite them during a load. The globals page is the only part of ProDOS that Apple guarantees will be consistent when future versions are released. No matter where ProDOS itself is loaded (depending on memory size), the globals page will always be in the same place and contain the same data. To allow programs to deal with future versions of Pro- DOS, the globals page also includes data to indicate the version of ProDOS currently installed in the machine and data to indicate the type of machine it's installed on. Currently, the system recognizes the Apple II series of computers or Apple Ills running in Apple II emulation mode. However, room is available for future expansion. Curiously, ProDOS won't work on most of the Apple II work-alikes. On a Franklin, for example, it hangs up during the boot process and coincidentally leaves Ap- ple's copyright message on the screen. This is unfor- tunate for the owners of these machines, but you can't really expect the people at Apple to spend much time getting new software to work on unauthorized copies of its hardware. BASIC.SYSTEM Most users will talk to ProDOS through the .SYSTEM program called BASIC.SYSTEM, which provides an ex- tended set of DOS 3.3-like commands to Applesoft BASIC. When BASIC.SYSTEM is loaded, it resides just beneath ProDOS in memory. Coincidentally, it leaves about the same amount of free memory as DOS 3.3. Most BASIC.SYSTEM commands are compatible with the equivalent DOS 3.3 commands to allow existing BASIC programs to run with minimum alterations. A few seldom-used commands have been removed, how- ever, and a number of new commands have been added and existing commands extended. You can now, for ex- ample, use OPEN, READ, WRITE, and CLOSE to access any type of file (including directories), and you can use BLOAD or BSAVE on any part of any type of file. One of the most interesting new commands is simply a dash, a "run anything if possible" command. By typing " - filename", you can run a BASIC program, run a binary program, execute a text file of commands, or load and run a new .SYSTEM program. To help you deal with ProDOS's nested directories, BASIC.SYSTEM provides a PREFIX command. You can use it to either set the pathname prefix to specify a default directory or to read back the current pathname prefix onto the screen or into a program variable. BASIC.SYSTEM also provides I/O (input/output) com- mands that are much more flexible than those found in DOS 3.3. Instead of just using PR# or IN# to specify an I/O slot for input or output, BASIC.SYSTEM provides extensions to these commands that allow you to specify a particular address in memory to call for input or out- put or even to assign new addresses to given I/O slots. For instance, if your printer-interface card is in slot 1 and you have a special printer-driver routine loaded into hexadecimal address 300, you could type PR#1,A$300. From then on, any output normally sent to slot 1 would be sent to your routine at hexadecimal 300 instead. An- other way to accomplish the same result would be to type PR# A$300 when you want to turn the printer on and PR#0 when you want to turn it off. Adding Commands to BASIC.SYSTEM In addition to providing a variety of flexible DOS commands, the BASIC.SYSTEM command structure is also extensible— you can add your own commands for special applications. By changing a pointer location in 256 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. For users of Apple, IBM, TRS/80, Atari, Commodore, Texas Instruments, and other brand name computers: Here's the easiest way to buy quality diskettes at discount prices Now you can get error-free double density diskettes by IBM, Control Data, Maxell and Verbatim delivered to your door. For some of the lowest prices around. You save because we ship huge volumes of magnetic media in boxes of 10. To order, use this form For even faster service, call toll-free. 1-(800)-FLOPPYSor 1-(800)-521~5700 Michigan • 1-800-482-4770 Canada • 1-800-265-4824 Alaska/Hawaii • 1-800-821-9029 CALL FOR FREE CATALOGUE ALL MAJOR CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED Shipping & handling F.O.B. Southfield Transaction Storage Systems Inc., Southfield, Ml © EXPECT A MIRACLE Circle 360 on inquiry card. Size T^== Qty. \ferbatim® Qty. Control Data Qty. maxell Qty. | 5-W SS 5-W DS 8"SS 8" DS 23.90 34.90 24.90 39.90 23.90 34.90 19.90 29.90 28.00 29.90 28.90 41.90 Sub Totals $ $ $ $ 1 Name Compa Addres Titlf iy City □ AMEX Card # State . .Zip. □ MASTERCARD □ VISA Exp. Date . Shipping and handling 1-6 boxes add $4.00 per order 7 or more add $6.00 per order. Clip and mail today to: Transaction Storage Systems, Inc 22255 Greenfield Road, Southfield, Ml 48075 Byte 2-84 ora Listing 1: A listing of the two benchmark programs used to perform the disk access-time tests for the 500-record file. The programs used for the Apple III and the IBM PC were similar. A 500-record file is created by the program in listing la and is read by the program in listing lb (see "The Apple III and Its New Profile," September 1982 BYTE, page 92). REM CNTRL-D (la) 20 DS r CHRS (4) 6 NR . 500 100 PRINT DS;"OPEN TEST" 110 PRINT DS;"READ TEST" 140 FOR I = 1 TO NR 160 INPUT BS 180 NEXT I 200 PRINT DS; "CLOSE TEST' 220 PRINT "DONE" (lb) 2 DS 40 AS 60 BS 3 NR 100 110 140 160 180 200 220 CHRS (4): REN CNTRL-D "123456781234567812345G78112345678' AS + AS + AS + AS 500 OPEN TEST" WRITE TEST" TO NR DS DS PRINT PRINT FOR I =-- PRINT BS NEXT I PRINT DS "CLOSE TEST' PRINT "DONE 1 Apple lie Apple lie Apple III IBM PC ProDOS DOS 3.3 SOS PC-DOS Write 500 records Read 500 records Write 32K-byte file Read 32K-byte file 36 35 19 5.5 175 221 44 31 37 33 32 23 Table 1: A comparison of the relative floppy-disk access times of ProDOS and DOS 3.3 with times indicated in seconds. Times for the IBM PC and the Apple III are included for reference purposes. The 500-record file consisted of sequential 128-character records terminated with carriage returns, giving a total file size of just less than 64K bytes. (Benchmark programs used are shown in listing 1.) ProDOS appears to operate effectively six or seven times faster than DOS 3.3. the BASIC. SYSTEM globals page, you can specify the address of an external command routine, which will be called if BASIC. SYSTEM gets an unrecognized command. Apple's Help and APA (Applesoft Programmer's Assis- tant) programs are two interesting examples of added BASIC. SYSTEM commands. Running the Help program on the /Examples disk adds a special HELP command to the system. You can then type HELP followed by any DOS command, and a screen of information describing that particular command will be quickly loaded from the Helpscreens file on the disk and displayed. When you run APA, it adds a series of program editing and debugging commands. Some of the commands added by APA let you renumber your program lines, merge two BASIC programs, use automatic line number- ing, hold a program in a special memory area, compress a program to remove all REM statements, and obtain an XREF (cross-reference) listing of variables versus line numbers. Performance According to Apple, DOS 3.3 transfers data to or from an Apple Disk II at about IK bytes/sec while ProDOS transfers data at 8K bytes/sec. These figures are the raw transfer rates and do not include overhead time to ac- cess directories, open file buffers, or pass the data to Ap- plesoft BASIC. To evaluate the actual effective speed improvement, I used the same disk-access speed benchmarks used to evaluate the Apple III (see "The Apple III and Its New Profile," September 1982 BYTE, page 92). The evaluation included additional tests to write and read a 32K-byte file of binary data, simulating a large program store or load. (The benchmark programs used are shown in listing 1, and the test results are summarized in table 1.) The performance increase with ProDOS was im- pressive. ProDOS ran five to six times as fast as DOS 3.3 when accessing text-file records or reading the 32K- byte binary file and about twice as fast when first storing the binary file. In fact, the times for ProDOS were almost the same as the times recorded for the Apple III run- ning SOS, the progenitor of ProDOS. It wasn't possible to use the same benchmark programs to measure the access times to the /RAM pseudodisk because /RAM provides 62K bytes of space while the benchmark program writes a 63.75K-byte file. However, the times to save and load the 32K-byte binary file were roughly 1.2 and 0.4 seconds respectively. BYTE did not receive an Apple He Profile hard-disk drive for evaluation. However, based on the test results with the Apple III Profile, you should expect an addi- tional improvement in overall disk speed of a factor of three to four. Utility Software Along with ProDOS itself and BASIC.SYSTEM, Apple provides three utility programs: Filer, to manipulate disk files and volumes; Convert, to transfer files between Pro- DOS and DOS 3.3 format disks; and Exerciser, to access the ProDOS MLI commands. Filer is used primarily to copy files or whole disks or to initialize new ProDOS disks, but it also provides options that let you delete or rename files, rename volumes, alter file write-protection, and list ProDOS directories. To help the novice user, Filer provides a series of built-in tutor screens that explain the various Filer commands and options. Filer is also useful when you're moving files from one directory to another on the same disk. You could, for example, create a new subdirectory called Games and then use Filer to copy all your game programs from the main directory to Games. If the name 258 tebruary 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. THE IDEA PROCESSOR ™ A NEW CONCEPT IN THE MANAGEMENT OF TEXT AND GRAPHICS Much more than just the finest text editor — much more than just the most powerful cardfile system — much more than just a comprehensive document formatter — it's an integrated system that provides incredible power in the manipulation of text, graphics (from any source!), spreadsheets, programs, or just about any kind of information you can store in a file on your IBM Personal Computer. Index your source material— spreadsheets, graphs, excerpts from letters, memos, contracts, books— then build your document, using the marvelous Idea Processor editor in conjunction with the instant text database access afforded by the Cardfile. Or copy sections of your document into your own cross-indexed archive: legal boiler-plate, literary quotations, subroutine libraries— you design it. Cross-index each citation up to 10 ways. Print your document with auto-footnoting, auto-indexing, and imbedded graphs and spreadsheets. The Idea Processor thinks alon g with you. . .to multiply your productivity. TEXT SOURCE MATERIAL [from ANY standard ASCII file] Notes | Drawings Excerpts from books | Bar Charts Spreadsheets | Titles Contract BoilerPlate [ Line Charts Subroutine Library Diagrams ■ - ^ The Idea Processor S GRAPHICS SOURCE MATERIAL [from ANY Graphics Program] n Your Document The Idea Processor is more than just a program. It's even more than a software system. It's a new way of looking at the management of text, graphics, and documents. Use it to build your next contract, program, memo, letter, or article. You'll see what we mean. • Keyboard MACRO commands replace 100 keystrokes with a single keystroke • On screen underline and Boldface • Edits files up to 160K • Saves and indexes spreadsheets and graphics generated by any program • Incorporates spreadsheets and graphs in printed text • Auto Footnoting and Auto Indexing • Bi-directional continuous line and page scrolling • Uses full power of IBM keyboard and printer • Complete novices use it comfortably in an hour; full proficiency in four hours $295 • The finest Editor available • The most powerful Cardfile program available • Editor and Cardfile are completely integrated and operate simultaneously • Fastest data base access • Move all or any part of a card to the docu- ment, or vice versa • Manages up to 64,000 cards in a data base • All commands entered via function keys or labelled keys for ease of use • Constantly available function key information • Eighteen full screens of HELP messages at a keystroke The Idea Processor Integrated editor and cardfile program, text formatter, graphics management to integrate graphics from other programs into document and cards Requires an IBM-compatible personal computer with 192K of memory From your dealer or: Visa and MasterCard IrxleaWare 225 Lafayette St. New York, NY 10012 212-334-8043 1-800-221-7798 Circle 177 on inquiry card. Idea Processor is a trademark of IdeaWare Int. IBM is a trademark of International Business Machines Int. ■ If: 1 V fv~.s . .s ,. a .s [JLJ: {n:lS i IV *■*" • Aicnjhoo iic:,i 1 :t>> Mv.ii.i.n WMMM • 5 ' ! 8B3I3 Z ^ . „ SlMitfBifE , • ■ O —~ , r- i ■ lB— B . .. $75' $99' RIGHT MCE. RIGHT PRICE. At $75 and $99 respectively, PRINTERFACE™ and GRAPHlCARD™ are the right parallel interface products for your Apple II, II + , He or Apple" compatible system. But don't be fooled by those low prices. High performance features and high reliability make them the right choice for serious printing requirements. PRinteRFace, for example, offers 27 easy commands that let you format text, send con- trols to the printer. You can even dump 80-column text screen from your Apple He. GRAPHlCARD gives you all that, plus graphics capabilities for 37 of the most popular printers. Eight additional commands permit a variety of graphics, screen dumps, including side-by-side, top-to-bottom, double size, inverse, emphasized, rotated and mixed text and graphics. For Apple II owners, the GRAPHlCARD will give 80-column screen dumps from the Videx™ 80-column board. By the way, if you buy PRinterFace and decide later that graphics would be nice, there's an easy-to-install upgrade kit that'll do the trick just fine. Both cards clearly give you more for your money. And both are warrantied for five years. That's right, five years. So drop into your local dealer and ask about PRinterFace and GRAPHlCARD today. Two more practical products from Practical Peripherals. mmPRACTICAL mPERIPHERALS 31245 La Baya Drive, Westlake Village, CA 91362 (213) 991-8200 • TWX 910-336-5431 * Suggested retail price. ** Apple is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. of each game program ended with the same suffix, the Filer wild-card character ( =) could be used to accomplish the copy with a single Filer command. Convert can be used to copy files in either direction between ProDOS and DOS 3.3. Since ProDOS uses dif- ferent filenaming conventions than DOS 3.3 (filenames can be 15 characters long and cannot contain spaces), Convert modifies DOS 3.3 filenames by truncating them to 15 characters and changing any spaces to periods. Both Filer and Convert appear to be well written and user-friendly. The prompting is clear and unambigu- ous—it will be difficult to make an error using either program. Exerciser is primarily a tool for system program developers. It can be used to manually execute each of the ProDOS MLI calls and to modify areas of memory. Exerciser should be used with caution. It will be very easy for an unwary user to damage the data on a disk because Exerciser lets you read or write data onto any disk block. However, it should be invaluable for debug- ging systems or for patching a damaged disk. Documentation Although the manuals I received for review were early draft copies, the ProDOS documentation looks excellent. All three manuals are well written, containing numerous examples and special cautionary messages when de- scribing areas where problems might occur. The ProDOS User's Manual explains how to use the Filer and Convert utilities. Written at a level suitable for rank beginners, it takes you step by step through each Filer and Convert function, explaining any new term en- countered along the way. I found the ProDOS User's Manual to be the least needed of the manuals supplied because both Filer and Convert are menu-driven and vir- tually bulletproof. You simply progress from menu to menu, selecting the options you want— it's almost im- possible to make any serious mistakes. BASIC Programming with ProDOS will probably be the most read of the ProDOS manuals. Even though much of the material included will already be familiar to DOS 3.3 users, it explains all the new ProDOS commands and options and includes descriptions of ProDOS directories, pathnames, and file types. For the beginner, BASIC Pro- gramming with ProDOS includes all the information necessary to learn to use ProDOS effectively. A large per- centage of the manual is spent explaining text files. It includes chapters that describe how text files are created and accessed, how to use random-access files, and how to create files of commands as Exec files. The appendixes include descriptions of the differences between DOS 3.3 and ProDOS when using Applesoft BASIC, a summary of ProDOS commands and features, descriptions of all error messages, and a complete glossary of all terms used. The ProDOS Technical Reference Manual provides a com- plete description of ProDOS's inner workings. It will be invaluable to anyone who wants to write a system pro- gram, install his or her own device drivers, or deal with 260 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Circle 296 on inquiry card. Circle 102 on inquiry card. Discover the wizardry of MAGIC MAchine Generated Integrated Code® MAGIC/MPS" — A revolution in program development. MAGfC supersedes COBOL, PASCAL, C, BASIC and other application languages. MAGIC enables you to produce good clean assembly language machine code — and plenty of it. MAGIC through its vqrious compilers allows the use of the same source to derive multiple object codes for a wide variety of systems. MAGIC makes a run-time package a thing of the past. MAGIC lets you address diverse system and application needs in significantly less time. For more information, send coupon or write Data Management Assoc, I nci, P.O. Box 4340, Wilmington DE 19807. Phone 3021655-8986. MAGIC MAKES PROGRAMMING EXCITING MAGIC is a language written for programmers by programmers. MPS/80™ for CPJM™ systems MPSI86™ for CP/M-86™ andMS m -DQS systems LET US SHOW YOU SOME MAGIC AT SOFTCON BOOTH L7216 SHOW ME SOME MAGIC! Ma/7 coupon to Data Management Assoc, Inc., PO Box 4340, Wilmington, Delaware 19807, or call 302/655-8986. My system is Send: □ More information a MAGIC/MPS™ Manual @ $50 ea. D MPSI80™@$795ea. D MPSI86 1 "@$995ea. a Check enclosed DSendC.O.D. Name_ Title_ Company^ Address City/State/Zip_ Phone( ). _Best time to call_ CPM'I and CP/M-86 are registered trademarks of Digital Research, inc.; MS-DOS is a registered trademark ot Microsoft Corporation: ; "™ ' ProDOS from assembly language. It includes chapters that describe files and pathnames, calls to the ProDOS MLI, writing system programs, and adding routines to ProDOS. Appendixes provide descriptions of the file- storage methods and directory formats, disk organiza- tion, the relationship between ProDOS and SOS, and how to use the Exerciser program. ProDOS Packages At the time this was written, Apple had tentative plans to market four different ProDOS packages. For assembly- language programmers, there will be a ProDOS Tool Kit with a new version of Apple's EDASM editor/assembler, a debugger program, and the 6502 Assembler/ProDOS Tools Manual. The new version of EDASM includes macros and supports the various ProDOS file types and pathnames. Apple will also market a package that con- sists of the ProDOS Technical Reference Manual and the Exerciser program— useful if you want to write additional device drivers or .SYSTEM programs that interface directly to the ProDOS MLI. A BASIC users package will include BASIC Programming with ProDOS along with the BASIC /Examples disk. A utilities package will combine the ProDOS User's Manual with a /Utilities disk holding Filer and Convert. Pricing hadn't been set when this article was written. Most previous Apple software packages of this type have cost less than $100. De Smet C PCDOS - CP/M-86 - MPM-86 - CCP/M-86 $109 OUTSTANDING PRICE/PERFORMANCE "SIEVE" Benchmark 135 bytes compiled — 6144 bytes linked 65 sec. compile (disk) — 1 1.5 sec. run (10 iterations) FULL DEVELOPMENT PACKAGE C Compiler, Assembler, Linker, Librarian and Full Screen Editor* Native 2.0 Support COMPLETE IMPLEMENTATION FULL K & R - plus - STDIO LIBRARY Both 8087 and Software Floating Point To order specify OS & DISK SIZE/FORMA T. Calif, residents add 6% sales tax. CWARE PO Box 710097 San Jose, CA 95171-0097 (408) 736-6905 PCDOS Trademark IBM - CP/M Trademark Digital Research Conclusions ProDOS provides a significantly improved operating system for Apple II and He computers. With disk ac- cesses about six times faster than DOS 3.3, files up to 16 megabytes long, and support for Apple's Profile 5-megabyte hard-disk drive, ProDOS provides an en- vironment that will make it easier for applications developers to write the increasingly sophisticated soft- ware required by the business community. Using disk and file formats that are compatible with the Apple Ill's SOS operating system, ProDOS allows development of software that will boot up and run properly on either machine— loading ProDOS on Apple lis or lies and loading SOS on Apple Ills. For the more casual user, ProDOS may initially seem more complex to learn than DOS 3.3 due to its nested directory structure and increased command options. However, it will be easier to keep your programs orga- nized under ProDOS, and the volume names and path- names will prevent errors that could occur under DOS 3.3 if the wrong slot # or drive were specified. You should note that ProDOS does not make DOS 3.3 obsolete. There is no need to convert existing software to ProDOS unless you need the increased performance or new features. For hardware developers, ProDOS provides a uniform protocol that lets you interface virtually any type of disk- like storage device without resorting to the now common DOS patches. If Apple's interface guidelines are fol- lowed, foreign disks will be recognized and used prop- erly without requiring any alterations to the operating system. (This will also make life a little easier for users.) On the minus side, neither Apple's UCSD Pascal nor Apple CP/M is compatible with ProDOS, and this may prolong some existing problems. Current suppliers of hard disks for the Apple II generally provide software that lets you partition your disk into areas for DOS 3.3, Pascal, and CP/M, because the three operating systems are not compatible. On the Apple III, Pascal resides on the SOS operating system and shares the nested direc- tory/pathname facilities to manage disk storage. I hope to see a new Pascal for the Apple II with the same fea- tures. In the interim, Apple will supply software that will let you partition your Apple He Profile hard disk into separate areas for ProDOS and Apple's Pascal 1.1 oper- ating system. To summarize, Apple's new ProDOS represents a significant improvement over the existing DOS 3.3 oper- ating system and includes features that are unavailable with most other personal computer operating systems. Although it may not be worth the effort to convert your existing DOS 3.3-based software to ProDOS, its capabil- ities give it some strong advantages for development of new programs. ■ Rob Moore (Warner Hill Rd. , RFD #5, Derry, NH 03038) is a design engi- neering manager with an interest in FORTH, graphics, and computer music. 262 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. The Professional's Editor for Program Development, Word Processing, Source Code Translations EXPECT A LOTjMTCMT Newest Features: • Horizontal Scrolling • Single Key and Conditional Search and Replace with Pattern Matching • Easier to Use than Ever Widely acclaimed as an editor, VEDIT has evolved to be much more. VEDIT is not only a versatile full screen editor, its command mode has become a powerful text-oriented programming language based on TECO. For the first time you'll be able to perform complex text manipulations that are impossible for any word processor. Just a few examples of VEDIT'S command macro power are: • Hundreds of tedious search/replace operations, once performed by hand, can now be made automatically on dozens of files without your intervention. • VEDIT macros are indispensible with source code translations. (Ex- ample ZrLOG to/from INTEL trans- lator macros are included) . A com- plete line of translators will be avail- able soon. • An on-line tutorial and mail merge program, completely written with VEDIT macros, (source included) is available as an inexpensive option -imagine what you can write for your own applications. Word processing is a snap with paragraph formatting, word wrap, print functions, and VEDIT's un- matched 'cut and paste' capability. VEDIT cuts programming time in half - with multiple file handling and special features for Pascal, PL/1, 'C, Assembler and other languages. VEDIT is completely customizable - you configure your own keyboard layout. Use any function or cursor key you wish. Plus our total com- mitment to hardware support ensures that VEDIT will be perfectly matched to any microcomputer you are ever likely to own. Reviewers' Comments 'The performance of this product is nothing short of outstanding!' 'VEDIT is a 'virtual' text editor. The amount of memory in your computer does not limit the size of the file you can edit.' Tim Daneliuk, InfoWorld - May '83 'At present there are three major entrants into the screen editor category for the PC... VEDIT is the front-runner for the definitive quality screen editor.' Todd Katz, PC Magazine - October, '83 'VEDIT's 'visual' mode, where you will spend most of your time, has a multiplicity of valuable one-or-two-keystroke commands which make it very easy to enter and modify text - Frederick Zimmerman, Sextant - Fall, '83 "VEDIT's by all odds the most flexible programming editor I've ever seen.' 'One of its best features is multiple buffers; that is, you can store chunks of programs in various places and pull them out into your main file when needed.' Jerry Pournelle, Byte - September, '83 True Full Screen Editing Edit Files One Disk in Length Automatic Disk Buffering Compact (Only 16K) and Fast Display of Line and Column Set/Goto Text Markers 'Undo' Key to Restore Line Automatic Indent/Undent Adjustable Tab Positions Repeat Function Key Text Move and Copy 10 Scratchpad Buffers Load/Save Buffers on Disk Powerful Command Macros Directory Display Edit Additional (small) Files Simultaneously Insert Another Disk, File Unlimited File Handling Recovery from 'Full Disk' Change Disks While Editing Word Wrap. Format Paragraph Simple Printing 150 Page Indexed Manual Startup Command File Menu Driven Installation Program CRT Function Keys Support Newest CRT terminals Flexible Memory Map Support Customizable Keyboard Layout VEDIT is available for virtually every 8080, Z80 or 8086 microcomputer made. To order please specify your computer, operating system and disk format. VEDIT Disk and Manual 8080,Z80orIBMPC.$150 CP/M-86orMSDOS .$195 Manual only $18 On-Line Tutorial . . .$15 Mail Merge $15 yeprr • ftUBTOMI/ABLE CFv'M Is i revalued trademark of HiRiial Research Inc. MSDOS fa t trademark of Mtaaofi IBM b a trademark of International Business Machines. Quote, from I rifoVTiirlJ review Cuyi'ri.ijii 1983 byPopubu Computing, lit asuhsidiaiyof Cw Communications. Inc., FraminnJam, MA- RepdfflfidfnrolnfoWwH Quotes from Byte rttfcw Copyright 1983 by Byte PubBoWms, inc. Quotes [mm SeMrai rertw Copyright 1983 by Sextant Ptibllshipg Co. Quote Imm re Magazine review Copyright 1983 by PC Marine. CompuView Circle 84 on inquiry card. PRODUCTS, INC. 1955 Pauline Blvd., Suite 200 Ann Arbor, Michigan 48103 (313) 996-1299 Telex - 701821 Orders: P.O. Box 1349, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 BYTE February 1984 263 We've always said SuperCalc is the world's most useable spreadsheet. At first, all spreadsheets seem to give you about the same things. Until you put them to work. Then you'll find out if they do everything you expected. Or make you do everything the hard way. You know what makes the differ- ence? It's not just having the new- est, whizziest features, but what those features actually do for you in the real world. And that's the whole idea behind SuperCalc and SuperCalc2. Because they've been designed to work with you in a natural, intuitive way. What we're really talking about here is useability. When you get right down to it, it's not any one big thing, but a combination of little things. Like the number of key- strokes it takes to get a job done. Or the effort it takes to switch from one function to another. Maybe a few keystrokes here and there doesn't seem like much of a differ- ence. Or having to change disks to plot a graph. But when you multi- ply those little things by the thou- sands of times you do them, they make all the difference in the world. Even the size of the spreadsheet is important. Some programs promise you a huge area to work with. Unfortunately, they can use so much of the computer's avail- able memory just keeping track of all the blank cells that you're left with only a handful. But we've designed SuperCalc to give you the largest useable spreadsheet. If you look at the printout below, you'll see a lot more examples of what we mean. And we think you'll realize why this is the most use- able spreadsheet in the world. Text can 'spill over" into next column Calendar/Date calculations Dictionary sort order (not ASCII) Two key sort User-set decimal places Data management capability Floating $ signs Negatives shown in( ) Individually variable column widths rot»i if B *4 S &Y I amce- TOTAC 1*91 , l£>2 J4ol '.SAO 10CT t-',oO* SZ7 tO,-4t4 iys 7,000 isso a t,4Vo isa a: , ooa 1 4 a &a j 74 99 *9,440 I I 11, 3V? I Si 10.S3? >ra rr.tso it a 7,&t,t* S43 U , &£t4 I 43 7o to, oat, li'.' TZ i.'v.Wd 37J ss ?4 w,5i 3 sat, S3 S2 JO. OSS 376 I iO SS »„'.•. 1 r.i i 443 I ma 24.SIO 443 I 03 2-0,640 43t> ( 74 W /, IJB tee, 73 Sti4.S17 IZ09 94. 7,2*1? 7Z. *B4 . S44 1.318 77 #260.4i'J 309 402S amce summary statistics! Bt*ff CompJ j/rurnt it Avqrmgm Rmtmmt flmnmgmr- J *84. 667 Smniar- J fSi.OOO St* -ft 2 *42. POO JO Nowyoucan draw your own conclusions. SuperCalc? Now we're introducing our new- est version, SuperCalc3, which comes complete with the kind of graphics you'd expectto find in a program that does everything else so well.We give you full color And presentation quality. Plus eight different type styles to choose from. And new financial features like internal rate of return. We've even integrated all these functions onto one single disk. Which means you don't have to change disks all the time. Or settle for a weak spreadsheet and low-resolution graphics just for the sake of getting both in the same package. As you might expect, we've made SuperCalc3 100% com- patible with SuperCalc and SuperCalc2. So you can move up to it whenever you're ready. You can even convert your VisiCalc files.The SuperCalc family is available for CP/M , CP/M-86, Con- current CP/M-86, MP/M, MS-DOS and PC-DOS operating systems. Right now, SuperCalc3 is available for the IBM PC, PCXTand IBM PC compatibles. It's only $395. And soon it'll be available for a lot more personal computers. SuperCalc3. When you're really serious about spreadsheets, this is the one you'll wind up using. But don't take our word for it. Go try SuperCalc3 at your computer store today. And draw your own conclusions. CP/M*CP/M-86? Concurrent CP/M-86, and MP/M*are trademarks ot Digital Research. MS ■ -nos is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. IBM* is atrademark of International Business Machines Corporation. VisiCalc* is a trademark of Visicorp. '© 1983 Sorcim Corporation Supercede^ " & SORCIM* 2310 Lundy Avenue San Jose, CA 95131 (408)942-1727 Integrated presentation- quality graphics Prints all available plotter colors Prints up to four charts on the same page Eight font types Components of graph resize to match size of text Full color graphics Exp|oding pie charts Accounting For The Serious Business User The IBM PC and XT, the Apple LISA and Apple III, the DEC Rainbow, the Victor 9000, the Wang Personal, the Tl Pro- fessional, the Zenith Z-1 00 . . . What do these top-selling business computers have in common ? All of these popular products plus over 30 other micro- computers run the Software Fitness Program 1 " accounting applications plus the Team Manager™ report writer. You can choose Open Systems' accounting applications in COBOL or BASIC on single- or multi-user com- puters running on every popular oper- ating system including CP/M, CP/M- 86, MP/M, MP/M-86, MS-DOS, PC- DOS, OASIS, RM/COS or XENIX. Over 200,000 of our applications have already been installed in over 200 different types of businesses. Powerful Yet Simple To Use We've got the most advanced and comprehensive accounting software you can buy-yet our products with training disks and owner's manuals will put the computer novice at ease. And with our newest prod- uct, the Team Manager re- port writer, a user can select from over 800 predefined data dictionary elements to create an unlimited number of simple or complex reports. If you're looking for on- track accounting solutions to increase your profits . . . look to the Software Fitness Pro- gram Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, General Ledger, Payroll, Job Cost, Inventory, Sales Order Processing, PLUS the Team Manager report writer. Our com- petition can 't even come close. If your bottom line is your top priority, today and tomorrow, we've got solutions. Ask for a demon- stration from your local computer dealer. OPEN SYSTEMS 430 Oak Grove Minneapolis. MN 55403 (612) 870-3515 TWX 910 576 I743 ^ccoisv^ j&Ufo. cgl-y Ajfi°fr *%>J^ *» 266 BYTE February 1984 Circle 276 on inquiry card. Software Review Knowledgeman A close look at a new, fully integrated management system with complete database and spreadsheet capabilities all in one by James W. Walker Multifunction integrated programs are a recent popular trend in personal computer software. These programs include such functions as database management, spread- sheet analysis, graphics generation, and word process- ing. Knowledgeman: The Knowledge Manager is a re- cent entry into this market. This new information-management system from Micro Data Base Systems combines in one package a superior relational database-management system (DBMS), an ad- vanced third-generation spreadsheet, a forms generator, the means for full statistical analysis, extensive operating functions, and a complete structured-programming lan- guage for writing command procedures. Both color and monochrome displays are supported. The program lists for $500 and requires a minimum of 192K bytes of RAM (random-access read/write memory). Recommended mass storage is 500K bytes. Knowledgeman takes full ad- vantage of the new generation of 16-bit microcomputers with releases for the IBM PC, Victor/Sirius, and Altos microcomputers. Unlike most other relational database management systems, such as dBASE II or Condor, Knowledgeman has few design limitations. For example, with Knowledgeman you may have up to 255 fields per record and an unlimited number of tables open at once (assuming enough RAM and disk space are available), thus allowing multiple table processing with a single command. My work involves determining the evolutionary rela- tionships between groups of flowering plants. I use Knowledgeman to analyze the distribution of character- istics among flowering-plant groups. For example, if the pollen of certain flowering plants indicates that two groups of plants may be related, Knowledgeman looks for other traits, such as flower, fruit, and seed type, that these groups may have in common. In this short review I can scarcely do justice to this comprehensive program, but I will attempt to outline its major features. Database Management As a database manager, Knowledgeman allows you to set up a file, define the various fields of each record, enter data, modify data, and access data in a number of different ways. Table Formation Knowledgeman creates each database as a table, con- sisting of rows, or records, and columns, or fields. The DEFINE command forms the table. You enter DEFINE and a table name, and the system prompts you for a file- name and then for the fields. Each field must have a name and a type (string, numeric, or logical) and, if it's a string field, a maximum length. You can have up to 65,535 records per table and up to 255 fields per record as long as you have enough disk space and RAM to handle it. Essentially, the software places no limit on record or field length since each may February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 267 At a Glance Name Knowledgeman Type Integrated relational database-management system and spreadsheet Manufacturer Micro Data Base Systems Inc. POB 248 Lafayette, IN 47902 |317) 463-2581 Price S500 Language Assembly language and C Format Floppy disk Software Required PC-DOS 1.1 and 2.0. MS-DOS 1.x, or CP/M-86 Computer System 192K bytes of RAM, 500K bytes of mass storage Documentation One reference manual, beginner tutorial guide, fold-out command guide Audience "Second-time" users, BASIC programmers be up to 65,535 characters long. You can define "pictures" to provide field-integrity checking (e.g., use placeholders to restrict data input to alphabetic, alphanumeric, or numeric characters) or specific kinds of editing (e.g., use placeholders to automatically convert alphabetic char- acters to uppercase or lowercase). Fields can also have fixed characters, e.g., the dashes in social security num- bers can automatically occupy the proper positions on input. You can create virtual fields (defined by a formula) that occupy no storage in the table. The system updates virtual-field values as data changes occur in the fields or expressions that define them. You can check table definitions with the SHOW com- mand. SHOW with a specific table name gives you a dis- play of the following: field names, field types, field "pic- tures," virtual-field definitions, index-key expressions, date of last modification, and current number of records. When SHOW is entered by itself, Knowledgeman gives you all tables in use and their complete filenames, as well as the default table. The USE and FINISH commands respectively open and close the tables. If the RAM and disk space are avail- able, there is no limit to the number of tables that can be used simultaneously. FINISH followed by a specific table name closes that table, while FINISH ALL closes all tables in use. A new default table can be declared using the DEFAULT command followed by the table name. Data Input After defining a table, you begin data entry with the CREATE command. Knowledgeman responds with "Record Number xxx" and provides field prompts. Fixed characters declared in field "pictures" appear automati- cally, and each field's length is indicated by dashes. The system supports full use of the IBM PC's arrow and spe- cial-function keys for editing data items (field variables). Field values of the previous record can be repeated. Fur- thermore, you can insert, delete, or overwrite a previous field-value display. Knowledgeman doesn't provide virtual-field prompts because those values are automatically computed. If you create subsequent records after a table's initial record creation, you can place them in the file anywhere you choose. Table Modification You can easily modify tables with the REDEFINE com- mand, adding new fields, deleting existing fields, or changing the type, size, or name of a field. You can redefine or add field "pictures" and virtual fields and rename or erase tables with the RENAME and DESTROY commands, respectively. Data items (field variables) themselves may be updated in one of two ways. Using the BROWSE command you can look at one record at a time and edit the data items in it or you can set the browsing scope to look only at records 134-256, for ex- ample. You can rapidly browse forward or backward through the records with the function keys. You can also set conditions, such as certain field values, for the records to be browsed. Knowledgeman has the added feature of selective field browsing so you can BROWSE (or CREATE) only some of a table's fields if you wish. The CHANGE command changes data items global- ly. For example, the command CHANGE NAME TO "AUDREY" would change all field values for the field "Name" to "Audrey." However, if you want you can limit the scope of data item changes to certain record numbers or to certain conditions, e.g., you can CHANGE FNAME TO "AUDREY" FOR LNAME = "WALKER" to change only those records whose lname (last name) is "Walker." Knowledgeman deletes records using a logical switch. When the system creates a record, it automatically sets up the first field as #MARK. You cannot delete or rename this field, and it has an initial logical value of "false." If you want to delete records, change the #MARK field of the selected records to "true" (with the MARK com- mand). An UNMARK command is available to change records marked "true" back to "false." If you want to delete the records permanently, the COMPRESS com- mand destroys all records marked "true." You can create new tables from existing tables using the IMPRESS, CONVERT, and ATTACH commands. The IMPRESS command allows you to "impress" an existing table definition onto a empty new table. Field names, types, sizes, and "pictures" are all carried over to the new table. The CONVERT command changes the field values from packed binary to a special file format— ASCII, BASIC- 268 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. compatible, and DIF (Data Interchange Format). If you only want the values from certain fields, Knowledgeman supports selective attaching. Although you can use the CONVERT and ATTACH commands in several ways, they are especially useful when you want to construct a new table out of existing tables. Table Sorting and Indexing The SORT and INDEX commands appropriately sort and index records. You can sort records in ascending (A- Z) or descending (Z-A) order or in some combination thereof. Sorting is based on the contents of a field or on relationships between fields (e.g., records could be sorted A-Z on three times the salary). You can also create indexes in ascending or descending order or in some combination of sequences using the INDEX command. Data Retrieval You can retrieve data a record at a time or generate an entire output table. There are two ways to get an in- dividual record, OBTAIN and PLUCK. Use OBTAIN to get a particular record number, first, last, prior, or next Perform files can keep the system busy for hours with just one entry. record, as well as record number xxx, and to get a record conditionally, for example: OBTAIN FOR FNAME = "AUDREY" Use the PLUCK command for rapid retrieval of indexed records. This is the fastest way to retrieve a record conditionally, but before you can use the PLUCK command, you must create one or more index files for the table. Knowledgeman uses B + tree indexing for rapid record retrieval. You can use an unlimited number of index keys per table. Each index can have as many as 65,535 fields and be up to 65,535 characters long. If you want to con- ditionally retrieve records often, use index files; the PLUCK commands are much faster than the conditional OBTAIN commands. The system can automatically update indexes as you make changes with the BROWSE and CHANGE com- mands. However, this slows down the CHANGE com- mand significantly, so you may decide to override this feature and create new indexes after major table changes. You must recreate index files after using REDEFINE, COMPRESS, or SORT commands. The SELECT (LIST) command creates a new output table from one or more existing tables. It is one of the most powerful Knowledgeman commands. You can pick any number of fields for data generation, and the order in which you list the fields determines the arrangement of the output table. You can SELECT to include, for ex- ample, all records, the next 100 records, or records in a How a fireman and a broken leg made software simple. ^W^ hat does a fireman know about designing software? Nothing. Usually. Meet Dennis Jarvis, a firefighter from Southern California. About five years ago he broke his leg in a fire-related accident and was confined to the house for about six months. To keep him occupied, Dennis' wife bought him a computer. Dennis had never used a computer before. But he proved to be a natural. Dennis was soon writing his own programs. And Basic Accounting from Firefighter was born. It was brilliant. And so simple, you don't have to know anything about accounting theory to use it. But don't get the wrong idea. Just because it's simple, doesn't mean it's not smart, too. Basic Accounting from Firefighter has so many more features and capabilities than the best sell- ing accounting package, there's no room to list them in this ad. 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CAVE CREEK RD., #111, PHOENIX, AZ 85020 \BORDER turn the spreadsheet's borders on or off leave spreadsheet mode while \BYE maintaining all spreadsheet defini- tions and variables \COLUMN,\ROW add or delete columns or rows \COMBINE combine portions of different spreadsheets \COMPUTE compute up-to-date values for all of a spreadsheet's cells \CONCEAL, \REVEAL conceal cell's definitions from view (or reveal to view) \COPY copy cell definitions \DISPLAY print desired cell values \DUMP print formulas serving as basis for cell values \EDIT edit the active cell's definition \PROTECT \UNPROTECT protect or unprotect cell definitions from alterations \SAVE, \LOAD save or load a file \STOP leave spreadsheet mode without maintaining spreadsheet cell values \STYLE, \ACTIVATE, declare and conditionally \DEACTIVATE activate-deactivate reverse video, blinking, etc. \UNDEFINE undefine a cell or block of cells \USING assign a "picture" to a cell for in- tegrity checking and editing \WIDTH specify the column width \ = reposition the spreadsheet display Table 1: The Knowledgeman spreadsheet commands. certain range. You can specify "pictures" for output data values to edit the data or set up any number of condi- tions for data retrieval. A full set of logical operators is available, including =, <>, >, <, >=, and <=. Knowledgeman allows an unlimited number of tables to be open at once (dependent only on available RAM and disk space), so you can use the SELECT command to query multiple tables. The system supports wild-card string, character-match symbols, and a "unique" qualifier to suppress the display of an item's next value if it equals the preceding one. You can SELECT dynamic, multifield, multisequence sorting of the output table with the qualifier "ORDER BY direction fieldname. . ." This enables you to obtain sorted data from only the records retrieved without having to physically sort all the table's records. Finally, you can have an unlimited num- ber of changes in an output field's value triggering con- trol breaks by using the qualifier "GROUP BY fieldname. . ." This computes full statistics for all the fields in each con- trol break and displays them if you wish. Spreadsheet To use the Knowledgeman spreadsheet within the database program, enter the CALC command. Spread- sheets can have up to 255 rows or columns. Special ef- fects include up to eight foreground or background col- 270 February 1984 8 BYTE Publications Inc. Circle 138 on inquiry card. It Meets Your Needs WhateverThey Are v— \ - - 1 uy - - ■■' ^^ ^g£s5g& Large Multi-user Capability \ A truly professional, reliable solution— the NETlwork 8816 has been specifically designed for installation in demanding multi-user applications. The low starting price allows you to start with two users and growler" to many thousands without the expense-efTeplacing existing equipment or softvyai»-flS"you grow. We offer three typesoJU-oeaTArea Networking, including Ethernetjjwrth-frjlTshared multi-system resources. AND IT WORKS. 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Equally important, spreadsheet cells can extract data from independent tables and can also be defined as programs. Forms Generation You can design forms for data entry or output with the FORM command, declaring any number of elements. Use an AT command to position labels or data values at the desired row-column. Display forms with the PUTFORM command and print or write them to disk (with or without data) with the PRINT command. The TALLY command uses a screen form for "what if" analyses comparable to spreadsheet analyses. Screen forms may have up to eight foreground or background colors, reverse video, blinking, half-intensity, and bell sounds. The CLEAR command followed by a form name clears the form from the screen; when used alone, it clears the entire screen. Statistical Analysis You can generate a full statistical analysis of the out- put table with the SELECT command or you can obtain the desired statistics without displaying field values using the STAT command. The following statistics are available for numeric fields: count, sum, mean, mini- mum, maximum, variance, and standard deviation. Nu- merical accuracy depends on the operating system and the central processor. Count and minimum-maximum statistics are available for string fields as well. Operating Functions Knowledgeman supports many operating functions, numeric, string, and logical. Numeric operating func- tions include absolute value, arcsine, current record number, exponentiation, string length, natural and base 10 logarithms, position of matching string values, maxi- mum and minimum comparisons, random number gen- eration, root computation, sine, and square root. String operating functions include uppercase and lowercase conversion, substring extraction, trailing blanks elimina- tion, and type determination. You can use logical func- tions to determine if you have reached the end of a table, if a file is on line, or if a string's first character is alpha- betic or numeric. These operating functions are par- ticularly useful in command procedures. Command Procedures When the same list of commands must be performed two or more times, Knowledgeman allows creation of command procedures (one or more commands in a per- form file). A perform file is basically a batch file that you can evoke within the Knowledgeman program. You can 272 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Circle 339 on inquiry card. create perform files with a word-processing program or by using the COPY CON: command at the PC-DOS sys- tem level. Perform files can contain an unlimited number of commands. This way, you can initiate enough com- mands to keep the computer busy for several hours while only having to enter one of them. You can call a perform file from within Knowledgeman with the PERFORM command or by including the per- form filename with the KMAN command at the system level. The lengths of Knowledgeman commands and command procedures are unlimited. You can include comments within commands and command procedures, using " \* " before and " * \" after the comment. A single command procedure can contain up to 26 different parameters and an unlimited number of working variables that are entirely unrelated to table fields or spreadsheet cells. Working variables, macros, and forms can all be declared local to a given procedure. There is also a complete structured-programming lan- guage to construct command procedures. Program Design Knowledgeman comes with a memory-resident 56K- byte main program and 16 overlay files that are called as needed. The overlay files run from about 8K bytes to nearly 17K bytes each (most are between 12K and 15K bytes). All 16 overlays together total slightly more than 210K bytes. For those with tight disk space it is possible to load the 56K-byte KMAN. EXE file that stays in mem- ory and then use one drive for overlays and the other for data files. In addition, those with limited disk space can use several disks with different overlay programs on them. For example, if you are not using the spreadsheet mode you can leave out two overlays devoted exclusive- ly to the spreadsheet, saving more than 30K bytes. Since the SORT, INDEX, CONVERT, and SELECT With Dy- namic Sort commands generate temporary files on the default drive, it is useful to have one disk containing only the overlay files for default work space. To enter Knowledgeman from the system level, key in KMAN. You can enter a perform filename to implement a particular set of environment variable definitions, macro and/or form declarations, and/or commands. For example, I call a perform file on entering Knowledgeman to set environment variables E.DMIN and E.DMAX to false (so the minimum and maximum statistics don't dis- play with the SELECT command) and E.PAUS to true (so the system pauses after each screenful of data output). Knowledgeman doesn't provide any menus, but you can easily create them with a word-processing program. Using Knowledgeman's structured-programming lan- guage and command perform files or a program like Pro- key, it is not difficult to develop a menu-driven system. I started to do this but soon discovered that Knowledge- man's command structure is so easy that a menu-driven system is hardly necessary. I did use Prokey to define 40 special-function keys (F1-F10 unshifted, shifted, plus Control key, and plus Alternate key). 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February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 273 Function Nonconditional single-record retrieval Indexed single-record retrieval Conditional middle-record (No. 672) retrieval Conditional last-record (No. 1345) retrieval Table 2: The OBTAIN and PLUCK command performance test results. Times are shown in minutes: seconds. Command Time OBTAIN <:02 PLUCK <:02 OBTAIN 1:24 OBTAIN 2:48 ments embedded in commands. This kind of command- driven system is much faster than a menu-driven one and still has many of its advantages. Knowledgeman allows unlimited macro nesting and macros can be of any length. It also has a series of user- definable variables— environment variables and utility variables. Environment variables all begin with "E." followed by up to four letters; they have string, numeric, or logical (true or false) values. All environment variables have default values and are easily changed in Knowl- edgeman or a command-procedure file. The environment variables do such things as control whether the bell sounds on input of invalid data, define which statistics are displayed with SELECT or STAT com- mands, and suppress error messages. Utility variables are preceded by a "#" and can also be modified. They contain such things as the average, count, maximum, minimum, and standard deviation. The SAVE command stores environment and utility variables, global working variables, global macro and form definitions, and current spreadsheet definitions. You can leave Knowledgeman, do something else, and then resume work where you left off. The LOAD com- mand, which reloads this information, can operate in whole (loading everything) or in part (loading only macros, working variables, or forms, for example). Knowledgeman provides extensive data security to be used or not at your discretion. A file named USRMAN.EXE creates a global user file called KPASS.IGU containing passwords and security levels. You can use USRMAN.EXE (62K bytes long) to authorize new users, delete users, alter a password, or change a security level. You can specify read/write authorization down to the individual field or cell level. There are 65,535 possible security-code combinations, data files are en- crypted, and a 49K-byte scramble utility is provided to List data values for five fields Time Nonconditional SELECT <:03 Conditional SELECT (single condition) 3:13 Including dynamic sorting: Nonconditional SELECT Sorted on one field 4:03 Sorted on five fields 7:41 Conditional SELECT (single condition) Sorted on one field 3:01 Sorted on five fields 3:19 Table 3: The first SELECT (LIST) command performance test results. Times are shown in minutes: seconds. encrypt perform files so they cannot be read at the system level. Performance Written in assembly language and C with data files in condensed binary code (convertible to ASCII), Knowl- edgeman's performance is very pleasing. Limitations on the program's speed appear to be more the result of hardware restrictions than software restrictions. I ran command tests using two different data tables with the following results (both on an IBM PC with 320K bytes of RAM and two 320K-byte double-sided, double-density floppy-disk drives, using PC-DOS 1.10 and Knowledge- man 1.00). The first series of commands were tested on a 154K- byte data table with 19 fields and 1345 100-character records (see table 2). The results suggest that you should prepare indexes for fields you intend to retrieve often while you use the conditional OBTAIN command only when you want a field seldom used as a key. I also performed various tests of the SELECT (LIST) command for this first data table. The results are shown in table 3. A second data table, 152K bytes long, with 47 fields, and consisting of 592 208-character records, was also tested. Results are shown in table 4. The small difference between the time for a conditional SELECT on four conditions with a dynamic sort (3:36) and the time for the same command without the dynamic sort (3:32) proves how fast the sorting process is and suggests that the response time is largely disk dependent. I am pleased with Knowledgeman's speed, especially the SELECT command. Hardware seems to be the great- est limiting factor in this program's performance. The following suggestions may help overcome some of these limitations. First, try a hard disk rather than a floppy disk. Knowledgeman is not copy-protected, so you can put it on a hard disk or a RAM disk. Getting enough RAM to hold frequently accessed files should also im- prove performance because the system spends so much time searching the current database table. Documentation The 300-page reference manual (including appendixes) contains 12 chapters, 7 appendixes, a glossary, an index List data values for seven fields Time Nonconditional SELECT <:03 Conditional SELECT (single condition) 2:50 Conditional SELECT (four conditions) 3:32 Including dynamic sorting: Nonconditional SELECT Sorted on one field 3:07 Sorted on five fields 4:32 Conditional SELECT (four conditions) Sorted on five fields 3:36 Table 4: The second SELECT (LIST) command performance test results. Times are shown in minutes:seconds. 274 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. MVP-FORTH Stable - Transportable - Public Domain - Tools You need two primary features in a software development package a stable operating system and the ability to move programs easily and quickly to a variety of computers. MVP-FORTH gives you both these features and many extras. 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Chip Support, MT-Multi-Tasking, X-Other & -HE ^ P Extensions for LM Specify IBM, Z80, or 8086 P Software Floating Point $100 P 8087 Support (IBM-PC or 8086) $100 P 9511 Support (Z80 or 8086) $1 00 P Color Graphics (IBM-PC) $100 P Data Base Management # .■* P & * P & ^a $200 Requires LM FORTH disk. &79 $45 ) AND 2 55 IF C%> NOISE THEN A% ( 2 * I - C%=B%( I ) AND 2 55 IF C%> NOISE THEN A% ( 2 * I ) 1 ) = A% ( 2 * I - 1 > + 1 : A% ( 2 * I ) + 1 NEXT I NEXT SCAN REM TRIGGER MONOCHROMETER MOVE T=TIME:CALL S YSFUNC ( 6 , F% ( 1 ) ) FOR 1=1 TO 2000:PRINT # 1 , A% ( I ) IF TIME-TO THEN 390 NEXT MON CLOSE #1 CLOSE #6 END AND WAIT FOR IT ! IFC TRIGGERS A%( I ) =0 : NEXT I TO STOP MONOCHROMETER terpreted BASIC that I miss. Arrays cannot be dynamical- ly dimensioned because the interpreter translates each line of BASIC code into a tokenized pseudocode as it is entered, not as it is executed. This feature makes the BASIC run rather fast for an interpreter. For example, lines 230-340 of listing 1 trigger a laser and the Bioma- tion, collect 2K bytes of data from the Biomation, com- pare each byte to a noise level, and, if appropriate, add 1 to an element of a 2K data array. Interpreted BASIC does all of this in one second! For that level of speed, I'm willing to live without dynamically-dimensioned ar- rays. By the way a compiled FORTRAN version of this program did the same process 12 times in one second. Another consequence of translating each statement as it is entered is that the BASIC comes with a line editor rather than a full-screen editor. And the editor is a little tricky to use. For example, if you have a variable type error in a program line and edit the line, you may still get a type error prompt. I've found it's best to delete the offending line and retype it correctly. Line 300 of listing 1 illustrates a couple of interesting points about the BASIC. First, 2 bytes may be stored in 286 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Text continued on page 290 BASF QUALIMETRIC FLEXYDlSKS: A GUARANTEED LIFETIMEOF OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE. BASF Qualimetric FlexyDisks feature a unique lifetime warranty* firm assurance that the vital information you enter on BASF FlexyDisks today will be secure and unchanged tomorrow. Key to this extraordinary warranted performance is the BASF Qualimetric standard... a totally new set of criteria against which all other magnetic media will be judged. You can count on BASF FlexyDisks because the Qualimetric standard reflects a continuing BASF commitment to perfection in magnetic media. One example is the unique two-piece liner in our FlexyDisk jacket. This BASF feature traps damaging debris away from the disk's surface and creates extra space in the head access area for optimum media-head alignment. The result is a guaranteed lifetime of outstanding performance. For information security that bridges the gap between today and tomorrow, look for the distinctive BASF package with the Qualimetric seal. Call 800-343-4600 for the name of your nearest supplier. jm&ASf^ Circle 459 on inquiry card. 'Contact BASF for warranty details. <^ SfejcyJDisK EE3 ENTER TOMORROW ON BASF TODAY i 1983 BASF Systems Corp., Bedford, MA Listing 2: The program listing for plotting the data from listing 1 on the screen, one monochrometer setting at a time. 1 REM PROGRAM TO PLOT DATA COLLECTED FROM PROGRAM 1 10 CLS 20 INPUT "FILE NAME ";FILE$ 30 OPEN FILES AS FILE #1 4 INPUT #1 , BIOM 50 INPUT #1 ,NOSTEP 60 DIM DAT( 10 , 2000) 70 FOR 1=1 TO NOSTEP 80 FOR J=l TO 2000 9 INPUT #1 , DAT( I , J) 100 NEXT J 110 NEXT I 120 CLOSE #1 130 FOR K=l TO NOSTEP 140 MAX=-128 :MIN=127 150 CLS 160 LOCATE 10,0 Listing 2 continued on page 289 / ytftf^f +#**"*" FIRST CHANNEL TO PLOT? 25 LAST CHANNEL TO PLOT? 176B SCREEN INCREMENTS? .5 .1 MICROSEC/SAMPLE ANOTHER PLOT WITH THE SAME FILE? MONOCHROMETER SETTING 3 Figure 1: A screen dump of a plot of a single scan of the Biomation, showing the luminescence decay curve of Benzil excited by a pulsed nitrogen laser. Data was collected from a modified version of listing 1 and plotted using listing 2. 288 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Listing 2 continued: 170 INPUT "FIRST CHANNEL TO PLOT" , A 180 INPUT "LAST CHANNEL TO PLOT" , B 190 INPUT "SCREEN INCREMENTS ", C 200 FOR I=A TO B 210 IF DATCK, I > MAX THEN MAX=DAT -MIN+1 ) *FACTOR> > 280 NEXT I 290 LOCATE 24,0: PRINT B I OM ; " MI CROSE C / SAMPL E " , "MONOCHROMETER SETTING ";K 300 INPUT "ANOTHER PLOT WITH THE SAME FILE",Q$ 310 IF Q$="Y" THEN 140 320 NEXT K 33 END FIRST CHAHN^^OTvf'tOT? 25B LAST XMMHplTfQ PLOT? 6B0 ^©BEEN INCREMENTS? 2 /\_..V- -»' A.J "■* * ' .1 MICROSEC/SAMPLE ANOTHER PLOT WITH THE SAME FILE? MONOCHROMETER SETTING 3 !( Figure 2: A screen dump that demonstrates the fine structure of the plot. February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 289 Text continued from page 286: one 16-bit memory location to save space. The SWAP% function lets you reverse the high and low bytes in a memory location. Of course, performing an AND 255 with the value masks out the high byte. The second point has to do with why line 300 is there at all. It seems that the interpreter cannot perform B%(I) AND 255 and compare it with noise all in one line; apparently, there is a bug in the interpreter. If you do the operations separately, there is no problem. This is the only bug I have encountered in the interpreter. Lines 80 and 240 in listing 1 illustrate the use of the IEEE-488 port. The operating parameters of the port are entered into a data array and passed to the interface driver by calling SYSFUNC:. Line 70 lists the parameters this program uses. The parameter 286 sets the maximum timeout for a transfer to the succeeding argument (which is 10) times 50 milliseconds; the parameter 290 sets the maximum transfer size without using DMA to whatever follows (10 again); the ends a sequence of instructions, so F%(6) begins a new sequence; the 17 sets the REN line high and the ends that sequence; the 12 resets the REN line, and again ends the sequence; then, 10 sets the IFC line, with the ending the sequence. Thus, the F% array actually contains four different sets of parameters, each invoked by CALL SYSFUNC(dev #, F%(N)), which reads F%(N) to F%(N + I), where F%(N + I) = 0. Let's look at line 20 in listing 1. This line initializes the system calls used in the program. In the new version of BASIC, version 1.1, you do not need to add the call locations. Listing 1 collects data from the Biomation. Listing 2 displays that data, one monochrometer setting at a time. Lines 250 and 270 of listing 2 do the actual screen plot. Line 250 draws a line from the first data point (scaled for the screen) to itself. That is, it sets the first point of the line. Line 270 draws a line from each subsequent point to the preceding point. The -1,-1 argument says, "Connect this point to the last point." Figures 1 and 2 show screen dumps of sample outputs from listing 2, using data collected from a modified version of listing 2 in which the raw voltages from a single scan of the Biomation were collected. Summary The CS-9000 is a very fast and powerful laboratory computer. It has enough I/O ports to please the most jaded palate. The options let you configure the system for most conceivable laboratory applications. The range of numbers it can work with makes it unnecessary to constantly use log values to avoid overflows. The CS-9000 is very affordable. And, above all, the level of customer support sets new standards of excellence for the microcomputer industry. ■ Thomas R. 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($3.00 extra charge) or check. Taxes: Illi- nois customers only add 8%. Authorized Distributor Information Processing Products 290 ftbraary 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. One of Japan's leaders would like to go to work for you. ■ Fujitsu, Japan's largest computer company, sends you their best. The new Micro 16s personal business computer. A combination of thoughtful planning, innovative thinking and quality craftsmanship. Just what youd expect from a Japanese company that's been making computers for three decades. The Micro 16s is a complete computer system. The options of other computers are our standards. For example, its price includes the CP/M-86®operating system, SuperCalc 2 ™ elec- tronic spreadsheet, WordStar® word processing, a high resolution color graphics monitor, and two microprocessors, the Z8CTA 8-bit and 8086 16-bit. The Micro 16s will run any of the more than 3,000 CP/M®software programs on the market today. Optional operating systems for the Micro 16s include MS-DOS and the multi-tasking Concurrent CP/M-867 The Micro 16s also comes with a detachable keyboard, dual built-in 5%" floppy disk drives, 128 kilobytes of internal memory expandable to over one megabyte, and expansion slots for future growth. The unique and flexible design of the Micro 16s makes it easy to add advanced micro- processors of tomorrow, hard disks, mainframe communications or local area networking when the time is right. Put a Japanese leader to work for you. Fujitsu's Micro 16s. For more information or the name of your nearest dealer call toll free 1-800- MICRO 16. Or write Fujitsu Microelectronics, Inc., Professional Microsystems HH^H^I Division, 3320 Scott Blvd., FUJITSU Santa Clara, CA 95051. Fujitsu's Micro 16s: SuperCalc*"' is a trademark of Sorcim Corp. WordStar' is a trademark of MicroPro International CP/M-86" and Concurrent CP/M-86"' are trademarks of Digital Research, Inc. MS™ is a trademark of Microsoft." Z80" is a trademark of Zilog.lnc. Circle 148 on inquiry card. byte February 1984 291 Hardware Review The Rixon R212A Intelligent Modem A modem that can emulate the Hayes Smartmodem and do a few other tricks besides by Chuck Remember when you could tell the difference between a computer and a peripheral? In the old days, computers had front panels full of lights and switches, printers were large, clattering beasts, and modems were big, ugly boxes that connected to special, and expensive, phone circuits. In those times a modem knew its place. But now, here comes a modem with a full-blown Z80 microprocessor in it— the same chip that's in lots of home computers. All of a sudden, the distinction between computers and their peripherals is getting hazy. What do you call a modem that has memory like a computer? In this case, you call it a Rixon R212A Intelligent Modem. The folks at Rixon have been in the modem business a long time, but they have manufactured primarily in- dustrial products. The R212A and its IBM PC-compati- ble cousin, the PC-212, are among the company's few ventures into the consumer world. If Rixon keeps pro- ducing products like this, the company might have to discontinue some of its industrial business to keep up with the demand of consumer and commercial markets. Not only is the R212A the most sophisticated modem in its class I have seen, it is also easy to use. I'll describe some of the R212A's features in this review. Setting Up Photo 1 shows the R212A as it comes packaged with an AC (alternating current) adapter and a modular telephone cable; an instruction manual (not pictured) is also included. It does not come with the RS-232C cable you'll need to connect it to your computer or terminal, but this is a stock item in most computer stores. The modem is packaged in a beige molded case with a black front panel. Weger The first thing that I noticed about this modem was its front panel, which really wasn't a front panel— or not what I would call one. There is a piece of black anodized aluminum with the Rixon logo, but there are no LEDs (light-emitting diodes), lights, or switches on the panel. In fact, there are no controls or indicators anywhere on the case. And if you're the kind of person who opens the case to see the insides, you'll see that there are no DIP (dual-inline package) switches on the circuit board, either. All the options— and there are plenty in this modem— are set by software commands. The back panel contains two RJ-11 modular telephone jacks as well as a connector for the power supply. It also contains a standard 25-pin female RS-232C connector labeled DTE (data terminal equipment) for connection to the terminal or computer. Once again, there are no switches or indicators. Installing the R212A is extremely simple. Run a cable from a serial I/O (input/output) port on your computer or terminal to the DTE connector. The phone line goes in one of the modular jacks with the cable supplied. Finally, plug in the AC adapter. The other modular jack is a real convenience; if you want a telephone connected to the same line, it can be plugged into this jack, saving the cost of a phone-line Y adapter. Note that the whole telephone— not just the handset, as on some other modems— plugs into this jack. Of course, you don't need to plug a phone into this jack. The modem will work fine without one. To communicate with the R212A, you will need a com- munications program that allows your computer to send and receive ASCII (American National Standard Code for Information Interchange) characters over its serial I/O 292 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. *;• - : .■■.--*. . ■ t&Xi ' KAMmmA INTELLIGENT MODEM Mt-numbGr Aui- I <«(vli> H£U> mmu Inmtanl accvw torn , out (InjMllpt .« th» ODD Mtwack • JOOIJOCbp. Photo 1: The Ri'xon R212A package includes the modem, a modular telephone cable, an AC line adapter, and a manual (not pictured). port. This could be a program that makes your computer into a dumb terminal, or it could be a more sophisticated modem program. Both kinds will work with the R212A. Of course, if you are using a terminal instead of a com- puter, you don't need a program. As the lack of switches implies, the R212A is controlled entirely from your computer or terminal. Once the modem is connected to the computer, you can type two carriage returns to wake it up. It responds with a sign- on message, shown in the first four lines of photo 2. It also determines automatically the transmission speed of your system, either 300 or 1200 bps (bits per second), and the type of parity, based on the carriage returns you send it. From then on, it accepts ASCII commands. These commands can be entered manually from the keyboard, or you can use a program to send them. In my experience, a fancy modem control program is not needed, since the R2T2A can do just about everything by itself. The commands are all one or two letters long, so it takes little effort to type them. Table 1 briefly sum- marizes the R212A's command set. Features One of the nicest features of the R212A is its help dis- play. Most user-friendly software packages now have some sort of help facility. It's rare, though, to find a piece of peripheral equipment with one. The R212A's help dis- play, shown in photo 2 as it appears on the screen of my Zenith Z-89 computer, gives a brief description of each command. While the help goes no deeper than this (e.g., you can't ask the R212A to further explain the keyboard dial command), it is sufficient to jog your memory after you've read the instruction manual. Any intelligent modem should be able to automatically dial a phone number. The R212A can do that easily with the K (keyboard dial) command. Merely type a K, and the modem prompts for the phone number. Entering the number followed by a carriage return causes the R212A to dial the number. The R212A ignores spaces and hyphens, so the number can be entered in the usual manner. Don't try to use parentheses to enclose an area code, though; these have special meanings to the R212A. In addition to plain old auto-dialing, the R212A has the S (store) command for built-in number storage. The modem can store up to 10 phone numbers; each can be up to 60 characters long. When you want to dial a stored number, you need to enter only its index number (a digit from zero to nine). The numbers are saved in the modem's internal RAM (random-access read/write mem- ory), which has a battery backup in case there's no AC power. Rixon says the battery will last at least two years. In addition to the S command, the R212A has the D (dis- February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 293 tlXON R212A INTELLIGENT MODEM REV 4 1211 BPS H FOR HELP I KEYBOARD DIAL SI STORE I 1-9 DIAL I R REDIAL HII HULTI-REDML » DISPLAY IS SC LOGON CHAR T TEST C CLEAR IS ( CO ON-LINE OPTIONS X HANS UP 1 ANSWER I ORIGINATE NU HAYES I SUIT Photo 2: The help display generated by the RZ12A. Note the sign- on message at the top of the screen. The dollar sign is the modem's prompt character. Each of the commands shown is accessed by its one- or two-character mnemonic. At a Glance Name Rixon R2I2A Intelligent Modem Use Communication over voice-grade telephone lines at 300 or 1200 bits per second (bps) Manufacturer Rixon Inc. 2120 Industrial Parkway Silver Spring, MD 20904 (301) 622-2121 Size 1.5 by 6.25 by 97 inches Weight 2.5 pounds Features Direct-connect, to 300 bps plus 1200 bps; accepts ASCII commands from computer or terminal; holds 10 phone numbers plus identifying information in battery backed-up memory Hardware Needed Computer or terminal with RS-232C port, along with RS-232C interconnecting cable Software Needed Any communications program capable of sending and receiving over the computer's RS-232C port Documentation 78-page manual in a SW- by 8!/2-inch format Options None List Price S499 Command Definition K Keyboard dial; any telephone number may be entered directly from the computer or terminal keyboard, rather than using a number stored in the modem's memory. S# Store a telephone number in location #, where # is a number from zero to nine. The number may be up to 60 characters long, including comments. 0-9 Dial a number stored in the modem's memory (memory locations are numbered zero through nine). R Redial the last number dialed, M Multiple redial; redials the last number dialed up to 10 times before giving up. D Display the phone number directory. SC Set the "log-on" control characters; once set, the characters can be used within a log-on sequence to send stored text to the remote system and wait for a response. T Test mode. The R212A goes into a local loopback self-test, or a remote self-test if on C line. Clear all stored numbers. The R212A prompts to be sure this is really what is wanted. G Go back on line if previously disconnected with special "programmed disconnect" character. Option select (see table 3). X Hang up the phone line. A Forces the modem into "answer" mode when dialing a call (i.e., high-frequency modem tones). 1 Forces the modem into "originate" mode when dialing a call (i.e., low-frequency modem tones). NU Select Hayes mode. The R212A will recognize Hayes Smartmodem commands. Q Quit; causes the modem to "sign off" and return to noninteractive state. (Calls will still be auto-answered, though.) PARITY Typing the word PARITY in uppercase causes the R212A to detect the parity your system is using. Table 1: R212A command summary. play) command for displaying the directory. A sample directory is shown in photo 3. You'll notice in this picture that the phone numbers have text associated with them. This is a handy feature; I use it to save the name and/or description of the system associated with each phone number. You have to use a slash (/) following the phone number to indicate text. Everything after the slash is interpreted by the R212A as text. Also shown in photo 3 is an example of the S com- mand. At the bottom of the screen I typed S7, which means store a number in slot 7. The modem responded with the existing contents of slot 7, and with a message questioning whether I really wanted to change what was in that slot. I did, so the modem then prompted me for the new phone number— a simple, logical procedure. The R212A is well matched to modern telephone sys- tems. For example, it can detect the presence or absence of dial tones, and it will inform you if it can't get a dial 294 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. THE BUFFER DID IT. Who Stole The 1500 Letters From The Computer? Let's just say you've got to send a letter to 1500 different people. Would you like to spend 22.5 hours* or 60 seconds of 4^*0 * & computer time? With a garden- variety buffer, the computer has to mix, merge and send 1500 addresses and 1500 letters to the buffer. Trouble is, most buffers only store about 32 letters. So after 32 letters, the computer's down until the printer's done. Altogether, you're talking 22.5 hours. In the case of our new (not to mention amazing) ^tthar-- ShuffleBuffer, thar> there < Y °W love i !1 <3P a.e" we'll clue you in-on all the facts directly. \j> sja< 0*F .^ * Based on an average 4000 character letter & 128K buffer. ,„■««> «*** • ffi "* u,B - ■■■■■' ■ ■ -.■ ;. . ■ * f^ShuffleBuffer Th The Buffer with a Brain Interactive Structures Inc. 146 Montgomery Avenue Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004 BYTE February 1964 295 Photo 3: The R212A's directory display. The notations next to the phone numbers are stored as ASCII text by the modem. "BATCH" is a way to run a set of commands. The bottom of this display con- tains an example of storing a new phone number. tone by telling you "dead line." It can also interpret most busy signals and will inform you if the line is busy or if there is no answer. If you wish, you can use the R (redial) command to automatically redial the most recently dialed number. If you're really desperate to get through, you can use the M (multiple redial) command. This automatically redials the last number up to 10 times, with a brief pause between each attempt. In case redialing the same number isn't impressive enough, the R212A has something called linking. Any stored number can be linked to any other number. Then, if the first number is busy or does not answer, the modem automatically tries the linked number. So if your favorite bulletin-board system is busy, you can automatically try another one. It's possible to link numbers to each other, so the modem goes back and forth between them until it finally gets one to answer. You can also link several numbers, causing the R212A to try them all. If you link the last to the first, you get the modem's equivalent of an endless loop. Your phone line will be busy forever unless one of the numbers on the linked list answers or you manually abort the dial- ing operation. The R212A is capable of both tone and pulse dialing. If you don't instruct it otherwise, it tries to dial the first digit with a tone. If sending a tone fails to interrupt the dial tone, it assumes that the phone line works only with pulse dialing, and it dials the whole number with pulses. If the dial tone goes away after tone dialing the first digit, the modem dials the rest of the number with tones. You can, of course, put the modem into a tone-only or pulse- only mode, so it doesn't have to go through this detec- tive work each time it dials. Finally, the letters T and P can be embedded in phone numbers to manually switch Command Definition & Wait for intermediate dial tone; generally used with PBX (private branch exchange) systems where an access number must be used to get an outside line, °/o Pause 5 seconds; can be used to wait for access tone on long-distance services such as Sprint and MCI. P Forces pulse-dial mode for subsequent digits. T Forces tone-dial mode for subsequent digits. L Link to another stored number if this number is busy. / Comments. Everything following a slash character is treated as a comment. Comment characters are displayed in the directory but not dialed. Space Ignored. A space can be used within telephone numbers to improve readability. Table 2: Special characters in telephone numbers. between tone and pulse dialing. This is useful if you're on a PBX (private branch exchange) that understands only pulses, but you dial an access code to get an out- side line, which can use tones. The R212A can handle the whole dialing operation, including waiting for secon- dary dial tones. You can also use the percent (%) char- acter to cause a 5-second pause anywhere in a dialing sequence. Table 2 summarizes the special characters allowed within telephone numbers. Advanced Features In addition to storing phone numbers, text, and link codes, the R212A can store log-on sequences. A log-on sequence is a series of ASCII characters that the R212A sends down the phone line once it has detected a modem on the other end. This can be an account number, a password, or whatever. In effect, the log-on sequence lets you automatically log on to a remote sys- tem without lifting a finger. The log-on sequence is stored by enclosing it in square brackets ([ ]) when you store the phone number. The log-on sequence feature is very versatile. It can, for example, contain any ASCII control characters, not just printable ones. It can contain a special character that causes the R212A to wait for a specific response from the remote system before proceeding with the rest of the sequence. It can also contain secure characters, which are never displayed in the R212A's phone number direc- tory. Secure characters are enclosed in parentheses when you first store the log-on sequence. This is a useful fea- ture if you set up your modem to be used by others who should not know things like remote system passwords. Another advanced feature is the batch facility. Se- quences of commands can be enclosed in angle brackets (< >). The R212A buffers everything received after an open bracket and executes it (without echoing or prompting) after it sees the closed bracket. Therefore you can write a program that sends a series of commands to the modem all in one batch, without cluttering up your screen display. The contents of the batch buffer 296 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. printer TM Portable A new generation printer that combines portability, depend- ability and quality. Sprinter is travel convenience — lightweight and rugged with an easily removable travel cover and plenty of space for storage. Personal A friendly printer that is easy to operate. Ease of operation is top priority for this printer. A Softswitch ™ Control Pad allows the user to control forms' length , print density, tabulations, baud rate and character sets. Professional A fast printer, the 160 CPS Sprinter comes standard with a 4K buffer expandable to 68K with MPI's MemoryMate™ option. It comes equipped with an Easy Load™ front paper feed for quick paper insertion and handles everything from letterhead to multi-part forms. .—,_. Travel with the Best! See the Sprinter at your local computer store or call us for the dealer nearest you. 1 (800) 821-8848 Circle 259 on inquiry card. Micro Peripherals, Inc. 4426 So. Century Dr. • SLC, UT. 841 23 (801)263-3081 I OPTIONS: •-EXIT l-HSC ?-_ Photo 4: 77ie options menu displayed by the R212A in response to the command. Option 9 (dialing mode) has been selected. always appear on the directory display (photo 3), so you can see what your computer has been sending. In case you aren't satisfied with the way the R212A works, the designers give you a chance to change it with the O (options) command. This command calls up the menu shown in photo 4. There are 10 user-selectable op- tions shown in the menu. Some of these deal with such details as how the modem controls certain RS-232C lines, while some deal with more mundane issues, such as whether the modem sends the message ONLINE to you when it detects a carrier. Table 3 gives a brief summary of the options. Most people, however, should find that the default options are sufficient; I didn't even look at the other options until I had thoroughly played with the auto-dialing and other features. If your telephone system is old and uses dial tones with unusual sounds, which the modem might not be able to detect, you'll find that you need the O command and option number 7. Option 7, BLIND, causes the R212A to begin dialing a number after five seconds have elapsed, even if it doesn't detect a dial tone. Other Nice Touches The R212A has some other nice features, too. For ex- ample, the C (clear) command clears out all the stored phone numbers. Fortunately, the R212A gives you an "are you sure?" prompt before doing this. There is also a built-in self-test mode that loops back (connects the modem to itself) to make sure signals are being transmit- ted and received correctly. The R212A can also emulate a Hayes Smartmodem. This means that the Rixon modem can operate like a Hayes Smartmodem so that people who have invested in software that understands the Hayes modem can use the R212A with their old software. The Hayes modem is much more limited than the Rixon modem, however; it doesn't have number storage, linking, or log-on se- quences, and it doesn't detect dial tones. Also, it doesn't provide a help menu. I like all the Rixon features, so I haven't really used the Hayes-emulation mode except to test it. Number Name Definition 1 DISC Stores a special disconnect character. The character selected with this option, if typed 3 times in quick succession, will cause the modem to return to keyboard mode without disconnecting the telephone line. 2 AUTOQ Determines whether or not modem automatically exits keyboard mode 2 minutes after last keyboard entry. 3 ECHO Determines whether or not modem echoes back characters when in keyboard mode. 4 DSR ON Causes the Data Set Ready (DSR) lead to be either permanently on or on only in data mode. 5 CTSON Causes the Clear To Send (CTS) lead to be either permanently on or on only when the modem is ready to transmit. 6 LNGTH Selects 9- or 10-bit character length in 1200 bps mode. 7 BLIND Determines whether modem tries to detect dial tone automatically or merely dials blind after a 5-second wait. 8 ENQ Determines whether modem sends the ASCII character ENQ to a remote modem for handshaking purposes. 9 DIAL Selects tone, pulse, or automatic dialing, A ONLINE Determines whether or not the MSG modem issues an ONLINE message when it detects a remote modem's carrier. Table 3: R212A options (set by the command). Finally, in keeping with its industrial origins, Rixon has a version of this modem available without the case, for use in a card cage. If you have many modems at one site, this would be a good way to keep your modems organized. Documentation The R212A comes with a very comprehensive 87-page manual. The manual is well designed, full of figures and examples, but was obviously written with the industrial market in mind. It's a bit dry, and the organization is occasionally puzzling. For example, on page 4, it tells you how to disassemble the modem. I think I would rather see some setup information first. An index would also be useful. There is, however, a nice foldout sum- mary of all Rixon and Hayes commands and options. Complaints The lack of external adjustments makes the modem extremely simple to use; it cannot accidentally be set for the wrong speed, parity, or operating mode. The absence of controls also means that the modem can be located anywhere that's convenient; it doesn't have to be within easy reach of the operator. The absence of indicator lights or LEDs is another matter. Some people find it comfort- 298 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Circle 203 on Inquiry card. KEY TRONIC POLISHES THE APPLE IT KEYBOARD Eleven Function Keys Streamline Multiple Key Operations Keys in Familiar Typewriter Locations 10 Fool Cable For Portability Full Shifting Capability Numeric I'acl Enhance your APPLE II* Computer System with a Key Tronic keyboard peripheral. This detached, low-profile keyboard is plug-compatible with the existing keyboard socket of the Apple II. It also features reliable microprocessor electronics, solid-state capacitance switches, and positive tactile feedback. (;itl(iry direct. Apple II is ii ri key tronic Suggested Retail Price: $2<)K.()() To order Model KB-200 call 'loll Free 1-800*202*6006 for I be retailer closest to you. (7ani-l!pm Pacific Time) Warranty informal ion may be obtained, free of charge, by wrilinjJ: to the address below. THE RESPONSIVE KEYBOARD COMPANY DEPT.E1 • P.O. BOX 14687 • SPOKANE, WASHINGTON 99214 USA RETAILERS: For the Distributor in your aroa, call Toll Froo 1 -800-262-6006 Dopl. D (7am-3pm Pacific ing to watch the "transmit data" light on a modem wink at you as the bits are swallowed by the telephone net- work. You don't get that with the R212A. People who are accustomed to the Hayes Smartmodem may notice that the Rixon lacks the Hayes's monitor speaker. Per- sonally, I don't care to eavesdrop on modem conversa- tions, so I don't mind the lack of a speaker. These features aren't missed if everything is working, but if you're trying to track down a problem, like a broken wire in your RS-232C cable, you begin to see the need for them. For example, my one-year-old daughter got her hands onto the computer keyboard when I was experimenting with the modem. I returned to find that the modem would not respond to the computer; nothing I could type or do would make it respond. Finally I discovered that she had somehow entered the command to put it into Hayes mode, so none of the Rixon com- mands I was trying had any effect. I suppose this is an argument in favor of child-proof computers. Since the R212A is a new product, Rixon is bound to have its share of shakedown problems with it. I have ex- perienced two such problems. One was an undocu- mented "feature," while the other was actually a hard- ware failure. The feature problem arose because Rixon designed this modem to be compatible with a wide variety of terminals and computers. Some of these terminals apparently don't understand that normal modem handshaking re- quires one RS-232C signal (called DTR, or data terminal ready) to be active when talking to the modem. To get around this, Rixon installed a pull-up resistor on this line so that DTR is always active. That's fine most of the time, but it means that, unless the modem is turned off, it answers the phone— even when the computer is turned off. Not a very useful situation. The people at Rixon were very helpful when I complained about this and they told me how to disable it. The solution required cutting that pull-up resistor on the DTR line (R79 on the circuit board). This is no big deal, but people with no hard- ware experience might feel better asking a friend to do it. It's easier just to unplug the modem when it's not in use. The second problem was a fluke. During a thunder- storm, the phone line apparently took a lightning- induced jolt. It was not enough to knock out the phones, but it did cause the modem to behave peculiarly. For ex- ample, the modem kept the phone line off the hook when it was not supposed to. It turned out the light- ning had zapped a protective device. (Better than zap- ping the whole modem, I thought.) Since my modem was only a few weeks old at the time, the people at Rix- on replaced it with a new one, no questions asked. We have had more storms, but the replacement modem has not had any problems. Conclusions The Rixon R212A is an extremely intelligent modem that has auto-dialing features more powerful than many modem programs. It supports stored numbers, identi- fication text, log-on sequences, and several forms of auto- redial. It communicates with the user through a series of ASCII character commands that are documented in a self-contained help facility. The R212A is extremely easy to set up and use, yet offers many powerful options for sophisticated users. Some people may find the total lack of switches and indicators difficult to accept; in normal operation, however, they are not missed. Anyone who is in the market for a 300/1200 bps modem would do well to consider the R212A. At $499, it is definitely an "intelligent" choice. ■ Chuck Weger (do Oldenberg, 331 6th St. NE, Washington, DC 20003) is an independent consultant specializing in computer graphics. He was formerly on the technical staff of Computer Sciences Corporation. SATISFY YOUR DRIVES z-eoAwith 256- Kbytes RAM as: FAST RAM DISK A: 192K bytes 64K USER RAM ROM DISK B: CP/M, COPY, DIP,, LOG pgms. DISK C: 192K byte 5V<" floppy drive DISK D: optional external expansion DISK E: optional external expansion • Bundled with software Included on 5V<" floppy disk. • R/W IBM, KAYPRO, MORROW and OSBORNE disks. • Transpor1able-7 ,, hx4"wx14"d,8lbs„ 120 VAC 40 W • (2) RS-232C serial ports (110-19,200 baud) • (1) Bi-dlrectlonal parallel port (incl. Centronics) • (1) Expansion buss (up to 256K addl. RAM or ROM) EXPAND YOUR (computer's) MIND ... 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PC PEACOCK" Brings Living Color to YourJBM.fiC™ IIS sro ::::::!!:" ■ ■B Computing is dull in black and white. But it doesn't have to be. PC PEACOCK brings the excitement of color to your IBM computer. Pictures, charts and graphs "come alive" in multicolor brilliance. PC PEACOCK works with all color and composite mono- chrome displays to produce crisp, detailed images. You'll see your favorite programs in the splendor of color. PC PEACOCK is fully compatible with all software for your IBM PC — including the wide variety of graphics programs. The medium multicolor mode and high resolution monochrome mode enhance your display capabilities for business, home and education. And PC PEACOCK is convenient. Its parallel port allows you to connect a printer to your com- puter without wasting an additional expansion slot. Connections for all displays (RGB, composite, monochrome and televisions) are included. PC PEACOCK is designed to provide years of worry free performance and is backed with an outstanding TWO YEAR warranty. So bring living color to your IBM PC, with the PC PEACOCK Color Graphics Adapter. PC PEACOCK is available now at your local IBM dealer. For more information on all of MA Systems IBM and Apple products, please call or write mfl svsTcms INCORPORATED 2015 OToole Ave., San Jose, CA 95131 (408) 943-0596 Circle 226 on inquiry card. IBM PC is a trademark of International Business Machines Corp PC PEACOCK is a trademark ot MA Systems lnc Both letter-quality and draft hard copy Fastest document throughput in its class Industry standard serial and parallel interfaces. *ftir our Uaptana con.ai-tatian lifting* of ava Lata* haan thai a>*t ■at for your nai raildanci htrt in Hat lilting! 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Or call J fJ| toll-free: 1-800-527-3500. ^ff Texas Instruments Copyright © 1983 Texas Instruments ' Trademark of Texas Instruments 302 BYTE February 1984 Creating useful products and services for you. 291380 Software Review SAVVY This easy-to-use system actually learns from you by Peter V. Callamaras Imagine finding one package that combines the ele- ments of hardware, software, and firmware with some general-purpose business applications and doesn't re- quire a master's degree in computer science to under- stand or to use. In addition, the package understands plain ordinary English. What would you call it? Incredi- ble? A lifesaver? Well, Excalibur Technologies Corpora- tion calls it Savvy. Savvy is a system that runs on an Apple or an IBM PC (Personal Computer) and is unique in the personal computer arena. The Apple hardware consists of a plug- in card for slot 7 of the motherboard. Much like the CP/M cards available for the Apple, the Savvy card contains a Z80 processor and support chips plus the necessary Savvy ROM chips. The Apple's 6502 processor becomes a subordinate controller for the microprocessor. The IBM PC, on the other hand, requires no unique hardware ad- ditions. The Savvy software consists of four disks con- taining a set of business-type applications, a set of dem- onstration programs, and a robot programmer. Ease of Use The intent of Savvy is to make it easy for the noncom- puter-oriented Apple or IBM PC owner to perform busi- ness and professional tasks. Actually, easy is an under- statement. Savvy usually knows what you want to do, even if you misspell the command. The operating system is oriented toward human or natural language. Usually, if you want to perform a particular set of oper- ations, you must follow a very precise, unforgiving set of instructions. For instance, if you want to scan a data- base for any BYTE articles on AI (artificial intelligence), you would follow this scenario: 1. Call the search-retrieve module. 2. Input the correct information in the key search fields. Example: first search field = BYTE second search field = Article third search field = Artificial Intelligence 3. Initiate the database manager that retrieves the records matching your search criteria. To perform the same operation with Savvy, all you need to enter is: "get me all the BYTE atricles on artificial in- telligence." The system then retrieves the articles. Note the misspelling of the word articles. Normally, if a mis- spelling occurs, you get an error message and must reenter the data. This system can usually figure out what you mean. The process Savvy uses is called adaptive pat- tern recognition, or learning. The learning comes from you. The more you use the system, the more it learns. The Savvy system builds up patterns to compare with your input. If it finds one or more exact match, Savvy returns those items. If there is no match, however, Savvy makes a guess by finding a pattern that comes close to your input. For example, if you ask people to identify a city from a skyline pic- ture, they mentally match the picture to skylines they have seen before. Most people can easily tell the dif- ference between New York and Paris, for instance. If you show them pictures of 10 different skylines, they should be able to identify them easily. This is what Savvy does. February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 303 At a Glance Name Savvy Manufacturer Excalibur Technologies Corp. 800 Rio Grande Blvd. NW 21 Mercado Plaza Albuquerque, NM 87104 (505) 242-3333 Hardware Z80-based plug-in card on Apple; four applications disks Computer Apple (H, II+, He), 48K- or 64K-byte IBM PC; two 5/4 -inch floppy-disk drives; optional 80-column display, monitor, and printer Features Integrated operating system, pattern recognition, virtual memory, natural-language programming, 63-place decimal arithmetic Compatibility IBM PC, IBM PC XT, other PC-compatibles Documentation 146-page programming manual and 330-page loose-leaf reference manual Warranty Limited one-year Price S950 Audience Nontechnical computer users; business and professional computer users desiring an easy-to-use set of programs; those interested in a pattern-recognition system It gives you the best answer based on. patterns it has observed previously. To continue the skyline analogy, if you ask people to identify a city and then show them an evening picture of the skyline from a slightly different angle, they can probably connect the two. Savvy does this also; in fact, the more you use the system, the better it discriminates between patterns. Excalibur Technologies claims to have a proprietary method of ensuring the integrity of Sav- vy's pattern-recognition system so you can't overload it with too many patterns. There is no need for the user of Savvy to have any par- ticular computer skills or background. The system does everything possible to make it easy for the noncomputer- oriented user. For example, if you want to temporarily lock the value of an item or a variable, you tell Savvy to "freeze" the item. When you want to change the value, you simply "thaw" the item. The developers of Savvy have gone out of their way to eliminate as much com- puter jargon as possible. This leads us to a strong point in the Savvy system: the ability to program without any programming back- ground. You use your own words to describe what Sav- vy is supposed to do. It is very close to programming in your natural language. As an example, instead of com- ing up with some algorithm to add two numbers, mul- tiply the sum by a third number, and print the result, you simply tell Savvy to "take number one, add it to number two, then multiply the sum by a third number and display the result," using almost those exact words. The robot programmer that comes with the Savvy sys- tem, one of the more highly touted parts of the system, is designed to help you establish your own databases. You can use it only to write databases. For instance, if you want to create a database for birthdays, you can use the robot programmer to write it. You follow the manual and prompts to configure the input formats, relations, search criteria, and output. Then the robot programmer writes the code while you watch. When the robot finishes, you can input the names, dates, addresses, and whatever else you want in your database. Once it is established, you can search for, up- date, and output information from it. Typically, you might ask it to list all family members who have birth- days in March or all the members of the local church who were born on the 15th of any month. The relationships can be as simple or as complex as you wish, and you ask for the information in plain English. Applications The Savvy applications programs include a text pro- cessor with a mailing-list feature and a set of standard business accounting applications, with accounts receiv- able, accounts payable, inventory management, payroll, and general ledger. The text processor is not designed for heavy word- processing applications but works fine for writing short letters. The mailing-list feature enables Savvy to generate your printed letters. File size is not the problem here; the software just isn't available yet. In the payroll module, you set up a payroll file, sub- tract any individual deductions and taxes, record time data, and print out both checks and a payroll summary report. The accounts-payable/receivable packages track receipts and expenditures by client or supplier as well as service charges, past-due accounts, payment due dates, and all the other standard AP/AR data. The general ledger tracks your accounts, prints checks for expenditures, runs trial balances and prints income statements. Finally, the inventory-management program estab- lishes your inventory and tracks changes in stock levels. You can set up the inventory to include parts numbers, descriptions, stock levels, costs and prices, reorder points, and storage-location information. As you can see, Savvy is primarily designed for small business or professional use, and in that context it does an adequate job. If you find that the applications don't meet your needs as written, you can enhance or modify them as you wish. The package includes the source code, and you can use the programming facilities of the Savvy system to make any changes. Documentation The accompanying documentation is an important part of the Savvy system. I received a large loose-leaf 304 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. TM Now you can buy flexible disks with a five year warranty from Control Data. A lot of companies make diskettes. But Control Data also makes disk drives. In fact, we're the leading indepen- dent supplier of disk drives to computer manufacturers. Now we've put our exper- tise into a truly superior line: StorageMaster diskettes from Control Data. You can choose from a com- Circle 90 on inquiry card. plete line of premium 8" and 5.25" diskettes in single or double densities, single or double-sided. And each dis- kette is 100% certified and backed by a 5 year warranty. So you can depend on them to perform for years to come. Look for StorageMaster diskettes at your local com- puter store or ask for them from your computer supplies distributor. Or give us a call toll-free at 1-800/328-6207 (in Minnesota call 612/853-8065) and we'll tell you where to find StorageMaster diskettes. CONTRpL DATA BYTE February 1984 305 jNt are better than one Is your Apple's 6502 processor chip a little overworked lately? Have you been eyeing one of those new, 16-bit systems? But you don't want to give up all your Apple pro- grams ... Add the powerful 16-bit 8088 processor to your Apple with ALF's Processor Card. Let the 6502 and 8088 work together to tackle your toughest problems— like speeding up your Applesoft and Apple Pascal programs. With the Processor Card, you can use the CP/M™ 86 or MS-DOS™ operating system to run the latest 16-bit software, including many IBM PC programs. 64K or 128K of high-speed memory is available for ALF's Processor Card. Use the Processor Card with 128K as a fast disk emulator or to view sixteen hi-res images in under a second. Or run Basic, C, COBOL, or Pascal with 16-bit performance! The ALF Processor Card is just $395 (Ap- plesoft speed-up software included). See your Apple dealer today, or contact ALF for more information. Trademarks: "Apple": Apple Computer, "CP/M": Digital Research, "MS-DOS": Microsoft. ALF ALF Products Inc. .i m i„~r, C5 ti Denver, CO B0215 iCJB71 Telex: 4991824 binder and a separate Savvy programming manual. The manual is fairly straightforward, and you are led through the various Savvy functions with extensive use of the tutorial approach and actual screen images of the dialog between the user and Savvy. Almost no technical jargon is included. My only complaint is that Excalibur Tech- nologies used a rather small typeface and packed every page full of information. Consequently, it takes a long time to go through the documentation. Conclusion Savvy is a combination of hardware, software, firm- ware, and applications programs designed for small business or professional use. The actual system consists of a plug-in board (for Apple users) and four disks. The package also includes two sets of support documenta- tion. Communicating with the Savvy system through English-like conversations makes it very quick and easy for the noncomputer-oriented user to get up to speed. The more you use the Savvy system, the more it recog- nizes your commands. You can use the system's robot- programming capabilities to write all sorts of databases using English-like instructions. Savvy requires no specific programming skills and after using it for a while, you can become quite adept at writing your own Savvy programs. The applications are pretty much no-frills business programs, consisting of a document- or letter-writing module with mailing-label capabilities, payroll, accounts- payable/receivable modules, general ledger and inven- tory management. You can modify or enhance any of these modules. The documentation is voluminous, but complete, and does a good job of leading the user through the various functions and capabilities of the Savvy system. Savvy costs $950; a fairly large investment. You also need at least a 48K-byte Apple system (Apple II, II Plus, or He) or a 64K-byte (currently it won't use more) IBM PC, two disk drives, a monitor with an 80-column dis- play, and finally a printer. To make a choice, you must balance the unique operating and programming capa- bilities Savvy offers against a set of specific application programs for your word processing and business needs. Overall, Savvy is a very easy-to-use, friendly system that requires almost no background in computers. I en- joyed using the Savvy system, but reviewing it was not easy, as I could have spent many pages on any one of its capabilities. I look forward to seeing how Savvy's unique abilities affect the way people interact with com- puters in the future. ■ Peter V. Callamams (HQ AFCC/EPPB, Scott AFB, IL 62225) is an officer in the Air Force. He has degrees in computer technology and biological sciences, and a master's degree in systems management. He has been interested in com- puters since 1966 and was formerly the service department manager of a com- puter store. 306 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Circle 310 on inquiry card. WATCH THE BIG GUYS ■■■■■HMMHlanHHMMHHHMWianHMHMniMi tit righ Fa i ■ i j wa n t to i i : ] ■ : energy, manufacturing, i i ation well is tens of thousands of indlvidua i owners picked Qubie' for their PC or XT i , THE PEOPLES CHOICE You can't gather an impressive list oh ithout great products. You just have to be impressed with MegaPlus II™. SlxPakPlus ", and the Qubie' PC212A/1200 i.irti. MegaPlus ll ,u is the mosi PJexibJi duel available for the PC. ii SixPakPlus'", has quickly become the number one selling i for IBM PC's. The Qubie' modem card ! ;>l microprocessors. to provide flawless ce at 300 or 1200 baud. It even comes with PC-TALK III™ software, the program PC WORLD magazine called, "The benchmark that other PC communications packages are measured against". All this for under $300. No wonder the Fortune 500 is impressed! THE RIGHT PRICE Our prices don't just look good, (hey are. No extra charges for shipping, testing, insurance, credit cards, or COD fees. If you are in a hurry, 2 day air service is available extra. We also offer a ive, our PREFERRED MER PLAN. For $50 ill extend your warranty a second year, perform warranty pairs within 24 hours, and return your board by UPS blue label air service. DON'T FORGET SERVICE We will be there when you need us. Knowledgeable people to answer your questions before and after you buy. Warranty repairs are performed within 48 hours or we replace your board. All products are guaranteed for one year on parts and labor. If not completely satisfied within 30 days of purchase, return your- board for a complete refund including the postage. Join our mpressive customers. ou'Il be glad you did. TO ORDER BY PHONE: In CA (805) 987-9741 Outside CA (800) 821-4479 TO ORDER BY MAIL: Send a complete description of products, and your daytime phone number. Include check or credit card with expiration date. (Personal checks take 14 days to clear). California residents add 6% sales tax. CORPORATIONS & INSTITUTIONS Call for details on terms and delivery before mailing your purchase order. If your organi zation needs large quantities we ave the prices and quick delivery you need. QUBIE 4809 Calle Alto, Camarillo, CA 93010 Tempo House, 15 Falcon Road, London SW11, United Kingdom -^*vv Software Review The Micro-Sci Gameport III for the Apple III How to upgrade your Apple III to an Apple II and recapture the fun of computing by William J. Purpura and Paula K. Purpura The Apple III is a high-powered, sophisticated com- puter, but you can't use it to play Space Raiders, Chop- lifter, or any Apple II games that require a joystick or paddles. The Apple III was designed to utilize more than 64K bytes of RAM, and this design did away with the per- manent memory locations used by the Apple II paddles. The new joystick input designed for the Apple III, although it has a much better A/D (analog to digital) con- verter than the Apple II's, is not much help. Most Apple II games were written to use the Apple II paddles or joy- sticks, and we couldn't find any game software designed specifically for the Apple III. Until now, Apple III owners have had to sit back and let the fun slip by. Now, Micro-Sci (2150 South Hathaway St., Santa Ana, CA 92705, (714) 662-2801) has come to the rescue with Photo 1: The Gameport III board. the Gameport III. Gameport III is an inexpensive ($74.95) card that plugs into an Apple III slot to emulate the Apple II's normal game I/O (input/output) port. With this slick little board in place, most Apple II game soft- ware will run on the Apple III. Micro-Sci has assured us that it has found only one Apple II game, Frogger, that does not work with the Gameport III. Frogger uses a unique joystick reading routine, which is sensitive to the individual joystick used and causes problems on both the Apple II and the Apple III. Installation of the Gameport III is extremely easy (just insert it in a slot), and the instructions provided by Micro-Sci are simple. One caution: the 16-pin connec- tor from the joystick or paddle must be aligned prop- erly in the socket on Gameport Ill's board. If, for ex- ample, the game won't recognize the joystick button or the position of the joystick, the cable is probably not plugged in correctly, so double-check the installation before powering up your computer. Once the hardware is installed, the Apple II emula- tion disk supplied with the Apple III must be modified to handle the Gameport III. Micro-Sci provides a disk that will simplify this chore. You boot Micro-Sci' s disk, which will then ask for the Apple II emulation disk and will modify it without further action on your part. The whole process takes a few minutes. A few older versions of this board may require a minor hardware modification to run correctly. This is due to a problem discovered after the first units had been in the field awhile. When the Gameport III is activated in something other than Apple II emulation mode, it causes problems with the normal Apple III SOS (super oper- 308 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. ating system) operation. For this reason, the Gameport III is disabled automatically on power-up or CONTROL- RESET. To make the Gameport III operational, the user must press button one on the joystick or paddles. (Remember to do this while the game is loading, or you might end up with certain incorrectly initialized inputs.) It seems that a significant amount of EMI (electromag- netic interference) noise is generated inside the Apple III card-slot area. This high level of noise, particularly during disk operation, occasionally caused the Game- port III to turn on, leading to all sorts of system failures. This happened to us during a disk-copy operation, which failed with a "Stack Overflow" message. The solution to the problem turned out to be simple. In Apple II emulation mode, the Apple III can only output the high-resolution color signal on the NTSC pin. " A 0.1 micro-farad capacitor (ceramic type, nonpolarized) must be soldered between pins 2 and 8 of the 16-pin game connector on the trace side of the old version of the Gameport board. Micro-Sci assures us that all new boards have this modification, and anyone who has ex- perienced such system failures with their board should contact the Micro-Sci Customer Service Group at (714) 662-2801. Anyone who is using an RGB (red, green, blue) monitor with the Apple III should be aware that in Apple II emulation mode, the Apple III can only output the high-resolution color signal on the NTSC (National Tele- vision System Committee) pin. This means that such monitors can only display color games in black and white. The problem is in the design of the Apple III and is not a fault of Gameport III. The exception is the Elec- At a Glance Name Gameport III Use Permits the use of Apple II paddle/joystick game software on the Apple III Manufacturer Micro-Sci Corporation 2150 South Hathaway St. Santa Ana. CA 92705 (7I4| 662-2801 Price S 74.95 Components Card, disk Name Manufacturer A2FS.1 Sublogic ABM Muse Alien Rain Broderbund Alien Typhoon Broderbund Bug Attack Cavalier Cannon Ball Blitz Sierra On-Line Castle Wolfenstein Muse Choplifter Broderbund David's Midnight Magic Broderbund Dog Fight Microlabs Falcons Picadilly Fire Organ Vagabond Jaw Breaker Sierra On-Line Lunar Leeper Sierra On-Line Olympic Decathlon Microsoft Pest Patrol Sierra On-Line Planetoids Adventure International Pool 1.5 IDSI Raiders of the Lost Ring Cavalier Raster Blaster Budgeco Snack Attack Data Most Sneakers Sirius Space Invaders Apple Space Raiders United Software of America Space War Apple Star Blazer Broderbund Star Cruiser Sirius Suicide Picadilly Super Invader California Pacific Thunderbirds-GX Urban Soft Zenith Gebelli The above list is by no means comprehensive. Table 1: The following are games we tested with the Gameport III that require either paddles or joysticks. trohome RGB monitor, since Electrohome has an adapter board to convert the NTSC signal back to RGB. Unfor- tunately, this board will work only with Electrohome monitors. An annoying aspect of using the Gameport III is that each time the user wants to run a new game or use the computer in normal Apple II emulation mode, the sys- tem must be rebooted. One of the game manufacturers' piracy-prevention strategies is to set up disks so that the user cannot exit to the operating system while running a game. The rebooting procedure can be frustrating (par- ticularly when you're reviewing lots of games), but it does not detract much from the joy of turning the serious and dull Apple III into a fun-loving Apple II. Summary The Gameport III is a must for anyone with an Apple III who would like to run Apple II game software. The price is not out of line for the fun provided. Check to be sure that the unit you buy already has the capacitor modification for reliability. ■ William ]. Purpura holds master's degrees in mechanical engineering and business administration and works as a project engineer for Rockwell International. Paula K. Purpura is a senior systems engineer at Thermco Products Corp- oration and has a B.S. in computer science and an M.B.A. The authors can be reached at 5810 Paseo Ferrelo, Anaheim, CA 92807. February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 309 Software Review The Videx Ultraterm A video-display card that enables the Apple to display up to 160 columns or 48 lines by Peter V. Callamaras The Videx Ultraterm is a new video-display card de- signed to plug into any Apple II (II, II Plus, or He) to enable the Apple to display more than its standard 40 columns. Before the introduction of this display card, Apple owners had only two choices concerning the number of columns they could display: they could accept the stan- dard 40 columns or add a peripheral card to give the Apple 80 columns. In either case the number of rows, or lines displayed, was limited to 24. The Ultraterm offers Apple owners a greater choice of displays (see table 1). In addition to adding to the amount of information you can display on the screen (see photo 1), the Ultraterm actually enhances the visual display with these features: •a standard high-resolution character set (7- by 9-dot font) •a high-quality character set (9- by 16-dot font) •the ability to choose between normal or inverse-video display •the ability to display the characters in either a high- light, normal, or lowlight mode (this refers to the relative brightness of the characters on the screen) •a 15-character line-drawing set as part of the standard character set • seven block graphics characters as part of the standard character set •96 ASCII (American National Standard Code for In- formation Interchange) characters with true descenders The Ultraterm also gives you the ability to "program" your video display using any or all of the available modes (highlight, lowlight, inverse, etc.), a built-in soft switch that will automatically give you the 80-column mode when you boot either Pascal or CP/M, and a well-written users manual. The features are impressive, yet the Ultraterm is also easy to install and use. After you open the top of the Apple and ground yourself to the power supply (by touching the large gold unit in the left-rear corner of the computer), simply plug the Ultraterm board into one of the Apple's expansion slots and plug a two-wire molex Photo 1: An example of one of the text formats possible with the Videx Ultraterm card for the Apple II. In this mode, the Apple can display an incredible 48 lines of 80-column text. 310 Rbruary 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. At A Glance Name Ultraterm Video-Display Card Manufacturer Videx Inc. 897 NW Grant Ave. Corvallis, OR 97330 (S03J 758-0521 Price S379 Software Demonstration disk Hardware Required Apple II, II Plus, or He Capabilities 40-160 columns, 24-48 lines, two character sets, four intensity levels, added graphics and line-drawing character sets Documentation Well-written 78-page manual Warranty 90 days, workmanship and material Audience Any Apple owner desiring more than 40-column display; all business or professional Apple users The Preboots Name Ultraterm Applewriter ll/lle Preboot Price S29 Audience Apple users who want Applewriter II in more than 40 columns and 24 lines Name Ultraterm Visicalc Preboot Price S69 Audience Anyone who uses Visicalc connector into the Ultraterm board (one end of the con- nector into the normal Apple video-output port and the other to your monitor). Put the top back on your Apple, turn it on, and begin. With the Ultraterm, you must use a monitor for a video-display terminal because a standard television set cannot handle an 80-column display. The monitor must have at least a 15-MHz bandwidth to handle up to the 132-column mode or a 20-MHz bandwidth for the 160- column mode (extended bandwidth is required because of the Ultraterm's 28-MHz clock). It must also have a high-persistence phosphor because the Ultraterm uses an interlaced display mode to give more than 24 lines in the 32-/48-line modes. Potential Ultraterm owners Columns Rows Display type 40 24 Normal Apple display 80 24 Standard 80-column display 80 24 High-quality 80-column 80 32 Extended 80-column 80 48 Extended 80-column 96 24 Extended-column display 128 32 Extended/Visicalc display 132 24 Super-extended display 160 24 Ultra-extended display Table 1: The Videx Ultraterm offers Apple owners a choice of displays. should examine their current monitors or any potential monitor purchase to insure that they meet these criteria. Tests conducted by Videx have shown that the follow- ing monitors can be used successfully with the Ultra- term: •The Apple Monitor III is suitable for all displays ex- cept 160-column. It is the Videx monitor of choice for use with the Ultraterm. •A NEC JB-902M will display all video modes, in- cluding 160-column, but the short-persistence phosphor causes the display to flicker. The 9-inch screen makes anything over 80 columns hard to read. •The NEC JB-1201M will perform the same as the NEC JB-902M, but the 12-inch screen makes it easier to see 80+ columns. •The Ledex/Amdek 100 was the monitor I first used with the Ultraterm. It worked well in 80 columns, but is unsuitable if you wish to take advantage of the extended-column modes. •Amdek 300A is the monitor I now use. It is superb; not only does it have an amber screen (easier on the eyes), but it can take advantage of all the Ultraterm fea- tures. It has both the necessary bandwidth and phos- phor persistence needed to go to 160 columns and 48 rows. If you are not now using or contemplating buying one of these monitors, I would encourage you to check with your local computer dealer about the compatibility of other specific monitors. If your dealer is unable to help you, check with the Videx technical services departmenr. The folks at Videx are happy to answer consumer questions. The only problem I had while using the Ultraterm was with some of the popular Pascal programs that normal- ly display in the Apple 40-column mode. Specifically, PFS, Wizardry, and Visischedule will "fool" the Ultra- term into thinking it is supposed to be in the 80-column mode, and you end up with no display! The solution is to plug your monitor directly into the Apple's video- output port. Or, if you use any of these software pack- ages often, you can install a Videx switch plate for a simpler switchover. February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 311 Besides the obvious advantages of the expanded-dis- play area, there are some other handy features available with the Ultraterm. Using the programmable "alternative attributes," you can display either standard or high- quality character sets in inverse or normal video with highlight or lowlight brightness. You can also get other character sets from Videx on EPROMs (erasable program- mable read-only memories) featuring some common foreign characters. Special Features The high-quality character set uses a 9- by 16-dot matrix instead of the standard 7- by 9-dot matrix. It is easier to read, although I found the standard set satisfac- tory. The relative brightness of the display can be con- trolled with the highlight/lowlight feature. This means that you can have a screen display with some characters brighter (or dimmer) than others. (This can be useful for emphasis.) You can also combine the highlight/lowlight feature with the normal/inverse screen capability to ex- tend the emphasis capabilities of the screen display. For instance, you could show an important caution or warn- ing message in an inverse highlight, while the normal text would be in a lowlight, normal-video mode. The uses are limited only by your imagination. Again, both Pascal and CP/M will come up automati- cally in 80-column mode; there is no need to buy addi- tional hardware or make any modifications. I found this feature handy because I often switch back and forth be- tween programs. With the standard Videx Videoterm I sometimes forgot to throw the switch to the right out- put. The built-in soft switch makes the Ultraterm easier to use. The Ultraterm's capabilities are also programmable, so you can customize your screen displays if you wish. A chapter in the manual addresses the various methods and techniques for programming your screen displays to take advantage of the Ultraterm's wide capabilities. BASIC, Pascal, and assembly-language information is in- cluded. One note: there are changes in how some video displays work with the Ultraterm installed, such as the loss of the FLASH command capability, but this is all documented in the manual. The Videx Preboots Videx sells a set of preboot disks that allow you to enhance some of the more popular software in conjunc- tion with the Ultraterm. The preboots are separate disk-based programs that you have to load into the Apple before you load an ap- plication program. The preboot then configures the Apple and Ultraterm to give you some special features. The preboot will first ask you to select one of several op- tions and it sets up the Ultraterm accordingly. You then load the application program as you would normally. The preboots do not make changes to the application program, so there is no need to worry about voiding war- ranties or writing things to your application disks. Let's take a look at two currently available preboots. Applewriter II/IIe Preboot The Applewriter preboot program gives you the abil- ity to display more than 40 columns and 24 lines. Your choices are: 80 columns by 24 lines, 80 columns by 32 lines, or 80 columns by 48 lines. As mentioned before, you need a good monitor to use the 80-column feature. The extended displays make a big difference in how you process words. I found that the 80 by 48 display gives me a better "feel" for how my final documents will look because it is so close to the actual size of a physical page (80 by 55). Most first-time users will probably prefer the 24-line mode until they get used to the slightly smaller characters that are used with the 32- and 48-line modes. This preboot works with either Applewriter II or He. Just follow the instructions on the instruction sheet. HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR MICRO Introducing Scott. Foresmarfs new line of microcomputer books. II FOR THE PROGRAMMER ;AHOW-TO-DO-ITBOOK Nelson T. Dinerstein AT YOUR FINGERTIPS: MAKING THE MOST OF THE MICRO by Jeff Berner. Based on the popular BBC television show currently seen on PBS stations around the country. A lively, fully illustrated introduction to microcomputers and their applications. dBASE II FOR THE PRO- GRAMMER: A HOW-TO-DO-IT BOOK by Nelson T. Dinerstein. This book helps professional programmers develop quality application systems in dBase II. Includes numerous programs, sub- routines, and advice on overcoming common programming problems. A LIBRARY OF SUBROUTINES FOR THE IBM PERSONAL COMPUTER by David S. Walonick. Packed with tested subroutines for a wide range of personal and business applications, including subroutines on time, math, sorting, printing, and keyboarding This book can help you cut your programming time in half! To order, contact your local bookstore or computer store, or write to Scott, Foresman and Company Professional Publishing Group, Dept. BY-1 1900 East Lake Avenue Glenvlew, IL 60025 312-729-3000 312 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Circle 326 on Inquiry card. PGS introduces the no-compromise monitor to meet your no-compromise needs. High resolution Once you've invested in a first-rate computer, you don't want to compromise with a second-rate monitor. That's why PGS introduced the first no-compromise monitor, the Princeton HX- 1 2. It set the price/ performance standard for high resolution RGB color monitors. Super resolution Now we're introducing the first no-compromise monitor in the super resolution class. It's our new SR- 1 2: an RGB monitor that meets the most demanding expectations at a price that will surprise you. Monochrome And, for price/performance in a monochrome monitor, we're introducing the MAX- 1 2: our new amber monitor that's as easy on the eyes as it is on your budget. The monitor to meet your needs All three PGS monitors are engineered for no-compromise performance to provide you with a cleaner, sharper image than any other monitor in the same price class. The HX- 1 2 and the SR- 1 2 both feature uncompromising color conver- gence for crisp whites without color bleed. The MAX- 1 2 offers impressive clarity in a mono- chrome monitor with easy-on- the-eyes amber phosphor. And all three monitors come with a non-glare screen and a shielded cable that plugs directly into the IBM PC or XT. The HX- 1 2 has the highest resolution (690x240) and the finest dot pitch (31mm) in its class. And yet its suggested retail price is comparable to many medium resolution • monitors. The HX- 1 2 brings no-compromise color to the PC and now, with the PGS RGB-80 board, to the Apple He as well. Suggested retail price: S695. The new SR- 1 2 , in conjunction with the PGS high performance color graphics card, also features a .3 1 mm dot pitch supporting 690 horizontal resolution. However, by increasing the horizontal scan rate to 27.5 KHz, the SR- ! 2 can support 400 vertical resolution in non- interlaced mode. This results in a very high quality, flickerless image with the ability to gener- ate graphics and text that is truly of monochrome quality. Suggested retail price: S799. The new MAX- 1 2 offers you easy-on-the-eyes amber with 720x350 resolution at a sug- gested retail price (S249) that is actually lower than the leading green-on-black competitor. And the MAX- 1 2 runs off the IBM PC monochrome card — no special card is required. Clarity of the Max 1 2 is en- hanced by dynamic focusing circuitry which ensures sharp- ness not only in the center but also in the edges and corners. Suggested retail price: S249. Whatever your needs, from word processing to super reso- lution graphics, there's now a no-compromise PGS monitor that sets the standard. Ask your dealer for a demonstration and let your eyes decide. Or call for more information and the name of your nearest dealer. You can look to PGS for the Image your eyes deserve. Princeton Graphic Systems 1 101 -I State Road Princeton, New Jersey 08540 609 683-1660 TLX 6857009 PGS Prin Circle 301 on inquiry card. Nationwide service provided by Bell & Howell Service Company and MAI Sorbus Service Company. Here's just a taste of our great prices. TRS-80 DOS PLUS 3.5 S89.00 HOME ACCOUNTANT mod III 59.50 LNW EXPANSION W/32K 345.00 PICKELS & TROUT CP/M mod 2,16 195.00 SUPPLIES FLIP-SORT holds 50 $ 19.95 FLIP-SORT PLUS holds 100 24.50 BIB 5'/." DISK CLEANER 8.95 PLASTIC LIBRARY CASE 2.50 IBM TO PARALLEL CABLE 30.00 ISO II SIX SOCKET ISOLATOR 49.95 3M S.S.D.DEN 40 TRACK 22.00 D.S.D.DEN 40 TRACK 34.50 VERBATIM DATALIFE S.S.D.DEN 525-01 24,50 DSD. DEN 550-01 42.50 RIBBONS DIABLO HY TYPE II FILM 5.95 NEC or C.ITOH DOT MATRIX 8.50 EPSON MX-80— RX-80 8,95 PRINTERS EPSON GRAFTRAX PLUS $60,00 EPSON RX-80 299.00 EPSON FX-80 CALL FINGER PRINT for EPSON 54,95 GEMINI 10 X 318,00 GRAPHICARD PRINTER INTERFACE 99.00 JUKI 6100 LETTER DUALITY 509.00 MICROBUFFER II 32K 209.00 OKIDATA 92A PARALLEL 450.00 PRINTEHFACE lor APPLE 75.00 TTX LETTER QUALITY w/Traolor 529.00 APPLE 128K ALPHA BYTE RAM BOARD $ 299.00 EPS KEYBOARD Programmable 299.00 HAYES MACH III JOYSTICK 37.50 INDUS DISK DRIVE 287.00 MICROSOFT 2-80 SOFTCARD 229.00 QUENTIN APPLEMATE 230.00 RANA ELITE 1 259.00 SUPERFAN II w/Zener Protection 79.00 SUPER 5 ^€ix!S^&&j^3*tt^\x*ttjsa*tfa*s>**&2'a3* lll > :B ''" "Your Portfolio, Sir." DOW JONES INVESTMENT EVALUATOR™- the computer software that serves your personal investment needs at home, accurately and efficiently. A Personalized System With the INVESTMENT EVALUATOR, your home computer and a telephone modem, you have a personalized system for managing your portfolio. A system that automatically updates and tracks only those stocks you want to follow — allowing you to evaluate your position at a glance. Easy Access to News /Retrieval® This software automatically dials and connects you with Dow Jones News /Retrieval®, the world's leading supplier of computerized infor- mation on demand. It allows you and your family access to current quotes, financial and business news, general news, movie reviews, sports, weather and even the Academic American Encyclopedia. The Right Amount of Software for the Job The INVESTMENT EVALUATOR gives you the capabilities you need without making you pay for a lot of complex functions you may never use. Menu screens lead you to what you want with one-touch commands. The program is completely reliable, comes with an easy-to- follow manual and is fully supported by the Dow Jones Customer Service hotline. From Dow Jones, Publishers of The Wall Street Journal Dow Jones has been serving the business and financial communities for over 100 years. Now Dow Jones Software™ serves you at home. For a free brochure call: 1-800-345-8500 ext. 262 (Alaska, Hawaii and foreign call 1-215- 7R9-700H ext. 262) Dow J ones Software Dow Jones Investment Evaluator ...Bank on it. Available for Apple II, Apple He, IBM PC and TI Professional. Compatibility with Atari and Commodore to follow. Copyright © 1983 Dow Jones & Co., Inc. All rights reserved. Circle 116 on inquiry card. BYTE February 1984 315 | u »0o„. i^^S ^^ CLOCK CALENDAR 'or IBM PC or ™xr .• DOS co m pa tlblB J^WUWim battery backup _P»" No. 2,050 $74.95 i,- WARE PC Ware, Inc. Dept. 2 4883 Tonino Dr. San Jose, CA 95136 (408) 978-8626 In USA shipping paid by us for orders pre-paid. We accept C.O.D. orders (U.S. only). For VISA or MASTERCARD shipping charges will be added. CA residents add 6.5% for tax. Outside USA add 15% for shipping and handling. Payment must be in U.S. funds. Dealer inquiries invited. One year warranty. Display 80 characters across and add 64K of mory. This board ' the Apple //eon HI-RES GRAPHIC PBINTER INTERFACE (or Apple II and //e .Keyboard controlled Kreen du-np. Indifferent commands for text • Cable included Part NO. 22080 S1A9.96 Use your dot matrix printer to print high resolution graphics with your Apple H or lie. See us in California at the JANUARY 28, 29,1! San Mateo Fairgrour MAY 5, 6, 1984 Oakland Convention Center . f P "°M Oo> & to! 380 '/O Connect any serial device such as a printer, mouse, plotter, modem, etc. to your Apple )[ or //e CENTRONICS PRINTER INTERFACE for Apple II and lie Multiple drivers onboa^n^ROM (ln T^TaS&CP/MCcrnpatlble , Applesott. Pascal. > d 3lrobe .), , f s rst k e e sTse^Bus,PaP.r .SCleXlocated ribbon connector Part No. 22010 $69.95 .With cable Included BartNo "-°" I7996 o your Apple ) This ia a genera. PARALLEL I/O INTERFACE for Apple II and lie . Multiple drive, onboard In E PR°M (lnte , rCh « ng pa a scLl IcP/MCompatlble tK^oSSJor-l Parallel ports . Four handshake line? • . Conveniently located ribbon connector Part No. 22020 $89.95 Hardware Review Apple Disk Emulators: Axlon, Legend, Pion, and Synetix Four RAM disk emulators for the Apple II allow faster execution times for certain applications by Michael W. Gilbert Applications that require a lot of file manipulation and disk access are often slowed considerably by the relative- ly slow disk-access speeds afforded by the Apple's 5 Vi -inch disk system. These applications, of course, would be greatly enhanced if the disk information trans- fer rate were brought up to the transfer rate of data in RAM (random-access read/write memory). Some user systems could also benefit from the addition of storage space in the form of more disk drives. For most applications, a RAM disk emulator (DE) per- forms exactly like a mechanical drive, but considerably faster. This speed advantage can be put to good use in many applications, including compilations, assemblies, database manipulations, sorting, word processing, data acquisition, and graphics. The current basic building block of the DE is the 64K-bit RAM chip. As RAM tech- nology is developed, we will see RAM chips with greater storage capacity and lower prices, and DE units will become even more competitive with mechanical storage methods. I compared four RAM DE devices for the Apple II/II Plus/He family: the Axlon Ramdisk 320, the Legend 128K DE Softdisk, the Pion Interstellar Drive, and the Synetix Flashcard (formerly the Synetix 2202 Solid-State Disk Emulator) (see photo 1). All four DE devices support the three most popular operating systems for the Apple: Apple DOS 3.3, Pascal, and CP/M. Prices range from $529 for the Synetix Flashcard to $1095 for the Pion In- terstellar Drive. Each system includes a manual, software to interface it with the operating systems, various utilities, and a diagnostic program for the RAM chips. 318 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Disk Emulators and DOS Each of the four units I reviewed has a program that alters Apple DOS 3.3 to allow it to use RAM as an emulated disk drive. Unlike CP/M, Pascal, and the Ap- ple Ill's SOS, Apple's DOS 3.3 was not designed to allow for alternate drivers. Unfortunately, RAM DEs will not work with most copy-protected or modified software that does not use all the standard DOS conventions, com- mands, or entry points, or with software that must be booted to run. The Synetix and Legend emulation soft- ware places the DOS patches right under DOS and moves the file buffers down to protect them. The Axlon and Pion interface cards both have their own RAM space; the patches are located on the interface card and not in the Apple II main memory. The Axlon DOS patch has an excellent feature: it can toggle (by means of a $300 routine) between Axlon DOS and normal unpatched DOS. This routine also preserves all DOS data in the lower pages (0-3) of memory. The four systems patch a routine called the RWTS (read/write track/sector) to route calls through their own access rou- tines. (Note: a DE could be set up to look exactly like a standard disk controller to the bus, but without the DOS modifications— involving timing loops— it would be no faster than a disk.) In a sense, the Axlon and Pion DEs will be compati- ble with a few more programs than the others (for example, Magic Window II), but because they all change DOS by at least 2 bytes (a Jump~JMP~operand), any pro- gram that overwrites DOS with its own operating system will obliterate the patch no matter how small it is. The Photo Is RAM disk emulators for the Apple. The units shown are, top to bottom, the Axlon Ram- disk 320, the Synetix 2202 Solid State Disk Emulator, and the Pion Interstellar Drive. Not shown is the Legend 128K DE Softdisk, which somewhat resembles the Synetix card. February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 319 RAM Disk Emulator Task (seconds) Disk (seconds) BLOAD (34 sectors) with Fastload 2.5 0.4 10 3 BSAVE (34 sectors) 3 15 LOAD (84 sectors) with Fastload 6 0.7 21 7 SAVE (84 sectors) 7 34 Table 1: A comparison showing how quickly a RAM disk emulator can access data compared with a normal floppy disk under Apple DOS 3.3. Performance was also tested with a DOS speed-up pro- gram called Fastload/DOS. Axlon DOS can, however, be reconnected easily (using the toggle) once you are back in normal DOS. This method may lend itself well to future interface develop- ments. In all cases, the systems are less than ideal for the canned-software user. They are more suited to specific user-written or user-modified applications or for use in development systems. How Much Faster? The access speed increases offered by all four units are almost exactly the same. All but the Legend are com- patible with Microseeds' Fastload/DOS, a commercially available utility that speeds up DOS 3.3. The Legend has a feature that is functionally equivalent to Fastload/DOS built into its software. The units all work approximately the same way; the RAM is paged and accessed through a peripheral "window" address(es). The factors that limit speed are the operating system's file-handling overheads and the clock speed of the microprocessor. The file-han- dling overheads can be reduced by using a DOS speed- up program (such as Fastload/DOS) or by bypassing the file handler entirely. The 34-sector BLOAD routine takes 0.4 second and can be executed directly, using RWTS in a machine-language program, in under 0.2 second. The use of a speed-up card such as the Number Nine Booster card (a 6502C processor with a 3.6-MHz clock) can further increase the speed of data transfer. Table 1 shows a sample of the speed-ups under DOS 3.3. Speed- ups under all three operating systems range from 200 percent to over 5000 percent, depending on the applica- tion and on how you choose to compare things. Most operations, other than those involving DOS 3.3 text files, will be considerably (approximately 1000 percent) faster. For DOS 3.3 text files, none of the four units offers a spectacular speed advantage over 5V4-inch disk drives. This is because of the DOS overheads used when han- dling text files. The Axlon software enhances text-file speed by loading groups of records into memory and accessing them there. However, this nongeneral solution to the problem requires rewriting user programs, and it will not work in many cases. Pascal access times increased similarly with all four units. Synetix and Axlon configure the emulators as the root volume, allowing faster system access (filer, etc.) and compilations. Neither the Pion nor the Legend card can act as the root volume— a limitation. Pascal more readi- ly allows for the attachment of nonstandard device drivers: all the systems will probably be more compati- ble with software and hardware under Pascal than with DOS 3.3. The Synetix Pascal software comes with an ex- cellent utility (U.code) to transfer files to and from the Flashcard. CP/M access times are also virtually identical. None of the units can use the emulator as the A: drive, so SUBMIT files cannot be tested for speed-up. In addition, the ATTACH programs associated with the systems can- not be used in SUBMIT files. When SUBMIT.COM is in effect, it changes vector table locations needed by the attach routines. The emulated drives cannot be formatted with FORMAT.COM, but they usually don't need explicit formatting (if they do, a quick utility is supplied). You should PIP your files to the DEs rather than using COPY.COM. Despite these minor limitations, the CP/M user prob- ably stands to gain the most from the DEs; they can be used with most commercial CP/M software with little or no incompatibility. For example, if you run a spell- ing-checker program on a large text file first with the 5V4-inch disk and then with a DE, the DE's usefulness is apparent. The ease with which CP/M can be recon- figured to accept I/O (input/output) code changes and new drivers to support custom I/O devices serves to highlight a weak point of the Apple DOS. All four DEs can be accessed directly with the RWTS routine under DOS 3.3 in assembly/machine language for high-speed applications. This makes them especial- ly useful and extremely fast for applications programmed directly in 6502 assembly code. System Configurations The Synetix system can emulate up to 12 drives (using six cards) under DOS 3.3, two large (560-block) drives (two cards) under Pascal, and four drives (two cards) under CP/M, with a suggested maximum of three to four cards with the Apple II Plus standard power supply. New CP/M software allows two cards to be configured as one large 576K-byte drive. In addition, utilities are in- cluded to segment and reconstruct large files for backup on the Apple 126K-byte floppy disks. The Synetix system also includes a routine to use its 294K-byte card under DOS 3.3 as one large 32-sector drive. This is the only system offering a large drive option under DOS 3.3. The Axlon system can emulate up to 12 drives (six units) under DOS 3.3, six drives (three units) under Pascal, and one drive (one unit) under CP/M, with no limit to how many systems can be used. Each Axlon unit has its own power supply. The Axlon allows for using its extra (within the 320K-byte) RAM as an expansion from 35-track to 40-track emulation, with appropriate software patches. 320 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. CLEO makes the mainframe connection. Your PC can do more. CLEO Software is the answer to your interfacing problems. The communications features of the CLEO-3270 Software package allow your microprocessor to emulate a cluster of IBM terminal devices. You don't even need to change software on your mainframe computer, because for all it knows, it's communicating with a 3271-12, 3275-12. or 3276-XX cluster. And the CLEO program will support multiple devices. If your IBM mainframe doesn't support remote 3270 clusters, you need remote batch communications. CLEO-3780 Software is your answer. For full details contact Phone 1 , Inc.. 461 North Mulford Road, Rockford. IL61 107; phone (81 5) 397-81 10. Telex 703639 PC Standard Features-CLEO 3270 • Bisynchronous 3276-2 protocol to 9600 baud • SDLC 327 1-12 and 3275-12 protocol • Up to eight line cluster activity • Selectable control unit address • User install program for various CRTs • 3278 emulation for ASCII CRTs • Available for CP/M™, MP/M™. MsDOS™, TurboDOS™, Unix™, and Xenix™ • 3276-1 2 protocol, coming soon Standard Features-CLEO 3780 • Point-to-point and multipoint communications • Available for CP/M™. MP/M™. MsDOS™, TurboDOS™. Unix T ' and Xenix™. • Supports transparent mode • Coded in C language CP/M is a Trademark of Digital Research, Inc. MP/M is a Trademark of Digital Research. Inc. MsDOS is a Trademark of Microsoft. Inc. Circle 294 on inquiry card. TurboDOS is a Trademark of Software 2000. 1 Unix is a Trademark of Bell Labs Xenix is a Trademark of Microsoft. Inc. CLEO At a Glance Name Axlon Ramdisk 320 Type External RAM disk emulator Manufacturer Axlon Inc. 1287 Lawrence Station Rd. Sunnyvale, CA 94089 (408) 747-1900 Size B'h by 6/ 8 by 3% inches Features 320K bytes of memory, own power supply and battery backup, comes with two database-manager programs Hardware Needed Apple II or III Documentation 75-page manual Options UCSD Pascal driver: S15 Price S999 The Legend unit can emulate four drives (four cards) under DOS 3.3, four drives (four cards) under CP/M, and six drives (six cards) under Pascal. Legend Industries Ltd. is currently working on emulations of larger drives under Pascal and CP/M. The Pion system can emulate two drives (one unit) under DOS 3.3, two drives (one unit) under Pascal, and one drive (one unit) under CP/M. The Pion system, how- ever, can be physically expanded up to 1 megabyte of RAM (extra available in 256K-byte increments) enabling emulation of up to eight drives (one unit) under DOS 3.3 (using optional mapping software) and very large drives under Pascal (up to 1768 blocks) and CP/M. The four units include software for initializing the emulator system (installing the patches). The Pion sys- tem requires the DE to be formatted for each operating system; this is usually done only once, after the unit has been powered down, or for a change of operating sys- tem. The Axlon system uses a configuration utility that creates a boot program to carry out particular copy opera- tions. The Synetix system has an installation utility that is user friendly, including a prompted copy routine. The Legend system has an installation utility that assigns an emulated drive number that can be other than the slot/ drive numbers, to be used by DOS enhancement copy commands. The Legend DOS enhancements add two new commands directly to DOS 3.3: MOUNT and UP- DATE. The command .M1,S6,D1 copies the contents of S6,D1 5V4-inch disks onto emulated drive 1; U1,S6,D1 copies the contents of emulated drive 1 onto a disk in S6,D1. Under CPJM, all the systems use similar AT- TACH.COM files. Note that, because of SUBMIT's use of the vector table under CP/M, some of the AT- TACH.COM files cannot be used in SUBMIT files for turnkey use. Under Pascal, all systems use similar drives that are appropriately configured and attached by the Pascal system after booting from the disk. All of the units include software for configuring turn- key systems for initial loading and start-up. Installation The Axlon DE is an attractive, freestanding unit, the size, shape, and color of an Apple II Disk Drive, with a power cord and cable/interface card that installs in any Apple slot (1 through 7). The Pion unit is also well packaged in a slightly larger metal case (to allow for RAM expansion), with an inter- face card that must be installed in slot 4. 1 have one criti- cism of the Pion: the power supply is a calculator type, on the plug end of the power cord, and it cannot be switched on and off. Because both the Axlon and the Pion RAM are external to the Apple, heat is not a problem. The Legend is a compact card that installs inside the Apple in any slot. My Legend card required the removal of an Apple motherboard RAM chip and the installa- tion of a refresh strap from card to motherboard, which may make the current version of this card incompatible with the He. Legend Industries Ltd. has now updated the product: the new version has its own refresh (no strap) and will work with both the He and the III in II emulation mode. The Synetix is a large, tightly packed, cleanly laid out card that also installs in any Apple slot. Despite the fact that the RAM is inside the Apple, the low power con- At a Glance Name Legend 128K DE Softdisk Type Memory card with disk-emulation software Manufacturer Legend Industries Ltd. 2220 Scott Lake Rd. Pontiac, Ml 48054 (313) 674-0953 Size 7/,-inch Apple expansion card Features 128K bytes of memory, comes with several utility programs Hardware Needed Apple II or III Documentation 98-page operating manual Options 64K-byte version (S327) Price S599 322 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. s#r If your personal computer doesn't tie into office automation maybe it doesn't belong in your office. Unfortunately, with most personal comput- ers, the information you get is limited to the informa- tion you put in. But if your personal computerties into office automation,there's nolimittohowfaryou can go. And quite simply, that's the difference between the Wang Professional Computer and almost every other personal computer on the market. The Wang Professional Computeroffers you excellentcommunications.lt is so com- patible it can work with the entire family of Wang office computers, as well as most mainframes. There are other advantages, of course. Like the best selling word processing in the world . And the fastest data processing of a ny personal computer we've tested. But the way we look at it, your office is filled with important information. If you don't take advantage of it, you might as well leave our computer home with the rest. For a demonstration of the Wang Pro- fessional Computer, call 1-800-225-9264. Or write to Wang Laboratories, Inc., Business Executive Center, One Industrial Avenue, Lowell, MA 01851. WANG The Office Automation Computer People. 8 A., 1\ BY4 © 1983 Wang Laboratories, Inc. BYTE February 1984 323 At a Glance Name Pion Interstellar Drive Type External RAM disk emulator Manufacturer Pion Inc. I01R Walnut St. Watertown. MA 02172 (617) 923-8009 Size 9 by 8]4 by 4 inches Features 256K bytes of memory, own power supply and battery backup Hardware Needed Interfaces available for several computers, including Apple II, S-100-based systems, TRS-80 Models II, III, and 4, Morrow, and IBM PC Documentation 15-page manual Options Extra 256K-byte memory cards ($595), up to I megabyte Price SI095 sumption (approximately 150 mA) ensures that very lit- tle heat is generated. All four DEs are compatible with a wide range of pe- ripherals including language cards, printer cards, serial I/O cards, Z80 cards, 80-column cards, etc. Problems will arise with alternative storage devices that use the same parts of DOS for patching and with a peripheral card that has a routine in ROM (read-only memory) that makes an absolute reference to a DOS point that has been patched or changed. The Axlon and Pion units are self-powered; each has its own power supply and battery backup. Without this backup system, any loss of power will mean loss of stored information. The drives can be left on all the time and will retain data. In addition, in case of power failure or brownout, the drives are battery backed-up for ap- proximately three hours (Axlon) and one-half hour (Pion), with the battery under continual trickle charge when the power is on. I tested the feature and the claimed backup times are accurate. The self-power feature accounts, in part, for price dif- ferences between the units. The potential DE user must assess his needs with regard to the importance of data retention after power down. The feature is not needed for every DE application; the devices can be reloaded easily with data on power-up. An ideal situation would be to have the entire computer system backed up; cur- rently, if a power outage lasts longer than the batteries, the data is lost because it can't be backed up onto a disk. The Axlon is the only unit to store the DOS image: it can be warm booted with the command PR#x, where x is the slot number of the Axlon's interface. Because it is always powered independently from the Apple II, it can also be used as a cold-boot drive if placed in a slot numbered higher than the disk controller's slot. The abil- ity to warm and cold boot from the Axlon gives it an advantage for certain uses. Most designers opt not to designate tracks on the emulated disks as system, tracks for saving space or using it for data; in almost every case, the operating system tracks are already on the disk in the system. Documentation and Software The Synetix and Pion software are sparsely docu- mented; a listing for direct access of the RAM in assem- bly code is included but is only briefly commented on. The package could be improved with source-code list- ings for the DOS patches. The Axlon unit has well-annotated assembly-code list- ings of its programs, and its manual is well presented and relatively clear. The Legend software is well documented and the soft- ware can be modified fairly easily (by a skilled assem- bly-language programmer). In all cases, however, the manuals are not always clear enough, and they fail to cover aspects of use as well as problems due to software interactions with existing sys- tem conventions. All of the units come with hardware diagnostic routines that were tested by substituting known-defective RAM chips for good ones. The Synetix program is the easiest to use, but the card must be in a particular slot, an inconvenience in multicard systems. At a Glance Name Flashcard (formerly Synetix 2202 SSD) Type RAM disk-emulator card for Apple II Manufacturer Synetix Micro Products 15050 N.E. 95th St. Redmond, WA 98052 (800) 426-7412 Size II / 2 -inch Apple expansion card Features 294K bytes of memory Hardware Needed Apple II Documentation 30-page user's manual Options 147K-byte card (Synetix 2201), Softech Microsystems' p-System operating system, Magicalc spreadsheet program from Artsci ($70) Price With 294K bytes: $529 With 147K bytes: $349 324 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. NETWORK Buy Hardware/Software at Wholesale, And Save On Software Rentals, As A NETWORK Member Only! Save hundreds of dollars when you buy DIRECT from America's Num- ber 1 Computer Buying Service at just 8% above DEALER WHOLE- SALE PRICES, plus shipping. Members receive The Personal Computer NETWORK'S Giant Catalog featuring thousands of products and the lowest prices on the widest selection of com- puter software and hardware in the nation! 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Please check (i>) all boxes that apply: Basic Membership □ One-year membership for $8 D Two-year membership for $15 (SAVE $1) □ Business Software Rental Library for $30 add'l. per year — members only □ Games Software Rental Library for $10 add'l. per year— members only Special V.I.P. Membership □ One-year membership for $15 □ Two-year membership for $25 (SAVE $5} □ BOTH Business and Game Software Rental Libraries for $35 add'l. per year— V.I.P. members only D Bili my credit card: □ VISA □ MasterCard □ American Express Account Number: 616 Exp. Da\e_ □ Check or money order enclosed for E Name Address City State. _Apt. No.. —ZIP Telephone ( ) My computer(s) is: □ IBM PC □ Apple il □ TRS-80 D Atari □ Commodore Other Signature v*~ (Signature required to validate membership) ^ ^B OB ^M ^M ■■ M_ ^H MM BM« BYTE Eebruary 1984 325 As for applications software, both the Synetix and Pion systems come without any. The Axlon unit, however, comes with two database systems, both documented, listed, and modifiable; a utility to enable the extra 40K bytes of memory the unit has; and a utility to manipulate certain text files faster. The Legend unit is a general- purpose RAM card; as such, the disk emulation itself is, in a sense, a utility. The Legend unit comes with a complete documented set of additional utilities: Amper- card— software that enables the user to easily use the card to store and access 128K bytes of strings, arrays, and vari- ables under BASIC; Memory Master— software that relocates DOS onto the card and out of Apple II mem- ory and simultaneously makes available 3.2 and 3.3; Slide Select— software for rapid access of image files; Firmware Selector— software allowing the user to move a firmware Integer or Applesoft card out of slot 0; and Visicalc-Expand— to enable Visicalc users to manipulate larger (up to 176K-byte) models. A Balance Sheet Axlon pluses: the unit is always powered and backed up by battery, and it does not need reloading. The oper- ating-system image is stored for cold and warm booting. It has the least amount of in-Apple memory patching due to RAM space on interface. It can toggle between Axlon DOS and normal DOS. It has good documenta- tion (currently being revised and expanded) and a com- plete software package (also being expanded to include more CP/M and Pascal utilities). Minuses: it takes up physical space outside of the Apple and is expensive. Legend pluses: the Legend is a general-purpose RAM card that can be used in many applications other than disk emulation, including use with Visicalc. It has DOS enhancements with new commands, MOUNT and UPDATE. It has excellent commented listings of software to allow for modifications and an excellent package of memory-management utilities. Minuses: it has the small- est disk-emulation capacity per card and total drives, and it has one technical problem— if a system Reset occurs during disk (emulator) access, the system will hang up, requiring a cold boot (and causing the loss of RAM-card data). [Editor's Note: Legend Industries has recently released another version of its memory card, called S-Card. This card can hold from 64K bytes to 256K bytes of memory. And, when 256K-bit chips become available, the upper limit will be 1 mega- byte. The price for the 64K-byte version is $399; 128K-byte, $524; and 256K-byte, $724. . . . R. M.] Pion pluses: the unit is always powered and battery backed-up, and it does not need reloading. It has the least amount of in-Apple memory patching due to RAM space on its interface. Its RAM is expandable to 1 mega- byte. It has good documentation, and hardware error detection is provided to prevent faulty data. The Pion drive is the only system I evaluated that is not designed exclusively for the Apple; it can run (using different host interfaces) on Apple, S100/IEEE 696, TRS-80 II/III, IBM, SS50, Motorola, and with a universal Z80-interface Osborne, Intertec, Superbrain, Morrow, etc. It will soon be expanded to cover North Star, Victor 9000, and Dec Q bus as well. Operating systems supported include Ap- ple (DOS 3.3, CP/M, and Pascal), CPIM 2.2 (S100), TRSDOS, LDOS, FLEX, OS-9, RT-11, and North Star DOS, soon to include CP/M 3.X, CP/M-86, concurrent CP/M, MS-DOS, TURBODOS, MP/M, and CDOS. Because of its extensive range and its capacity to expand to 1 megabyte, this device will be of interest to many users outside the Apple market. Minuses: it takes up physical space outside of Apple, its power supply is un- wieldy, and it is expensive. Synetix pluses: the Flashcard performs functionally as well as any system on the market, but at a much lower cost. It is well developed in all operating system en- vironments. It has well-developed CP/M software and 32-sector operation in DOS 3.3. It takes up the least amount of space and is the easiest unit to install or move around. Minuses: it has inadequate documentation and not enough utility and applications software. Conclusions All these units perform well and are reliable. Not once during many weeks of moderate-to-heavy use did any of the units (once debugged) fail to operate correctly. They all offer about the same speed advantages and the same software incompatibility disadvantages. Axlon and Pion have a power/backup hardware advantage, but at a price. Synetix offers equivalent performance with fewer features at a lower price. Legend offers a general-purpose RAM board whose features and uses extend well beyond disk emulation. The RAM disk emulators that I reviewed will give users a definite speed advantage over mechanical drives. Another advantage is the possibility of using DEs in en- vironments hostile to the moving parts of mechanical drives. (One manufacturer cited systems used at a grain elevator as an example. The grain dust in the air would hopelessly jam up a disk drive after prolonged use.) I have found the DEs useful; in fact, I wrote this article with the help of one. My programs can be edited and compiled faster than they were without the DEs, my database runs and sorts much faster, and I have devel- oped full-frame graphics animation programs that run at about seven full frames per second— no easy task on an Apple. I use CP/M on my Apple almost exclusively these days. It is under CP/M that all the DEs are most compatible and, therefore, most useful. There is no one "best" DE: each has features that make it suitable for different applications. There are differences in software, documentation, and ease of use that will be important when you evaluate a potential purchase. ■ Michael W. Gilbert (73 Spaulding St., Amherst, MA 01002) is an indepen- dent microcomputer consultant, electronic music composer, and technical writer. His first contact with RAM disk emulation was as a consultant to Synetix Micro Products writing graphics demo software. His current area of comput- ing interest is graphic art. 326 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. EBB BTmT mDHH rKvTvnm mi ^ :. M.Ofl i M f" i W I M I KM I uM I kki -•fer^- ■ Ui !; ii? \l 1 ** ill 11 5 1 1 1 H i H til 1 i H * J .'rJu4t^|n Ht2 1 Bi*'-^ i^ll Kl HELPWARE HELPWARE™ Helps You Put It All Together. What makes HELPWARE™different than other computer-related books? (Hear, concise writing. Careful editing. And our commitment to publishing only those books that help you get the job done. Faster. Easier. More productively. Buy Your Micro A Page At A Time. Before you invest your hard-earned money in hardware or software, invest in HELPWARE. Read about the product you want to purchase and then decide if it's right for you. Then, after you've made your purchase, choose the HELPWARE user guide, programming or technical reference and assembly language guide that will help you get the most out of your computer. If You Love The Book, Wait Till You See The Screenplay. Each book we publish, including our handy DiskGuide™ Series of compact computer M > m 7$ o c «n n M 3 I s 3 1- ! a o 4^ 3 ro ' S3T i S a. it: 8 8 A reference guides, clearly explains its subject matter so that you'll be able to solve your problem quickly and easily, regardless of your level of experience. Before You Sign On The Dotted Line, Cut Ours. To get your copy of our full line catalog, just cut out the coupon and send it to us, or call us TOLL-FREE at: 800-227-2895, in California, 800-772-4077. You'll see page after page of worthwhile titles. Each one tested and re- tested to make sure that it meets our high standards. After all, if they were just books, they wouldn't be HELPWARE. Osborne McGraw-Hill TURN TO US FOR HELPWARE. r TM - HELPWARE and DISKGITOE are ttademarks ofOsborne/McGraw-Hill, □ I'd like a HELPWARE catalog. Dept. m Name Street City State Zip Mail to: Osborne/McGraw-Hill 2600 Tenth Street Berkeley, CA 94710 I L_ Mi Circle 281 on inquiry card. Last Night, 39 Musicians Had A CompuServe conference, so did 31 M.D.S, 49 Sports Fans and 640 apple polishers, And No one Had to leave home. The Electronic Forum, Cheaper than Long Distance and Much More Rewarding. Every night on the CompuServe Information Service, professional and social groups discuss a wide range of subjects. From what's new in medical technology to what's nouvelle in continental cuisine. And every day more computer owners who share a common interest are discovering this exciting new way to exchange ideas and even transfer hard copy data. And besides electronic forums, they leave messages for each other on our national bulletin board, "talk" informally on our CB simulator, and communicate via CompuServe's electronic mail. But best of all, in most cases, CompuServe subscribers get all of these state of the art communications options, plus a world of on-line information and entertainment for the cost of a local phone call plus connect time. To become part of this flexible communications network, all you need is a computer, a modem and CompuServe. CompuServe connects with almost any personal computer, terminal, or communicating word processor. To receive an illustrated guide to CompuServe and learn how you can subscribe, contact or call: CompuServe Consumer Information Service PO Box 20212 5000 Arlington Centre Blvd . Columbus. OH 43220 800-848-8199 In Ohio call 614-457-0802 330 BYTE February 1984 An H6.R Block Company Circle 68 on inquiry card. IBM/Apple Communication Sending text files between Apples and IBM PCs is easy with these simple programs Perhaps there are some BASIC pro- grams or files on an Apple II Plus or He computer that you would like to use on an IBM PC or XT without hav- ing to type them in all over again. Or maybe there is an IBM file that you would like to massage with some Apple software. The IBM PC and Ap- ple versions of BASIC are similar enough that, with only minor modi- fication, many programs written for the Apple II will run on the IBM PC and vice versa. In this article I will outline a method and list programs that will allow you to transfer BASIC programs or data files between IBMs and Apples quickly and easily. These programs assume that each machine has a serial I/O (input/out- put) board and that a "cross-over cable" (sometimes called a "modem eliminator") links the serial boards together. A cross-over cable has con- nectors on each end that join pin #2 of one serial connector with pin #3 of the other machine's serial connector. This crossover of the data lines enables the data output from one machine to become the input to the other. Cross-over cables are available from computer dealers at a nomimal price. These programs also assume that disk drives (as opposed to cassette recorders) are used on each machine and that a reasonably standard DOS (disk operating system) is being used on each system. The programs run on the IBM PC and Apple II Plus and by Robert Jones will probably run on the IBM XT and Apple He as well, because no unique features of these models are used. A Brief Overview of the Method The user controls the operation of this data transfer from the keyboard of the receiving machine. This con- trol is assumed once the sending ma- chine's program begins to run. The user runs the receiving program, supplying, when asked, the name of the file to be sent from the sending Their versions of BASIC are similar enough that, with minor modifications, many programs written for the Apple II will run on the IBM PC and vice versa. machine and the name of the file under which to save it on the receiv- ing machine. The requested file is loaded into a string array on the sending machine, sent line by line to the receiving machine's comparable string array, then the string array is saved to a file on the receiving ma- chine's disk drive. These programs use a 4800-bps (bits per second) rate and a format of 7 data bits, 1 stop bit, and even parity. Set the parameters on the Apple serial card and use the IBM program's OPEN statement to fix them for the PC's communications buffer. Apple-to-IBM Example Suppose that you have a text file on your Apple but your IBM PC has some software that plots data for you. The following instructions will send your text file from the Apple II to the IBM PC. Listing 1 is the APTOIBM sending program. Listing 2 is the APTOIBM receiving program. Be- fore running these programs, be sure that the serial-card slot number for the Apple is correctly noted in the Apple II program (that is, set SLOT equal to the slot number if it is other than slot #5). Check that your IBM PC serial board is configured as COM1: as specified in the OPEN statement. COM2: can be used in the program by modifying the OPEN statement. Make sure that there is sufficient disk space in the receiving machine. Run the program on the (sender) Apple II first. The message "Waiting for instructions from the IBM . . ." should appear. Be sure that the file to be transmitted is on the disk in one of the Apple drives. Now run the IBM (receiver) program. When asked for the Apple filename, enter the name as it appears in the catalog of that disk, including the drive specifi- cation, if needed (e.g., "MYFILE,D2"). You will also be asked for the file- name under which to save this file on the IBM PC. Be sure to give it a valid February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 331 filename specification (e.g., "B:MYFILE.DAT"). After pressing the Return key, you should see the Apple's drive light go on as it searches for the requested file. As the file is being transferred, it will be listed on the Apple's screen. When transmission is completed, the lengths of the string arrays (contain- ing the "lines" of the files) in both machines will be compared. If the lengths match, then the IBM will save the file. If the lengths do not match, then you will be asked to either save the file or abort it. Over 90 percent of the time, the lengths will match. If they do not, there may have been a leading or trailing blank space in one or more of the lines or control characters within the text. I would suggest saving the transferred file anyway, then later searching for the cause of the problem. I have not yet had a discrepancy with a Visicalc file nor with a text file containing only alphanumeric characters (such as those written with an Applesoft WRITE statement). The files created by word-processing programs are another story, however. These are best saved (despite any length dis- crepancies) and edited later. If the file to be transferred is not found on the sending machine, then the user is informed and asked to enter the correct filename. The pro- gram may be halted by pressing the Return key instead of specifying a filename. If the requested file can't be found, check the drive specification and the spelling of the filename and run both programs again. If the file contains more than the 2000 lines for which X$() is dimen- sioned in all programs, then dimen- sion the X$() arrays in both programs to a larger size. A dimensioned size of 2000 "lines" is probably more than adequate for a file that fits into 25 to 35K bytes of available memory. If the file is too large to fit into the memory available, you will receive an OUT OF MEMORY message on the sending machine, and some major modifica- tion of both programs may be needed. Alternatively, you could break the file into smaller segments, transmit the segments separately, then rejoin them. 332 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Listing 1: The Apple to IBM sender program. 100 no 120 130 140 150 160 170 1B0 190 200 210 230 240 250 260 270 2S0 290 300 310 320 330 340 350 360 370 380 390 400 410 420 430 440 450 460 470 480 490 500 510 520 530 540 550 560 570 5S0 590 600 610 620 630 640 650 660 670 680 690 700 710 720 730 740 750 760 770 780 790 800 810 820 830 840 850 860 870 REM REM APTDIBM SENDING PROGRAM FOR APPLE BY ROBERT JONES AUGUST 3, 1983 LISTING #1 HOME REM SOME DEFINITIONS DIM X*(2000> SLOT = 5: REM SERIAL PORT SLOT D* = CHRt (4) EF* = "XX" OE = 1 LI = 768: REM LINE INPUT ROUTINE FOR I = 768 TO 812: READ X: POKE I,X: NEXT I REM GET NAME FROM IBM GOSUB 800 print d*; "in#";slot: input fa*: print d*;"in#0" PRINT IF FA* = " " THEN 760 REM READ APPLE FILE FROM DISK PRINT D*;"OPEN "JFA* PRINT D*; "READ " ) FA* ONERR GOTO 380 1=0 I = I + OE: CALL LI,X*: GOTO 370 PRINT D*; "CLOSE": POKE 216,0:ER = PEEK (222) IF PEEK (222) 5 THEN 490: REM END OF FILE FOUND REM ERROR REPORT PRINT D*; "PR#";SLDT: PRINT "ERROR": PRINT D*j "PR#0" IF ER = 107 THEN PRINT "X*(> IS TOO SMALL FOR FILE." IF ER = 77 THEN PRINT "FILE TOO LARGE FOR AVAILABLE MEMORY." IF ERR = 176 THEN ONERR GOTO 380: GOTO 370: REM LINE TOD LONG GOTO 770 N = I 1 REM N<1 MEANS FILE NOT FOUND. IF N > THEN 540 PRINT D*; "PRtt":SLOT: PRINT "NF": PRINT D*S"PR#0": GOTO 270: REM NF REM SEND FILE TO IBM PRINT D*; "PR#";SLOT PRINT "FOUND" AC = O FOR I = 1 TO N PRINT X*(I) AC = AC + LEN ^H^^ Prices reflect 3% to 5% cash discount. Product shipped in factory cartons with manufacturer's warranty. Please add $8.00 per order for shipping. Prices & availability subject to change without notice. Send cashier's check or money order. .all otner checks will deiay shipping two weeks. Circle 46 on Inquiry card. 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MA OHMH l .ill (<>l7)J7i-I.SI.S Listing 2: The Apple to IBM receiver program. too no 120 130 140 150 160 170 180 190 200 210 220 230 240 250 260 270 2B0 290 300 310 320 330 340 350 360 370 3S0 390 400 410 420 430 440 450 460 470 4B0 490 500 510 520 530 540 550 560 570 580 590 600 610 620 630 640 650 660 670 680 690 700 710 720 730 740 LISTING #2 REM APTOIBM RECEIVING PROGRAM FOR IBM REM BY ROBERT JONES AUGUST 3, 1983 REM SDME DEFINITIONS DIM X*(2000) EF* = "XX": REM END-OF-FILE FLAG ONE = 1 WIDTH 40 ON ERROR GOTO 710 OPEN "C0M1:4800,E,7, 1" AS #1 : REM SERIAL PORT CLS: LOCATE 1,7: PRINT "APPLE TO IBM TRANSFER PROGRAM": PRINT: PRINT PRINT "BE SURE THAT THE APPLE PROGRAM" PRINT "IS RUNNING BEFORE YOU CONTINUE!": PRINT INPUT "APPLE FILE NAME " ; FA« IF FA* = "" THEN PRINT *1,FA* : GOTO 660 INPUT "IBM FILE NAME ";FI* PRINT IF FI* » "" THEN FI* = FA* PRINT #1,FA»: REM TELL APPLE THE FILE TO FIND FOR J = 1 TO 750: NEXT J INPUT #1, NF*: REM SEE IF APPLE HAS FOUND IT IF NF*= "NF" THEN PRINT "FILE NOT FOUND. .. REENTER NAME": GOTO 250 IF NF* = "FOUND" THEN GOTO 390 GOTO 660: REM ANY OTHER RESPONSE FROM APPLE REM READ FILE FROM APPLE PRINT: PRINT "READING FILE FROM APPLE . . .":PRINT I = 0: REM INITIALIZE COUNTER 1=1+ ONE: LINE INPUT #ONE, X*(I) : IF X* ( I > <> EF* THEN 410 INPUT # ONE, AC: REM APPLE'S CHECKSUM N = I - 1: REM DROP THE END-OF-FILE SIGNAL FROM THE LIST REM COMPUTE LENGTH FOR CHECKSUM COMPARISON PRINT "NUMBER OF LINES: " ! N PRINT PRINT "APPLE LENGTH:", AC PRINT "IBM LENGTH : " , IC = O: FOR I = 1 TO N: IC = IC + LEN(X*(I>): NEXT I PRINT IC IF IC= AC THEN 560: REM IF CHECKSUMS MATCH INPUT "CHECKSUM ERROR, CONTINUE? "!CN*:IF CN* <"Y" THEN 650 REM SAVE FILE TO I.B.M. DISK OPEN FI* FOR OUTPUT AS #2 FOR I = 1 TO N: PRINT #2, X* < I ) : NEXT IS CLOSE #2 REM ANOTHER FILE? PRINT: PRINT "DO YOU WANT ANOTHER FILE ";: INPUT ANS* IF ANS* < "Y" THEN GOTO 650 PRINT #1, "MORE": GOTO 220 REM FINISH UP PRINT #1, "NO" CLOSE #1 PRINT: PRINT "NORMAL COMPLETION" END REM ERROR HANDLER IF ERR = 24 THEN RESUME: REM AVOID TIMEOUT PRINT "STOPPED BY ERROR NUMBER" : ERR; " IN LINE "JERL CLOSE #1 STOP Listing 3: The IBM to Apple sender program. 100 no 120 130 140 150 160 170 180 190 200 210 220 230 240 250 260 270 280 290 300 310 REM IBMTOAP SENDING PROGRAM FOR IBM REM BY Robert Jones AUGUST 3, 19B3 LISTING #3 REM SOME DEFINITIONS DIM X*<2000) EF* = "XX": REM END OF FILE FLAG DLY = 500: SHDLY = 50 : REM DELAY BETWEEN LINES AND AFTER 40 CHARS. ONE = 1 WIDTH 40: GOSUB 760 ON ERROR GOTO 800 OPEN "COMl:4800,E,7, 1" AS #1: REM SERIAL PORT REM GET FILE NAME FROM APPLE INPUT #1,FI* IF FI* = "" THEN GOTO 680 OPEN FI* FOR INPUT AS #2 REM SEND FILE TO APPLE PRINT #1, "FOUND" REM READ FILE FROM I.B.M. DISK Listing 3 continued on page 336 334 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 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CL = CSRLIN IC = FOR I = 1 TO N LDCATE CL + 1,1: PRINT "LINE BEING SENT:"; I: REM LINE COUNT TO SCREEN L = LEN(X*(I>>: IC = IC + L : REM SUM NO. OF CHARACTERS FOR J = 1 TO DLY : NEXT J: REM DELAY BETWEEN LINES FOR K = 1 TO L STEP 40: REM 40 CHARACTERS AT A BURST MAXIMUM FOR J = 1 TO SHDLY: NEXT J: REM DELAY BEFORE EVERY 40 CHAR. BURST PRINT HI, MID*(X* ,K,40> ; NEXT K PRINT #1,: REM CARRIAGE RETURN TO END LINE NEXT I REM SEND END OF FILE FLAG FOR J = 1 TO DLY: NEXT J PRINT #1, "XX" REM SEND CHECKSUM TO APPLE FOR J = 1 TO DLY: NEXT J PRINT #1, IC REM ANOTHER FILE INPUT HI, MORE* IF MORE* < "Y" THEN GOTO 680 GOSUB 760 : GOTO 240 : REM GET NEXT FILE NAME PRINT : PRINT "NORMAL COMPLETION" PRINT REM FINISH UP CLOSE #1 ON ERROR GOTO 0: REM TURN THE ERROR TRAPPING OFF END REM SUBROUTINE FDR HEADING CLS:LOCATE 1,13: PRINT "IBM TO APPLE" : PRINT PRINT "WAITING FOR FILE NAME FROM APPLE ..." RETURN PRINT REM ERROR HANDLER IF ERR = 24 THEN RESUME : REM TIME-OUT ON C0M1: IF ERR = 53 THEN PRINT H1,"NF" : RESUME 240 : REM FILE NOT FOUND REM OTHER ERRORS PRINT "ERROR ";ERR;" IN LINE " ; ERL PRINT HI, "ERROR " : ERR : REM LET APPLE KNOW GOTD 710 Listing 4: The IBM to Apple receiver program. 100 no 120 130 140 150 160 170 180 190 200 210 220 230 240 250 260 270 280 290 300 310 320 330 340 350 360 370 380 390 400 410 420 REM IBMTOAP APPLE RECEIVING PROGRAM — LISTING H4 REM BY ROBERT JONES AUGUST 3, 1983 REM SOME DEFINITIONS DIM X*(2000) SLOT = 5: REM SERIAL PORT SLOT D* = CHR* (4) EF* = "XX": REM END-FILE FLAG OE = 1 LI = 768: REM LINE INPUT ROUTINE FOR I = 768 TO 812: READ X: POKE I,X: NEXT I HOME : PRINT "IBM TO APPLE RECEIVING PROGRAM": PRINT REM SEND FtLE NAME TO I.B.M. PRINT "NAME OF I.B.M. FILE >"i CALL LI,FI* IF FI* = "" THEN 330 PRINT "APPLE FILE NAME "i CALL LI. FA* IF FA* = "" THEN FA* = FI* PRINT PRINT D*; "PRH" ;SLOT: PRINT FI* IF FI* = "" THEN PRINT FI*: PRINT D*;"PRHO": GOTO 780 PRINT D*; "PRHO" REM GET RESPONSE FROM IBM PRINT D*; "INH";SLOT INPUT ER*: IF ER* = "FOUND" THEN 470 PRINT D*; "INHO" PRINT IF ER* = "NF" THEN PRINT "FILE NOT FOUND. GOTO 260 336 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Listing 4 continued on page 338 YOU NEED MORE THAN MICROCHARGE MICROHOUSE will finance your purchases. Buy your com- puters, peripherals, or soft- ware now— and PAY LATER. SALESMAN Don't be shocked when you call and hear a friendly voice. Our salesmen enjoy working with you. They also answer compatibility and information requests. MICROUNE The first dedicated computer shopping center. Use your mo- dem to look at descriptions, prices, order or see what's available. 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' REM READ FILE INTO X*<> UNTIL END FLAG PRINT 1=0 I = I *■ OE: CALL LI,X*(I): IF X*(I) < > EF* THEN 490 INPUT IC: REM CHECKSUM FROM IBM PRINT D»; "IN#0" N = I - l: REM ELIMINATE END OF FILE FLAG PRINT AC = REM COMPUTE NUMBER OF CHARACTERS RECEIVED FOR I = 1 TO N:AC = AC + LEN >: NEXT I PRINT "IBM CHECKSUM = "SIC PRINT "APPLE CHECKSUM = " ; AC PRINT IF IC = AC THEN 680 PRINT "CHECKSUMS DO NOT MATCH." INPUT "CONTINUE ANYWAY ?"5CA* IF CA* = > "Y" THEN 670 PRINT : GOTO 720 REM SAVE FILE TO APPLE DISK PRINT D* 5 "OPEN "!FA* PRINT D*; "WRITE ";FA* FOR I = 1 TO N: PRINT X*(I): NEXT I PRINT D*i "CLOSE" PRINT "ANOTHER FILE "; INPUT ANS* PRINT d«; "pr#";slot: print ans»: PRINT D*;"PR#0" IF ANS* = > "Y" THEN 230 PRINT PRINT END 'NORMAL COMPLETION" REM LINE INPUT AT 768 - 812 (CALL 768, ANY*) DATA 32, 190,222,32,227,223, 162,0,32, 117,253, 134,253,32,57,213, 165 DATA 253,32,82,228, 162,0, 160,2,32,226,229, 160,0, 165,253, 145 DATA 131,200, 165, 111, 145, 131,200, 165, 1 12, 145, 131 , 96 Text continued from page 332: sending files in the opposite direction (outlined previously) except that the transmission time is about one-third as fast because of the delays Apple- soft needs to process each string before receiving the next one. In fact, if a line contains more than 40 char- acters, a slight delay is needed while the Apple's cursor returns to the left side of its 40-column screen. Delay loops (e.g., FOR J = 1 TO DLY: NEXT J) are inserted in the appropriate places in the IBM sending program. I have tried to keep these programs short and straightforward so that you can easily tailor them to your own needs. Presumably, similar programs could be written to transmit files be- tween different microcomputers with similar serial connections. Notes on Using the Programs 1. Sending an Applesoft program to the IBM PC requires that the pro- gram first be converted into a text file. The following is a one-line routine, entered as line number (zero), to save the Applesoft program in mem- ory as a text file suitable for trans- mitting to the IBM PC. Type it in, then type RUN. You will be asked to name the text file for your Applesoft program. D$ = CHR$(4): INPUT "TEXTFILE NAME ]";F$: POKE 33,33: PRINT D$;"OPEN"; F$:PRINT D$; "WRITE'^FS: LIST 1 - :PRINT D$;"CLOSE": POKE 33,40: END Similarly, an IBM PC BASIC pro- gram can be saved with the "A" op- tion so that it is stored in ASCII for- mat instead of the tokenized form, e.g., use SAVE "MYFILE",A. 2. If you are transmitting the Visi- calc file from the Apple to the IBM PC, the direction indicator needed for the Apple II Plus version of Visicalc will cause a problem (i.e., horizontal or vertical movement on the arrow keys). This information is stored near the end of the Visicalc file as either "IX\" or "IX-". It must be deleted before you attempt to load it into the IBM version of Visicalc. Failure to delete this command could cause a loss of data in the cell in which the cursor is positioned when the file is loaded by IBM PC Visicalc. 3. To transfer a random-access file, I suggest first converting the data in the random-access file to a sequen- tial file, transmitting the sequential file, then converting the data back in- to random-access form. 4. The monitor routine used by the Apple II Plus converts lowercase let- ters to uppercase letters. This conver- sion presents a problem if maintain- ing lowercase is desired. One way around this is to write your own in- put routine in machine language. A simpler way, if you have a language card, is to move the monitor (and Applesoft) to the RAM (random- access read/write memory) card, eliminate the conversion switching, then run the program. On an Apple II Plus with a 16K-byte RAM card in slot 0, these changes are accom- plished as follows: CALL -151 to enter the monitor C081 C081 read ROM (read- only memory) and write to RAM D000[D000. FFFFM copy Applesoft and monitor to RAM card C083 C083 select the RAM card FD82: EA EA delete the lower- case conversion 3DOG warmstart DOS Users who are familiar with EXEC files may want to create one with these commands in it. If you press Reset on the Apple, then ROM Ap- plesoft (with the lowercase to upper- case conversion reinstalled) again takes over. To return to the modified RAM monitor, just type PRINT PEEK (-16256). 5. Interested persons may want to add routines to handle other errors or long files. A large file, for example, could be read and transmitted in blocks of 1000 lines, with appropriate delays for loading and saving to disk between blocks. 6. More memory for holding a file can be obtained on the Apple by using one of the DOS moving pro- grams to relocate DOS to the RAM card (as long as you are not using the 338 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Want to hook IBM? Terminals. Personal Computers. ASCII devices. 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RAM card for the monitor modifica- tion mentioned in #4). A file as long as 35K bytes may be transmitted in this manner. Ordinarily, 50K bytes of memory are available to IBM PC BASIC with this program in memory if 96K bytes or more are installed in the IBM. So the Apple's memory size is the limiting factor on the maximum file (or segment) size that can be transmitted. Remember that a 35K- byte Apple file shows up as a 142- sector file on a catalog of an Apple disk. 7. Although a bps rate of 4800 is used in the programs listed here, the Apple-to-IBM transfer could run at 9600. The 4800 limit is imposed by the rate at which the Apple II can receive data using these programs. If the few minutes of speed gain from the Apple to the IBM is worth the time spent setting up the Apple serial card for the faster bps rate, then the IBM receiving program could use a 9600 (instead of a 4800) bps rate in the OPEN statement. However, you would have to reset the Apple serial card to 4800 again if you were going to pass programs from the IBM to the Apple. The constant switching of bps rates is probably not worth the effort unless it can be done within the Ap- ple programs themselves. The manual for the serial card that I use does not explain how to do this on the Apple. 8. Because Applesoft does not have a LINE INPUT statement (which allows commas and semicolons to be included in a string being read), both Applesoft programs use a short ma- chine-language routine (located at 768 decimal) to simulate LINE IN- PUT. The routine used here is slight- ly modified from "The Penultimate Input Anything Routine" by Peter Meyer, published in Call—A.P.P.L.E. In Depth 1: All About Applesoft, a publication of Apple Pugetsound Library Exchange, 21246 68th Ave. S., Kent, WA 98032. ■ Robert Jones (7 Lexington Rd., Saratoga Springs, NY) has been using an Apple II Plus since 1979 and an IBM PC since early 1983 for statistical analysis, financial modeling, and development of simulation models of economic and social systems in BASIC and FORTRAN. COMPUTER HUT TM COMPARE OUR SERVICE & PRICE! SPECIAL OF THE MONTH IBM-PC & XT CALL FOR I PRICE HARDWARE FOR IBM-PC DISK DRIVES landon TM100-2DS/DD PANASONIC J A 551 SHUGART SA-455 half-high TEACFD-55B Slimline $229 $199 $219 $229 MAYNARD ELECTRONICS Floppy Disk Controller FDC w/Par. Port FDC w/Ser Port $169 $219 $239 CALL SANDSTAR SERIES QUADRAM Quadboard-PP,SP,C/C,Mem + s/w 64K $279 384K $549 OK $235 Quad 512 + SP,Mem with s/w 64K $249 512K $639 Quadboard II-2SP, C/C, Mem + s/w 64K $279 256K $429 Quadcolor CALL RESEARCH Mega Plus II 4-Funct 64K + s/w $279 6-Pack5-Funct64K + s/w $279 I/O Plus $T35 TECMAR Graphics 720 x 400 16 colors CALL HERCULES Hi Res Graphics 720 x 384, PP, + s/w $359 FREDRICKS ELECTRONICS COLORPLUS 640x200, 16-Color + s/w $399 AMDEK MAI Graphics 640 x 400 $479 MICROLOG Baby Blue CALL Baby Talk CALL USI Multidisplay $395 HARD DISK - IBM-PC & XT MOUNTAIN — External Syst. 5MB .... $7539 10MB .... $1839 15MB .... $2309 20MB .... $2549 MAYNARD CALL TALLGRASS CALL PRINTERS EPSON FX80 CALL FX100. . . 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CALL MONITORS AMDEK Video 300G . . . $139 300A . $749 Video 31 0A $179 Color II $429 Color 11+ CALL PGS HX12 Hi Res RGB monitor $499 SOFTWARE FOR IBM-PC LOTUS 123 $339 Word Perfect$329 WordStar CALL DBase II.... $399 VisCalc $789 Multiplan. . . $795 Multimate. . . $329 MICROSOFT WORD $279 AND MORE ACCESSORIES CALL COMPUTER HUT CANADIAN AUTHORIZED DEALER MICROCONTEXT INC. 5253 AVE DU PARC MONTREAL QUE H2V4P2. (514) 279-5114 ANY PRODUCT NOT LISTED? CALL COMPUTER HUT orders & information (603)889-0666 OF NEW ENGLAND INC. 101 Elm St., Nashua, NH 03060 ORDER-LINE ONLY PLEASE (800) 525-5012 All products usually In stock for immediate shipment and carry full manufacturers' warranty. Price subject to change — this ad prepared two months in advance. You get the lowest price. We honor personal checks — allow 10'days to clear. COD up to $200 add 3%. Visa, MasterCard add 3%. For shipping & insurance add 3% or $5.00 min. for small items and $8 min for monitors, printers, etc. APO & FPO orders add 12%. Include phone number. Call (603) 889-0666 for a return authorization number prior to returning any material. Apple is a trademark of Apple Computers Inc. IBM is a trademark of IBM Corp. Circle 74 on Inquiry card. 284 ■ M i ■ I SOFTCON ►'■ :" TUESDAY-THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21-23, 1984, SUPERDOME, NEW ORLEANS If you buy or specify a lot of software for your company, government agency, or educational institution, attending Softcon— the international tradefair and conference for the software industry in New Orleans — will be the most productive and profitable trip you'll make this year. Nearly 600 different software companies using 1000 displays have filled the massive (400,000 square foot) Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans to showcase over 12,000 software products. These companies will use Softcon to unveil some of the most revolutionary new software products in the industry's short history. More than 70 seminars, panel discussions, forums and workshops, presented by the world's most renowned computer authorities will update you on the newest products and industry trends. You can learn more in one or two days from the experts at Softcon than you could in months by reading trade journals or listening to salesmen. You'll see, try out, and compare brand new software which expands and increases the user-bility and productivity of your existing hardware, and you'll meet new vendors. Registration is $30 for exhibits only and $195 for admission to exhibits and the conference program. For complete information about attending or exhibiting, call or write Northeast Expositions, 822 Boylston Street, Chestnut Hill, Mass. 02167. Tel: 617-739-2000 or 800-841-7000. Because it's carnival season, hotels are filling fast, so call today. SOFTCON EXHIBITORS AS OF DECEMBER 1, 1983, MORE ARE BEING CONFIRMED DAILY. A J & f.1 Associates Ads Sutlware AHA Aardvark/McGraw Accon! Software Access Technology Accountants Microsystems Adapt Addison 1 " '.nnrjlogy Adventure International Agdata Agri-Data Allenljach Industries Appha Software Alpine Datnsystems Amaray Americ re Apple Cumputei Applied Data Communications Applied Data Research Articulate Publications Artificial Intelligence Artsci ASAP Asht BASF Baker hill 6 Company B ' B s Bristol Inforr Institute ol America Ac iess Systems American Sy8t«..«.™.wi.iii.«n-ww. 1 ™. "■-re Autodesk Avant Garde Axel Johnsan/Siemi Corp Data Management Assoc Datamost Dalamension Datapro Data Sources Data Systei ration r?WDP Soliware Eastman Publishing Elt'Ctr~" : " ' ' : iltw.iro fishi-r BuMfifiiiiSv-'leiTis Flex ware Flint rack Lenminn ! IBM Corporation I. B fvlaga^ BBHia ffl Company lnsolt Intelli Jones Colad Kangaroo Soltware KPD Industries Kent Marsh Lid Key ,v.ire Lightning Software Lisl Living V iputer Application) M&T MacMillan Publishing Managi »H1 IWSWW ^ HHMm il Group XORCorpoi For Registration and Hotel Information call today Produced by Northeast Expositions. 822 Boylston Street, Chestnut Hill, MA 02167 Telephone: 617-739-2000 or 800-841-7000 A Low-Cost, Low Write- Voltage EEPROM Seeq Technology's $10 EEPROM can be programmed in your computer with simple and inexpensive circuitry If you need nonvolatile memory, a PROM (programmable read-only memory) gives you what you need at low cost. Unfortunately, you can pro- gram a PROM chip only once. It is possible to reprogram EPROMs (eras- able PROMs), but first they need to be erased with expensive ultraviolet- light devices. EEPROMs (electrically erasable PROMs) do not need ultra- violet light. Instead, they are erased and reprogrammed with high volt- ages (usually between 20 and 30 volts). But another problem arises here— if you want to reprogram the EEPROM, you have to remove it from your circuit and put it in a special EEPROM "burner" that has the proper voltages. This happens because most personal computers don't have power supplies with 20- to 30-volt (V) ranges. You can, of course, build a burner into your com- puter, as Louis Wheeler did in "The Practical EEPROM" (July 1983 BYTE, page 460). But what a chore. It would be much easier if you could program the EEPROM without such high write- voltages and without taking the EEPROM out of your computer. With that capability, you could easily store programs or data in your computer indefinitely. Fortunately, Seeq Technology of San Jose, California, has created such an EEPROM— the 52B13, part of the 52BXX family of EEPROMs (or E 2 ROMs, as Seeq calls them). The 52B13 is programmed with a TTL- level voltage and, on top of that, costs only about $10. I paid $6 for a preproduction sample chip, which is by Joe D. Blagg a tenth of the cost of the Intel 2817 EEPROM. Simple Interfacing The 52B13 is a 2K by 8-bit EEPROM that is pin for pin compatible with the popular 2716 EPROM as well as the 6116 static RAM (random-access read/ write memory). Since my Z80-based personal com- puter uses 6116 static memory, I was able to plug the 52B13 into one of the 24-pin memory sockets. I needed to make only one small circuit change to create a 10-millisecond (ms) write- enable (WE) input to the 52B13. To create the WE signal, I "stretched out" the write signal from the pro- cessor with a mono stable multivibra- tor or "one-shot," as it is commonly called. The read cycle of the 52B13 does not require any special circuitry. Even with a 4-MHz clock rate, the 52B13 needs no wait states, because it boasts a 250-nanosecond (ns) maxi- mum read access time (some ver- sions are rated for 350 ns). The number of read cycles is unlimited, but the number of write cycles is limited to 10,000 per byte. As you might expect, a write cycle is much slower than a read cycle. The limita- tions for writing to the 52B13 are a small price to pay, though, for the ad- vantage of nonvolatile memory. The Circuit The 52B13 needs proper address decoding, as any memory chip does. My computer decodes addresses with a 74LS138 decoder/demulti- plexer, as figure 1 shows. Each of the eight output lines of the decoder goes to the different chip-enable inputs of the separate 2K memory devices. T he 74 LS123 one-shot stretches out the WR signal from the Z80 micro- processor to 10 ms because the WE input of the 52B13 must remain low during the 10-ms write cycle. (By the way, the 10-ms time is a nominal period that may actually be anywhere from 9 ms to as long as 70 ms. If you need a faster write time, Seeq has a higher-performance version, the 52B13H, that can be programmed in 1 ms.) The resistor-capacitor com- bination causes the one-shot to stay on for 10 ms. The entire chip could be cleared in a single step, but with the 52B13 this requires a +15- to + 22-V pulse. I did not experiment with this feature of the device. Switch SW1 lets you protect the EEPROM from accidental writing. The switch should be closed when you're programming the device and open after you have finished writing to it. Programming the 52B13 Programming the 52B13 is simple. After constructing the circuit shown in figure 1, 1 used BASIC commands to put data into the 52B13 and then checked to see if I was successful. It was a pleasure to see the EEPROM and its support circuitry work the first time. But why not, since the in- terface is so simple? Turning the power on and off did not change the contents of the EEPROM. All seemed to be well. Then I tried to change one of the memory locations that I had previ- February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 343 CPU BUS wrO I mreqO- A140- I AlsO AlzO AllO- AloO" ft9[> A7C^- A6D>- A40- AsC^ AlO AOO I 74LS04 + 5V L 74LS138 19 22 23 Gl G2 G3 C B A YO Yl Y2 Y3 Y4 Y5 Y6 Y7 GND 16 12 V cc GND 52B13 A10 A9 A8 A7 A6 A5 A4 A3 A2 Al AO CE WE l/0 a l/0 7 1/06 I/O5 I/O4 1/03 l/0 2 l/0 x 0E 15 12 11 10 18 21 17 16 15 13 11 10 CSO CS1 C~S2 DECODED CS3 ) L N A K .. cF4 CS5 CS6 BLOCKS CI 2 M F 14 Rl 15K !, 74LS04 3f 1^ RC 1/2 74LS123 CLR + 5V • R3 I4.7K SW1 13 ~lt CPU BUS '- I Ill'li.'illhUi.!. ..." ROB VIDEO-51E COLOR GRAPHICS BOARD Programmable resolution up to 512 x 512 pixels with A local video planes end on-board graphics processor. Color mapper allows 1 B colors from a palette of 409B. Light pen input. Plus more ... AST, P/N BE748-300-101 SBBS.OO 12-BIT A-D-A CONVERTER BOARD 8 Channel A-D: 12 microsec. Conversion, 50KHz Sample Rate, Programmable Gains. Offset and Diff. /Single Modes. 8 Channel D-A: 2 microsec. Settling, Bipolar V or Unipolar I Output. Program- mable Reference levels, Dual-Ported Chan- nel Refresh RAM. 16/B-Bit Data Transfers via I/O on Memory Mapped AST, P/N S874B-S00-101 S45S.OO MULTI-FUNCTION I/O BOARD AST, P/N S2748-1QO-1Q1 S325.00 SMART PROTOTYPING KIT P/N 5B74a-400 SBO.OO 12BK X B/64K X IS CMOS STATIC RAM MODULE AST, P/N 5B74B-6BO-188 SBBS.OO I/O TECHNOLOGY POST OFFICE BOX 9119 CANYON COUNTRY CA 91351 [805] S52-7666 MULTI-PURPOSE PROTOTYPING KIT Industrial QuBlity with Plated-Thru holes for Wine-Wrap or Solder projects. Complete with +5, + 12v Regulators, Bus Bar, Filter Capacitors, and Manual. AST, P/N 5S74B-45Q Q7B.OO Circle 385 on Inquiry card. SWITCHING TERMINALS A PROBLEM? i WTI has a lineup of low cost solutions. . . RS232 Switching Devices! AB MlniSwitch $89 End the hassle of plugging and unplugging data cables. MlniSwitch lets you manually switch between two RS232 devices and a common device such as a Modem and a Printer sharing a Minicomputer. TM-41 4 Port Push Button Switch $295 Switch ports electronically from the Terminal by pressing a button instead of flipping switches on a common AB Switch box. Selectable operating modes include— equal priority lockout, multiple and single port select. CAS-41 4 Port ASCII Code Activated Switch $395 Your Computer may select one or any combination of up to 4 RS232 ports by a user selectable code sequence. CAS-161 16 to 64 Port Code Activated Switch $795 Your Computer may select between any one of 16 ports by a two character ASCII code sequence. The unit is field expandable to 32, 48, or 64 ports. SMRT-1 8 Port "Smart Switch" $895 This flexible microprocessor controlled 8 port switch allows a user on any port to communicate with an RS232 device on any other port. Up to 4 pairs of users can communicate simultane- ously. "User Friendly" commands aid in port selection, port status and sign off. The unit's so smart, it even signals you when the port you wanted is no longer busy! Each port can be configured for DTE or DCE by pressing a button. PSU-41 Printer Port Sharing Unit $395 Allows up to 4 CRTs to share one Printer automatically without software changes! The PSU-41 scans each CRT and locks on until the screen has been sent to the Printer, then resumes scanning. DOflfe D western telematic inc. 2435 S. Anne St., Santa Ana, CA 92704 • (714) 979-0363 Outside California call toll free (800) 854-7226 JOIN NOW AND SAVE! dBase 11™ $359 WORDSTAR™ $259 (For SYSTEM members only) (For SYSTEM members only) "THE SYSTEM" HAS THE NEW IBM PC JR. SOFTWARE NOW! CALL FOR OUR LOW PRICE DO YOU QUALIFY to be a member of "the SYSTEM"? CALL TOLL FREE NOW! . . . 800-421-4003 In California call 1-800-252-4092 portant features of any compiler. Compilation usually consists of two separate parts: analysis (often called syntax analysis) and code gen- eration. The analysis section deciphers (understands) your orig- inal program; the code-generation section actually creates the machine- language output. Syntax analysis is one of the better-understood tech- niques in computer science, whereas code generation remains a black art. Because each computer has a unique instruction set, it is necessary to rework (and rethink) the code-gen- eration part of a compiler each time the compiler is transported from one machine to another. Why does one compiler produce faster code than another? Although there are no simple answers, two basic reasons emerge: (1) compilers use different schemata for code generation, and (2) compilers perform varying amounts of optimization on their code. A compiler's schema is its basic philosophy of code generation. The schema dictates what code is gen- erated for each feature in the high- level languages. Assembly-language programs are usually faster than high-level-lan- guage programs because the assem- bly-language programmer can adjust the code to fit the circumstances more flexibly than can a compiler. Human coders can understand pro- grams, whereas compilers merely translate programs. Experienced pro- grammers usually can tell what's im- portant in a program, which often enables them to apply shortcuts that improve performance at the expense of generality. To improve their code, compilers usually perform optimizations. By optimizing, compilers can produce code that approaches the speed of code produced by an assembly-lan- guage programmer. In order to actually examine these two aspects of code generation (schemas and optimization), I wrote the Sieve of Eratosthenes algorithm in "pure" Pascal. I chose Pascal because several Pascal compilers are available in the Rockefeller University laboratory, where I work, and because it is one of the most popular 352 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Circle 110 on inquiry card. CAN YOU NAME THE WORLD'S THIRD LARGEST SUPPLIER OF PERSONAL COMPUTERS? Naming the two largest suppliers of personal computers is easy. The third one is a little harder. It's NEC. That's right. NEC is the world's third largest PC supplier.* We're not talking about video game THERE ARE hundreds players that of software j Li PACKAGES THAT RUN double as on necs advanced computers, personal computer. We're talking about serious business computers that cost between $1,000 and $5,000. Like our APC Advanced Personal Computer. NEC'S ADVANCED PERSONAL COMPUTERS HAVE THE SHARPEST COLOR GRAPHICS IN THE INDUSTRY. 'Source: Dataquesl "In Massachusetts. 617-264-8635 Circle 265 on inquiry card. Our Advanced Personal Computer is graphically better. The main reason we sell so many personal computers is that we offer so much. Take, for example, our APC. The APC is faster than both the IBM PC and Apple. It has more storage capacity. And it offers the sharpest color graphics of any PC at any price. The APC also has advanced communi- cations capabilities that let it work with all major mainframes. All in all, the APC is simply your best buy. Every NEC APC personal computer comes with a $6.1 billion company. Buying an APC means you'll get the full support of a $6.1 billion company. NEC. And that means you get the service, technology and relia- bility that NEC is famous for decision, call NEC Information Systems at 1-800-343-4419.** NEC'S PERSONAL COMPUTERS ARE BEING USED BY TENS OF THOUSANDS OF BUSINESSES WORLDWIDE. NEC ,R >The Apple Logo is a registered Irademark of Apple Computer, Inc The kind of service and support that's made our Spinwriter family the world's best selling letter quality printers for personal computers. Is NEC on your bid list? If we're not on your bid list, we should be. But ask your Data Processing Manager to be sure. If you'd like more information to make your NEC Information Systems, Inc 1414 Massachusetts Ave. Boxborough, MA 01719 You'll find out why more and more personal computer users are saying "NEC and me." MEt ?* Listing 1: The Sieve of Eratosthenes in Pascal, microcomputer languages. program sieve (input.output); (* the sieve in pascal *) const size = 8190; var flags : array[0..size] of boolean; i.prime.k : integer; count: integer; begin count : = 0; (* init flags array *) for i : = to size do flags[i] : = true; (* look for primes *) for i : = to size do if flags[i] then begin (* found one! *) prime : = i + i + 3; k : = i + prime; while k < = size do begin (* rule out multiples *) flags[k] : = false; k : = k + prime end; count : = count + 1 end; end. A Tale of Two Compilers Listing 1 shows my version of the Sieve in Pascal. It is an almost direct copy from the Gilbreath benchmark. I compiled my version on two com- pilers for the Intel 8086 microproces- sor. The first compiler is Digital Research's Pascal/MT + 86 version 3.1 running under the CP/M-86 operat- ing system, also from Digital Re- search. The second compiler is Intel's Pascal-86 version 2.0 running under the Intel iRMX/86 operating system. Both compilers accepted the listing 1 version of the Sieve without com- plaint, and both compilers produced working programs. I have used both compilers in the past and I have found that both are trustworthy products. All of the measurements were per- formed on an Intel SBC 86/14 single- board computer running the iRMX operating system. The board is con- figured to run at 8 MHz. Where nec- essary, assembly-language code pro- duced by Pascal/MT + 86 was trans- ported to the 86/14 and assembled using Intel's ASM86. Reference data for the 8086 microprocessor was taken from The 8086 Family User's Manual (reference 6). All of the timings presented in this article were produced by running the code and measuring the time for a certain number of iterations. The times are slightly slower than "book" times for two reasons: (1) the 8086 I used was suffering wait states due to slow memory-access times, and (2) the repetition loop introduced some overhead. (Executing the code a large number of times made it possible to measure the time with a stopwatch rather than with a logic analyzer or scope.) It would be impossible to detail the code for all the features of Pascal in a single article. Instead, I have chosen to focus on two examples of code generation: one that illustates the ef- fect of optimizations and one that shows the different FOR loop schemata used by the two compilers. You should perform your own in- vestigation if you are interested in sSsSS-*-;"" meet your ngjjj. JS , sUBBCjf Jg£ 24 months Param (»67-9713 WOW! P-R-O-P-O-RT-I-O-N-A-L Spacing on WordStar You are reading text printed by WordStar in proportional spacing, providing a profes- sional, easy to read, typeset appearance. Complete details between words, are for printing in proportional spa- cing directly from WordStar, setting two or more fully justified columns on a page, and underlining spaces provided. The tech- niques will work on all versions of WordStar, and will drive Diablo, Xerox, Qume, NEC, and other daisy- wheel printers. Above text printed on a daisywheel printer direct from WordStar. Now you can have the professional appearance of typeset text. Using PS is as easy as turning on bold or underline and is done right in your document, then printed by WordStar automatically! No technical knowledge needed. PS on WordStar— $20 [plus $2.50 shipping) Please send me copies. Enclosed is my check (or Visa/MC# and exp. date) for $ , made out to: (NYS residents add 7% sales tax) WRITING CONSULTANTS Suite 1 67 / 1 1 Creek Bend Drive Fairport, New York 14450 Visa/MC orders only 1-800-227-3800 Ext. 7018 Dealer inquiries invited. 354 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Circle 71 on inquiry card. Circle 392 on inquiry card. 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I envision op- timizations as modifications to a com- piler's basic code-generation schema- ta. For instance, the following 8086 assembly code would initialize the variable named TFLAG to the value 0: MOV TFLAG,0 On the 8086 this instruction is 6 bytes long and takes 16 basic clock cycles to execute. This code could serve as a compiler's schema for ini- tializing variables. How could we im- prove upon this schema? Suppose that the operation occurring just before the MOV TFLAG,0 operation left the value in the accumulator. Given that the AX (accumulator) reg- ister already contains a 0, the follow- ing 8086 assembly-language instruc- tion can initialize the variable named TFLAG: MOV TFLAG,AX Although this instruction doesn't look very different from MOV TFLAG, 0, the improvement is dramatic. The 8086 MOV TFLAG,AX instruction is just 3 bytes long and takes only 10 basic clock cycles to ex- ecute, yielding nearly a 50 percent improvement. This second version could not serve as a basic schema for initializing variables because it relies upon the previous contents of the ac- cumulator. However, if a compiler recognized those cases where the ac- cumulator contained the required value, then it could perform this optimization. 356 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Listing 2: The 8086 assembly-language code generated by the Pascal/MT+86 and Pascal-86 compilers for the following two statements from the listing 1 program: prime :=i + i + 3; k := i + prime Pascal/MT+86 Code ; PRIME I + I + 3 1 MOV AX, I 2 ADD AX,I 3 ADD AX,3 4 MOV PRIME, AX ;K : = I + PRIME 5 MOV AX,I 6 ADD AX.PRIME 7 MOV K,AX Pascal-86 Code ;PRIME : = I + I 8 ADD AX.AX 9 ADD AX, 3 10 MOV PRIME.AX ;K : = I + PRIME 11 ADD AX,SI 12 MOV K,AX Place the value of I into AX register Add the value of I to AX register Add 3 to the AX register Store the AX register in PRIME ; Place the value of I into AX register ;Add the value of Prime to AX register ; Store the AX register in K + 3 Add AX register to itself yielding Add 3 to the AX register Store the AX register in PRIME I + I ;Add AX register to SI register yielding I + PRIME ; Store the AX register in K Pascal/MT+86 Pascal-86 Statement Number AX Register Statement Number AX Register SI Register 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 I I + I PRIME PRIME I K 8 9 10 11 12 I I + I PRIME PRIME K I I I I I Table 1: Register contents during dicated in this table exists in the execution of the listing register at the start of 2 code. Note that the value in- the instruction cycle. I examined the assembly-language code produced by the Pascal/MT + 86 and Pascal-86 compilers for the Sieve program in order to find a good ex- ample of optimizations. I chose the following example because it is rela- tively simple and because it clearly il- lustrates how optimization can im- prove performance. Whenever a new prime is located, the listing 1 Sieve program computes two values, PRIME and K. Two Pascal statements compute PRIME andK: prime : = i + i + 3; k : = i + prime; The Pascal/MT + 86 code and the Pascal-86 code produced by these two statements are shown in listing 2. The assembly-language code in all the figures in this article uses the mnemonics and assembly-language directives supported by the ASM86 assembly language. Note that listing 2 is an excerpt from listing 3, which shows the complete code generated by both compilers for the Sieve. The Pascal/MT + 86 code can be understood simply by reading through it and noting the sequence of operations. The Pascal-86 code is much harder to understand because it is heavily optimized. In order to Text continued on page 360 LOWEST PRICES"** SMITH CORONA LETTER QUALITY PRINTERS SMITH CORONA TPII $ 444 TPI STOCK SALE 246 TELETEX TTX-1014 S S. P 506 STARWRITER 40 cps S or P 1112 PRINTMASTER 55 cps S or P 1436 NEC 3510 33 cps SERIAL 1409 DOT MATRIX PRINTERS GORILLA BANANA Graphics 221 PANASONIC KX-P1090 FrS.Tr Emulates FX-80 321 STAR MICRONICS GEMINI 10X 120cps dot graphics 307 15X 120 cps like MX-100 484 OKIDATA 82A Serial S. Parallel 120cps CALL 84 Parallel 15" FrS.Tr 200cps CALL 92 Parallel 10"FrS.Pin 160cps CALL C . 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Free Software: CPM 2.2, Microsoft Basic, BaZic, WordStar, LogiCalc spreadsheet, Correct-it spelling checker, Personal Pearl data base ONLY MD2 2 Single sided drives $ 938 MD2 + MDT50 Terminal 1272 MD2 + MDT50 + MP100 Printer 1705 MD3 Business Computer: Featuring Free Software above + Free QUEST BOOKKEEPER SYSTEM FANTASTIC BUY! MD3 2 Double sided drives $1165 MD3 + MDT50 Terminal 1499 MD3 + MDT50 + MP100 Printer 1932 MD11 has 10Mb HARD DISK+1DSDD flpy and 128K RAM and CPM 3 + MDT 60 $2388 ABOVE PACKAGES INCLUDE ALL CABLES DECISION 1 SingleUser=FREE CPM, MicroSof t Basic. S-100, IEEE 696, 14-slot, 4 MHz Z80 Realtime clock, Interrupts , 3 Serial S.1 parallel port,64K RAM expandable to 1 Megabyte D100 $1712 D120 = D100 + DSDD 5 1/4" + 10Mb HD +Wordstar, Correct-It, LogiCalc, BaZic, Personal Pearl, and Quest Bookkeeper Software 3538 Multiuser = Hardware S, Software as D120 W/256K RAM £. Memory Protect + Micronix Operating System runs 16 programs simultaneously! D200 w/10 Mb DMA Hard Disk 3889 D210 w/16 Mb DMA Hard Disk 4240 D220 = D210 w/512K RAM S. 6 Serial S. 2 Parallel ports. A 6-user system, can be upgraded for 15 users. 5293 MORROW DISK DRIVES Complete systems include S-100 con- troller, power supply, cabinet, & (an, CPM & Basic 80. Add Drives include power supply, cabi- net & fan. Add System Drive 5 1/4" Win. 10Mb $1572 $1081 5 1/4" Win. 15Mb 1713 1362 8"Winchester 10Mb 2625 2134 8"Winchester 20Mb 3187 2766 MORROW 8"FLOPPY DISK DRIVES w/DMA One 1 sided $ 870 $ 576 One 2 sided 1081 800 Two 1 sided 1418 1011 Two 2 sided 1839 1432 APPLE, IBM OR MORROW, WHICH IS BEST? FREE BROCHURE! Call for latest prices & availability AMERICAN SQUARE" 919-889-4577 Circle 21 on inquiry card. 4167KivettDr Factory Guarantees We Beat Prices COMPUTERS Jamestown N.C. 27282 919-883-1105 BYTE February 1984 357 Listing 3: The complete code produced by two compilers for the listing 1 program. Pascal Pascal/MT+86 Pascal-86 count : = 0; MOV COUNT, MOV COUNT.O for i : = to MOV I.OFFFFH MOV CX.O size do M4: MOV INC DEC JGE JMP DS:WORD PTR 202CH ; 1FFFH I DS:WORD PTR 202CH M2 M3 P5: MOV I.CX flags[i] : = true; M2: NOP MOV SI.CX MOV AX.OFFSET FLAGS MOV FLAGS[SI],1 ADD AX,I INC CX XCHG AX.DI CMP CX.1FFEH MOV BYTE PTR [DI],01 JLE P5 JMP M4 for i : = to M3: MOV LQFFFFH MOV AX.O size do M12: MOV INC DEC JGE JMP DS:WORD PTR 202EH.1FFFH I DS:WORD PTR 202EH M5 M6 P6: MOV I.AX if flags[ i] then M5: NOP MOV SI, AX begin MOV AX.OFFSET FLAGS TEST FLAGS[SI],1H ADD AX,I JE P7 XCHG AX.DI TEST BYTE PTR [DI],01 JNZ M7 JMP M8 prime : = M7: MOV AX,I ADD AX.AX i + i + 3; ADD AX, I ADD AX,3 ADD AX,3 MOV PRIME.AX MOV PRIME.AX k : = i + prime; MOV AX,I ADD AX, SI ADD AX, PRIME MOV K,AX MOV K,AX while k < = size Mil: CMP K.1FFEH P8: CMP K,1FFEH do begin JLE JMP M9 M10 JNLE P9 flagsfk] : = M9: NOP MOV SI.K false; MOV ADD XCHG MOV AX.OFFSET FLAGS AX.K AX.DI BYTE PTR [DI ],0 MOV FLAGS[SI],0 k : = k + prime MOV AX.K MOV AX.PRIME ADD AX.PRIME ADD AX, SI MOV K.AX MOV K,AX end; JMP Mil JMP P8 count : = M10: MOV AX.COUNT P9: INC COUNT count + 1 INC MOV AX COUNT.AX end; M8: JMP M12 P7: MOV INC CMP JLE AX.I I AX.1FFEH P6 358 February 1984 © BYTE Publications tac Circle 305 on inquiry card. ■ *Ste& ■ " ** i i I r|J Li J Time for your computer to make the telephone con- nection - with an intelligent, full 212A 300/1200 baud modem - with a real time clock/calendar - and with the capability to expand into a com- plete telecommunications system. It's time for PRO-MODEM 1200. Much more than just a phone modem. When you're on-line, time is money. PRO-MODEM telecommunication systems help you save. By monitoring the duration and cost of your phone calls. And by sending and receiving messages, unattended, at preset times when the rates are lower. . .with or without your computer. Compare the $495 PRO-MODEM 1 200 with any other modem on the market. For example, you'd have to buy both the Hayes Smartmodem 1200 plus their Chronograph for about $950 to get a modem with time base. PRO-MODEM 1 200 is easy to use. A convenient "Help" command displays the Menu of operating command choices for quick reference whenever there's a question about what to do next. Extensive internal and remote self-diagnostics assure that the system is operating properly. Some of the other standard features include Auto Answer, Touch Tone and Pulse Dialing, and Programmable Intelli- gent Dialing. PRO-MODEM does more. It lets you build a full tele- communications system with features like Auto Dialer, Incoming and Outgoing Message Buffering, Business/Personal Phone Directory, Program- mable Operating Instructions, a 12-Character Alpha-Numeric Time and Message Display, and versatile PRO-COM Software. PRO-MODEM com- mands are Hayes compatible so you can use most existing telecommunications software without modification. There's much more to the PRO-MODEM story. See your local dealer for complete details. He'll show you how to save time. And money. Prometheus Products, Inc., 45277 Fremont Blvd., Fremont CA 94538, (415) 490-2370 1 '(Tr 155 ^ i y \ ' .' if m Compiler Time (microseconds) Pascal/MT + 86 31 Pascal-86 18 Size (bytes) 23 13 Table 2: Summary of results of the listing 2 code. Text continued from page 356: understand the Pascal-86 code, ex- amine table 1, which details the register usage. I deduced the first line in table 1 by backtracking through the code. Given that the accumulator contains the value of I, it makes perfect sense to compute I + 1 by add- ing the accumulator to itself. This step is an optimization because dou- bling the accumulator won't normal- ly double I; this particular optimiza- tion can therefore take place only when the accumulator contains I. This optimization gives the Pascal-86 code a one-instruction advantage over Pascal/MT + 86 code. Similarly, the code for computing K was optimized in Pascal-86 by tak- ing advantage of the fact that registers happened to contain all of the nec- essary values. As the Pascal-86 in- struction 11 in listing 2 starts to ex- ecute, the SI register contains the value of PRIME. Pascal-86 simply adds the two registers together to form K and then stores the result in K, saving one instruction over the more obvious approach taken by Pascal/MT + 86. The total code size and execution times for Pascal/ MT + 86 and Pascal-86 are shown in table 2. Could these examples be improved by an assembly-language program- mer? A programmer might be able to produce a Sieve program that was faster overall than the Pascal-86 code, but it would certainly be impossible to improve on the code that Pascal-86 generated for the computations of K and PRIME. The Pascal/MT+86 com- putation of K could easily be im- proved. As Pascal/MT + 86 starts to compute K, the value of PRIME is al- ready in the AX register. All that is re- quired is to add in the value of I and store the result in K as shown below: ;k := i + prime ADD AX,I ;AX already ; contains ;PRIME, just ;add in I MOV K,AX ;Store result in ;K This code saves one instruction and would make the Pascal/MT + 86 code more competitive with the Pascal-86 code. The Pascal-86 code for computing K and PRIME is devious. It uses an approach that is not recommended for human programmers because the code is hard to understand and hard to modify. Pascal-86 uses results of many previous steps as a starting point for computing K and PRIME. However, I believe that devious (but correct) code generated by an automaton (the Pascal-86 compiler) is acceptable. Programmers strive to create readable programs because programs that can be easily read can be used and maintained by others. In this case, the goal is to create readable Computer problems? DON'T BLAME THE SOFTWARE! Isolators prevent: Pal. H 4,259,705 • CPU/printer/disk interaction • Lightning or spike damage • AC power line disturbances • RFI-EMI interference Commercial Grade Isolators ISO-1 3 Isolated Sockets $ 81.95 ISO-2 2 Isolated Socket Banks, 6 Sockets $ 81.95 Industrial Grade Isolators ISO-3 3 Double Isolated Sockets $122.95 ISO-1 1 2 Double Isolated Banks, 6 Sockets 8122.95 Laboratory Grade Isolators ISO- 17 4 Quad Isolated Sockets $213.95 ISO-18 2 Quad Isolated Banks, 6 Sockets $180.95 Circuit Breaker, any model (Add-CB) Add $11.00 Remote Switch, any model (Add-RS) Add $ 20.00 1M% Electronic Specialists, Inc. 171 S. Main St., Box 389, Natlck, Mass. 01760 (617) 655-1532 Toll Free Order Desk 1-800-225-4876 MasterCard, VISA, American Express PERSONAL ROBOTS peripherals and Software for personal Robots VOICE COMMAND SYSTEM FOR HERO ;l ol sophistic; MICROMATION proudly presents a new peripheral (or HEATHKIT'S" HEROI robot which elevates the robot tc lion. We call (his peripheral a Voice Command System (or VCS) because it not only consists of a voice recogni level machine language programfor the robot which actually allows you to program robot movements by voice. We call the voice recogni VOREC and the voice driven program VOCOL (VOice COmmand Language) Highlights ol these two imponant pans of the VCS :nbed b VOR£C is VOREC a powerful, microprocessor controlled, speech recogni- tion board which mounts next to and interfaces with, our HEROI MEMCOM BOARD. The recognizer has the fallowing principal features and specifications: • Speaker- dependent recognizer with nearly instantaneous word recognition rates. • Recognition accuracy about 98%. • Vocabulary of up to 2S6 words (stored as 16 word groups with 16 words in each group for greater recognition accuracy). • I6K of onboard static RAM of which HK is battery backed to retain recogni red word parameters during power down. • RS232 port for receiving commands from, and reporting status and words recogniied to, the host (HERO) • Highly sensitive audio input circuitry requires only an external speaker lor audio input rather than a microphone, (This allows robot to receive commands from up to 15 feet away.) • Utilizes state-of-the-art highspeed (HC) CMOS chipsand the new CMOS 6SC02 microprocessor lor ultra low power consumption. Complete board consumes an incredibly low 4 S ma while active and • Speech recognition is accomplished by a software algorithm cc tamed in a 2K EPROM. (Future product updates will require or replacement of this EPROM.) The Voice Command System manual contain; HERO The 6808 Source Code far VOCOL is a with the SC 6800 CROSS ASSEMBLER 'COL Source Code $55.00 (not sold separately) VOCOL This software is even more amazing than the votce recognition hardware. VOCOL is like a high level language for the robot (such as BASIC) which supports both deferred and immediate execution modes. The only difference is in BASIC you "write it." and in VOCOL you "speak it." The software is provided on an EPROM which plugs intoa memory socket on our HERO-I MEMCOM BOARD VOCOL has the fallowing principal features: • When first run. the robot talks to you through a voice training ses h ,o„ asked ti vocabulary three (3) limes ■ Following this tramH Of movements tor lat. epeal words i • The robot prompts you tor a i it back to you tor verification. If verified and il in immediate execu- tion mode, the robot will execute the movement. If in deferred ex- ecution mode, the robot proceeds to write a machine language pro- gram in his memory lor later execution. When your program of movements is complete, you signify this with a "STOP" command. A "GO" command will then cause the robot to execute the pro gram it wrote in memory Alter e> d mstallaticx >t returns to the -mplete ire TOTAL SYSTEM PRICE $595.00 POET in concept to STORYTELLER, b &5?> P * v **^Thn is an Artificial Intelligence prograi programming technique which allcnvs the robot to speak self-generated. After HERO speaks a poem and likes it enough, he PRICE: TAPE (machine code) $20.00 e advanced. The program uses an advanced sell : line Haiku poems on an endless list of sublets PRICE: DISK (source code) $30.00 HERO MEMCIM BOARD This product provides a means to, develop programs forth using a personal computer, and expands th an additional 30K ol RAM. This product includes; ■ Two 8 bit bi-directional parallel ports with handshaking lines fi superfast data transfers between (he robot and a computer (co nects directly to our APPLE -HERO COMMUNICATOR board), pi two 16 bit timers • An RS232 senaf port far two way communications between tl robot and iry computer having an RS232 serial port. ■ Serial commurwations software in an onboard EPROM which alto, upload i ng/downloadmg of programs via the Serial port. • Complete instruction manual and schematics PRICE $295.0 APPLE-HERO COMMUNICATOR This product provides the hardware and software necessary to implement two way high speed parallel communication between an APPLE" computer and a HERO I robot equipped with our HERO MEMCOM BOARD It includes: • A peripheral card for an APPLE that Contains two B bit paratlel ports with handshaking lines, and two 16-bit timers • Data transfer software far the APPLE board and lor the HERO MEMCOM BOARDbumedmtotwo27l6EPROMS These programs a fast l. and 6S02 source codes for the communications software These source codes are compati- ble with the SC MACRO ASSEMBLER and the 5 C 6800 CROSS ASSEMBLER available for the APPLE from the S C SOFTWARE COR PORATION PRICE $159.00 send check or money order to: MICROMATION INC. 9104 Red Branch Rd. Columbia. MD 21M5 Add S3 00 for shipping For Information call: (SOD 730-1237 9 am-5pm Monday through Friday MasterCard & visa welcome 360 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Circle 129 on inquiry card. Circle 249 on inquiry card. SAGE™ TECHNICAL BRIEFING It's Fast In Any Language. When it comes to software development, the difference between a Sage IV computer and other micros is like day and night. With the Sage Computer it'll take you fewer days and nights to finish your program. Speed is the reason. Speed resulting from the fast MC68000 microprocessor, fast architecture, fast operating systems, and blinding transfer rates. The fact is, even we are surprised by the amount of software that's developed on Sage Computers. So if you're a programmer, maybe you should spend some time learning how much time you could save using a Sage IV. The Hottest Languages And Operating Systems. Programs in nearly all of the important languages can be written on the Sage computer. Included in the price is the p-SYSTEM operating system which supports Pascal, BASIC, and FORTRAN. Other operating systems are optional. For UNIX fans there's IDRIS, which runs up to twice as fast (even without a Sage computer). IDRIS conforms to /usr/Group Standards Committee standards and programs written under it are highly portable to other micros. CP/M advocates please note that Digital Research has developed CP/M- 68K for Sage hardware, providing a truly complete software development environment. Versions of Pascal, BASIC, C-BASIC, C, and FORTRAN 77, as well as a very fast APL, may be used under this operating system. The Sage IV is also blindingly fast when running hyperFORTH with its extended programmer and user interfaces. Besides IDRIS, other Multi-User operating systems that run on the Sage Computer are PDOS, MBOS, and MIRAGE. A lot of excitement has been brewing in the Pascal World over Niklaus Wirth's new MODULA 2— and it's available for Sage computers. So is ADA, for the record. If you found your language here, you just found your computer. The 16-bit, 2-million operation/sec Sage IV micro with up to one MByte RAM and 18-MByte internal hard disk. For more information and the name of your nearest SAGE dealer, call us today. And be sure to ask about our new soft ware catalog describing over 200 application programs for Sage computers. Sage Computer Corporate Office, 4905 Energy Way, Reno, Nevada 89502. Phone (702) 322-6868 TWX: 910-395-6073/SAGE RNO Eastern United States Sage Computer 15 New England Executive Park Suite 120, Burlington, MA 01803(617)229-6868 © 1983 Sage Computer Technology all rights reserved Sage & Sage IV are trademarks of Sage Computer Technology IDRIS P-SY! CP/M Circle 324 on inquiry card. BYTE February 1984 361 Listing 4: The 8086 assembly code generated by the Pascal/MT+86 and Pascal-86 compilers for the following listing 1 FOR loop: for i := to size do flagsli] := true; The code has been reformatted to make it more legible, and it has been slightly revised to con- form to Intel op-code standards. Both routines have been assembled and tested. Pascal/MT+86 1 MOV I,0FFFFH 2 MOV DS:WORD PTR 202CH, 1FFFH 3 M4: INC I 4 DEC DS:WORD PTR 202CH 5 JGE M2 6 JMP M3 7 M2: NOP 8 MOV AX.OFFSET FLAGS 9 ADD AX,I 10 XCHG AX,DI 11 MOV BYTE PTR [DI],01H 12 JMP M4 M3: Pascal-86 13 MOV CX,0H 14 P5: MOV DS:I,CX 15 MOV SI,CX 16 MOV DS:FLAGS[SI],1H 17 INC CX 18 CMP CX.1FFEH 19 JLE P5 .■Initialize I to - 1 .•Initialize anonymous loop counter to 8191 Increment I Decrement anonymous loop counter Jump to M2 if loop should continue Jump out of loop Do nothing Place base address of FLAGS array into AX register Add I to the base address in AX register Put address of an element of FLAGS array into DI register Put a 1 (true) into element of FLAGS array Jump back to loop increment section Put a zero into CX register Place value in CX register into I Copy CX register into SI index register Put a 1 (true) into an element of FLAGS array Increment CX register Compare value in CX register with Terminal Value Jump back to P5 if loop should continue Coding Method Pascal/MT + 86 Pascal-86 Author's Assembly Loop Author's Assembly String Time (milliseconds) 265 155 120 17 Size (bytes) 39 21 15 13 Table 3: Summary of the performance of four routines used to initialize the FLAGS array. and maintainable Pascal source code. The object code generated by the compiler doesn't need to be readable— it should be correct and efficient. The FOR Loop Schemata The Sieve benchmark program in- cludes two FOR loops: one loop to initialize the array of flags that form the basis of the Eratosthenes method and one loop to actually search for primes. The FOR loop is obviously a very important part of Pascal and it also happens to be one of the areas where the two compilers in this study use very different strategies. We will examine the initialization FOR loop because it is the simplest FOR loop in the Sieve. Another reason for studying the initialization FOR loop is more subtle— this par- ticular loop can be dramatically op- timized. Listing 4 shows the code for the initialization FOR loop produced by the two compilers. The coding schema for a FOR loop can be separated into three logical sections: the initialization of the loop, the test-and-increment section, and the body of the loop. A glance at listing 4 reveals that Pascal/MT + 86 and Pascal-86 use different FOR loop structures. In Pascal/MT+86 the initialization section is at the top of the code (lines 1 and 2), the test-and-increment sec- tion is in the middle (lines 3 through 6), and the body of the loop is at the end of the code. The Pascal/MT + 86 FOR loop is completely coded in twelve 8086 assembly-language state- ments containing 39 bytes of code. The execution time of the initializa- tion FOR loop (8191 iterations) is 265 milliseconds (see table 3). The Pascal/MT + 86 FOR loop schema uses two loop counters, the visible loop counter named I and an anonymous loop counter created by the compiler. In the listing 4 code the anonymous loop counter is stored at location 202C hexadecimal and is referenced only twice, once in line 2 and once in line 4. The visible loop counter is incremented once each pass through the loop, whereas the anonymous loop counter is decre- mented each time through. The vis- ible loop counter is initialized (in line 1) to be 1 less than the starting value, while the anonymous loop counter is initialized (in line 2) to be the number of passes through the loop plus 1. During each execution of the loop the anonymous loop counter actually determines whether the loop should continue. The visible loop counter (I) is just along for the ride and for use in the body of the loop. Dual loop counters are the most striking feature of the Pascal/MT + 86 FOR loop schema. What is to be gained from dual loop counters? Ac- tually there is an advantage. Pascal is intended to be a very "safe" lan- guage. Pascal uses strong type check- 362 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. A TIMELY ANNOUNCEMENT FORPRODOS USERS: Congratulations! You not only have a powerful new operating system in Apple's* ProDOS, you can now get an incredibly versatile Clock/Calendar card to use with it. PROCLOCK™. PROCLOCK is the first Clock/Calendar designed for ProDOS-based systems as well as other Apples running DOS 3.3, CP/M**, Pascal, Applesoft*, and BASIC. What's more, PROCLOCK fully emulates Superclock II, Thunderclock Plus and Apple Clock*. So programs written for these products can be used without any modification. Of course, PROCLOCK will time- and date-coding files. And consider how much money you could save by timing your modem to transmit when the phone rates are cheapest. You can even use PROCLOCK as part of an automatic appliance control system. Plus, PROCLOCK' s powerful inter- rupt capabilities are invaluable to programmers working with time- sensitive routines and multi-tasking. It can generate interrupts at inter- vals of 1 millisecond, 1 second, 1 minute, 1 hour, or any combination of those. And all interrupts are software-controlled and handled through PROCLOCK's on-board PIA. Speaking of software, you also get a diskette full of sample programs, utilities and applications like our Time-Clock II job/time logging program. PROCLOCK even includes one feature we don't expect anyone to take advantage of— a 10-year lithium battery that keeps the clock running even if your computer is left off for long periods of time. But just try to keep away from your Apple long enough to put that to the test! With PROCLOCK, you'll have a whole new world of applica- tions to explore. And plenty of time to explore it. Because PROCLOCK is a reliable, well-built piece of hard- ware. So well-built, it's backed by a five-year warranty. Ask your dealer about PRO- CLOCK. It's perfect timing for Pro- DOS users! Another practical product from Practical Peripherals— makers of MICROBUFFER™, PRINTERFACE™ and GraphiCard™ mm PRACTICAL ^PERIPHERALS 31245 La Baya Drive, Westlake Village, CA 91362 (213] 991-8200 • TWX 910-336-5431 * ProDOS, Apple, Applesoft and Apple Clock are registered trademarks of Apple Computers, Inc. "CP/M is a registered trademark of Digital Research, Inc. Circle 319 on Inquiry card. BYTE February 1984 361 ing, strict syntax, explicit declara- tions, etc., to safeguard against pro- grammers' mistakes or laziness. One of the safeguards built into Pascal is the inviolability of the FOR loop. It is supposed to be impossible to pre- maturely exit from a FOR loop in Pascal. The initial conditions of the loop are evaluated once (when you enter the loop), and the loop counter itself should not be modified during the course of the loop. The dual loop counters of Pascal/MT + 86 make it impossible for a programmer to pre- maturely exit the loop since the ac- tual loop counter is inaccessible to a Pascal programmer. We will come back to this point shortly. The next striking feature of the Pascal/MT + 86 FOR loop schema is the presence of a pair of Jump state- ments on lines 5 and 6 of listing 4. One statement clearly would have been adequate. The conditional jump on line 5 is a "jump if result is greater than or equal" around the second jump. It would have been simpler and shorter to simply insert a "jump if result is less than" to M3. Another interesting feature is line 7, the "no- operation" line. Occasionally a com- piler is forced to insert NOP codes in a program in order to fill reserved space. However, why should a NOP be the target of a Jump instruction? With miniscule effort the jump on line 5 could have used line 8 as the target instead of line 7. One final comment must be made regarding the Pascal/MT + 86 listing 4 code. The 8086 microprocessor has addressing modes specifically designed for accessing arrays of bytes or words. These addressing modes are ignored in the Pascal/MT + 86 code shown in listing 4, and the ad- dress calculations are done explicitly in statements 8 through 11. The FOR loop schema used by Pascal-86 is much leaner than the Pascal/MT + 86 schema. The basic organization of the Pascal-86 FOR loop is different. In Pascal-86 the loop initialization is at the top (line 13), the body of the loop is in the middle (lines 14 through 16), and the test-and-increment portion is at the end. The Pascal-86 version doesn't use dual loop counters; it effectively uses the array addressing mode of the 8086 microprocessor, and it avoids back-to-back Jump statements. The advantage of the Pascal-86 loop schema over the Pascal/MT + 86 schema is obvious. The Pascal-86 code is 18 bytes shorter and executes 110 milliseconds faster. (The results are summarized in table 3.) Could an assembly-language pro- grammer produce a better initializa- tion FOR loop than Pascal-86? Al- though I'm not a veteran 8086 assem- bly-language coder, I decided to attempt to improve on the Pascal-86 code. The easiest way to program in assembly language is to use a high- level language (Pascal, perhaps) as a crutch. Write the problem initially in the high-level language. Once the high-level language version is work- ing, it is relatively easy to examine the compiler's code and then write an optimized version. I was able to improve the Pascal-86 initialization loop very slightly (see listing 5). Pascal-86 used the CX register as the loop counter and the for Apple, IBM PC, TRS-JO* other Desk-Top Computers . continuous ohooks. statement or Involoos . . . High quality, low prices, small quantities. ■ Call today for your FREE CATALOG I Phone TOLL FREE 1 + 800-325-1117 (MA, 1+800-448-4688) ^^ ~ 12 South Street, Townsend, 364 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. A division ol New England Business Service, Inc. chusetts 01469 CODE 11007 I Circle 264 on inquiry card. WHY PAY TAIL ? SANYO H0NIT0RS DH-5109CX GREEN 9" $ 71 DK-2212 AMBER 12" $ 99 AVK-255 RGB 25" $699 lAXAfl 1(15 RGB VISION III $135 105 AMBER 12" $127 PANASONIC KX-P1090 PRINTER $329 DTD-1300G RGB 13" $311 NEC 2010,2030 PRINTER 2050 PRINTER 3550 PRINTER iBVAIIQN ACCESS 1-2-3 ZEHIffl ZVM-135 RGB IBM $189 ZVM-123 GREEN 12" $ 88 ZVK-122 AMBER 12" $113 STAR MICRONICS PRINTERS GEMINI 10X $275 GEMINI 15X $128 ZOOM MODEMS FOR APPLE NETW0RKER $115 NETVORK/NETMASTER $119 Sn.VER REED PRINTERS 500P/500S $132/$167 550P/550S $618/$675 TJQSSUBA P-1350 PRINTER $1166 CALL FOR $ ON AHDEK.ETC. TERMS: COD - FREIGHT COLLECT - CHABGE CARD CUSTOMERS ADD 1J - $1 PHONE CALL REBATE W/ORDER. (301)662-1317 COMPUTER of FREDERICK A DIVISION OF TESCO CORP. 1030 W. Patrick Street Frederick, MD 21701 Circle 62 on inquiry card. Listing 5: Two routines written by the author in 8086 assembly language. The first version is essentially an optimization of the Pascal-86 FOR loop; the second version uses 8086 string operations to achieve an enormous speed advantage. (Compilers cannot easily detect loops that could be recoded using string operations; programmers have a definite advantage in such situa- tions.) Both routines were coded and tested using an Intel development system. 8086 Assembly-Language Loop .'Initialize FLAGS array so that each element = 1 ;Use SI to index FLAGS array and also as a loop counter 1 MOV SI.OH Put a zero into SI index register 2 LI: MOV FLAGS[SI],1H Put a 1 (true) into an element of FLAGS array 3 INC SI Increment SI register 4 CMP SI.1FFEH Compare SI register with final value 5 JLE LI lump back to LI to continue 8086 Assembly-Language String Operation initialize FLAGS array using string operations 6 PUSH DS 7 POP ES 8 CLD 9 MOV CX,1FFFH 10 MOV DIOFFSET FLAGS 11 MOV AL,01 12 REP STOSB Move contents of DS segment register into ES segment register Clear the direction flag Place iteration count into CX register Place address of FLAGS array into DI index register Place a 1 in the AX byte register Repeat the string operation SI register as the array index. I com- bined these two functions in the SI register and saved one instruction. I also saved an instruction by keeping the loop count in the SI register; the Pascal-86 version copied the value to memory once per iteration. (I could have saved one more instruction by looping from 8190 down to instead of looping from up to 8190.) This first assembly-language tweaking produced a modest im- provement—the code shrank from 21 to 15 bytes and the time shrank from 155 to 120 milliseconds. The 35-milli- second improvement represented ap- proximately a 20 percent increase in speed. Can the initialization FOR loop be tuned even more? The 8086 micro- processor includes string instructions for performing operations on arrays or bytes or words. My second assem- bly-language coding effort produced a much faster version by using the 8086 string instructions. Notice that the string version in listing 5 doesn't even use an explicit loop; the actual iterations occur in statement 12 where the "store byte string" opera- tion is repeated 8191 times. The assembly-language string version is 2 bytes shorter than the assembly- language loop version, and it is over six times faster. Many observers have cautioned that tweaking code produces only modest improvements; dramatic im- provements require changing the whole approach. In this example, tweaking produced a 20 percent im- provement, whereas changing the whole approach by using the string instructions produced a sixfold im- provement. You should also note that the ini- tialization code using the 8086 string instructions shown in listing 5 is not a general substitute for a FOR loop schema. The particularly simple FOR loop studied in this article happens to be expressible as a string opera- tion—most FOR loops cannot. Ramifications of the FOR Loop Schemata The biggest difference between the FOR loop schema of Pascal/MT + 86 Listing 6: A program that investigates premature exits from a FOR loop. program premature(input,output); var i,count : integer; begin count : = 0; for i : = 1 to 10 do begin count : = count + 1; i : = 10; end; writeln(count,' iterations') end. Listing 7: Pascal code containing a subroutine (named "shortcircuit") designed to circumvent Pascal-86 compilation safeguards. program premature(input,output); var i,count : integer; procedure shortcircuit; begin i := 10 end; begin count : = 0; for i : = 1 to 10 do begin count : = count + 1; shortcircuit end; writeln(count,' iterations') end. and of Pascal-86 is MT+86's anony- mous loop counter. We saw previous- ly that the Pascal/MT + 86 approach was used to make it impossible to exit a FOR loop prematurely by modify- ing the control variable. I decided to investigate how the Pascal-86 com- piler protected the FOR loop because safe programming is so important to Pascal. I coded the test shown in listing 6 in order to investigate the safety of the two Pascal compilers' FOR loops. The program attempts to short-circuit the loop by setting the loop counter variable I to 10 each time through the loop. The variable COUNT actuaWy keeps track of how many times the loop operates. When I compiled the program in listing 6 using Pascal/ MT + 86, it compiled without com- plaint; when I executed the program I saw the message "10 iterations." When I compiled the program using Pascal-86, 1 received an error message informing me that it was not accept- February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 365 able to change the value of I in mid- loop. Pascal-86 protects FOR loops during compilation by detecting as- signments to the control variable, while Pascal/MT + 86 protects FOR loops during execution by using dual loop counters. Could either technique be fooled? After several false starts, I produced the program shown in listing 7. The coding techniques shown in the list- ing are definitely not recommended, although they appear to be legal in Pascal. Since I couldn't explicitly alter the loop index variable (I), I decided to use a subroutine to do the dirty work. The subroutine named Short- circuit is designed to circumvent the compilation safeguards of Pascal-86. The program in listing 7 compiled without complaint using Pascal/ MT + 86 and Pascal-86. The loop ex- ecuted 10 times in the MT + 86 ver- sion and only once in the Pascal-86 version. The Pascal-86 compiler does its best to protect the FOR loop at compile time, but the compiler can be fooled. The Pascal/MT+86 compiler protects its FOR loop during execution by using an inaccessible loop counter. I wasn't able to short-circuit the MT + 86 method, but I was dismayed by the lack of warnings when I com- piled the program in listing 6. It's up to you to decide which compiler's operation you prefer. Conclusions I hope that you don't decide to forgo the FOR loop in Pascal because of its overhead. In the great majority of FOR loops, calculations in the body of the loop dominate the execu- tion time. Fine-tuning your programs for today's language implementations may allow marginal improvements, but your program wil be harder to understand and possibly harder to transport. Similarly, I hope that all of you avoid the FOR loop short-circuit tech- nique shown above. Clever program- ming can occasionally add a new feature to a language, such as the ability to prematurely exit a FOR loop. However, such programming is nonportable and hard to understand, and it may not even work when the next version of your compiler is re- leased. Code generation enables us to understand why the Pascal/ MT + 86 loop is inviolable while the Pascal-86 loop is not, but if you pro- gram in Pascal, you should use FOR loops only when you really know in advance how many times you want to iterate. For the most part you should strive for correct, clear programs. Speed is a secondary concern. People who write programs with a compiler's quirks in mind are trying to serve two masters. Programming is hard enough when you are serving a single master— correctness. When is it appropriate to examine your compiler's code? Sometimes a program that appears to be correct is not working as you think it should. Examining the relevant code might reveal a bug in the compiler, although it is more likely to reveal a subtle error in your programming. Simply ex- amining the code in a different form— assembly language— often re- veals errors in your high-level-lan- guage programming. Another reason to examine code is to speed up the time-critical section of a program. We've all heard that 10 percent of the code executes 90 per- cent of the time. If a small section of code must be rewritten by hand in as- sembly language, it is easiest if the code is programmed first in the high- level language and then optimized based upon the generated code. An added benefit of this technique is that the high-level version can serve as documentation, a much better form of explanation than the usual assem- bly-language documentation. A final excuse for examining code is curiosity. Compilers perform a vital service, but we don't normally get to see the results. Poking around in the compiler's attic can be good clean fun.H References 1. Gilbreath, Jim. "A High-Level Language Benchmark." BYTE, September 1981, page 180. 2. Gilbreath, Jim and Gary Gilbreath. "Eratos- thenes Revisited: Once More through the Sieve." BYTE, January 1983, page 283. 3. Pascal/MT+86 Language Reference Manual. Pacific Grove, CA: Digital Research, 1982. 4. Pascal-86 User's Guide. Santa Clara, CA: Intel Corporation, 1981. 5. ASM86 Language Reference Manual. San- ta Clara, CA: Intel Corporation, 1981. 6. The 8086 Family User's Manual. Santa Clara, CA: Intel Corporation, 1979. Kaare Christian (5517 Fieldston Rd., Bronx, NY 10471) is a research associate with Rockefeller University and holds a B.S. in applied physics from Cornell University. DATA TRANSFER PROBLEMS? REFORMATTeR" Diskette Conversion Software Avoids serial communication protocols. Needs only one system to transfer data. Converts source code and data files. • Allows 2-way transfer. • Quick, reliable, and inexpensive. VERSIONS Runs On CP/M -*■ CP/M -#- CP/M-86 -*- CROMIX -*- DEC RT-11 -*■ MS-DOS -*- TRSDOS II*-*- TRSDOS II -*- Reads/Writes ► IBM 3740 ►DEC RT-11 ► IBM 3740 ► DEC RT-11 ►CP/M ►IBM 3740 ► CP/M ►DEC RT-11 PRICE: S350 *S249 Requires 8" floppy drive. 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For more information on the revolution- ary design, outstanding features and unique good looks of the new WY-50, V-J . '■ : • - />•• -v " contact WYSE and we'll send you a brochure filled with everything you need to know. The WY-50. The full- featured terminal with the small price. WYSE Circle 393 on inquiry card. Make the Wyse Decision . WYSE TECHNOLOGY 3040 N. First St., San]ose. CA 95134, 4081946-3075, TLX 910-338-2251 , Outside CA call toll-free, 800/421-1058, in So. CA 2131340-2013. '... '... -'S-'t- "' ■ • ..."—< * •-. Why are there so many ads in BYTE f BYTE carries more pages of advertising than any other computer magazine in the world, because: 1. BYTE is the only high-tech magazine serving the entire microcomputer field. Our editorial covers all hardware, all software, all peripherals. Therefore, every computer- related product belongs in BYTE. 2. Do you know any sophisticated computer user who doesn't know BYTE? Over 400,000 pay to read BYTE every month because it is the authority, the international standard by which all other computer magazines are measured. Including pass-along, BYTE's high-tech readership totals nearly 850,000. It's an audience every advertiser wants. 3. Do BYTE readers like all those ads? They'll send over 6 million vx more-information" inquiries to our advertisers this year. No other magazine comes close. Whether in the front, middle or back of the magazine, ad pages in BYTE average over 1,000 inquiries. Some back-of-book advertisers have pulled over 2,000 with a single ad! That's why there are so many ads in BYTE. If you're an advertiser, or are thinking about becoming one, talk to us — we're the people who wrote the book on micro- computer marketing. Just call Pete Huestis, Advertising Sales Manager, at (603) 924-9281 . EfTE THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD m B\TE is posited wntt/y fcy ^Grm»i-Hill f Inc.,wiholfSeas at 70 Main Si, Ptietbonu 3 h,HM. 0345& Writing Device Drivers for MS-DOS 2.0 Using Tandon TM100-4 Drives The increase in flexibility can be worth the added effort by J. Eric Roskos One of the many new features of MS-DOS 2.0 is its ability to allow you to write your own device drivers to be included in the operating system at start-up time. This feature lets you add new peripherals, such as disk drives, that are not supported by the standard software. The IBM PC will support, without hardware modification, the Tandon TM100-4 disk drive. This drive looks exactly like a standard IBM double- sided drive except for the IBM in- signia on the newer drive. In fact, Tandon is one of two IBM suppliers. The TM100-4, however, will hold twice as much data as the standard IBM double-sided disk. Unfortunate- ly, MS-DOS 2.0, as configured for the IBM PC, cannot recognize this drive without some modification. Thus, MS-DOS 2.0 is a natural candidate for a user-written device driver. Though it is possible to patch DOS to make it work with this drive using existing device drivers, writing a new routine allows you to make optimal use of the TM100-4's features, such as the faster head-stepping rate that is possible with this drive. In this article, I will describe the de- velopment of a device driver for the TM100-4, explain device drivers in general, and look in some detail at problems I encountered in develop- ing this particular driver. These prob- lems reflect some pitfalls that are characteristic of the IBM PC and DOS 2.0, so they are useful when writing other kinds of drivers as well. Device Drivers An MS-DOS 2.0 device driver con- sists of two separate procedures, called at separate times by DOS. These procedures are patterned closely after the device drivers in the Unix operating system produced by Bell Laboratories, although the DOS drivers' structure reflects an orienta- tion toward assembly-language pro- gramming, whereas this part of Unix is written entirely in the C language. The first of the two procedures that make up a device driver is the "strategy" procedure. It is called by DOS to request an operation from the device, such as a read or a write. The procedure stores the request and then returns to the caller. The strategy procedure does not perform the requested operation; that is done by the second procedure, the "interrupt" procedure. It is im- portant to understand the reason for this. In a well-designed operating system, I/O (input/output) operations should occur asynchronously. It may be possible to make the peripheral function more efficiently if you are allowed to make requests to it and it is then allowed to process them, without an unreasonably tight con- nection between the two events. For instance, it may help to let the device handler sort a set of requests in some strategic order that minimizes the amount of movement required by the disk heads. Likewise, it may help to allow the device driver to anticipate a future I/O request based on past ones and to prepare for it before the user requests it. Such advanced rea- sons are usually found only in multi- user (or multiprocess) operating systems and, in fact, DOS 2.0 does not make much use of them; but we can design better device drivers if we realize this underlying principle. The interrupt procedure, the sec- ond of the two making up the device driver, is responsible for performing the operation requested by the strategy procedure. The interrupt procedure is called when the device is ready to handle another request. It looks for a request stored by the strategy procedure, and if it finds one, it executes the requested opera- tion and signals DOS that it has done so by turning on a "DONE" indicator associated with the request. In large operating systems, the in- terrupt procedure is called by the pe- ripheral, which sends a hardware signal, or interrupt, to the micropro- cessor when it has finished a previ- ously requested operation. This signal causes the processor to issue a subroutine call to the interrupt pro- cedure, which starts the peripheral working on another request. In DOS 2.0, the interrupt procedure is instead always called by DOS immediately 370 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. after the strategy procedure is called, probably because this is an early ver- sion of the operating system that does not seem to use the fully asyn- chronous structure just described. In fact, the sample driver given in the DOS manual assumes that DOS will always call the interrupt procedure immediately after the strategy pro- cedure, which would be incorrect in a truly asynchronous system. But even when asynchronous interrupts are used, the first time a device is used after it has been sitting idle, DOS will have to call the interrupt procedure to get things going, because an interrupt is generated only when a device first finishes an operation. This means we don't have to worry about setting up the processor to pro- duce interrupts (or about asking DOS to do it for us), but we can still pro- gram a device handler that has a structure much like those used in sophisticated operating systems. Thus, we can learn a lot about how device drivers work by constructing this relatively simple driver. Disk Drivers The kinds of requests that can be given to a device driver by DOS are listed in Chapter 14 of the DOS 2.0 manual. For a disk driver, the pos- sible requests are as follows: INIT— Initialize the disk hardware when the system is first started up. This procedure is always called exact- ly once, when DOS is started at power on or by pressing Ctrl/Alt/Del. MEDIA CHECK-Check whether the user has changed disks since the last time the disk drive was used. For my device driver, I always tell DOS I "don't know" whether it was changed because for a floppy disk this is prob- ably more efficient than reading the disk to see if it has been changed. An interesting alternative to this ap- proach might be to tell DOS the disk hasn't changed if the disk motor is still on and tell it it has changed if the motor is off. The motor is turned off by the clock-handling routine in the ROM BIOS (the portion of the basic input/output system that is per- manently stored in read-only mem- ory) if the disk is not used for a few seconds; this provides a good guess as to whether the user might have changed the disk. If the user has changed the disk, the motor will be off (unless he is incredibly fast). Thus, if the motor is on, you can assume the user hasn't changed disks; in such a case, DOS would not reread the disk if the block being ac- cessed was in memory, speeding up multiple accesses to the same block. The DOS manual doesn't tell exactly what the three alternatives (has changed, hasn't changed, don't know) do, so you are probably safer with the "don't know" alternative. BUILD BPB-Tell DOS where in memory you have stored a table, called the BPB, describing the size of the directory and the number of blocks on the disk. INPUT— Read from the disk into memory. DOS gives you the starting block number on the disk, the start- ing address in memory where you are to put the data, and how many blocks you are supposed to read in. OUTPUT— Write from memory to disk. DOS gives you the same infor- mation as for the INPUT function. OUTPUT WITH VERIFY-Write from memory to disk, then verify that the data was written correctly. For our disk driver, we treat this request the same as a plain OUTPUT, although it would be fairly easy to add a func- tion to check that the data was writ- ten correctly, since the ROM BIOS provides a VERIFY function. The exact form in which a request is given to the driver is explained in Chapter 14 of the DOS manual. This data is called a "request header" and tells exactly what DOS wants the device driver to do. It always contains a "command code," a number iden- tifying the functions to be performed; a "status word," in which we store in- formation telling DOS whether we successfully performed the operation it asked for; and some other informa- tion that I won't go into here, telling the size of the request area in mem- ory and the unit number when more than one device is to be handled by the same driver. The request header usually has other information follow- ing it in memory, such as the address and block numbers to be used for an INPUT or OUTPUT operation. The two main things that a device driver for a disk must accomplish are the INPUT and OUTPUT operations. The other functions are fairly simple and may be based, with appropriate modifications, on the listing supplied in the DOS manual. I'll concentrate on the INPUT and OUTPUT opera- tions in the remainder of this article. Accessing the Disk When DOS asks the driver to per- form either an INPUT or OUTPUT function, it supplies three numbers that tell exactly what is to be done. The first is the "transfer address," consisting of two words. These words are the address in memory where the disk transfer is to take place. For an INPUT, this is where the data from the disk is to be stored as it is read from the disk. For an OUTPUT, this is where the data to be written onto the disk is found in memory. To understand this, let's consider how a user's program would access the disk; for simplicity, let's say you want to read an integer from the disk in a BASIC program. You can't read just an integer, which is 2 bytes long, from the disk; the disk is read in blocks of 512-bytes. One of the func- tions of DOS (and the BASIC inter- preter) is to figure out where on the disk the integer is stored; it will be in some 512-byte block of the disk, and this whole block has to be read into memory all at once, because that's how the disk works. So DOS sets aside an area in memory, called a buffer, into which the block is to be read. This area is entirely separate from your basic program and is in- visible to you. It then asks the driver to read the block into the buffer, and after the driver has done so, it ex- tracts the integer from the block and puts it into your BASIC variable. It is the address of this buffer in memory that is the first of the num- bers given to the driver with an IN- PUT or OUTPUT request. The driver does not have to set up the buffer or determine where data is on the disk; that is done by the higher-level parts of DOS. It only has to read one or February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 371 more 512-byte blocks from the disk into memory when requested. The second number given to the driver is the number of these 512-byte blocks that are to be read in. Often, only one block will be read at a time; but when a lot of data is to be transferred at once, such as when copying a file or saving the text from a word pro- cessor, many blocks may be read or written at the same time. The third number given to the driver is the "starting-block number" telling where on the disk this data is to be read or written. Because disks always work in terms of 512-byte blocks, the disk is divided up into a series of these consecutively numbered blocks; the block number is a "disk address" analogous to the memory address of a variable in memory, but the size of the object being addressed is much greater (512 bytes versus 1 byte). Operating the Hardware I've just explained that when DOS asks the driver to perform an INPUT or OUTPUT, you'll be given informa- tion on where in memory and on disk the data is to be found or put. But you have to make the disk drive actually read or write the data. For- tunately, the program in the IBM PC's ROM (read-only memory), called the ROM BIOS, makes this easier. This program has subroutines for almost every hardware device available for the machine, including, fortunately, the TM100-4 disk, which is just another floppy-disk drive to the IBM PC. To use this subroutine, move in- formation concerning what you want done into the 8088's registers and then call the subroutine via the 8088's INT instruction. However, there are two problems. First, the ROM BIOS doesn't know about DOS's block numbers; second, in any one call to the ROM BIOS subroutine, you can't transfer more than nine sectors at a time. (Depending on where the start- ing sector is on the disk, you may only be able to transfer less than nine.) The information you have to give DOS is listed in table 1. Of the available functions, a DOS disk drive needs to use only func- tions 0, 2, and 3; these are the RESET, AH = Function to be performed: = RESET the disk drive 1 = get status information 2 = READ from disk into memory 3 = WRITE from memory to disk 4 = VERIFY a write operation 5 = FORMAT a track of the disk AL = Number of sectors to transfer CH = Track on disk to be used CL = Sector within track to use DH = Head on disk drive to use DL = Disk drive to use ES:BX = Address of buffer in memory Table 1: Before calling the ROM BIOS subroutine, you must load the appropriate information (shown above) into the BIOS registers. READ, and WRITE functions. Notice that locations on the disk are given in terms of the track, head, and sec- tor. The track number identifies which of the concentric rings of data on the disk is to be used; the TM100-4 can store twice as much data as a standard double-sided drive because it has 80 tracks instead of 40. The head number on a double-sided disk drive such as the TM100-4 identifies the side of the disk you should use. And finally, the sector number tells which of the nine available sectors on a given track and side is to be used. (This sector number can be anything between and 255; although Micro- soft and I use numbers 1 through 9, any numbers can be used. This is how most copy-protection schemes work.) To compute the track, head, and sector number from the DOS block number, we use the following formulas: track = block / 18 TS = block mod 18 head = TS / 9 sector = TS - (head x 9) + 1 Because each track holds 18 blocks (9 blocks per side, 2 sides), the track number is the block number divided by 18 (using integer division). The value TS is the sector number within the track, a number between and 17. If this number is less than 9, use head and sector TS + 1 (because sec- tor numbers start at 1, not 0). If it's 9 or greater, subtract 9 from TS + 1 and use head 1. In other words, the first 9 sectors are on head 0; the sec- ond 9 are on head 1. This is also how head, sector, and track numbers are calculated by the DOS disk drivers. For an introductory description of the ideas of head, sector, and track, see pages 1-10 of the DOS 2.0 manual; it provides more information on the basic concepts involved. After you've translated the block number to the numbers required by the ROM BIOS, you have to break up requests for transfers bigger than can be handled at one time into con- secutive requests to the ROM BIOS. The reason you have to do this is that the ROM BIOS doesn't know how DOS numbers sectors. It doesn't assume after it has transferred the last sector on track n that it can go to some other track and sector, say track n+1 sector 1. You have to tell it ex- plicitly. So whenever the track or side (head) numbers change, you have to give the ROM BIOS another request. Although this is somewhat compli- cated, if you sit down with pencil and paper you can probably write out a simple procedure, in the program- ming language of your choice, to solve the problems just described. This is not too difficult and is a good practice whenever you are program- ming a complicated procedure in as- sembly language. Unfortunately, there are some interesting and frustrating aspects of this problem that aren't documented in any manual— and this made my project much harder. Unexpected Problems When I wrote the original device driver, I used the example in the DOS manual as a guide. Within a reason- able amount of time, I had what should have been a working driver. But it wasn't that simple. First, I had put some calls to DOS into my driver to display information so I could trace the activity of the driver for debugging. But the driver didn't work at all. It hung the system. I tried using the debugger supplied with DOS. I traced the execution of the driver, using breakpoints at ap- propriate places. Strangely, the re- quests to the driver seemed to be get- 372 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. ting destroyed; and more strangely, no matter where I put the break- point, this would always happen sometime after the first breakpoint was hit. Finally, by more tracing, I discovered the first difficulty with writing device drivers for DOS 2.0: you can't use the debugger because the debugger uses DOS's I/O rou- tines rather than having its own, as is desirable in a good debugger (a debugger should generally be as in- dependent of anything else in the system as possible); and DOS's I/O routines are not "reentrant," meaning you can't call them from within a previous call on the I/O routines, or the former's data will be destroyed. This was a disappointing setback. You can't use the debugger to debug the operating system because the debugger tampers with the data you're trying to examine. It's hard to understand why Microsoft designed it this way. It would be helpful if someone would develop a debugger independent of anything (except perhaps the ROM BIOS) to plug in- to the extra socket on the 5150 cen- tral processor (there's not a free socket on the 5160, so it wouldn't work there). The second problem I had con- cerned the DOS I/O routines. They aren't reentrant. This is mostly because DOS seems to have been written in assembly language. Many of the idiosyncrasies of DOS could have been avoided if, when making a Unix-like single-user operating sys- tem, they had also followed the lead of Unix and written it in C, which uses a stack for local variables, thus tending to minimize problems such as those that occurred with the debugger and I/O routines. After filling out one of the com- plaint forms in the back of the DOS manual to send to Microsoft, I pro- ceeded to write my own routines to use the ROM BIOS to display debug- ging information on the screen. They are illustrated in listing 1. After replacing the original calls to DOS with calls on my new routines, I tested it again. A third problem emerged. No matter what I did, DOS would give the message Sector size too large in file Tm4.com. This message Listing 1: The ROM BIOS debugging routines. debugging macros ; prtreg - print contents o-f register rg in hex, -followed by message ; string in msg, e.g., prtreg ax , "=ax register" prtreg macro rg,msg push ax mov ax ,rg cal 1 prtax wto msg pop ax endm ! wto - write mesg to display. E.g., wto "I/O Error" wto macro mesg 1 ocal msgstr , around ifdef debug push ax push bx push si mov si ,of f set msgstr cal 1 putc pop si pop bx pop ax jmp around msgstr : db mesg db 0DH.0AH,'*' around: endi-f endm ; Local Procedures -for debugging macros putc - equivalent o-f DOS -function ? putc pr-oc near mov bl ,7 mov bh,0 pu t c 1 : mov al ,[si] cmp al ,'*' je putc2 mov ah, 14 int 10H inc si jmp putc 1 putc2: ret putc en dp i prtnum - print 1 ow-or der 4 bits o-f al pr tnum proc near push ds push cs pop ds push bx mov bx.o-f-fset xltab xlatb mov ah, 14 mov bh,0 int lOh pop bx Listing 1 continued on page 374 February 1984 © BYTE Publicalions Inc. 373 Listing 1 continued: .pop ret xltab db prtnum endp ds -0123456789ABCDEF' ; prtax - print ax register's contents in hex prtax proc near push ex push ax mov al ,ah mov cl,4 shr al ,cl cal 1 prtnum pop ax push ax mov al , ah and al ,0Fh cal 1 prtnum pop ax push ax mov cl,4 shr al ,cl cal 1 prtnum pop ax push ax and al ,0Fh cal 1 prtnum pop ax pop ex ret endp prtax Listing 2: The device driver local stack routine. Code used to set up a private stack for the device driver ; *'XS The -following is in the code segment tor the driver: because i i'i% the code, stack, and data segments are set up to all start at ; S** the same address. Private stack - because DOS doesn't provide enough room for us to do our debugging I/O stkbot db equ dw dw 102 dup ("TM4 Stack "') ; 1020 byte's stack area $ ? ; a little extra space just to be sate Stack pointer save area spsav sssav dw dw j DOS'S stack pointer is saved here : DOSs stack segment is saved here entry to / exit from device strategy: example of stack switching devstraiegy: ; switch to private stack mov spsav,sp ; save DOS's stack pointer mov sssav,ss ; and its stack segment mov ax,cs : stack is in the code segment, so we mov ss,ax ; set stack segment = code segment mov sp, offset stkbot ; and point stack pointer to bottom ; of the stack '*.£$ Code for strategy routine goes here switch back to DOS's stack mov ss, sssav mov sp , spsav ret restore DOS's stack seg we saved likewise its stack pointer and return to DOS, who called us. meant that my driver was telling DOS that the disk's sector size was something other than the intended 512 bytes. After careful examination, I found that this was false— the sec- tor size was correct. At this point, only guessing and intuition led to a solution. I guessed that what was happening was that the system stack, a small stack local to DOS that is used in place of the user's stack whenever a DOS function is called, was over- flowing and destroying some of DOS's data. This seemed possible because my debugging I/O routines saved all the system's registers, using a lot of space on the stack, and called ROM BIOS procedures, using even more. So I resorted to the unortho- dox method of having the device driver set up and use its own local stack (this method remains in the finished driver). This eliminated the error message, although I have no concrete evidence that this was the cause of the error. This is not a satisfactory solution, because it means the driver takes up more space than it should and the method used to switch stacks is complicated, much like a context-switching opera- tion used in a multitasking operating system to switch between several pro- grams running at the same time. But this solution does assure that the driver will have a known amount of stack space, and it eliminates the er- ror message. The method used to switch to a local stack is illustrated in listing 2. Hardware Limitations Following this improvement and the addition of some macros to print the contents of the registers on the screen, debugging proceeded about as expected for a while. The driver seemed to be working at last. But then, while copying a large file, an I/O error occurred. The error code returned by the BIOS was code "09"; according to the ROM BIOS listing in the Technical Reference manual, this means "attempt to DMA across 64K boundary." 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Although it isn't documented clearly, memory on the IBM PC is partitioned into 64K-byte blocks for purposes of DMA (direct-memory ac- cess) I/O. Chip U19 on the central processor board is a "DMA page register" that must be given the up- per 4 bits of the address of the buffer to be read or written before the I/O operation starts. This will determine the upper 4 bits of the address in memory at which the I/O will occur. Since this can't be changed while the I/O is going on, you can't do I/O to a buffer lying on a 64K-byte boun- dary. For instance, you can't have a buffer that starts at hexadecimal ad- dress 0FF00 and goes through ad- dress 10100, because that lies on a page boundary; note that the upper 4 bits of the starting and ending ad- dress differ. This wouldn't be so bad except that DOS regularly tries to do I/O opera- tions using buffers that lie on page boundaries. This happens, for in- stance, when the COPY command is used to copy a large file if your machine has more than 64K bytes of RAM (random-access read/write memory). Again, it's hard to understand why this was done. Certainly the new I/O functions provided in DOS 2.0 that use a pool of buffers maintained by the operating system shouldn't have to do this, and probably don't; the buffer pool almost certainly can be allocated to avoid these 64K-byte boundaries. It would also have seemed reasonable for functions such as COPY to check and not attempt such I/O. It's true that user programs would have to be restricted not to at- tempt such I/O either, if they were using the "raw" I/O functions pro- vided by DOS. Perhaps this was an attempt to allow DOS to smooth over irregularities in the hardware, as a good operating system should. As such, it was not a bad design deci- sion, but it does make writing device drivers more difficult, especially since documentation of this restric- tion is so sparse. The only case in which such a restriction is necessary, raw I/O by the user, is not desirable in any operating system because it minimizes protection by the system against the user accidentally destroy- ing valuable data in memory. I solved this problem in my driver by checking whether a requested I/O operation crossed a 64K-byte boun- dary. If it did, I transferred up to the block that crosses the boundary. Then, I copied the offending block to a local buffer within the driver and transferred it; then I transferred all the data following the boundary- violating block. This requires three transfers where one would have suf- ficed, but it solves the problem. This may not be the best method— there may be some hardware trick to solve the problem, but if there is, it's not documented. 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It assumes that the device (or A:) drive is a standard IBM disk drive compatible with either the TM100-1 (single-sided) or TM100-2 (double-sided) disk drive. This is probably the best approach to use, unless you have an expansion chassis supporting more than two disk drives, because IBM and the other software suppliers all distribute their programs on the standard 40-track disks, and these do not ap- pear to be readable on the TM100-4 with IBM's disk controller. A major feature of this disk driver is that it changes the head-stepping rates for both the standard TM100-2 drive and the TM100-4 to rates that seem to work much better. Specifical- ly, the TM100-2 is operated at 4 ms (milliseconds) per step and the TM100-4 is operated at 2 ms per step. This is slightly faster than the specified optimal stepping rate for the drives (the optimal rates are not possible because the fast clock rate on the IBM PC causes the controller's stepping rate to be settable only in in- crements of 2 ms, and the optimal rates are 5 and 3 ms, respectively). Using these rates causes the heads to move smoothly and quietly, eliminat- ing the loud and irritating buzzing noise usually produced by the drives. If you find that your drives will not work at these rates, you can change them to slower values, but it is im- portant not to operate the TM100-4 at a 4-ms step rate, because it is claimed by at least one vendor (Network Con- sulting, Inc.; see the warning on page 3 of chapter CONFIG.IBM(Utl) in the UCSD p-System programmer's guide dated 16 March 1983) that a "serious vibration problem" exists that can damage the drive if a 4-ms stepping rate is used. I have used my disk drives at the rates set by this driver for the past eight months with no adverse effects or increased I/O er- ror rate; in fact, it would seem that the reduced vibration levels pro- duced by operating the heads close to their specified optimal rates would reduce wear on the head supports and other parts in the drive. Future Enhancements One advantage of having your own disk driver is that you can devise ways to further increase the storage capacity of your drives. One of the easiest ways to do this is to go to 10 sectors/track instead of 9. This feature is currently available under some im- plementations of the UCSD p-Sys- tem, where it appears successful. However, it requires changing vari- ous timing parameters provided to the disk controller, and thus it is not as easy as going from 8 to 9 sectors per track. Retrospective In looking back on this project, several things are apparent. The first and most important is that, if I were writing the driver over, I would do it in C. I used assembly language primarily because I did not have a C compiler. I have subsequently pur- chased a C compiler that would be well suited for this application; I have used it to write several stand-alone device-handling programs. I would guess that it would have taken me a third of the time it took me to imple- ment the program in assembly lan- guage if I had used C, because the majority of bugs, other than the prob- lems described in this article, were related to register and addressing complications and structural flaws in the code that would have been avoided or easily detected if a block- structured language had been used. I favor C for this project because it is not strongly typed but has power- ful control structures, unlike either Pascal, which is strongly typed and has weaker control structures, or sys- tems-programming languages such as BLISS, which essentially has no typing at all and relatively weak con- trol structures. It is also apparent that DOS 2.0 computers wholesale 315-472-3055 Box 150 Brewerton, N.Y. 13029 Circle 83 on inquiry card. KXXX X X X j( j -TERMINALS- ESPRIT Esprit $489 Esprit II 499 Esprit III 649 LEARSEIGLER ADM3A $529 ADM II 539 ADM 36 979 New! Televideo Personal Terminal Personal Terminal $399 Personal Terminal 529 w 300 band modem Personal Terminal 849 w 1200 band modem TELEVIDEO 910 $439 914 579 924 695 925 699 950 865 970 929 TEXAS INSTRUMENTS Tl 703 Printing Terminal Call Tl 707 Print Term, w modem .... 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We ac- cept VISA and Mastet Card. Personal and company checks, allow 2 weeks to clear. CO.D 's require a 25% deposit. All prices and oilers may be with- drawn without notice. would have benefited from the use of C. This version of DOS is obviously patterned after Unix; even the names of the system calls are the same as in Unix (more exactly it is a subset of Xenix, which was patterned after Unix). Unix began as an assembly- language system but was quickly revised to be written in C. Some of the benefits of this approach would have been a more uniform calling se- quence for the DOS system calls (presently they tend to be irregular) and a much greater likelihood that the operating system's routines would be reentrant, because C and similar programming languages store most variables on the stack. If all "static" variables are properly used, implementation of multitasking is much simpler and does not involve the previously described problems. Finally, debugging this device driver was enormously difficult because of the absence of adequate debugging facilities. A large software house probably would have an Intel Development System or a similar facility to provide hardware tracing for debugging, but the average user does not have such equipment. Any- one attempting to implement a device driver for this system would do well to first obtain or write a good stand-alone debugger. Unless you have considerable patience, ex- perience, and intuition, locating bugs in such a program is difficult. Conclusions It is feasible to write device drivers for MS-DOS 2.0, although debugging can be difficult. This is a good feature of the operating system, as is its structure. Some problems, as ex- plained previously, exist; with luck these can be ironed out. A project such as this can give you a better feel for what goes on within a given operating system than does user-level programming. At present, MS-DOS is rather complicated. The original system, developed outside Microsoft, was written quickly and lacked many necessary features. Considerably more expertise (as well as an understanding of Unix) was in- volved in developing version 2. Yet MS-DOS still seems to be sub- ject to two opposing forces. One steers it toward a fairly good struc- ture, perhaps because of the upward- compatibility with Xenix that it is supposed to have. The opposing force, fostered largely by the con- tinued use of assembly-language coding, is steering it towards the old- fashioned disarray and patchwork familiar to anyone who has done sys- tems programming for one of the older operating systems on main- frame machines. Hopefully, with new features such as the ones discussed in this article, the former will prevail in the end.B /. EricRoskos (Box 220562, Nashville, TN 37212) is a graduate student at Vanderbilt University whose dissertation is on a new architecture for multipro- cessor shared-memory systems and related theories of communication and synchronization. For more information on the source code used to construct this device driver, please contact the author. Easy to install P.C. Kit All you do is assemble "Tjvu^"" IBM Products* S» rt hics Card with * jnjeW I Kit Includes • Attractive Sturdy Case • H.D. Power Supply with Built In Fan • Detachable Low Profile Keyboard • Mother Board fully wave soldered, stuffed & tested • • With Disc Drive Controller Card • • 5 Expansion Slots • 128 K • Teac 55B (DSDD-48 TPI) • Complete instructions & documentation 1-714-953-7411 Disc Drive Controller Card "NOTE: Static & Dynamic Ram in Stock I's, Dealer Inquiries Invited 3 1 / 4 " Tabor Drive Just Plug In SVa" £; Teac 5 FD55B e 48TPI Just Plug In! Laser Vi High " SSDD 48TPI 163 KB 40 Track with Patch >pte Products 3Va" Apple V*^ SSDD 2 in 1 Apple Acts As 2 Drives 48TPI Drive Double Sided Drive By LASER Costs much less than 2 Drives DSDD-48TPI Disc Drive Controll Card in stock also! LASER FULL HIGH 143 KB SSDD-48TPI 35 Track THE DOUBLE 2-V2 Hi. Drives in one case. CANADA Pacific Rim Electronics 13439111th Edmonton Canada T5E4ZY 403-475-0555 'Eagle, IBM, Apple, Apple ME, and Commodore are all registered trade marks of Eagle, IBM, Apple and Commodore corporations. Disc Drives for Commodore 64 LASER MICRO SYSTEMS 1-714-953-7411 USA 1701 E. Edinger (Suite J -4) Santa Ana, CA 92705 TLX: 181281 LASER SNA TAIWAN P.O. Box 26-264 Taipei, Taiwan ROC TLX: 12318 EOINTCOL 380 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Circle 207 on inquiry card. 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ITOH SILVER-REED MANY OTHERS Everything in computer related products: • Computers • Modems • Printers • Software • Monitors • Terminals • Accessories • Paper • Ribbons • Diskettes • Office Furniture Prices listed reflect a cash discount and are subject to change without notice We welcome Certified and Cashiers Checks. Bank Wires and Money Orders CO D s are shipped with a minimum COD charge Allow 3-7 days for personal checks to clear. Product is suoject to availability Equipment is in factory sealed boxes with manufacturer's warranty There will be a re-stocking charge for returned merchandise Call first for an RMA number Software not warranteed for suitability No return of Software which has be^n opened Add 2% for shipping & handling charges Iminimum S2 50|. All equipment shipped FO B Scottsdale. Az 85251 „. . ... . , Circle 211 on inquiry card. Deciphering Word Games Two BASIC programs that will help you solve cryptograms and anagrams Puzzles fascinate me. As a young- ster, I loved encrypted codes, secret languages, decoder rings, and similar puzzles. I still enjoy decoding word puzzles; all the more so when they're as close at hand as cryptograms or anagrams in the local newspaper. The cryptograms in newspapers are short messages, often only a few sentences long, in which each letter of the original text has been replaced by some other letter of the alphabet. Usually the substitutions are random choices without a pattern. For exam- ple, the latter a may replace all the t s, while b replaces all the os. One par- ticular letter is never used for more than one coded letter. Sometimes a few letters will not be encoded at all; they remain the same in the encod- ed message as in the decoded plain text. Anagrams are words whose letters have been rearranged into a mean- ingless jumble. The trick is to put them back into their proper order to spell a word. For example, SIBAC is an anagram for BASIC. The longer a word, the more possible combina- tions it has. For instance, a three- letter word has six possible combina- tions: 1x2x3 = 6. A four-letter word has 24 possible combinations: 1x2x3x4 = 24. A five-letter word has 120 combinations, six letters have 720 combinations, and so on. You can spend a lot of time trying to find the hidden word in a six-letter by Mark C. Worley anagram unless, of course, you are inherently intuitive or prone to logical analysis. (Some people just go on to the comics page.) Cryptograms are a particular chal- lenge to decode because of the con- tinuing search for the correct letter substitutions, or keys, to the crypto- gram. Prior to computers, this search would consume a lot of paper, pen- cil lead, erasers, and patience as each new key was tried out in the text. With computers, the monitor pro- vides a constantly fresh worksheet and the keyboard becomes a pencil that never dulls with an eraser that always wipes cleanly. Perhaps you will be interested by the following programs written in Microsoft Ex- tended BASIC that can help you en- joy solving word games. To Solve a Cryptogram Crypto, bas is a program ideally suited for solving the short- to medium-length crytograms frequent- ly found in the corners of newspaper pages. Using a 24-line by 80-character display monitor, Crypto, bas displays almost 400 workspace characters. This means that five lines of code and workspace, 79 characters long, can be displayed. Those of you with smaller screens will have less available work- space, but the program can be modi- fied for your screen size by changing the 79 in line 50 to 1 less than your screen width. For instance, if your screen is limited to 40 characters, then change the 79 to a 39. To decode a cryptogram, load and run Crypto, bas (see listing 1). The screen will clear and the command TYPE THE CRYPTOGRAM: will appear on the screen, along with an on-screen ruler showing 79 dashes. The input command LINE INPUT allows punctuation to be in- cluded in the string. The ruler is printed to help eliminate entering an 80-character line, which usually results in an automatic carriage return and line feed (CR LF) on the screen. These unexpected CR LFs use up extra space in the display and generally make the display unman- ageable. If the cryptogram occupies more than one displayable line, type what you can, then enter new lines by hitting the Enter or Return keys. When you have finished entering the entire cryptogram, hit Enter or Re- turn on a blank line. Line 80 in listing 1 checks for a 0-length line. When a 0-length line is encountered, variable A is set to equal the number of lines entered, then a subroutine counts the fre- quency of each character. The MID$ and ASC commands count the char- acters quickly. The next subroutine, beginning on line 480, starts with ASCII character 65 (capital a) and continues through February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 383 ASCII character 90 (capital z), search- ing for the largest value of AMT(X). AMT(X) is the variable that contains the frequency of occurrence of the let- ter whose decimal ASCII value is the X in AMT(X). Line 500 searches and compares each value of AMT(X) to find the highest value (or last-found highest value) if more than one char- acter has an equal number of occur- rences in the text. To ease decoding and the character-frequency count, you should enter the anagram in capital letters. The program can be modified to include in the character- frequency count coded messages that use numbers and other printable characters for letter substitutions. After the five most frequent char- acters are found, the subroutine returns to line 110 where the crypto- gram and workspace lines are printed. A line of the encoded text is printed, then a workspace line below that, followed by a blank line. This continues until the entire message is displayed. Below the text, the five most frequently used letters in the English language— e, t, o, a, n— are shown. Immediately below those let- ters the five most commonly used let- ters in the message are displayed. This provides as easy way for you to choose the first few letters for pos- sible substitution into the encoded text. Also shown is a count of the total number of characters in the text, which is helpful to know. (There is some argument about what the most commonly used letters really are. Ac- cording to various sources, they in- clude the following combinations: etlan, ethsi, etaoi, or etona. The most commonly used character is actually not e, but the space between words. The frequency of spaces is important to recognize in many encoded texts and in text-compression storage methods.) After the code is entered and dis- played, you are prompted to begin substituting letters. Choose a letter in the coded text to be changed and enter it. Then choose a letter that should substitute for that letter and enter that. The program will now search for every occurrence of the first letter in the coded text and sub- stitute the corresponding letter in the Listing 1: Crypto.bas is a program in BASIC used to solve and create your own cryptograms. 10 REM CRYPTO.BAS PGM TO EASILY WORK CRYPTOGRAMS 12/31/82 'CLEAR THE SCREEN (CLS) Terminate with a blank line 'LINE INPUT ALLOWS PUCTUATIONS 'LL 30 DIM GN<95> , AMT(95> 40 PRINT"TYPE THE CRYPTOGRAMi 50 PRINT STRING*<79,95> 60 LINE INPUT Z*(A> 70 LET LL(A)=LEN(Z*(A) ) 80 IF LL(A)<>0 THEN A=A+l:GOTO 50 90 A=A-1 100 GOSUB 390 110 FOR X=0 TO Al X*(X)=Z*(X> I NEXT X 120 PRINT CHR* (12) 130 FOR Y=0 TO A 140 PRINT Z*(Y>: PRINT X*(Y) 150 IF PF=1 THEN LPRINT Z*(Y)i LPRINT X*(Y) 160 PRINTlIF PF=1 THEN LPRINT 'AND A SPACE BEFORE NEXT LINES 170 NEXT Y 'PRINT NEXT CRYPTO/WORKSPACE LINES 180 PF=0 'CLEAR PRINT FLAG 190 ' *** PRINT THE FIVE MOST FREQUENTLY USED CHARACTERS *** 200 PRINT "CRYPTOGRAM: "( 210 FOR Y=l TO 5 220 IF G(Y)<>0 THEN PRINT CHR* > ; " "] 230 NEXT Y 240 PRINT " TEXT LENGTH: "( TEXT 250 PRINT "PLAIN TEXTl ETLAN" 260 PRINT: INPUT"ENTER THE LETTER TO BE CHANGED (or QUIT or PRINT) "(A* 270 IF A*="PRINT" THEN PF=llGOTO 120 'PF=PRINT FLAG 280 IF A*="QUIT" THEN END 290 INPUT"ENTER THE LETTER IT IS TO BE CHANGED TO"|B« 300 ' *** SEARCH FOR A* IN Z*, THEN REPLACE IT IN X* WITH B* *** 310' *** Z* IS THE CRYPTOGRAM, X* IS THE WORKSPACE **» 320 FOR Y=0 TO A ' A=# OF LINES OF TEXT 330 FOR 1=1 TO LL(Y) ' LL (Y) =LENGTH OF THAT LINE 340 IF MID* , I , 1 ) =B* 350 NEXT I 360 NEXT Y 370 GOTO 120 'PRINT CRYPTO S, WORKSPACE W/CHANGES 380 ' *** SUB-ROUTINE TO COUNT FREQUENCY OF EACH LETTER *** 390 PRINT CHR* (12) STRING* (12, 10) TAB (25) "COUNTING LETTERS" 400 FOR Y=0 TO A ' A=*t OF LINES OF TEXT 410 FOR X=l TO LL(Y> ' LL ( Y) =LENGTH OF THAT LINE 420 Q*=MID*(Z*(Y) , X, 1) |Q=ASC(Q$) i AMT (Q) =AMT =G(Y) THEN G < Y) =AMT < X ) : GN ( Y) =X 'FIND HIGHEST COUNT, 510 NEXT X •>... STORE IT AS GN(Y) 520 AMT(GN(Y))=0 'IGNORE THIS ONE NEXT TIME AROUND !, 530 NEXT Y 'LOOK FOR NEXT MOST FREQUENT LETTER. 540 RETURN workspace with the second letter. The alternating lines of coded text and workspace will be reprinted on the screen with the coded text remaining unchanged and the workspace show- ing the substitutions. Now, a ready comparison can be made between the two versions to see if the substitu- tion choice was a good one, and to see which is the best letter to try next. If the choice was a bad one, you can change the letters in the workspace back to the original or to some other letter. The top line of each pair of lines (the original cryptogram) always remains unchanged. Only the bot- tom line of the pair (the workspace) changes. The program won't save the cryp- togram on disk. However, if you've decoded it or are interrupted and want to save your work, enter PRINT in answer to the prompt from pro- gram line 260. PRINT will save the cryptogram and workspace on paper via your printer, then it will return to the program and reprompt you for an input. When you enter QUIT as an answer to the prompt, the program will exit. Crypto.bas is not intended for rigorous code-breaking other than simple letter substitution, but it can be used to create cryptograms. By fol- lowing the instructions on decoding a cryptogram, you enter the plain text in place of the coded text, then use the letter-substitution capabilities of this program to generate the desired cryptogram. (Use the program to de- code your cryptogram and check that you haven't assigned the same letter for two letters or made some other error.) 384 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. WELCOME TO THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. ri 1 1 1 11 -rl ■• -- -- " 3 || ■; h -■ - ■ - tx \ " : ;' II II II it ! II It I -«; n u It could be Wall Street tracking the ten most traded . . .Detroit fore- casting automotive sales trends. . . the boardroom analyzing cash flow requirements. The District of Columbia could be anywhere from the production line to the bottom line, because Columbia is the personal computer designed for results. In business and professional applications, compatibility is critical. Thai's why Columbia computers are the most compatible on the mar- ket today. Truly compatible with the software designed by IBM or for IBM. Compatible with IBM PC's and compatible with each other. And Columbia uses both the MS-DOS" and CP/M-86" oper- ating systems to give you access to the widest possible range of appli- cations software. Business needs flexibility. That's why Columbia offers three models; the VP Portable for when you're on the move, or the MPC Desktops for when you're not, in your choice of dual floppy disk or hard disk drive. Business appreciates value. Thai's why Columbia personal computers are aggressively priced, and every one comes complete with an exten- sive library of software. No extra cost. The District of Columbia. It's the place to be if your place is in busi- ness. See the Authorized Columbia Dealer who's right in your district or write us at 9150 Rumsey Road. Columbia. MD 21045. COLUMBIA DATA PRODUCTS, INC. IBM and IBM PC are registered trademarks of International Business Machines CP/M-86 is a registered trademark of Digital Research. Inc. MS-DOS is a registered trademark of MicrosoU Circle 59 on inquiry card. To Solve an Anagram Anagram.bas (listing 2) will accept a word that is three- to six-letters long, display all the possible com- binations on the screen, or print them at your command. A two-letter word has two combinations that are easily visualized without the aid of a computer. But a seven-letter word has 5040 possible combinations, far too many to scan on paper or on your monitor. Thus, the SWAP command is used extensively to simplify the program and increase its speed. Without SWAP, the process of swap- ping A$ and B$ requires these three steps: 1. T$ = A$ 2. A$=B$ 3. B$=T$ SWAP requires only one command SWAP A$,B$ to accomplish the same thing. It works like this: when a word is entered, its length is checked and each letter is assigned to the string variables A through F. If the entered word is less than three characters or more than six, you're reprompted to make another input. A three-letter input will generate six combinations. A three-count FOR . . . NEXT loop with two inter- nal swaps provides the six possible "words." A four-letter input has 24 possible combinations. By running through the three-letter swap four times, you produce 24 combinations. This is ac- complished by the routine beginning on line 300. It runs through the three- letter routine once, swaps A$ and D$, runs through again, does another swap, and repeats the process until we have all the combinations printed on the screen. A five-letter combination produces five times the combinations that a four-letter combination does, so we run through the four-letter swap five times. A repeated swap of B$ and E$ each time produces the proper cir- cular shifting of each letter in the group. As you might have guessed, a six- letter combination can be accom- Listing 2 Anagram.bas is a BASIC program to decipher and create anagrams. 10 ' ANAGRAMS. BAB *** ACCEPTS 3,4,5,?< 6 CHARACTER GROUPS 2d ' *** !< PRINTS ALL POSSIBLE COMBINATIONS. 'PF=PRINT FLAG (X to eXit program) " ) W« 30 PRINTlPRINT[PF=0 40 INPUT"ENTER A WORD 50 IF W*="X" THEN END 60 INPUT"PRINTED COPY (Y/N)i"iP* 70 IF P*="Y" THEN PF=ll LPRINT W* 80 IF LEN(W«)<3 THEN 30 90 IF LEN(W»>>6 THEN 30 100 ' *** ASSIGN A*-F* FOR THE UP-TO-SIX CHARACTERS OF W* »»» 110 A*=MID*=5 THEN GOSUB 2001 GOTO 30 160 GOSUB 5001 GOTO 30 200 FOR J=l TO 5 210 SWAP B*,E*lGOSUB 300 220 NEXT J 230 RETURN 300 GOSUB 400 310 SWAP A*, D* ■ GOSUB 400 320 SWAP B*,D*iGOBUB 400 330 SWAP C*,D*lGOSUB 400 340 RETURN 400 FOR X»l TO 3 410 SWAP B*,C*|PRINT A*|B»|C*|D*|E*|F*|" " I 420 IF PF-1 THEN LPRINT A*» B«| C«| D*| E* j F«l " 430 SWAP A*,C*iPRINT A*| B*| C*| D*| E*| P»| " "| 440 IF PF=1 THEN LPRINT A*p B*i C*| D*| E*| F* < " 450 NEXT X 460 IF PF=1 THEN LPRINT 470 PRINTl RETURN 500 GOSUB 2001 GOSUB 620 510 SWAP A*,F*iGOSUB 2001 GOSUB 620 520 SWAP B*,F*l GOSUB 2001 GOSUB 620 530 SWAP C*,F«iGOSUB 2001 GOSUB 620 540 SWAP D*,F*i GOSUB 2001 GOSUB 620 550 SWAP E*,F«i GOSUB 2001 GOSUB 620 560 RETURN 600 ' *** FREEZE DISPLAY FOR 6-LETTER COMBINATION. *** 610 ' *** DISPLAYS 120 COMBINATIONS AT A TIME. **» 620 PRINTl PRINT"PRESS TO CONTINUE." 630 IN*=INKEY* 640 IF IN*=CHR*<32) THEN PRINT CHR* ( 12) l RETURN 650 GOTO 630 FIGURE LENGTH OF W*, 'THEN GOSUB AND SWAP. 'LEN(W*)=6 '5-VARIABLE SWAP 4-VARIBALE SWAP 3-VARIABLE SWAP I 1 6-VARIABLE SWAP =SPACE BAR. LOOKS FOR A PRESSED SPACE BAR BEFORE CLS AND RETURN. plished by going through the five- letter swap six times, with the nec- essary swap between each run- through of the subroutines. Since 720 six-letter words cannot be displayed simultaneously, they are printed in six groups of 120 words each. After each group of 120 words is printed, the subroutine starting on line 620 freezes the display. This gives you the time to scan the screen for the de- sired word(s), and only by pressing the space bar can you go on to the next 120 combinations. The program lets you print the letter combinations on your printer by answering the prompt PRINTED COPY (Y/N): with a Y. Any other response is ac- cepted as a no. And as with Cryp- to.bas, Anagram.bas can also be used to create encoded words. With these two programs, Ana- gram.bas and Crypto.bas, I hope you'll find that your decoding tasks are easier. Understandably, there will be a few purists who dislike using a computer to decipher anagrams, and I won't argue with them. It depends on your purposes for attempting to solve puzzles. Using a computer to solve a cryptogram, however, doesn't prevent the human intellect from par- ticipating in the process; it only removes the drudgery. As a final word, I'll leave you with a cryptogram to test both the pro- gram and your decoding skills. YJMQ CJDYANQR AS ZJJEAYW SJ HJRK SWQYQ TIOOEQY, HWAEQ JSWQRY TRQZQR BDBGRBMY BDN CRJYYHJRNY. A EAKQ SWQM BEE BDN WJTQ SWBS PJI WBN YJMQ ZID HASW SWAY QBYP JDQ. (Answer on page 468). ■ Mark C. Worley (POB 7225, Dallas, TX 75209) is an electronics-design engineer of meteorological equipment and its interfaces at Texas Electronics Inc. in Dallas, Texas. He has published several articles on a variety of analog and digital projects. 386 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Dower-base NoacMKKUIaUia* Powerbase for the powerhouse At last: a completely new relational data base management system that fully utilizes and enhances the power of the best micro on the market today. And makes it available to those whose expertise is business, not computers. We call it POWERBASE.™ Software clever enough to meet your informa- tion needs, easy enough to be mastered in half an hour. No fancy programming. No unnecessary com- puter jargon. You simply paint your screens and define the information you need. PowerBase does the rest. Pleasurably. POWERBASE and DATAZOOM are trademarks of GMS. Systems, Inc. PowerBase introduces DATAZOOM™ and the exclusive Zoom Key which, at the touch of your fingertip, explodes data to deeper and deeper levels of revealing detail. Other features include ultra-fast b-tree access, multiple files, powerful editing and table look-up functions, flexible report writer, the ability to search, sort, and scan other files. . . and many more. Master data without having to master computers. The power of the micro is now fully yours with PowerBase, the new breed of software that makes data management basically simple. Circle 154 on inquiry card. power-base I i^-^^_— _ \A/ith Hrrin7(mrvTV with datazaoDnrr Call or write for our free informative brochure. gms©S7gG(i[rifQginc. 12 W. 37th Street N.Y., N.Y. 10018 (212) 947-3590 Dealer inquiries invited. Five Original Graphics Improving on the Spirograph by Robert Sussman and Ted Sussman Aesthetically pleasing graphic de- signs can be produced using mathe- matical curves— specifically, those called hypocycloid and epicycloid. One way to construct them is to use (by hand) physical templates to form combinations of these curves. This approach formed the basis for the popular toy Spirograph. A second method is to plot them, point by point, and, using a ruler, connect ad- jacent points to approach the true mathematical shape. We used a third method— computer graphics. This ar- 388 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. tide outlines the computer-graphics method and illustrates some of its results. The epicycloid is a curve described by a point on the circumference of a circle as the circle rolls, without slip- ping, on the outside of a fixed circle. The hypocycloid is a curve described by a point on the circumference of a circle as the circle rolls, without slip- ping, on the inside of a fixed circle. Their equations are given in para- metric form in the text box on page 390. They are abstracted from Mur- ray R. Spiegel's Mathematical Hand- book of Formulas and Tables, McGraw- Hill Schaum's Outline Series, 1968, page 42. To best appreciate and understand the computer method, it is instruc- tive to simulate it by hand using the second method. The independent parameter — 6 — is assigned success- ively larger values, at a fixed step size, and the x and y coordinates of the cycloid are calculated and plotted. The adjacent points are then con- nected by straight lines, thereby ob- taining an approximation to the true mathematical curve. As an example, figure 1 shows the construction of a hypocycloid using circles in the ratio of 5 to 14. Because this figure was drawn by hand, a large parametric step size of 10 degrees was used in the construction. The points on this figure are num- bered to show the development of the curve. Notice that if 6 is allowed to in- crease past a certain value, denoted by max / tn e cusps will coincide. For February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 389 Parametric Equations Epicycloid x = (a+b)cos(8) - b cos(gd) ■■ (a+b)sin(6) - b sin(g6) Hypocycloid -- (a-b)cos(d) + bcos(hd) y = (a-b)sin(O) - b sin(hd) g = (a + b)/b h = (a-b)/b 6 = parameter = angle between the x axis and the line connecting the two circles' centers a = radius of fixed circle b = radius of rolling circle 390 February 1984 © BYTE PublicaHons Inc. Figure 1: An example of a handmade hypocycloid using the point-to-point technique described in the text. figure 1, 6 max equals 1,800 degrees. In general, max is easily calculated given the radii of the circles; this per- mits you to predict the total number of points needed to draw the hypo- cycloid. Additional properties of these curves can be developed to aid the designer in the choice of the values of the radii. The computer permits the use of extremely small parametric step sizes resulting in points on the cycloids that are very close together. The com- puter connects these points by straight lines, but the illusion of a ful- ly developed mathematical curve is created. In addition, many curves can be drawn quickly, giving the user many options for new designs. But the most interesting aspects of using a computer to create these curves are those that extend the con- cept beyond what is possible with the first two methods. These extensions of the concept can be realized only using a computer. In general, these designs are sets of overlapping pat- terns. An example of this is shown in the first illustration on page 388. The program creates an initial pattern with and from initial parameters and linearly changes these parameters for successive patterns: 1. The location of the point on the rolling circle moves toward the cir- cle's center as a function of the pat- tern number. 2. Each successive pattern is rotated a fixed number of degrees from the preceding one. 3. Each successive pattern is scaled to produce a zoom effect. The five designs shown here are a small subset of all those possible using this technique. It requires your creative ability and artistic insight to use the computer to reveal them.M Robert Sussman is a fourth-year student in the school of engineering and applied science at the University of Virginia. Ted Sussman is a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. They can be reached at 11022 Saffold Way, Reston, VA 22090. February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 391 DEAT THIS DEAL! WV •••»•••• • •••III PRIORITY Order Part Number BBPDBSY01150LQ1 ELECTRONICS \ 9161 Deering Ave., Chats\*orth, CA 91311-5887 Terms This sale prices is for prepaid orders only (VISA, MC, BAC, Check or Money Order — U.S. Funds). CA residents add 6Vz% Sales Tax and include $15.00 for shipping Credit card orders will be charged appropriate freight. Please include your phone number, just in case. 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Don't be left out — these won't last long! Circle 175 on inquiry card. / ORDER TOLL FREE (BOO) 423-5922 - CA, AK, HI CALL (818) 709-51 1 1 t^Jfa "What a feeling!" That's just how you'll feel know- ing you've purchased an IBM-compatible Personal Computer with full color graphics capability at a price far, far below anyone else. Not only does the Handwell PC outperform everyone in price, but it comes loaded with standard features that some competitors don't even offer as options. Due to its eight expansion slots, you'll be able to upgrade your Handwell PC with many add-ons and options today and tomorrow, thus making it obsolescence- proof. When buying the Handwell PC, you will be able to take advantage of the enor- ^^^ mous, off-the-shelf software library written for the IBM PC — thus accessing some of the finest user-friendly software available. All-in-all, the Handwell can, by combining quality, performance and unbelievable price, offer you a truly high-performance PC at sub- stantial savings. So, stop and smell the roses along the way and see how sweet it is! . a new breed of personal computer STANDARD FEATURES: • Full Graphics capabilities (640 dots x 200 lines) • 128K Ram (expandable to 256K) • Two RS232 Serial Ports • One parallel printer port • Color Display Card • Fully detachable, IBM-compatible Keyboard • 8 Expansion Slots • One 5'/,-inch Floppy Drive (327Kb-formatted) • MS-DOS Operating System (MS-DOS 2.0 and CP/M compatible) • 8088 Processor • Spooler (part of system memory, can be used as a printer buffer) • Real Time Clock and Calendar 'IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machine 1 , 'CP/M is a registered trademark of Digital Research, Inc. "MS-DOS is a registered trademark of MicroSoll, Inc. Dealer and OEM inquiries invited For further information call 800-821-3628 Hanilwcllcorp 4962 El Camino Real Los Altos, CA 94022 415 962-9265 394 BYTE February 1984 Circle 163 on inquiry card. Bubbles on the S-100 Bus Part 2: The Software Making Micropolis MDOS and CP/M work with last month's project Author's Note: Since this article was completed, Intel has revised the BPK 72 Bubble Memory Prototype Kit discussed in the Editor's Note at the end of part 1 of this article (BYTE, January 1984, page 380). As mentioned there, Intel is now offering the revised for for $199 as a pro- motional item. The new kit is completely assembled and tested at the factory and incorporates the latest version of the 7110 bubble-memory chip, which has been re- packaged. The new chip is thinner, leaded, soldered directly to the printed- circuit board (permitting standard board spacing), requires a smaller board area, and is more reliable. Because the BPK 71 is already assembled and tested, those portions of part 1 relating to its testing can be skipped unless problems occur. The new kit is also equipped with an on-board clock oscillator that eliminates the need for the clock circuit, IC1, IC3, the 8-MHz crystal, and associated components, shown in the schematic diagram (figure 2). The BPK 72 Bubble Memory Prototype Kit User's Manual also has been revised to incorporate the in- formation previously found in application note AP-119. A new application note, AP-150, containing a set of subroutines written in 8085 assembly language that demonstrates the basics of bubble-memory software design, is supplied with the kit. Although no longer needed, the much revised user's manual has eight pages of assembly instructions similar to those that come with a Heathkit. The new manual is a great improvement over the earlier documentation. by Louis Wheeler Last month, we built and com- pleted preliminary testing on the bubble-memory board. In this con- cluding part, we'll dive into the soft- ware and discuss the details of mak- ing the magnetic bubbles act like a floppy-disk drive or cache memory. Before you proceed with the up- coming software, be sure all previous tests have been successful. Then dis- card the BASIC test routines. Bubble-Memory-Driver Package The application note supplied with the kit contains a set of subroutines to drive the BPK 72 bubble memory. These subroutines demonstrate the basics of bubble-memdry software design. The bubble-memory-driver package (see listing 1) is based on the principles derived from this set of subroutines and the user's manual. I have been using it for some time now without any problems. Before I get into the details of the driver package, I will give a brief description of the environment for which it was written. My system con- sists of an DMSAI (S-100 type) com- puter with a Z80 microprocessor, 56K bytes of RAM (random-access read/ write memory), 2K bytes of EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable read-only memory), a Micropolis Mod II dual-disk-drive system (77 tracks, 16 sectors per track, 256 bytes per sector), a Z-19 terminal, and a printer. I have two operating systems: the Micropolis disk operating system (MDOS), which came with the floppy-disk system, and a recently ac- quired CP/M system. Most of my applications software is written in Micropolis BASIC, which uses the MDOS resident I/O (input/ output) package called Res. Res is something like CP/M BDOS (basic disk operating system) and BIOS (basic input/output system) com- bined. MDOS is a more sophisticated operating system than CP/M, but it cannot be modified as easily as the CP/M system with its BIOS module. The bubble-memory-driver package I am about to discuss functions with either of these operating systems. Given the proper linkage routine, it can probably be used with any oper- ating system running an 8080, 8085, or Z80. Linkage routines and instal- lation procedures for both MDOS and CP/M will be covered later. The bubble-memory-driver pack- age in listing 1 can be located any- where in memory. Since it is only 220 bytes long, I placed it in EEPROM along with my system monitor ancf other peripheral drivers. The package provides six bubble-memory func- tions: (1) initialization, (2) general control operations, (3) reading of data, (4) writing of data, (5) reading the FIFO (first-in/first-out) buffer, and (6) writing 42 bytes to the FIFO buf- fer. Functions 2, 5, and 6 are normal- ly not required and can be deleted if you are short of space. (They were in- cluded for use in an as yet unwritten February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 395 diagnostic program; they might also prove useful for special applications.) All functions (except number 2) use the same calling sequence. The con- trol function requires the additional step of loading the C register with a 7220 Bubble-Memory-Controller (BMC) command code (see table 1). Normally, you just have to load the HL-register pair with the address of the parameter block (discussed below) and then call the desired function. On return, if an error has occurred, the Carry flag will be set. If needed, the BMC status code can always be found in the Status byte of the parameter block. I have yet to en- counter an error during normal oper- ation. For testing purposes, errors can easily be forced by first writing data without the automatic error- detection/correction bit being set and then reading the same data back with the bit set. The error-detection/cor- rection option is selected with bit 6 in the Enable byte. The parameter block includes the data necessary to set up the paramet- ric registers in the 7220 BMC, the ad- dress of a user buffer long enough to store the data to be transferred to/from the bubble memory, and 1 byte to store the BMC status. This is a total of 10 bytes. The parameter block can be located anywhere in RAM. Also, because its address is provided with every call to the bubble-memory-driver package, it can be moved about. You can even have more than one block if circum- stances dictate. For example, if two separate files are being accessed at the same time, it might be desirable to set up two parameter blocks, one for each file. In any case, once a parameter block has been initialized, only two of the parameters are nor- mally updated: the starting page number, BEGADR, and the user buf- fer address, BUFADR. The number of FSA (formatter/ sense amplifier) channels, CANALS, will always be 1 (indicating two FSA channels); specifies one FSA chan- nel and is used only for testing. The bank-select parameter, MBMSEL, should always be (anything else would indicate a multibank system). BLKLEN specifies the number of 64- Text continued on page 402 396 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Listing 1: The bubble-memory-driver package contains 8080/8085 assembly-language' sub- routines that can be set in ROM and linked with a disk operating system to enable the bubble memory to function as a disk-emulator or cache-memory system. The package requires 220 bytes of storage and can be located anywhere in memory. ADDR Bl B2 B3 E LI HE LABEL QPCD OPERAND mm eeee 0000 0008 0000 0000 0800 0808 0000 0008 0800 0088 0000 0008 0088 0008 0888 0888 8088 8088 0868 0600 6086 0608 0688 0668 0866 0008 0088 0066 0688 0086 0088 8066 0668 0006 0080 0088 0606 0886 0666 0066 0008 8686 0000 0806 0800 0008 0668 0066 0060 0086 F623 F623 F623 F623 F623 F623 F623 F623 F623 F623 F623 F623 F623 F623 F623 F623 F623 F623 F623 F623 F623 F623 F623 F623 F623 Ffc.23 F623 F623 F623 F623 F623 F623 F623 F623 0811 3812 8813 8019 681D B61E 8881 8040 8806 B6FD 883C 68E1 88E1 66E0 1066 1818 1628 1836 1646 1060 1878 1838 1898 1186 1128 1136 1148 1158 1168 1178 1138 1196 1266 1216 1228 1236 1246 1258 1268 1276 1238 1290 1306 1318 1328 1336 1348 1356 1366 1378 1336 1396 1488 1416 1420 1436 1448 1456 1466 1478 1438 1498 1500 1510 1520 1530 1548 1558 1566 1578 1588 1598 1688 1610 1620 1630 1648 1650 1668 1678 1688 1690 1788 1710 1726 1736 1740 1750 1768 1778 1738 1796 1300 1310 1328 1336 1340 1350 1366 1378 1338 1398 * INTEL BPK72 BUBBLE MEMORV DRIUER PACKAGE * * * * Copyright ~399_ GE -$+93CL ids t-^99. NEC ^915. QANTEX "$4495. QUME W9i SILVER REED -$~-&99 TALLY ^-399. TOSHIBA t2495_ \fj£ adds -$-ssa AMPEX ~$-SZ9 COMREX ~$-H49 ESPRIT ~$-595 LEAR SIEGLER ~$-595 All equipment is in factory cartons with manufac turers' warranty. Prices subject to change withou notice. Most items in stock or shipped as receivec 1 NATIONWIDE SERVICE. MOST PRODUCTS SUPER WAREHOUSE P C BOX 373 WALUNGFORD. CONNECTICUT 06492 ORDER LINE ORDER HOURS 203-265-1223 9 °° ™ ■ zoo pm-e: MONDAY-FRIDAY PHONE ORDERS FREE (ONE DOLLAR CREDIT FOR PHONE ORDERS) 400 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Listing 1 continued: :D F6 re F677 3E IE F679 03 El F676 37 F67C C9 F67D F67D F67D F67D F67D F67D F67D F67D F67D F67D CD F680 79 Fb31 D3 El F633 F686 F686 F636 F636 F636 F686 F636 F686 F686 F686 F686 3E ID F688 D3 El F68A CD 2D F6 F68D 3E 12 F68F D3 El F691 F691 DB El F693 B7 F694 F2 91 F6 F697 F 697 DB El F699 B7 Ffc.9fl F2 58 F6 F69D E6 81 F69F Cfl 97 F6 FbA2 DB E0 F6fM 77 FbfiS 23 F6A6 F6A9 F6A9 P6A9 F6A9 F6A9 F6FV3 F6fl9 F6FI9 F6H9 F6A9 F6A9 F6A9 F6BB F6AD F6B0 F6B2 F6B4 F664 F6B6 F6B8 F6BA F6BD F6BD F6BF F6C1 F6C2 F6C5 F6C7 F6Cfl FbCB F6CD F6CE F6D1 F6D1 F6D2 F 604 F6D7 F60A F6DM FbDH P6DA FbDH FbDH FbDH FbDH FbBH FbbD F6DE FbEl FbEl F6E3 C3 97 Fb 3E ID D3 El CD 2D 3E 13 D3 El F6 DB El E6 81 FE 31 C2 B4 F6 DB El E6 FD 12 F2 01 F6 E6 31 Cfl BD F6 7E D3 E0 C3 BD Fb lfl FE 41 Cfl 58 F6 C3 73 F6 30 11 37 19 CD 52 Fb DB El Eb 01 * *+**+*■+++++-+************+■+++■*■+****++++***+++****+*+***+*++•++++* BMCHTL * CHLLb: BMCHTL: Facilitates direct user control of the MBM system through coiniftand operations. No data is transferred. The routine expects to find the COMMAND CODE in the C register. LOAD BMC REGISTERS GET COMMAND INITIATE IT. WAIT TILL DONE * BMREHD - Reads one record as specified ir, the PARAMETER BLOCK. * Note'. Failure to provide sufficient buffer area can prows disastrous. CALLS BMREHD: BMRDli bmrd; 2370 2880 2890 2900 2910 2920 2930 2940 2950 2960 2970 2930 2990 3008 3010 3020 3030 3048 3050 3060 3070 3030 3898 3100 3110 3120 3130 3140 3150 3168 3170 3130 3190 3280 3210 3220 3230 3240 3250 3260 3270 3238 3290 3380 3310 3320 3330 3340 3358 3360 3370 3330 3390 3400 3410 3420 3430 3448 BMWRIT: 3450 3460 3470 3430 3490 * 3500 BMWRl: 3510 3520 3538 3540 * 3550 3560 3570 3588 3596 3608 3610 3620 3630 3640 3650 3660 3670 3688 3698 3708 3710 3720 3738 3740 3758 3768 3778 3738 3798 3380 3318 3820 3330 MO I fl.CPURG . i AND PURGING OUT BMCOMD J EUERYTHING. STC 1 SET CARRY FLAG RET ; AND EXIT. SNDREG, BMEXIT CALL SNDREG MOU A,C OUT BMCOMD JMP BMEXIT SNDREG, 3MEXIT MUI A..CFR OUT BMCOMD CALL SNDREG MUI A, CRD OUT BMCOMD IN BMSTAT ORR A JP BMRD1 IN BMSTAT ORA A JP BMEXIT SHI FIFOBT JZ BMRD2 IN BMDHTH MOU H,A IHX H JMP BMRD2 RESET FIFO SEND REGS TO BMC INITIATE READ OPERATION. GET STATUS WAIT FOR BUSY LOOP UNTIL SET. GET STATUS : BUSY ? ■ NOPE.. ALL DONE. FIFO EMPTY'? '• YEP, GO CK BUSY HOPE, GET THE DATA . STORE IT BUMP STORE ADDR AND LOOP FOR MORE. BMWRIT - Writes one record to the BM. Note! records shorter than the block size specified in the PARAMETER BLOCK should be padded with a suitable character, else the record will be filled out with what euer is auailbable. * CALLS: SHDREG, BMEXIT, BMERRX BMUR2: BHWR3: MUI OUT CALL MUI OUT IN RNI CPI JNZ IN AH I STAX JP AN I JZ MOU OUT IHX JMP LDAX CPI JZ JMP A,CFR BMCOMD SHDREG A, CUR BMCOMD BMSTAT BUSYBT+FIFOBT BUSYBT+FIFUBT BMWRl BMSTAT PTYMSK D 6MUR3 FIFOBT BHWR2 fl,M BMDATA H BMWR2 D OPDOHE+FIFOBT BMEXIT BMERRX GET FIFO RESET SEHD IT. SEND REG'S GET WRITE COMMAND SEND IT. GET STATUS WAIT FOR BUSY AHD FIFU BITb. LOOP UHT1L. .. GET STATUb MASK OUT PTV ERR SAME IN E-REu OP COMPLETE/FHILEO? FIFO READY? HOPE, LOOP TRY AGH. YES LOAD SOME DATA GIUE IT TO BMC BUMP ADDR AND LOOP FUR MORE. GET STATUS ALL DONE AND GOOD? NORMAL EXIT. ERROR EXIT * RDF1F0 - Reads the contents of the FIFO buffer. * CALLS: SWAPREG, BMEXIT RDFlFu: RDFIF02: LXI DAD CALL IN AN I D,0887H D SWHPREb BMSTAT FIFOBT POSITION PARAMBLK PNTR TO USER BUFFER ADDR. SET UP HL/DE POINTERS. GET STATUS ANY DATH THERE:' Listing 1 continued on page 402 PIECE OF MIND CompuPro's System 816. The fastest, most cooperative computer you can buy. OEMs and systems integrators are busy people. Too busy to waste time with an uncooperative computer system. That's why every System 816 from CompuPro is built to work long and hard without a whine or a whimper. More Dependable. With ten years of pioneering successes built into it, the System 816 is backed by the industry's longest warranty coverage. Depending on your needs, our warranties range from 12 to 36 months. Most other computer manufacturers expect you to be satisfied with 90 days, which typically covers parts only. You can also depend on complete hardware and software support, flexible configurations and upgrades, and system training. More Powerful. The System 816 squeezes more performance out of the IEEE-696/S-100 bus than any other system you can buy. A choice of CPUs— and up to 4 Mbytes of our exclusive M-Drive/H™ RAM disk— give multiple workstations all the speed and power they can ask for. Standard RAM memory is expandable to one megabyte or more. Disk storage capacity ranges up to 4.8 Mbytes on floppy drives and as much as 320 Mbytes per controller on hard disk. More Versatile. All family members share a common modular architecture. So it's a simple matter to upgrade or reconfigure any of them to keep up with your needs. All the while maintaining complete software compatibility up and down the line. And the S-100 bus allows you the flexibility to plug in any compatible board to add graphics capabilities or boards for your own unique applications. You also get your choice of operating environments, including CP/M® CP/M-86® Concurrent CP/M-86™, MP/M-86™ and CP/M-68K™, and our own CP/M®8-16™ and MP/M™8-16™. At the programming level, the System 816 family supports Pascal, C, FORTH, BASIC, ■ COBOL, PL/1, FORTRAN 77™ and more. More Information. Your customer's satisfaction is important to both of us, so don't get stuck with a system that's more of a hindrance than a help. Send in the coupon and find out what peace of mind is all about. For business, scientific and industrial computing solutions, call (415) 786-0909 ext. 506 for the location of our dealers worldwide, or the Full Service CompuPro System Center nearest you. CH Send me your free System 816 brochure. (omp uPro, A GODBOUT COMPANY 3506 Breakwater Court, Hayward, CA 94545 CP/M and CP/M-86 are registered trademarks and CP/M-68K. MP/M-86. Concurrent CP/M-86 and FORTRAN 77 are trademarks of Digital Research Inc. CP/M 8-16 and MP/M 8-16 are compound trademarks of Digital Research Inc. and CompuPro. For dealer locations, see page 439. □ NAME Send me the name CompuPro System of my Center nearest Full Service or dealer: TITLE ADDRESS CITY STATE ZIP Mail to: CompuPro, Attn: Sales Dept. 3506 Breakwater Court. Hayward, CA 94545 Prices and specifications subject to change without notice. System 816 front panel design shown is available from Full Service CompuPro System Centers only. ig 1983 COMPUPRO Circle 67 on inquiry card. BYTE February 1984 401 Text continued from page 396: byte blocks to be transferred in one operation. For the 128-byte records used by CP/M, BLKLEN is set to 2. For MDOS, which uses 256-byte records, BLKLEN is set to 4. A BLKLEN of implies a block length of 2048. The Status byte need not be initialized. Using the driver package with an assembly-language program is not difficult. Just set up the parameter block, load the address of the param- eter block into the HL-register pair, and call the desired function. Al- though linking the bubble-memory- driver package with an operating sys- tem is also fairly straightforward, it does require some knowledge of the interworkings of the operating sys- tem involved. MDOS Linkage Linking the driver package to the Micropolis operating system was somewhat simpler than it was with CP/M. This is partly true because the MDOS linkage (see listing 2) is not a complete disk emulation; it functions more like a cache memory than a disk. Although it lets you access the bubble memory with BASIC disk commands (OPEN, CLOSE, GET, PUT, etc.), it has no directory, and, if more than one file is to be main- tained, it is your responsibility to keep track of where the files are located. I chose this approach for two reasons: (1) MDOS does not readily lend itself to this type of modifica- tion, and (2) it is more in keeping with my intended application— to provide my text editor with a large, fast, yet nonvolatile storage medium. The editor uses the bubble memory as though it were disk 3 with a capac- ity of more than 30 typewritten pages. It treats the bubble memory like a temporary working file, using a floppy-disk file for permanent stor- age. I intend to use it for other large files where rapid access is a factor, such as a checkbook file. The preceding approach simplifies the modification of MDOS and still produces the desired results. There is room in the Res module to accom- modate the added code. The only patch necessary is at the point where Res determines if the disk number is Text continued on page 406 402 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Listing 1 continued: F6E5 Cfl 58 F6 3346 JZ BMEXIT J NO, EXIT. F6E8 DB Eg 335U IN BMDHTH ; YES, GET OATH F6EH 77 3368 MOM N,H ; STORE IT F6EB 23 337W I NX H : BUMP STURE HODR rbEC C3 El F6 3880 JMP RDFIFG2 ; LOOP FOR MORE. F6EF 3890 * F6EF 3900 * ******** ************************ ****************** ******** F6EF 3910 * F6EF 3920 * URFIFG - Sends 42 bytes to the FIFO buffer. F6EF 3930 * F6EF 3948 * CRLLS: SNDREG, BMEXIT F6EF 3950 * F6EF 3960 * F6EF - CD 2D F6 3970 WRFIFO: CALL SNDREG ; SEND REG'S F6F2 8E 2fl 3980 MUI C,42 ; SET CNT FOR 42 BVTEb F6F4 7E 3990 URFIF;: . MOU R,M ; GET SOME DHTH F6F5 D3 E0 4000 OUT BMDATA i SEND IT F6F7 23 4010 INX H 1 BUMP LOAD ADDR F6F8 0D 4020 DCR C ; COUNT IT AND F6F9 C2 F4 F6 4830 JNZ URF1F02 ; LOOP IF NOT DONE. F6FC C3 58 F6 4040 JMP BMEXIT ; EXIT. F6FF 4058 * ERRORS THIS ASSEMBLY 0000 Command Code (hexadecimal) 10 Command/Explanation WRITE BOOT LOOP REGISTER MASKED. Can be used in place of the WRITE BOOT LOOP REGISTER command. Masks out any trailing 1s. INITIALIZE. Reads and decodes the boot loop from the MBM and stores the result in the FSA's boot-loop register. Does not alter any data stored in the MBM. READ BUBBLE DATA. Causes data to be read from the MBM into the BMC FIFO buffer. All parametric registers must be set up prior to issu- ing this command. WRITE BUBBLE DATA. Causes data to be transferred from the BMC FIFO buffer to the MBM. All parametric registers must be set up prior to issuing this command. READ SEEK. Rotates the MBM to an address designated in the parametric register, Can be used to reduce access time. After this com- mand, the parametric registers must be reset. READ BOOT LOOP REGISTER. Causes the BMC to read the boot-loop register of the selected FSA channels into the BMC FIFO buffer. WRITE BOOT LOOP REGISTER. Causes the BMC to write the contents of the BMC FIFO buffer into the selected FSA channels. The data must have been previously written into the FIFO buffer. WRITE BOOT LOOP. Causes the existing contents of the MBM's boot loop to be replaced with 40 bytes taken from the BMC FIFO buffer. Caution— execution of this command destroys the boot loop written in- to the MBM at the factory. This command cannot be executed until the Write Boot Loop Enable bit has been set in the Enable register. READ FSA STATUS. Causes the BMC to read the 8-bit status register of all FSAs and stores it in the BMC FIFO buffer. ABORT. Terminates any command currently being executed. If the BMC is busy when executed, this command must be followed by an IN- ITIALIZE or MBM PURGE command. WRITE SEEK. Rotates the MBM to a designated address location. After a WRITE SEEK command is executed, the parametric registers must be reset. Can be used to reduce access time. READ BOOT LOOP. Causes the BMC to read the boot loop from the MBM into the BMC FIFO buffer. Must be preceded by a FIFO RESET command. READ CORRECTED DATA. Causes the BMC to read into the FIFO buf- fer a 64-byte block of data after the FSA has attempted to correct the data. The FSA informs the BMC whether the error was correctable or not. The command is used only when the system is in the error-correction mode enabled in the Enable register. RESET FIFO. Clears the BMC FIFO buffer and all I/O latches. MBM PURGE. Clears all BMC registers, counters, and the MBM ad- dress. Does not clear the block-length register, FSA counter, or the 4 high-level bits of the address register. SOFTWARE RESET. Clears the BMC FIFO and all registers except parameters. No INITIALIZATION command is required after this command. Table 1: A list of 7220 Bubble-Memory-Controller command codes. Each code is further explained in the BPK 72 Bubble Memory Prototype Kit User's Manual supplied with the kit. 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 1A 1B 1C 1D 1E 1F Compatible Compatible Compatible • DOT MATRIX PRINTERS • Okidata ML-80 $279 ML-82A 319 ML-83A 619 ML-84Par 1039 ML-92Par 469 ML-93Par 749 NEW! Riteman Inforunner S319 NEW! 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Corvus Omninet Disc Server $829 Corvus GMB Hard Disc 1695 Mirror Card Backup for IBM-PCXT 412 Corvus Print Server 839 The Bank 200MB Tape Drive 1895 All prices FOB shipping point, subject to change All offers subject to withdrawl without notice Advftr tised prices reflect a 2% cash discount (order prepeid prior to shipmentl COD credit card orders 2% highei U u I 943 W. Genesee St. Box 2991 Syracuse, N.Y. 13220 (315)422-4467 TWX-71 0-541 -0431 ■ , i Circle 256 on inquiry card. Circle 124 on inquiry card. We make C easy... and work! Eco-C compiler... we've got it all. Whether you're a seasoned professional or just getting started in C, the Ecosoft C com- pilerhas everything you'll ever need. COMPLETENESS: Our Eco-C compiler is a complete im- plementation of C and supports all operators and data types (including long, float and double). EFFICIENCY: The compiler generates extremely efficient Z80 code using Zilog's mnemonics. 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Eco-C (Ecosoft), MACRO 80 [Microsoft). CP/M (Digital Research) 404 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Listing 2: The MDOS bubble-memory-driver linkage modifies the MDOS Res module to allow Micropolis BASIC to access the bubble memory as a cache memory. The modification can be installed using the MDOS LOAD command. flDDR Bl B2 B3 E LINE LABEL 0PCD OPERAND 0000 mm mm mm mm mm 2B88 2Bei 2B01 8968 8968 896A 896D 096D 86FE 06FF 8700 0708 0700 8700 0700 0700 0788 0700 8700 8708 0788 0700 8700 8708 8700 0708 0708 0700 0703 0704 0707 0709 878C 070E 0711 0714 0714 8716 071'3 07 IE 87 IE 0720 8723 0726 072b 0729 872C 072F 8732 0732 8735 8738 0738 0739 8739 8739 073C 073F 0742 0743 0746 8749 8749 074C 874F 8752 8753 8756 8759 8759 8759 875C 075E 8761 0762 0765 8768 8769 876A 8760 0770 0773 0776 8777 MOOS RES - BUBBLE DRIVER LINKAGE 00 FE 02 02 00 07 F818 F01B F81E 0004 0801 8020 0800 0080 3A 21 12 B7 CA 14 07 FE 84 CA 26 07 FE 08 CA 32 07 C3 F4 8F IE 83 3fl 22 12 FE 86 CA 49 87 FE 89 CA 39 87 C3 F4 0F CO 7E 86 CO 18 F8 C3 PC 09 32 38 07 C3 FC 09 CD 59 07 CD IB F0 D2 FC 09 10 C2 3C 07 C3 Ffl 0F CD 59 07 CD IE F0 D2 FC 09 ID C2 4C 07 C3 FA 0F 3A 38 07 FE 04 CA 65 07 El C3 00 10 2fl 27 12 29 29 22 A0 06 2A 23 12 22 A3 06 21 9C 06 C9 1088 1018 1020 * * 1030 * Copyright W I ___l_ C+. f I _ : „ Add Sales Tax where applicable %\'\ #Lcl n~< 1GV ~3l . V_ 1 0. 1 1 Inquire about the CRTs we have available for many other «f computer models. Instrumentation Systems, Inc. 132 W. 24th St. New York. NY 10011 'Soft-view'" Is a Trademark of Langley-St. Clair Instrumentation Systems. Inc. TRS-SO. TeleVideo. kaypro. Heath, DEC and Zenith are Registered Trademarks of Tandy Corp.. TeleVideo Corp.. Non Linear Systems, Inc.. Heath Co.. Digital Equipment Co. Corp. and Zenith. Circle 215 on inquiry card. BYTE February 1984 405 Text continued from page 402: legal. The jump-to-error routine was changed to jump to the bubble-link- age code. Thus, the Res module now assumes that a disk number greater than 2 is not an error but a bubble- memory request. The linkage itself is straightfor- ward. Similar to BDOS calls in CP/M, MDOS uses a code to determine the intended disk function. However, it is a 2-byte code stored in hexadecimal locations 1221 and 1222. Only the codes for OPEN, CLOSE, PUT, and GET have been decoded. Any other code is interpreted as a Parm Error, and the appropriate error exit is taken. OPEN causes the parameter block to be initialized, then calls the BMINIT driver routine to initialize the bubble memory. GET and PUT call the appropriate driver routines. If the Carry flag is set on return from either the BMREAD or BMWRITE routines, indicating that an error did occur, three attempts are made to perform the I/O function correctly before taking a Perm-Error exit. Actual installation of the linkage is quite simple. With the bubble-mem- ory-driver package already in PROM (programmable read-only memory) or elsewhere in memory, it is necessary only to assemble the link- age and then use the system's LOAD command to overlay the Res module. The bubble-memory exerciser pro- gram in listing 3 can then be used to test the installation and the bubble memory. Written in Micropolis BASIC, it reads and writes single records or blocks of records. It also incorporates a test routine that writes a predefined record, then reads it back and compares it with the data that was written. It also checks the bubble-memory status. Testing the whole bubble memory of 511 records takes about 114 seconds (using a Z80 with a 4-MHz clock). For com- parison, I ran the same program (slightly modified) using the floppy- disk memory; it took 368 seconds, or roughly three times as long. One other note. Because there is no directory, it is not necessary to format or initialize the bubble memory be- fore writing to it. The BMINIT sub- routine does not change any data stored in the bubble memory. It Text continued on page 412 406 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Listing 2 continued: 0777 1920 * 0777 1938 ORG 067EH ; AN EMPTV flREH . . . 867E 1948 + 067E 1958 * 067E 21 84 00 1960 IHITPB: UtI H..SBLKLEN ; SET BLOCK LENliTH 0681 22 9C 06 1978 SHLD BLKLEH 0684 1930 * 0684 3E 01 1990 MM I R..SCANRLS J SET NUMBER FSR CHANNEL: 0686 32 9E 06 2000 STB CRNALS 0689 2010 * 0689 3E 20 2020 HUI A..SENABLE ; SET ENHBLE BVTE 0688 32 9F 06 2038 STfi EHRBLE 868E 2848 * 868E 21 00 00 2058 LXI H,SBEGRDR J SET BEGINNING PAGE NO. 0691 22 A8 06 2060 SHLD BEGADfi 0694 2070 * 0694 RF 2080 XRR fl ; SET BM BANK SELECT 0695 32 H2 06 2890 STfi MBMSEL 0698 2100 * 0698 21 9C 06 2U0 LXI H..PARAMBLK i SET HL=FUH PARAMETER E 8698 C9 2120 RET 869C 2138 * 069C 2148 * PARAMETER BLOCK 069C 2158 * 069C 069C 2168 PHRRMBUCi EQU * ; 06.9C 2170 * 069C 80 00 2130 BLKLEH DU 0000H ; BLOCK LENGTH (PAGES.) 069E 00 2198 CANALS DB 00H ; NUMBER OF FSR CHANNEL? 869F 80 2208 ENABLE DB 88H J ENABLE/CNTRL BVTE 86A8 80 08 2210 BEGADR DU 8000H i BEGINNING PAGE NUMBER 06A2 00 2228 MBMSEL DB 00H ; BUBBLE BANK 06H3 2238 * 06H3 00 00 2248 BUFHDR DU 0000H ; USER BUFFER ADDRESS 06R5 08 2258 STATUS DB 00H ; RETURN STATUS 86R6 2268 ■* 66H6 2270 END ERRORS THIS ASSEMBLY 0000 Listing 3: A BASIC program to exercise/test the BPK 72 bubble-memory kit, software drivers, and operating system linkage. The program, written for Micropolis BASIC, must be modified for use with other BASIC interpreters. 1BQ8 1010 1020 163Q 1S4Q 1050 1060 1070 1080 1090 1100 1110 1120 1130 1140 1150 1160 1170 1180 1190 1208 1210 1220 1230 1240 1250 1260 1270 1230 1290 1306 1310 1320 1330 1340 1350 1360 1378 1330 1390 1480 1410 1420 1430 1440 1458 1460 1478 1480 1498 1588 BUBBLE MEMORY EXERCISER == REN =============: REM REM RE'J. H 830413 REM DIM R*>:258X. B*<250:>, D*<258:> Q*=CHHR*':34> -.REM 34 = Quote Mark P=225 :REM Status. Port address. OPEN 1 "3-.BLIBTST" ERROR 1790 REM PRINT: PRINT: GOSUB 1710: PRINT C*="": PRINT "Read/ Write.' Read File--' INPUT C* IF C.*="R" GOTO 1190 Write File/ Test file/ Quit IF C*= IF C*= IF C*= IF C*= ■LI" 'RF 1 W GOTO 1248 GOTO 1380 GOTO 1390 •T" GOTO 1480 THEN CLOSE 1 READ H RECORD WRITE fl RECORD IF C*="Q" GOTO 1090 REM INPUT "RECORD * "JR GET 1 RECORD R fl* PRINT Fl* GOTO 1090 REM INPUT "RECORD # ";R INPUT "ENTER DRTfi TO URITE D*=LEFT* PUT 1 RECORD R D* GOTO 1090 REM READ fl INPUT "BEGINNING RECORD # INPUT "ENDING RECORD * FOR R=R TO R9 GET 1 RECORD R fl* PRINT fl* PRINT " ";R NEXT R GOTO 1090 REM WRITE fl INPUT "BEGINNING RECORD # " INPUT "ENDING RECORD # INPUT "ENTER TEST DflTFT.D* d*=q*+left*':d*, 24s:>+a* FOR R=R TO R9 PUT 1 RECORD R D* NEXT R GOTO 10y8 REM TEST INPUT "BEGINNING RECORD INPUT "ENDING RECORD # STOP END ,D* BLOCK OF RECORDS ";R "JR9 block of records ;r JR9 BLOCK OF RECORDS ";R ";R9 Listing 3 continued on page 408 Top-Down Assembly Language Programming lor Your VIC-20 '* and Commodore 64"" by Ken Skier. 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And all in handy, high-quality formats ... at prices you can afford. EITE : 1 1 is User-friendly microcomputer information 1221 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 26-1 , New York, NY 10020 BYTE February 1984 407 Circle 353 on inquiry card. Heart of TEXAS COMPUTER SYSTEMS TRS-80 Model IV Portable: CALL Model 12 & 16 at discount: CALL TCS Model 12 with 2 drives: $2995 Model 12/16 Accessories/discount. TCS Model IV, 64K, 2 Drive w/rs-232 $1499 (40 track) $1699 (80 track) The New TRS-2000: CALL (IBM Compatable) We carry the lull TRS-80 line. Call tor our d iscount prices. DISK EXPANSION M-lll $249 M-IV 1 Controller, Pwr.Sup. Hdwr., Instruct. $249 $329 2 Kit 1, plus 1/40-trk.Tandon Dr. $429 $479 3 Kit 1, plus 2/40-trk. Tandon Dr. $598 $649 3a Kit 3 w/2 80 trk.drives $698 $729 (dual sided 40s) Model IV needs 64K to operate. For 64K Kit, CALL. mn T Quality disk drives-O.E. brand on IBM Available bare and in cabinets. 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Money back guarantee. 100% Certified Error Free. CALL! Heart of TEXAS COMPUTER SYSTEMS P.O. Box 1327 Arlington, TX 76004 Toll Free 1-800-433-5184 Texas 1-817-274-5625 VISA.MCcashier's check, money order. No tax out of state. Texans add 5%. Prices subject to change. Listing 3 continued: 1510 D*="RBCC)EFGHIJKLr'1H0PQR£TUUUXVZl2345678'5iQab<:'defslhiJt<.lmriOFqrstukJu:>;yz" 152Q D*=D*+D*+D*+Df 1530 R*=Qf+D$+Q* 1540 for r=r to r9 1550 put 1 record r s=ih

find 25 get 1 record r s=in and 25 1560 1570 1580 1598 1660 THEM GOSUB 164S 564 THEN GOSUB 1640 fl$ IF B$ IF IF BfOD* THEN GOSUB 164© if r.-10 = intcr/ib) then print "record *" jrj" completed. 1610 ne;-:t r 1620 print: print "number of errors = " ;e 16.30 GOTO 1090 1640 REM 1650 PRINT "ERROR ENCOUNTERED IN RECORD *t " JR 1660 E=E+1 1670 GOSUB 1730: GOSUB 1710 1630 PRINT B* 1690 PRINT 1700 RETURN 1710 REM DISPLFrV IN HEX 1720 S=IN'.PJ AND 253 1 730 S 1 = I NT ■: S/ 1 6 > +48 1740 IF Sl>57 THEN Sl=Sl+7 1750 S2=';S AND 15!) +48 1760 IF S2,57 THEN S2=S2+7 1770 PRINT "STATUS = " ;CHAR$'';S1 J jCHftR* Patches. <2) Added Code. All patch addresses shown are for a 32K CP/M configured by Centa for a Micropolis disk system. * PATCHES * * * This section revises the existing BIOS jump table to go to * the added code routines listed below. The actual location of * the Jump table and address of the patches is dependent on * the existing BIOS. Each system is different. The ORG s * shown in this assembly are for a CP/M configured by Centa Systems * for Micropolis disk systems. BIOS + * EQU ORG JMP ORG JMP JMP JMP ORG JMP 7500H BIOS+24 BHOME BIOS+36 BSETDMR BREAD BWRITE BIOS+48 BSECTRHN J CP/M BIOS Base Address i Location of Jump Table + 24 J Patch for HOME ; Jump table + 36 ; Patch for SETDMA ; Patch for READ j Patch for write i Jump table + 48 ; Patch for SECTRRH 408 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. * The following equates taken from existing BIOS jump table. HOME EQU BI.OS+327H ; *** Depends on existing BIOS *** SETDMA EQU BIOS+301H ; +** Depends on existing BIOS *** REfi D EQU BI0S+352H ; *** Depends on existing BIOS *** WRITE EQU BIOS+3FDH ; •** Depends on existing BIOS *** SECTRRH EQU BIOS+2E9H J *** Depends on existing BIOS *** Listing 4 continued on page 410 Submarine engineering FOR TOMORROW'S defense The Naval Underwater Systems Center is the Navy's principal research, develop- ment, test and evaluation center for submarine warfare and sub- marine weapon systems. We provide high technology vital to the Navy's tactical and strategic edge in combat systems (sonar, combat control, electromagnet- ics, underwater weapons and targets, weapon launch and handling), surface ship sonar and undersea ranges. Working at major laborato- ries in Newport, Rhode Island and New London, Connecticut, our engineers and scientists design, develop and evaluate prototypes of these systems and interface with private industry for production of the final product. To maintain our lead in submarine warfare and weapon systems, we must continue to develop new technological sys- tems for the future, and at our center, the future depends on our work today. We are looking for elec- tronic engineers and computer scientists to join our highly talented team of professionals. Assignments will be as diverse as taking you on board submarines, to field detachments and other Navy activities. And your work may vary from desk to deck, software design to hardware test. We seek graduating and ex- perienced electronic and comput- er engineers, with degrees from accredited colleges and univer- sities. We also need computer scientists with degrees from colleges and universities affili- ated with a school of engineering and specializing in scientific or technical applications. We offer you challenge, freedom to be innovative and creative, and the opportunity to contribute your skills to our na- tional defense. And the living is good too! Newport and New London areas are popular for their excellent beaches, fishing and sailing. We believe we have both the challenge and the opportu- nity for you. For further infor- mation, contact Naval Underwater Systems Center, Personnel Staffing Division, B Newport, Rhode Island 02840 or call (401) 841-3585. An Equal Opportunity Employer U.S. Citizenship Required Circle 263 on inquiry card. Circle 254 on Inquiry card. GET ORGANIZED With Our New Line Of Quality Products PR#1 pictured PR#1 16x13x4 ..$29.95 PR#2 24x13x4 ..$39.95 Both made of Va inch smoked acrylic, featuring a bottom feed slot and non-skid feet. Sturdy Bronze Acrylic Copy Holder $19.95 Office Quality Gas Operated Ergonomic Computer Chair Available in blue red camel brown It grey charcoal Retails for $179.95 MIDAMERICA Priced At only $99.95 add $45.95 for arms MIDAMERICA WHOLESALERS, INC. COMPUTER ACCESSORIES B135 215th St. Lakeville, MN 55044 VISA MN residents add 6% sales tax. Dealer inquiries invited. Add $2.50 shipping for each item. CALL FOR COMPETI- TIVE DISKETTE PRICES. TO PLACE ORDERS CALL ANYTIME 1-800-328-2977 residents 612-469-4666 Listing 4 continued: 7533 1560 7533 77 l 4 0603 0020 7B49 7A4R 7A4D 0002 0001 0020 0000 0000 7533 7533 7714 7714 C3 00 80 7717 7717 7717 7717 7717 7538 7538 02 7539 03 753H 753fl 753H 753A 753H 753A 753fl 75D8 75D8 3C 75D9 75D9 7509 75D9 75D9 75D9 75D9 75D9 75D9 7509 75D9 75D9 75D9 75D9 75D9 7509 75D9 7509 75W 7509 75D9 75D9 75D9 7509 7509 75D9 7509 75D9 75D9 7509 75D9 7509 7509 7509 75D9 7509 7509 7509 75E2 75E2 75E2 75E2 00 00 75E4 00 75E5 08 75E6 00 00 75E8 00 75E9 00 00 75EB 00 75EC 75EC 75EC 75EC 75EC 75EC 75EC 75EC 75EC 75EC 75EL 75EC 75EC 75EC 75EC 75EC 75EC 75EC 8000 F018 F01B F01E 75E2 0800 0000 0000 8003 8006 21 02 00 22 E2 75 5E 01 3008 32 E4 75 308B 3E 20 8000 32 E5 75 8010 21 00 00 1570 1588 1598 1600 1610 1620 1630 1640 1650 1660 1670 1680 1690 1780 1710 1728 1730 1740 1750 1760 1770 1730 1790 1800 1810 1820 1330 1840 1350 I860 1870 1380 1390 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1956 I960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030 2040 2050 2060 2070 2080 2090 2100 2110 2120 2138 2140 2150 2168 2178 2138 2198 2280 2210 2228 2230 2248 2250 2268 2278 2280 2298 2388 2318 2328 2330 2340 2350 2360 2370 2380 2390 2400 2410 2420 2430 2440 2450 2460 2478 2480 2498 2580 2510 2520 + GOCPM EQU BI0S+214H ORG GOCPM JMP BGOCPM *** Depends on existing BIOS *** J GO INIT BUBBLE MEMORY The following changes the number of eastern disks from 2 to 4. Exactly how this patch is made is dependent on the specific system. ORG DB DB BI0S+3SH 02H 83H *** Oepends on existing BIOS *** i Increase DISK'S to 3. J Increase DISK'S to 4. The following changes the disk size parameter in DPBLK2. Note: This change may only be applicable to Micropolis disk systems. The Centa Systems version of the BIOS has tuo DPBLK's. one each for the tuo models of Micropolis disk drives Continue with existing BIOS code. Howe to track 60 position of current drive ORG f i AREH2 *** LDA DISKNO J GET DISK NUMBER CPI NDISKS J CHECK FOR BUBBLE MEMURV R2 ; RETURN IF BUBBLE Continue with existing BIOS code. * * t + :^-+* + +-* + + + + + ^+ + + + ++^ + :k* + :t.^:t No modification required. * SETTRK - Set track given by register C * * -> No modification required unless your BIOS actually * -> positions the disk head to the selected track. If this * -> is the case, perform the test shown for HOME. * * SETSEC - Set sector given by register C ■+ * -> No modification required. * * SETDMA - Set DMA address given by registers B and C ORG $ MOU L,C MOU H..B SHLD DMAAD SHLD BUFHDR i AREH3 *** I LOW ORDER RDDREbS ; HIGH ORDER ADDREbS : SAUE THE ADDRESS ; FUR BUBBLE TOO. -.> Include any additional code your system may require, -> probably none. RET i No add'l code re*v d for- Micropolis. 4 *-+ ++++*****+**+**+*+++**+++:+H<*****+*+**+**+***********+**+****:* * SEtTRAN - Translate the sector number given by B arid C BSECTRAH: ORG J j AREH4 *+* LDA DISKNO ; GET DISK NUMBER CPI NDISKS ; CHECK FUR BUBBLE MEMuRV JNZ SECTRHN J IF NOT, GO DO DISK. PUSH B ; SAUE SECTUR LXI D..&106H ; CLEHR DE LHLD TRACK ; TRACK « TO HL MOU H,D J CLEAR H, L=TRACK XCHG MUI H..SECTRK ; GET SECTORS PER TRACK ADD A ; MULT I PL V BY 2 DAD D ; BEG TRK ADR = DCR A j TRK * SECTRK * 2 JNZ BMP',' ; LOOP Tu MULTIPLY. MOU A,C ; GET SECTOR NUMBER ADD A j MPV BY 2 MOU Cfl ; PUT IT BACK DAD B J HDD IT Tu BEG TRK ADR SHLD BEGADR i SAUE IN BEGADR. POP H ; PUT SECTUR IN HL RET ; BUBBLE EXIT. * REHD - REHD SELECTED CP/M SECTUR BMPV: BREHD: ORG $ ; HREH5 *** LDA DISKNU ; GET DISK NUMBER CPI NDISKS J CHECK FUR BUBBLE JNZ REHD i NO, GO REHD DISK DI I KILL INTERRUPTS. LXI H..PARAHBLK ; FUH PARANBLK TU HL CALL BMREHD ; GO REHD BUBBLE DATA JMP BRIJEX ; GO TAKE COMMON EXIT. Listing 4 continued on page 414 Who's sold more printers to American business? Epson. Actually, we've not only sold more printers to American busi- ness, we've sold more printers to America. Which brings up some very important reasons why Epson is the printer for your business. Standard equipment. Virtually every microcomputer made is Epson-compatible. Which means manufacturers make their computers to work with our printers, because Epson printers are not only the world leaders, they're the world standard. The reason why. We sell more printers, because we make better printers. Our features are consistently one step ahead of the competition. Our quality and value have never been equalled. And our reliability rates are second to none. Another reason. Epson printers are stocked by more computer stores in more places than any other brand. Which means if you ever have a problem — and you probably won't — we'll be there. Your next printer. It can be very confusing buying a printer nowadays. But it needn't be. If you want the features, the reliability, the qual- ity, the value, just remember one thing. Epson. Number one. And built like it. EPSON EPSON AMERICA, INC. 3415 Kashiwa Street Torrance, California 90505 The Epson FX-100™ can print spreadsheets in correspondence-quality type at 160 characters per second. To see it and the entire line of Epson high-performance printers, call (800) 421-5426 for the dealer in your area. In California, call (213) 539-9140. Epson is a registered trademark and FX-100 is a trademark of Epson America. Inc. Circle 135 on inquiry card. BYTE February 1984 413 Listing 4 continued: 8871 3500 * 8071 3518 * 8071 3520 * *************************************************************** 8071 3530 * WRITE - - WRITE SELECTED CP/M SECTOR 8071 3540 * 3071 3558 ORG $ J HREH6 *** 8071 3560 * 8071 3rt 4? 7H 3578 BURIT!"";: LDfl DISKHU i GET DISK NUMBER 8874 FE 03 3580 CPI NDISKS i CHECK FUR BUBBLE 3076 C2 FD 78 35y0 JNZ WRITE i NO, GO WRITE DISK 8879 3600 * 307^ F3 3610 DI j KILL INTERRUPTS. 807H 21 E2 75 3620 LXI H.PflRfiHBLK j FWfl PflRHMBLK TU HL 8070 CD IE F8 3630 CALL BMWRIT ; GO WRITE BUBBLE DP.TH 8030 3640 * 8088 FB 3650 BRWEXi El ; OMIT THIS INSTRUCTION 8881 3668 * i IF VOUR SVbTEM DOES 8881 3670 * s NOT USE INTERRUPTS. 8031 3E 00 3680 MU1 fl,0 i CLEHR fi-REb 8083 DO 3690 RHC i NO PROBLEM EXIT. 8084 3C 3700 INR fl 3085 C9 3718 RET ; ERROR EXIT. 8886 3728 * 8086 3730 * ERRORS THIS HSSEMBLV 8000 portion of my BIOS, which was writ- ten by Centa Systems for Micropolis. If you are fortunate enough to have a complete listing of your BIOS, or you are using a Micropolis disk sys- tem and CP/M with BIOS written by Centa Systems, the modification should not be too difficult. If not, you will probably have to unleash your disassembler to uncover a few hid- den locations. You need to know the location of the current selected disk number, the selected track, and the DMA (direct memory access) address (user buffer address). You must also find out where and how your BIOS determines whether a selected disk number is legal or not and fix it so that the number that you select for the bubble memory is acceptable. Another thing you will need is an unused area large enough to hold the added code. About 130 locations will be required, but they need not be contiguous. The source code shown in listing 4 is designed to be seg- mented and scattered around mem- ory wherever space is available. The version of CP/M that I am using is quite tight on space. Therefore, as a temporary measure for testing, I as- sembled the added code to start at hexadecimal location 8000, which is above my 32K-byte CP/M. This lets me use the DDT (dynamic debugging tool) to load the added code and make the rest of the patches by hand. In the future, I plan to revise the "stream I/O handler" so that the pe- ripheral drivers I have stored in EEPROM are used instead of the I/O routines located within the BIOS module. This will free up sufficient storage for the bubble-memory-driver linkage. The listing is intended pri- marily as an example. Exactly how you incorporate the added code and changes depends on the specifics of your system BIOS. Installing a new operating system is covered in the CP/M manual and also in the May 1983 BYTE article (see figure 6 on page 378). The method I used differs only in that I used DDT to make the patches to the BIOS jump table and the jump instruction patched at the beginning of GOCPM. After completing the installation, a BASIC program like the one shown in listing 3 can be used for testing. Some modifications to the disk in- structions (OPEN, CLOSE, GET, PUT) and the INP instruction prob- ably will be required; otherwise, the program should function as written. Since the CP/M alteration is a true disk emulation complete with direc- tory, initialization of the bubble memory is required before it can be used. My CP/M system came with a program called VOLPREP.COM; how- ever, it did not work with the bubble memory. Fortunately, an assem- bly-language fUe (VOLPREP.ASM) was provided, and I quickly dis- covered that the program directly ac- cessed the disk drivers rather than the BIOS jump table. Consequently, it was not getting to the bubble- memory drivers. A simple change in the address table in the beginning of the VOLPREP program plus a few other minor changes were all that was required to make it work. I am very pleased with the perfor- mance of the bubble-memory proj- ect; with it, I no longer fear the flick- ering lights. I used it to write this ar- ticle, which was much too long to fit in my system's RAM. Yet with the bubble-memory addition, my text editor performed as though it had adequate space. With even larger-capacity bubble- memory chips on the way (Intel re- cently announced a 4-megabit ver- sion), I would not be surprised to see bubble memories beginning to re- place hard disks in small or portable computer systems. Using the newer chips, it should be relatively easy to put 4 megabytes of reliable bubble storage inside the cabinet of an S-100 computer. I believe that bubble mem- ories will replace floppy disks in some . systems, particularly in the portables. ■ References 1. A Primer on Magnetic Bubble Memory. Santa Clara, CA: Intel Corporation, 1982. 2. BPK 72 Bubble Memory Prototype Kit User's Manual. Santa Clara, CA: Intel Cor- poration, 1981. 3. Cruce, Andrew C, and Scott A. Alexander. "Building a Hard-Disk Interface for an S-100 System, Part 3: Software." BYTE, May 1983, page 368. 4. CP/M Operating System Manual. Pacific Grove, CA: Digital Research, July 1982. 5. Halsema, A. I. "Bubble Memories: A Short Tutorial." BYTE, June 1979, page 166. 6. Helmers, Carl. "This Elephant Never Forgets." BYTE, July 1977, page 6. 7. Magnetic Bubble Storage Data Catalog. Santa Clara, CA: Intel Corporation. February 1981. 8. Thorp, Art. "New bubble-memory packag- ing cuts board space and manufacturing costs." Electronics, March 24, 1983, page 128. 9. Wells, Paul. Microprocessor Interface for the BPK 72. Santa Clara, CA: Intel Corporation, June 1981. 10. 7110 1-Megabit Bubble Memory (data sheet). Santa Clara, CA: Intel Corporation, 1982. 11. 7220-1 Bubble Memory Controller (data sheet). Santa Clara, CA: Intel Corporation, 1981. Louis Wheeler is a retired federal government employee. He spent 14 years as a programmer, teacher, and manager of minicomputer systems. His special interest is data processing, in which he has an associate degree. He can be contacted at 1323 Tamera Dr., Oceano, CA 93445. 414 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. The new pacesetter in professional printers. The economical dual-speed Radix-15 multi-function printer. With a fast and furious work pace, a highly flexible printer is crucial. That printer is the new Radix-15. Watch it take your work and run with it. It's dual speed! At 200 cps Radix fires out a superbly refined dot matrix printout. At 50 cps it prints professional near-letter quality. So now you can go from spreadsheets to memos at the flip of a switch or at your computer's command. It's multi-functional! In either mode Radix- 15 quickly adapts to your needs. There's serial and parallel interface. Memory storage with a 16K buffer. Responsive throughput to help you use time more efficiently. Bi-directional performance. Friction and tractor feed. An automatic sheet feeder for letterheads and a short form tear-off for preprinted forms. Plus, the freedom to under- line, set vertical and horizontal tabs and print a huge variety of type faces. It's economical! And not only does Radix give you 2 printers in 1, it also gives you a price per- formance as outstanding as its working performance. The professional Radix-15. Using the ever- changing beat of business to your advantage. And that's what being a pacesetter is all about! j*. micro nicsinc k THE POWER BEHIND THE PRINTED WORD. Computer Peripherals Division P.O. Box 612186, Dallas/Ft. Worth Airport, TX 75261 (214) 456-0052 Circle 342 on inquiry card. •: s V . . . ^^L^H^^^^^H^^^MBM Calculating Overhead Costs by Computer A simple, foolproof arithmetic procedure determines the distribution of indirect costs quickly and accurately by G. Truman Hunter This article demonstrates how an accounting application that can be used by all types of businesses eases the distribution of indirect, or over- head, costs. Specifically, it shows how to calculate those costs using an arithmetic procedure that provides information that is more accurate than that obtainable using approxi- mation procedures. In addition, the method described here does not re- quire the long, tedious work the ap- proximation approach demands. The accounting procedure can be used on a large computer as well as a small one, and it can also provide results on a hand-held calculator. An Accounting Problem The procedure solves a common accounting problem by permitting a computer user to calculate costs that are transferred among departments of a company. Determining such costs is known as indirect cost ac- counting, overhead cost distribution, burden distribution, or burden cost accounting. Cost accountants have been calculating these transfer costs for decades, relying on estimates and approximation procedures to mini- mize the cost of the calculations in time, money, and effort. In fact, it's well known that solving the problem of calculating the cost of reciprocal transfers among depart- ments requires the solution of a set of simultaneous equations. Before computers were widely available, these results took many hours to cal- culate by hand. And because the starting point for the procedure was often a set of estimates of dubious ac- curacy, many people believed that precise solutions were unobtainable and therefore unimportant. Conse- quently, emphasis was on speedy ap- proximations rather than exact answers. Cost-accounting textbooks took the same approach, telling their readers that if more than four or five depart- ments were involved, solving simul- taneous equations would not be prac- tical. Instead, they proposed using such methods as the Christmas Tree or the Waterfall approach. Their names come from the geometry of the solution, where a decreasing number of departments provides a triangular picture of data as costs flow from one level to the next. The first department examined has its costs distributed to all other depart- ments, and no costs are returned to it. That department is then no longer involved in the calculations. The next department then has its costs distri- buted, with none returned to it, and the procedure thus continues. Data on the less important departments is collected first, and the final product departments are done last; the prod- uct departments cannot distribute charges among themselves. This process did not tell the user where the indirect costs, or burdens, originated. Since the source was not known, there was no way to attack the problem of reducing specific dis- tribution costs. Moreover, no trail showed the actual transfer of dollars from each department to every other department under this old scheme. With the simultaneous-equation solution, on the other hand, an ex- act number of dollars for every dis- tribution factor is known. This method easily leads to reductions in overhead costs. History of a Faster Solution I was first introduced to the prob- lem of indirect cost accounting in 1951, when a steel company asked IBM to tackle such a problem. It was taking the firm about 300 man-hours to calculate those costs by hand. After I studied the problem and read an accounting handbook, I found a practical solution: the Gauss- Seidel iterative procedure. This pro- cedure provides easy error detection and is simple, foolproof, and fairly fast. The nature of its equations and values guarantees a solution. The steel-company case required a set of 51 equations for 51 departments and a possible 51 x 50 transfers. Only about 600 of 2550 possible transfers actually occurred, however. This ratio— about 1:4— of the number of actual to theoretical transfer rela- tions has held for several similar busi- ness applications. Once the procedure was worked out, the calculations took only 35 minutes on an IBM card-pro- grammed calculator. The calculation procedure is iterative: each inter- mediate set of answers gets closer to the final set. When no further changes take place, the solution has been reached. This procedure actually converged at a rate of almost one decimal col- umn for each iteration, so that figures involving values to $999,999 can con- verge to the final answer in about six 416 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Everybody's making money selling microcomputers. Somebody s going to make money servicing them. Now NRI Trains You At Home To Make Money Servicing, Repairing, and Programming Personal and SmaUBusiness Computers Seems like every time you turn around, somebody comes along with a new computer for home or business use. And what's made it all possible is the amazing micro- processor, the tiny little chip that's a computer in itself. Using this new technology, the industry is offering compact, affordable computers that handle things like payrolls, billing, inventory, and other jobs for business of every size. ..perform household functions including budgeting, environmental systems control, indexing recipes. And diousands of hobbyists are already owners, experimenting and developing their own programs. Growing Demand for Computer Technicians This is only one of the growth factors influencing the increasing opportunities for qualified computer technicians. The U.S. Department of Labor projects over a 600% increase in job openings for the decade. Most of them are new jobs created by the expanding world of the computer. Learn At Home to Service Any Computer NRI can train you for this exciting, rewarding field. Train you at home to service not only micro- computers, but word processors and data terminals, too. Train you at your convenience, with clearly written "bite-size" lessons that you do evenings or weekends, without going to classes or quitting your present job. Your training is built around the latest model of the world's most popular computer. It's the amazing TRS-80™ Model 4, now with disk drive and the capa- bilities and features to perform a host of personal and business functions. No other small computer has so much software available for it, no other is used and relied on by so many people. And it's yours to keep for personal and business use. You get plenty of practical experience. Under NRl's carefully planned training, you even install a disk drive verifying at each step its operation. 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Become the Complete Computer Person In addition to training in BASIC and advanced machine language, you gain hands-on experience in the operation and application of the latest computers for bodi business and personal jobs. You're trained to become die fully rounded, new breed of technician who can interface widi the operational, programming, and service facets of all of today's computers. You're ready to take your place in die new electronic age. Other Opportunities NRI has teen giving ambitious people new elec- tronic skills since 1914. Today's offerings also include TV/Audio/Video Systems servicing widi training on our exclusive Headi/Zenidi computer-programmable 25" diagonal color TV... Industrial Electronics, Design Technology. . . and other state-of-die-art courses. The Catalog Is Free. The Training is Priceless. Send die postage-paid card for our 104-page catalog showing all courses widi equipment and complete lesson plans. There's no obligation odier dian to yourself. See how NRI can help you take advantage of die exciting job and earnings opportunities in the exploding field of micro- computers. If card has been removed, please write to us. NRI Kg NRI Schools McGraw-Hill Continuing Education Center 3939 Wisconsin Ave. Washington, DC 20016 We'll give you tomorrow. BYTE February 1984 417 F(B,A)xT(B) + F(C,A)xT(C) + F(D,A)xT(D) + DC(A) = T(A) F(A,B)xT(A) + F(C,B)xT(C) + F(D,B)xT(D) + DC(B) = T(B) F(A,C)xT(A)+F(B,C)xT(B)+ +F(D,C)xT(D) + DC(C) = T(C) F(A,D)xT(A) + F(B,D)xT(B) + F(C,D)xT(C)+ + DC(D) = T(D) Figure 1: Equation layout for 4-department indirect cost calculations. or seven iterations. In other words, the accuracy of the estimates of the final answers increases about one decimal place per iteration. When I originally tried to convince several accountants to try this pro- cedure, I heard many excuses as to why they thought it had no value. After one accountant had told me re- peatedly that his starting data was approximate and that he therefore didn't need the precision I could pro- vide, I told him that this procedure could give him any level of inac- curacy he desired. Needless to say, he didn't appreciate sarcasm any more than the truth. In 1953, this procedure was used on an IBM 701 computer to solve an indirect-cost-accounting problem for 156 departments of a large New York City bank. Calculating and printing the answers took about 10 minutes, considerably less than the 1000 man- hours required for hand-calculation procedures. When the procedure was followed for a 91-department bank, an IBM 650 calculator did the job in 7.5 minutes, replacing a 300 man- hour hand calculation. Similar sav- ings were realized for a pharmaceu- tical company's 45-department dis- tribution. A state hospital then used the procedure to reduce a several- month task to a 4-day job on punched-card machines. A lot of card handling was required because the institution had no computer. A Sample Problem The current availability of micro- computer-spreadsheet programs makes the solution even easier. Here's a sample procedure for ana- lyzing costs for four departments. It is not a real case and takes more itera- tions to solve than an actual problem would, but it uses the procedure that actual cases follow. First, this simple four-department distribution demonstrates how to set up the necessary equations and use the procedure to obtain a solution. Then the sample is worked out using the usual spreadsheet notation of rows and columns. The total cost of each department is made up of the charges transferred to it from all other departments, plus its own direct charges. The total cost for department A is best stated with this equation: Cost (B to A) + Cost (C to A) + Cost (D to A) + Direct cost (A) = Total cost (A) To simplify subsequent calculations, the equation can be expressed as: F(B,A)xT(B) + F(C,A)xT(C) + F(D,A)xT(D) + DC(A) = T(A) where T represents the total cost of a department named by the letter in the parentheses following it, F rep- resents the distribution factor be- tween two departments (the first de- partment mentioned is the source of the costs and the second is the receiver), and DC represents the direct charges of a specific department. The equations in figure 1 are used to calculate indirect costs for a four- department distribution. Because no department distributes costs to itself, a gap is left in each line. Note the symmetry to the equations; they are set up to fit nicely into a spreadsheet arrangement of rows and columns, organized by departments. The cal- culations along a row correspond to the costs absorbed by a particular department, and those down a col- umn correspond to transfer of costs from one department to others. After the equations are set up, the factors for making distributions be- tween departments are needed. Cal- culation of the distribution factors is done separately and is not part of the distribution-calculation procedure. The information for developing the factors for a company should be avail- able from the firm's accounting department and, indeed, the factors themselves may already be available. One way a department might mea- sure its distribution of the costs for services, for example, is based on the number of persons in each depart- ment. If a department has one per- cent of the company's personnel, for instance, and it is assumed that all personnel share the use of the cafeteria, then one percent of cafeteria expenses would be dis- tributed to that department. Figures then would be calculated in a similar manner for other departments. Telephone expenses, however, might best be distributed based on the number of phones rather than peo- ple in each department, although long-distance costs can be charged directly to the department that made them. The distribution factors can also be based on relative amounts of floor space or on any items that can (and must) be quantified. Each fac- tor is a number between zero and one inclusive. Once all the factors are known, they can be substituted in the equa- tions. For this example, a set of factors and initial expense values is used. Note that the gaps have been filled with a zero factor, which can ease some computer procedures. .00xT(A) + .10xT(B) + .15xT(C) + .15xT(D) + 8000 = T(A) .15xT(A) + .00xT(B) + .20xT(C) + .10xT(D) + 7000 = T(B) .00xT(A) + .10xT(B) + .00xT(C) + .30xT(D) + 9000 = T(C) .15xT(A) + .15xT(B) + .10xT(C) + D0xT(D) + 12000 = T(D) Now the only unknown quantities in these equations are the depart- 418 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Computer's Choice. Primage I Sooner or later, you'll probably want to use your business computer for word processing or data communications applications. And if you let your computer choose the best printer to provide letter quality printing at high production speeds, its first choice would be Primage I. 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When you compare Primage I with top quality daisy printers and sheet feeders that cost up to 50% more, we're confident you'll make the same choice your computer would. So come into your computer dealer today for a first hand demonstration. Or contact us for detailed product literature. Primages Inc., 620 Johnson Ave., Bohemia, NY 11716 (516) 567-8200. PRIMAGES INC. Circle 300 on inquiry card. BYTE February 1984 419 ment's total expenses. The paradox, however, is that you can't calculate the total expenses unless you already know them. Here the powerful itera- tive procedure is useful. For the first equation, assume that the total expenses are the direct ex- penses. Then the first equation becomes: + .10x7000 + .15x9000 + .15x12000 + 8000 = T(A) + 700 + 1350 + 1800 + 8000 = T(A) = 11850 The estimate for total expenses of department A gets more accurate, go- ing from a value of 8000 to 11,850. Using that new value in the second equation and other values assumed to represent total expenses provides a new figure for T(B) of 11,775, which is considerably better than the first estimate of 7000. Similar substitutions and calculations that cycle through the four departments lead to the final answers. When no further changes occur, the final totals are T(A) = 14,455 T(B) = 14,108 T(C) = 15,769 T(D) = 17,861 Now that the total costs for each department are known, we can cal- culate the net, or true, final cost by subtracting the amounts distributed from each department to others. They can be found with the same general equations, because the amount going to a department has to come from some other department. In this example, department A dis- tributes $2168 to department B and $2168 to department D, leaving a net cost of $10,118. The net costs for the other departments are calculated similarly. When the distributions both to and from all departments are calculated, the sum of the costs must equal the initial costs of the four departments, because we can neither gain nor lose any dollars. Because the original sum was $36,000, the sum of the net costs must also be $36,000. (Verifying that these sums match is a way to check 420 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. the accuracy of the calculations and the procedures.) Spreadsheet Procedures The setup for this sample data using a typical electronic spreadsheet procedure is shown in table 1. Row 3 has spaces for the total expenses of each department and the sum of all departments. Rows 6 through 9 are designed to hold the calculations for the distributed amounts to each de- partment as well as each depart- ment's direct (initial) charges and total costs. Row 11 will hold the net expenses for each department and the sum for all the departments. Net amounts are calculated by subtracting the dis- tributed amounts in each column from the total in row 3. Because no department can distrib- ute more than 100 percent of its total expense, net expense can never be negative. The net expense can be a few cents or a dollar under, however, as a result of accumulated rounded- off values in the calculation pro- cedures. Rows 14 through 17 contain the factors for calculating the costs to be transferred between each pair of departments. The usual spreadsheet program is set up to detect the type of circular relationships that exist between the department totals. It prevents the use of an analysis that incorporates such relationships by substituting the values comprising them with the word "error," thus indicating errors. Therefore, to avoid the problem of having the screen filled with error signs, the row of totals— B3 through E3— has the total for each department set to zero. Once this precaution has been taken, you can manipulate the figures on the terminal screen, but you must be sure that no circular rela- tionships are stated when you store your data, or you will get error signals when you reload the sheet. Before you can begin solving a par- ticular problem, the row of totals must be copied from the column of totals at the right (G6 through G9) to row 3 (B3 through E3). Table 2 shows the resulting data at this point. The sum of the net expenses does not equal the total of the initial expenses To find out where we're showing off the P1350 printer, call one of these Toshiba distributors: EASTERN R & D/CAMELOT ASSOCIATES, INC. Northampton, MA (413)253-7378 DIGITAL ENTRY SYSTEMS Waltham, MA (,617)899-6111 MICROAMERICA Wellesley, MA (800) 343-4411 CYBER/SOURCE Southfield, Ml (313) 353-8660 GENERAL BUSINESS COMPUTERS, INC. 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Box 900, NY 10020 BCD INDIRECT COST DISTRIBUTION E F -ACCOUNTING PROCEDURE 3 O O O O 4 TOTAL EXPENSES ARE ABDVE THIS LINE 5T0///FRDM DEPT — A DEPT- -B DEPT- — C DEPT- — D INITIAL TOTAL 6DEPT — A O O BOOO 8000 7DEPT — B O O O 7000 7000 8DEPT — C 9000 9000 9DEPT — D O O 12000 12000 10 NET EXPENSES ARE BELOW THIS LINE 36000 36000 11 O O O O 13 DISTRIBUTION FACTORS 14 O . 1 15 15 15 . IS 2 . 1 16 O . 1 ■ 3 17 1 R . 15 - 15 . 1 O 19T0 MAKE THIS EXAMPLE WORK, ENTER THE FOLLOWING: 20AT B3, +G6 AT C3, +G7 AT D3, +GB AT E3, +G9 21THEN FORCE RECALCULATIONS UNTIL TOTALS AT F3 AND G10 ARE EQUAL. Table 1: The data for analysis for a hypothetical four-department company is set up here as it would be for use with an electronic spreadsheet program. Row 3 provides spaces for the total expenses of each department, and row 11 will display their net expenses. INDIRECT COST C D DISTRIBUTION- E F -ACCOUNTING PROCEDURE 10293 102B7 9820 TOTAL EXPENSES ARE ABOVE THIS LINE 1553 —A O 544 O 544 NET EXPENSES ARE BELOW THIS LINE 7205 o 5TO///FR0M 6DEPT — A 7DEPT — B BDEPT — C 9DEPT — D 10 11 1 13 14 15 16 17 19T0 MAKE THIS EXAMPLE WORK 20 AT B3, +G6 AT C3, +G7 DEPT — B 1029 O 1029 1543 DEPT — C 1473 1964 O 9B2 6687 5401 DISTRIBUTION FACTORS O .1 .15 .15 O .2 O .1 O .15 .15 .1 DEPT — D 2330 1554 4661 O 6991 . 15 . 1 .3 O 45935 NITIAL 8000 7000 9000 12000 36000 26283 TOTAL 12B32 12061 14689 16069 55652 ENTER THE FOLLOWING: AT D3, +G8 AT E3, +G9 21THEN FORCE RECALCULATIONS UNTIL TOTALS AT F3 AND G10 ARE EQUAL. Table 2: This data appeared during the calculation procedure. Note that the calculations for determining F3 are always one cycle behind those used to find G10. When the values for the two spaces are equal and cease changing, the solution has been reached. 14455 1410B 15769 17861 TOTAL EXPENSES ARE ABOVE THIS LINE 5TO///FR0M 6DEPT — A 7DEPT — B BDEPT — C 9DEPT — D lO 11 O 216B O 2168 DEPT B 1411 O 1411 2116 DEPT — C 2365 3154 O 1577 DEPT — D 2679 1786 5358 NET EXPENSES ARE BELOW THIS LINE 10119 9170 62194 INITIAL BOOO 7000 9000 12000 36000 36000 TOTAL 14455 1410B 15769 17861 62194 . 15 . 15 DISTRIBUTION FACTORS .1 .15 .2 . 1 .15 .1 . 15 . 1 O 13 14 15 16 17 19T0 MAKE THIS EXAMPLE WORK, ENTER THE FOLLOWING: 20AT B3, +G6 AT C3, +G7 AT D3, +G8 AT E3, +G9 21THEN FORCE RECALCULATIONS UNTIL TOTALS AT F3 AND G10 ARE EQUAL. Table 3: The final results of the four-department analysis. The totals in G6 through G10 correspond respectively to those in B3 through F3. 422 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Circie 9 on inquiry card. at this time because of the lag in the computation procedure. At the end of the several iterations, however, the total net expenses and total initial ex- penses will be the same. The total of all departments in F3 is always one cycle behind the total in G10. Both totals increase as each cycle is performed. Eventually when the two totals agree and stop increas- ing, the solution is reached. This ex- ample takes 11 iterations to obtain a solution. To carry results to the nearest penny takes 21 iterations; the results, however, are not worth the extra effort. The problem is now ready for the iteration procedure, which is signaled via the Recalculate key of the system that will perform the calculations. Each time the key is touched, one complete iteration takes place. Remember that all totals must in- crease with each calculation. Any decrease indicates an error in values, calculations, or formulas. Table 3 presents the final result. It contains all the factors, all the initial expenses, all the dollars related to each factor, and all the dollars transferred in and out of every department. Now the total expenses of each department can be analyzed to determine what can be done to reduce expenses. Modifying the Data After reviewing the results of a set of calculations, you might want to change one or several factors. It is possible to make such changes and then use the Recalculate key to obtain new results. In this case, some amounts will decrease to the new values (contrary to what was said above). However, changes must keep going in the same direction and not oscillate up and down. And because the calculations are easy to make, you can also go back to the beginning with a new set of figures and com- plete the whole procedure again. Using BASIC or APL A similar program can be written to do the same calculations, loop back, and repeat them until the totals do not change. I have written such programs in BASIC and APL. Listing 1 contains a BASIC program for the sample problem. It will print all intermediate values to the screen and then give final answers in a format similar to that of table 3. To bypass the printing of inter- mediate totals, you can delete the PRINT statements in lines 390 and 480. You can also expand with remarks to make it more understand- able. Or you can shorten it by putting multiple statements on a line; how- ever, this makes it less understand- able. To include more departments, more data statements must be added and the dimension statements (lines 10-110) must be enlarged to cover the maximum number of departments. The output printing statements must also be changed to accommodate such an increase. If 100 departments were used, for instance, 10,000 spaces would have to be allocated for the factors and 10,000 for the distributed amounts. At a rate of 2 bytes per space, this analysis would require at least 40,000 bytes of storage. Again, this requirement could be reduced significantly by limiting storage to only the actual factors needed and giving up the symmetry of the tables. Note, how- ever, that large values could require double-precision calculations and a corresponding increase in storage requirements. In APL, the procedure is even simpler, since the final result to the equations can be found in just one step. You get the inverse of the factor table using the quad-divide function and then multiply the inverse by the initial expense vector. Then you print out the appropriate items of initial, final, net costs, and transferred amounts using appropriate array functions. Mathematicians and APLers will love this trivial procedure. Hand or Desk Calculator Procedure With a hand or desk calculator and a large piece of paper, you simply simulate the procedure done by a computer by starting with table 1. Use a soft pencil to write down the distribution amounts and the depart- ment total (column G), then replace SPECTACULAR OFFERS 6 YEAR WARRANTY M11 M13 M14 M16 5V4" 5 1 A" 5 1 A" 5 1 /4" F111 8" F1312 8" F144 8 ft DOUBLE SIDE DOUBLE DENSITY 1.49* 1.89* 2.79* 4.19* 1.89* 2.39* 2.99* maxell LIFETIME WARRAHTY MD1 5Y«™ FD1-128 8" 2.09* 3.60* BASF 2 YEAR WARRANTY 54968 5'/4" ss.dd 1.79' 53428 8" ss.sd 1.89* &TDK LIFETIME WARRANTY 2501 5'/4" ss,dd 2.39* 28018" ss.dd 3.90* BASF LIFETIME WARRANTY 54974 5V«" ss.dd 2.19* 54998 8" ss.sd 2.29* gJZHUSIl LIFETIME WARRANTY 5S-11 5'/."ss,sd 1.59* 8S-11 8" ss.sd 2.14* ultka WE ALSO STOCK AT FANTASTIC LOW PRICES Memorex g*M Q i ■ i J i h Dysajl Floppies. Tape. Data Cartridges. Dm Citutus. ana Dlik Packs *0UANTITY 100. SMALLER QUANTITIES ADD 5% DISK DRIVE HEAD . CLEANING KITS >*y 5 V." 15.95 SNAP-IT POWER CENTER Turn one outlet into six Power Surge Control I1FI Filtration 15 Amp Circuit Breaker 59.95 six! V V BOOK VALUES FULL SELECTION. 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Listing 1: A BASIC program for determining how indirect costs are distributed among the four departments of a hypothetical company. 10 REM program for reciprocal cost distribution among -four departments. 20 N=4 30 'DATA 0, . i, . 15. . 15 40 DATA . 15,0, .2,'. 1' 50 DATA 0, .1,0, .3 60 DATA . 15, . 15, . 1,0 70 DATA 8000,7000,9000,12000 BO DIM 1(4) 90 DIM M(4) 100 DIM T(4) 110 DIM P ( 4 , 4 ) 120 REM set up factor table from data 130 FOR R=l TO N 140 FOR C=l TO N 150 READ V 160 LET P(R,C)=V 170 NEXT C ISO NEXT R 190 REM set up initial expense table from data 200 FDR Z=l TO N 210 READ r<2) 220 NEXT Z 230 REM set up temporary total expense table 240 FOR Z=l TO N 250 LET M'(Z)=I 260 NEXT Z 270 REM set up total expense table 2B0 FOR Z=l TO N 290 LET Ti2)=I (Z) 300 NEXT Z 310 REM begin calculation iteration 320 FOR R=l TO N 330 LET G=0 340 FOR C=l TO N 350 LET D=M'.Cj *P(R,C) 360 LET G=6»D 370 NEXT C 3B0 LET M(R)-B+I CR) 390 PRINT R,I1(RJ 400 NEXT R 410 REM calculate old and new total expenses 420 LET E=0 430 LET F=0 440 FOR Z=l TO N 450 LET E=Ei-M'.Z) 460 LET F=F+T«Z) 470 NEXT I 4B0 PRINT E,F,E-F 490 REIi save "new" totals as "old" totals for next iteration 500 FOR Z— 1 TO N 510 LET TiZi=HiZ) S20 NEXT I 530 REM test for completion of iteration cycles 540 IF 570 FOR R=l TO N 580 LET N(Ci=N(C)-T(C)*P(R,C) 590 NEXT R 600 NEXT C 610 FOR Z=l TO N 620 PRINT INTU > , INT(N > 630 NEXT Z 640 PRINT "FINISHED" 650 REM print results 660 PRINT "TOTAL EXPENSES ARE;" 670 FOR Z=l TO N 6B0 PRINT INT(T (Z) ) , 690 NEXT Z 700 PRINT " " 710 PRINT 720 PR I NT "DISTRIBUTION AMOUNTS ARE: INITIAL TOTAL" 730 FOR R=l TO N 740 FOR C=l TO N 7 5 P R I N T I N 1 CP>, 760 NEXT C 770 PRINT INTd (R> ) , INT > 780 NEXT R 790 PRINT "NET EXPENSES ARE:" 800 LET Q=0 810 FOR C= 1 TO N 820 LET Q=fl+N(C>- ■ ■ . 830 PRINT INT (N to continue informs the user of such an error, and the operating sys- tem must then be reinitialized. Reasonably, then, you would like to input numbers as character strings because the possibility of input er- rors is remote— but you cannot do arithmetic with strings. Fortunately, Pascal provides a relatively simple way of circumventing this dilemma by providing: (1) a capability to input data as an alphanumeric character string, and (2) the ORD( ) function, which lets the in- put character string be used to construct a valid number. The ORD( ) function returns the integer decimal ASCII (American National Standard Code for Informa- tion Interchange) code of the character argument passed to it. Because the ASCII values of the numeric charac- ters are in continuous ascending order (see table 1), each character of the input string can be easily tested to see if its ordinal value minus the ordinal value of the first ordered numeric character (0) is a valid counting number (0 through 9). If it is, then the input character is a valid digit. The central algorithm of listing 1 is really quite simple. str.len : = Length(buffer); position : = 1; number : = 0.0; WHILE (buffer[position] IN ['0'. .'9'] AND (position < = str.len) DO BEGIN number : = number * 10 + ORD(buffer[position]) - ORD('O'); position : = position + 1; END; Character ORD(character) ORD(character)— ORD('O') (decimal) (decimal ASCII integer code) (integer value) 48 1 49 1 2 50 2 3 51 3 4 52 4 5 53 5 6 54 6 7 55 7 8 56 8 9 57 9 Table 1: The ascending values of the decimal ASCII integer codes correspond to the ascending decimal character integers. By subtracting ORD ('0'), which is decimal 48, from the decimal ASCII integer of the input character, the result must fall in the 0-9 range if the input character is to be considered valid. 428 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Our New B-Version Printers; User Friendly Controls. 20% Faster. 9% Lower Cost. Strong. Silent. Types. 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ANADEX, INC. • 1001 Flynn Road • Camarillo, California 93010 • Telephone: (805) 987-9660 • TWX 910-494-2761 U.S. Sales Offices: Irvine, California (714) 557-0457 • Schiller Park, Illinois (312) 671-1717 • Wakefield, Massachusetts (617) 245-9160 Hauppauge, New York, Phone: (516) 435-0222 • Atlanta, Georgia, Phone (404) 255-8006 • Austin, Texas, Phone: (512) 327-5250 ANADEX, LTD. • Weaver House, Station Road • Hook, Basingstoke, Hants RG27 9JY, England • Tel: Hook (025672) 3401 • Telex: 858762 ANADEX G ANADEX GmbH • Behringstrasse 5 • 8752 Mainaschaff • W. Germany • Tel: 011-49-06021-7225 • Telex: 4188347 Circle 22 on inquiry card. BYTE February 1984 429 Listing Is The numbertest program verifies that input characters are valid numbers. (*$r-*) (* Turn range checking off since we Know what we're doing. *) PROGRAM numbertest (INPUT, OUTPUT); (* David F. Hinnant Michael B. Smith 5--Jan-83 *> TYPE typechoices * (realnumber, intnumber, nonumber) $ (* We either have a real, an integer, or garbage *) VAR result : real; inputkind I typechoices J buff : string; PROCEDURE numberize( vAR number 5 REAL} VAR numtype : typechoices} buffer : STRING)} (* This procedure accepts an input string, and parses it to produce a number. The number can be either a real or an integer. The returned boolean variable 'input' contains the type of the number. If the input string contains doesn't contain a decimal point, it is assumed to be an integer. The variable 'buffer' contains the input string. The variable 'number' contains the valid parsed number, if any, *) CONST radix » 10} (* Ue are working with base 10 numbers hopefully *) dec imal"' . ' J VAR sign, power, position, len, scale 5 INTEGER; negpower t BOOLEAN; expset, opset } SET OF CHAR; BEGIN expset *= L'e','E'Ii; (# valid identifiers for scientific notation #) opset := C ' + ','--' 1 ; (* valid sign operators *) numtype ♦ = nonumber; (# initially assume input is invalid #) number 5= 0.0} power t= 0} scale t- 0} position I- 1} (# Start with the first character *) sign 5 = 1} (* Initially assume that the number is positive *) negpower J= false} (# Initially assume power (if any) is positive *) len J- length (buff er) } (# Get the length of the input string *) if len > then (* If we have something, then parse it *) BEGIN IF. buff exposition] IN opset THEN BEGIN (* First character is a sign operator XO IF buf f erCpositionD - '-' THEN sign 5- -1} (* Number may be negative *) position J- position +1} (* Go to the next position in the input *) end; IF bufferCpositionJ IN [l'O'..'9'D THEN BEGIN (* First character is a valid digit *) Listing 1 continued on page 432 430 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 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BYTE February 1984 431 Listing 1 continued: nullity pe ',--■ in t number} (* Number could be an integer *) REPEAT number ♦= radix * number + Orel (buff erCposition] ) - Ord('O')} (* Translate the character into a number using / Ord() / *) position J -■■■ position + 1} UNTIL (position > len) OR (NOT (buf f erCposition ] IN ['0'..'9']))| (* Keep translating until we run out of characters or input is invalid *) end; IF position <~ len THEN BEGIN <* We have something left to work with #) IF buf f erCposition ] -- decimal THEN BE1GIN (# We have encountered a decimal point *) numtype 1-- realnumber; (* Number isn't an integer, but may be real * ) position ♦- position + 1} WHILE (position <« len) AND (buf f erCposition 1 IN ['0'.,'9':i) DO BEGIN number ♦ = radix * number + ord (buf f erCposition] ) - ord('O')} position ' = position + 1 } scale »» scale+1} (* Count digits past the decimal point *) end; end; IF buf f erCposition II IN expset THEN EtEGIN (* We have encountered a scientific notation marker * ) position J ■ position + i; numtype t= realnumber; (* All scientific notation is real #) IF buf f erCposition] -- ' + ' THEN position 5= position + i; IF buff erCposition J ■ '-' THEN BEGIN (* Scientific: notation has a negative power of 10 *) position X- position + :L ; negpower \~ true, END ; ' WHILE (position <» len) AND (buf f erCposition 3 IN ['0',,'9']) DO BEGIN power \~ radix * power + ord (buf f erCposition] ) -- ord('O')} position I- position + i; END ; end; end; WHILE scale > DO BEGIN (# Move the decimal point to the correct position *) number t~- number / radix? scale \~ scale ••- 1? end; IF negpower THEN WHILE power > DO BEGIN (* Divide by radix to compute the correct power *) number l~ number / radix; power 5 = power -1} END ELSE WHILE power > DO BEGIN (* Multiply by radix to compute the correct power *) number I- number * radix} power t» power -1} END } END} number t~- number * sign? (* Now give the number the correct sign *) IF (position <- len) OR (len : = 0) THEN numtype t = nonumberj END} (* numberize *) BEGIN WHILE TRUE DO BEGIN Write('input? > ' ) } Listing 1 continued on page 434 432 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Shakespeare had every gift for writing. Except one. The FinalWord. As the Bard himself would have said, "that which we call word processing will never be the same." Because The FinalWord turns tough writing jobs into play. With an arsenal of word processing commands so powerful, you're free at last to concentrate solely on having great ideas. While The FinalWord concentrates on making them look good on paper. You never format. You only think. In fact, one reviewer called The FinalWord "the thinking persons word processor." Here's something else to think about. With The FinalWord, you never have to worry about losing your deathless prose to a system crash or power failure. Because The FinalWord continuously saves it. See The FinalWord in action at your local computer store. Who knows? It could even determine whether your next masterpiece is to be or not to be. The FinalWord Finally, word processing becomes thought processing Circle 402 on inquiry card. n Mark of the Unicom 222 Third Street Cambridge, MA 02142 (617)576-2760 Listing 1 continued: Read In (buff) ; number ize< result , inputkind* buff); CASE inputKind OF realnumber X Writeln('The number is intnumber ? Uriteln ( ' The number is nonumber : Writeln('* ', buff, ' ' END END ', END . r result, ' and is real . ' ) I 't trunc ( result ), ' and is an integer, is not a number . ' ) } The length of the string is obtained, and the index pointer to individual characters within the string is set to point to the first character. The WHILE-DO loop does the work and operates as follows. First, the character is tested to see if it is a counting number. Then the value of the index is tested to see if it is less than the length of the character string. If both tests are passed, the first digit is computed by subtracting the ordinal value of '0' from the ordinal value of the first character. The index is incremented and the tests are performed again; the process repeats until either an invalid character is found or the entire string has been processed. This parsing algorithm can be extended to accept a decimal point, optional plus and minus signs, and data input in the form of scientific notation as shown by the numberize procedure in the numbertest program of list- ing 1. Listing 2 shows sample input and output from the program. We have found only one problem with this program: in any operating system, underflow and overflow con- ditions are possible, and we have not guarded against them here. You should either take care not to exceed the limits of your implementation, or modify this algorithm to protect against overflow and underflow. We have suc- cessfully used variations of this program for several years in places where error-free data input is critical. ■ Listing 2: Trial input characters and the numbertest program responses. input? > 4 . 5 The number is 4.50000 and is real. input? >4567 The number is 4567 and is an integer. input? >3.4 Tne number is 3.40000 and is real. input? >3.4000 The number is 3.40000 and is real. input? >hi there " ni there " is not a number. input? >3.4e-10 The number is 3.40000E-10 and is real. input? >1.2345L+12 Tne number is 1.23450E12 and is real. input? >34.34e-03 The number is 3.43400E-2 and is real. input? >+45 The number is 45 and is an integer. input? >-3 4e-01 The number is -3.40000 and is real. input? > David F Hinnant (2300 Avent Ferry Rd., Apt. G5, Raleigh, NC 27606) holds a B. S. degree in physics and is a Unix systems analyst with ITT Telecom- munications. Michael B. 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Star One of my favorite benchmarks is based on the calcula- tions loop from a DFT (discrete Fourier transform) program. The DFT algorithm is one of many in the arsenal of time-series analysis techniques. In my work, I sometimes need the DFT, and I have versions of this algorithm run- ning on everything from S-100 bus machines to a DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation) VAX 11-780. The code in listing 1 is a good test of the mathematics functions of a computer, particularly transcendental functions. The routine is basically two nested loops, with a final calculation of the square root of the sum of squares of trigonometric functions. Depending on the nature of the data you might feed to this calculation, the processing time can be decreased dramatically. Of course, for the purposes of a benchmark, this misses the point entirely. Table 1 shows timings for this routine on two ma- chines: an IMS International IMS5000 (a 4-MHz Z80A S-100 machine, running CP/M 2.2) and a Hewlett- Packard HP 9845A desktop computer. The code on the IMS5000 was written in CBASIC, CB-80, and in single- precision Microsoft FORTRAN-80. It's amusing to note that the $30,000 HP desktop computer (which is marvelous for a variety of tasks, but not suited for plain number-crunching because of its BASIC-in-ROM inter- preter) is faster than the $5000 IMS5000's pseudointer- pretive CBASIC (version 2) but slower when compared with compiler Microsoft FORTRAN-80. (A word of cau- tion: both CBASIC and CB-80 use double-precision real- arithmetic, which explains their slow speeds.) As table 1 illustrates, the time the routine takes in- creases roughly at the same rate as the square of the number of points. For some of the tasks I have to do around the lab, I need to calculate a 400-point DFT, which would take more than 12 hours using CBASIC! ■ Number of Data Points HP 9845A IMS5000 CBASIC FORTRAN-80 CB-80 10 20 40 < 4 15 74 24 100 443 < 3 11 44 15 67 285 Table 1: Timing measurements taken when running the bench- mark shown in listing 1. Times are in seconds. Listing 1: The benchmark algorithm expressed in CBASIC 2. The algorithm for this benchmark is actually the calculation loop from a DFT program and is especially useful when you're testing the mathematical functions employed by a system. REM » PROGRAM DFT - CBasic 2 REM ♦ TIMING BENCHMARK FOR DISCRETE FOURIER TRANSFORM REM * J.L. STAR REM « APRIL 1981 INPUT "What is the ORDER of the TEST" "?NJ DIM D ( NX > , F ( NX > XI ■ 0. : X2 " 1. ,1 ■ 1, S N » FLOAT (NX) 3D « (X2-X1>/(N-1,0> : Wl = 0. : W2 r 3.1415926/(0*1) W3 = W2/(N-1.0) ! B - 0. : T = O. PRINT ■■*# CREATING DATA VECTOR **" FOR IX ■ 1 TO NX D(IX) = SIN(IX) + RND/3. NEXT IX INPUT "HIT (RETURN) TO BEGIN CALCULATIONS ";LINE DUMMY* PRINT CHRt(7) FOR IX = 1 TO NX W = W3*FL0AT( IX-1) : CI = 0. : SI ■ O. FOR MX = 1 TO NX G = W» IK The most powerful UNIX™-compatible operating system available for the IBM PC™, IBM XT™ and compatibles. Now you can have the multi-user, multitasking programming capability of a mainframe on a microcomputer. The UNIX-compatible environ- ment of COHERENT™ lets you take C code developed using UNIX V7 system utilities and compile and run it on the IBM PC, IBM XT and Corona. COHERENT'S highly-optimized kernel lets you access over 145 different commands including a C-compiler, a text-formatter and LEX and YACC. Extensive hard disk and memory card support is available now. By the time this ad appears more devices and more IBM PC compatibles will be supported. 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Coordinator, Suite 800, 1029 Vermont Ave. NW, Washing- ton, DC 20005. April 2-4 Speech Tech — 84, St. Moritz Hotel, New York City. This voice-synthesis and recogni- tion applications show covers voice input/output as applied to computers, telecommuni- cations, defense electronics, robotics, education, and aids for the handicapped. For in- formation, contact Stanley Goldstein, Media Dimen- sions Inc., 525 East 82nd St., New York, NY 10028, (212) 680-6451. April 2-5 The 1984 Test & Measure- ment World Expo, Brooks Hall, San Francisco, CA. This is the third annual expo sponsored by Text and Mea- surement World, a magazine from Interfield Publishing. For details, contact Meg Bowen, Test & Measurement World Expo, 215 Brighton Ave., Boston, MA 02134, (617) 254-1445. April 3-5 Cincinnati Business Show, Convention-Exposition Cen- ter, Cincinnati, OH. Exhibits include automated office equipment, computers, com- munications, telephone sys- tems and equipment, word processors, business systems and forms, and software and computer peripherals. For in- formation, contact Weber and Associates Inc., 10608 Mill- ington Court, Cincinnati, OH 45242, (513) 791-6303. April 3-6 DEXPO East 84, Bayside Ex- position Center, Boston, MA. This conference, dedicated to professionals who use Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) equipment, is spon- sored by the national in- dependent DEC user group of Warwick, Rhode Island. Topics to be covered are office automation, personal com- puters, communications, sec- urity and disaster planning, education, graphics, technol- ogy trends, and other areas of interest. For information, contact Expoconsul Interna- tional Inc., 55 Princeton- Hightstown Rd., Princeton Junction, NJ 08550, (609) 799-1661. April 4-11 CeBIT, Hannover, West Ger- many. This office-equipment and data-processing technol- ogy exhibition will bring to- gether exhibitors from more than 25 countries. For infor- mation, contact Hannover Fairs Information Center, POB 338, Route 22 E, White- house, NJ 08888, (800) 526-5978; in New Jersey, (201) 534-9044. April 5-7 COMDEX/Winter, Conven- tion Center, Los Angeles, CA. This conference and ex- hibition will feature separate hardware and software sec- tions on the same exhibit floor. For information, con- tact The Interface Group Inc., 300 First Ave., Needham, MA 02194, (800) 325-3330; in Massachusetts, (617) 449- 6600. April 8-11 World Retailers Business & Equipment Exposition, Palais des Congres, Paris, France. This exposition is sponsored by the National Retail Merchants Association (NRMA) and runs concur- rently with NRMA's Ninth World Conference of Re- tailers. The exposition is de- signed to introduce store merchants to new develop- ments, equipment, and pro- cedures. Admission is free, although retail store mer- chants must show ticket. For complimentary tickets and details, write to Dan Soskin, NRMA Enterprises, 100 West 31st St., New York, NY 10001. April 9-12 Intergraphics '84, Sasakawa Memorial Hall, Tokyo, Japan. This conference and exposi- tion is cosponsored by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) and the World Computer Graphics Association (WCGA). It will focus on the growing impor- tance of computer graphics in business and manufactur- ing industries. For infor- mation, contact James McLaughlin, Society of Manufacturing Engineers, One SME Dr., POB 930, Dearborn, MI 48121, (313) 271-0023. April 13-14 The Fourteenth Annual Vir- ginia Computer User's Con- ference, Sheraton Hotel, Blacksburg, VA. This con- ference is sponsored by the Virginia Tech Student Chap- ter of the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) and the computer science department of Virginia Tech. Topics include modeling and simulation, STARS and a message to our subscribers From time to time we make the BYTE subscriber list available to other companies who wish to send our sub- scribers material about their products. We take great care to screen these companies, choosing only those who are reputable, and whose products, services, or information we feel would be of interest to you. Direct mail is an efficient medium for presenting the latest personal computer goods and services to our subscribers. Many BYTE subscribers appreciate this controlled use of our mailing list, and look forward to finding informa- tion of interest to them in the mail. Used are our subscribers' names and addresses only [no other informa- tion we may have is ever given). While we believe the distribution of this information is of benefit to our subscribers, we firmly respect the wishes of any subscriber who does not want to receive such promotional literature. Should you wish to restrict the use of your name, simply send your reguest to the following address. BYTE Publications Inc Attn: Circulation Department 70 Main St Peterborough NH 03458 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 463 Circle 399 on inquiry card. BEST IN PRICE & QUALITY Call Now TOLL FREE 800-368-3404 (In VA, Call Collect 703-237-8695) AMPEX'INTERTEOTEXAS INSTRUMENTS'GENERAL DATA COMM.«ANDERSONJACOBSON»C.ITOH»QUME • BEEHIVE* DATASOUTH'DIABLOCENTRONICS • NEC 'PRENTICE EESBa INTERTEC SUPERBRAIN II 64KDD" $1798 64KQD" $2143 64K SD* (96TPI) $2689 ■(Includes M/Soft BASIC) DYNABYTE 8/16 BIT Call CALLAN 16/32 BIT Call EnEnna NEC 7710 Ser $1899 7715 $1949 7730 Par $1899 7720 $2449 7725 $2496 Std. 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Special $ 249 CISCobol $ 689 Forms II $ 159 MACRO 80 $ 183 "C" Compiler $ 239 WordStar Professional (WS, SS, MM, S1) . . . .$ 399 ReportStar $ 199 Starlndex $ 129 PlanStar Call StarBurst Call InfoStar Plus Call 256K RAM Bd $ 256 256K RAM Bd Full Parity . $ 305 BabyBlue $ 600 BabyTex $ 600 BabyTalk 3270 BISYNC $ 895 8" Disk Controller $ 395 We also make EIA RS 232 or RS 449 cables to your order, can supply you with ribbons, printer stands, print wheels, thimbles for all printers listed. Plus many, many more items. Most items in stock. CALL NOW. All items shipped freight collect either motor freight or UPS unless otherwise speci- fied. All prices already include 3% cash discount. Purchase with credit card does not include discount. Virginia residents, add 4% Sates Tax. For fastest delivery send certified check, money order or bank-wire transfer. Sorry, no C.O.D. orders. All equipment is in factory cartons with manufacturers .^^^^ warranty (honored at our depot). Prices subject to y5* change without notice. i^^— ^TCBfimflLS Event Queue J Terminals Terrific, Inc., P.O. Box 216, Merrifield, VA 221 16 Phone: 800-368-3404 (In VA, Call Collect 703-237-8695) 464 february 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Japanese fifth-generation computers, and microcom- puters. For information, con- tact Suzanne Nagy or Roger Goff, VCUC-14, 562 McBryde Hall, Virginia Tech, Blacks- burg, VA 24061. April 13-15 The International Personal Robotics Congress and Ex- position, Convention Center, Albuquerque, NM. Interna- tional corporations and high-technology executives can view the latest in robots designed to serve personal needs. For details, contact Al- buquerque Convention and Visitors Bureau Inc., POB 26866, Albuquerque, NM 87125-6866, (505) 243-3696. April 16-18 Videotex '84, Chicago, IL. The focus of this interna- tional conference and exhibi- tion is commercial applica- tions and activities of video- tex. For details, contact Sally Summers, London Online Inc., Suite 1190, 2 Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121, (212) 279-8890. April 17-19 IPAD II, Marriott Hotel, Denver, CO. This is the sec- ond national symposium to promote a wider awareness of the technology surround- ing the Integrated Program for Aerospace-vehicle Design (IPAD). The focus will be on advances in distributed data- base management tech- nology to support integrated CAD/CAM requirements. It is sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Ad- ministration, the Department of the Navy, and the Indus- try Technical Advisory Board for IPAD. Information is available from the IPAD Proj- ect Office, Mail Stop 246, NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA 23665, (804) 865-2888. April 18-20 The 1984 Rocky Mountain Data Processing Expo & Conference, Denver, CO. This is the seventh annual expo sponsored by the Mile High Chapter of the Data Processing Management As- sociation. Displays will in- clude mini- and microcom- puters, word processors, software, educational ser- vices, and network systems. It is being held in conjunc- tion with the DPMAs Region 4 conference. For informa- tion, contact Industrial Pre- sentations West Inc., Suite 304, 3090 South Jamaica Court, Aurora, CO 80014, (303) 696-6100. April 24-25 Workspace 84, Moscone Center, San Francisco, CA. This second annual con- ference and exposition, sponsored by National Fairs Inc., will be devoted to the concerns of the automated office. For details, contact Charley Yourd, National Fairs Inc., 1902 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco, CA 94109. April 26-28 Science Park '84, New Haven, CT. This microcom- puter conference and exposi- tion is designed for small- business executives. For details, contact Science Park '84, Five Science Park, New Haven, CT 06511, (203) 436-3089. ■ In order to gain optimal coverage of your organi- zation's computer confer- ences, seminars, work- shops, courses, etc., notice should reach our office at least three months in ad- vance of the date of the event. Entries should be sent to: Event Queue, BYTE Publications, POB 372, Hancock, IMH 03449. Each month we publish the current contents of the queue for the month of the cover date and the two following calendar months. Thus a given event may appear as many as three times in this sec- tion if it is sent to us far enough in advance. Hake this giant $79.50 Handbook for only $3.00... when you join the Byte Book Club You simply agree to buy 3 more books — at handsome discounts - within the next 12 months. THE McGRAW-HILL COMPUTER HANDBOOK Editor in Chief, Harry Helms ■ 30 big sections give you in-depth answers ■ 992 -page mammoth sourcebook includes nearly 500 helpful illustrations ■ a staff of well-known contributors share the expertise that helped launch the computer revolution It puts the whole spectrum of computer science at your fingertips! 4 more reasons to join today! 1. Best and newest books from ALL publishers! Books are selected from a wide range of publishers by expert editors and consultants to give you continuing access to the best and latest books in your field. 2. Big savings! Build your library and save money too! Savings range up to 30% or more off publishers' list prices - usually 20% to 25%. 3. Bonus books! You will immediately begin to partici- pate in our Bonus Book Plan that allows you savings up to 70% off the publishers' prices of many professional and general interest books! 4. Convenience! 14-16 times a year (about once every 3-4 weeks) you receive the Club Bulletin FREE. It fully describes the Main Selection and alternate selections. A dated Reply Card is included. If you want the Main Selection, you simply do nothing — it will be shipped automatically. If you want an alternate selection - or no book at all - you simply indicate it on the Reply Card and return it by the date specified. You will have at least 10 days to decide. If, because of late delivery of the Bulletin you receive a Main Selection you do not want, you may return it for credit at the Club's expense. As a Club member you agree only to the purchase of three additional books during your first year of member- ship. Membership may be discontinued by either you or the Club at any time after you have purchased the three additional books. Whether you're a micro owner or a data processing professional, whether you use a computer for your business or in your home, here is the ideal single- volume reference. Organized for fast, easy access, it offers thorough coverage of every aspect of computer science and engineering. Unlike other books which offer brief overviews, The McGraw-Hill Computer Handbook gives full-length, signed chapters to really fill you in on subjects as wide-ranging as: ■ circuitry ■ software ■ languages ■ peripherals ■ networking ■ robotics It's the one-stop "answer book" that covers every- thing from basic computer theory to specialized areas like voice recognition and artificial intelligence. Computerworld praises it for having "the depth and usefulness typical of a McGraw-Hill reference:' It's "very readable^' says CompuServe. And Stock Market magazine calls it "an invaluable reference tool for both the professional and the beginner." Take advantage of this incredible limited time offer — join the Byte Book Club today and get your Hand- book for only $3! Fill out the card and mail today! If the card is missing, write to: BYTE BOOK CLUB P.O. Box 582, Hightstown, New Jersey 08520 BYTE february 1984 465 Books Received The Academic Apple, Richard Mowe. Reston, VA: Reston Publishing, 1983; 176 pages, 15.3 by 23 cm, softcover, ISBN 0-8359-0033-9, $10.95. Advanced Database Machine Architecture, David K. Hsiao, ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1983; 416 pages, 18.5 by 24.3 cm, hard- cover, ISBN 0-13-011262-3, $35. Apple II DiskGuide, Zelda Gifford. Berkeley, CA: Osborne/McGraw-Hill, 1983; 46 pages, 13.5 by 13.5 cm, spiral-bound, ISBN 0-931988- 96-9, $7.95. Atari 400/800 DiskGuide, John Taylor. Berkeley, CA: Osborne/McGraw-Hill, 1983; 64 pages, 13.5 by 13.5 cm, spiral-bound, ISBN 0-931988- 95-0, $7.95. Automating Your Financial Portfolio, Donald Woodwell. Homewood, IL: Dow Jones- Irwin, 1983; 272 pages, 15.5 by 23.5 cm, hardcover, ISBN 0-87094-399-5, $19.95. Automation, John Diebold. New York: American Man- agement Associations Book Division, 1983; 224 pages, 14.5 by 21.3 cm, hardcover, ISBN 0-8144-5756-8, $14.95. BASIC Subroutines for Com- modore Computers, Eddie Adamis. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1983; 320 pages, 17 by 25.3 cm, soft- cover, ISBN 0-471-86541-9, $12.95. C-Bims: Cassette-Based Infor- mation Management System for the PET, Gary Greenberg. Blue Ridge Summit, PA: Tab Books, 1983; 224 pages, 13 by 21 cm, softcover, ISBN 0- 8306-1489-3, $10.95. The COBOL Programmer's Book of Rules, G. Ledinjr., M. Kudlick, and V. Ledin. Bel- mont, CA: Lifetime Learning Publications, 1983; 240 pages, 15 by 23 cm, softcover, ISBN 0-534-97923-8, $14.95. CP/M DiskGuide, Curtis A. Ingraham. Berkeley, CA: Osborne/McGraw-Hill, 1983; 40 pages, 13.5 by 13.5 cm, spiral-bound, ISBN 0-931988- 97-7, $8.95. CP/M for the IBM Using CP/M-86, Judi N. Fernandez and Ruth Ashley. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1983; 272 pages, 17 by 25 cm, softcover, ISBN 0-471-89719-1, $14.95. Commodore 64 User's Hand- book, the WSI staff. Cleve- land, OH: Weber Systems Inc., 1983; 312 pages, 13.5 by 21.5 cm, softcover, ISBN 0- 938862-50-2, $14.95. Computer Graphics for the IBM Personal Computer, Donald Hearn and M. Pauline Baker. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1983; 352 pages, 18 by 24.5 cm, hardcover, ISBN 0-13- 164335-5, $24.95. Computers for Profit, David C. Dykstra. Reston, VA: Res- ton Publishing Co., 1983; 272 pages, 17.5 by 23.5 cm, soft- cover, ISBN 0-8359-0867-4, $14.95. CONLAN Report, R. Piloty, M. Barbacci, D. Borrione, D. Dietmeyer, F. Hill, and P. Skelly. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, #151. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1983; 192 pages, 16.5 by 24.5 cm, softcover, ISBN 0-387- 12275-3, $10. Controlling Financial Perfor- mance, An APPLE Business User's Guide, D. P. Curtin, J. R. Alves, and A. K. Briggs. Somerville, MA: Curtin & London, 1983; 176 pages, 21.5 by 28 cm, softcover, ISBN 0- 930764-58-7, $15.50. Controlling Financial Perfor- mance, An IBM PC Business User's Guide, D. P. Curtin, J. R. Alves, and A. K. Briggs. Somerville, MA: Curtin & London, 1983; 176 pages, 21.5 by 28 cm, softcover, ISBN 0- 930764-57-9, $15.50. Cryptograph]/, Thomas Beth, ed. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, #149. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1983; 416 pages, 16.5 by 24 cm, softcover, ISBN 0-387- 11993-0, $18.50. DBMS For Distributed Com- puters and Networks, Dimitris N. Chorafas. Princeton, NJ: Petrocelli Books, 1983; 272 pages, 16 by 24 cm, hard- cover, ISBN 0-89433-184-1, $24.95. The Design of Dynamic Data Structures, Mark H. Over- mars. Lecture Notes in Com- puter Science, #156. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1983; 192 pages, 16.5 by 24 cm, soft- cover, ISBN 0-387-12330-X, $10. The Design of Well-Structured and Correct Programs, Suad Alagic and Michael A. Arbib. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1978; 304 pages, 16.5 by 24 cm, hardcover, ISBN 0-387- 90299-6, $17. Direct Methods for Sparse Matrices, Ole Osterby and Zahari Zlatev. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, #157. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1983; 136 pages, 16.5 by 24.3 cm, softcover, ISBN 0-387- 12676-7, $8.50. Easy Add-On Projects for Spectrum, ZX81 & ACE, Owen Bishop. London, Eng- land: Bernard Babani Ltd., 1983; 192 pages, 11 by 17.8 cm, softcover, ISBN 0-85934-099- 6, £2.75. Effective Structured Program- ming, Lem O. Ejiogu. New York: Petrocelli Books, 1983; 192 pages, 16 by 24 cm, hard- cover, ISBN 089433-205-8, $24.95. Electro-Optical Communica- tions Dictionary, Dennis Bod- son and Dan Botez, eds. Rochelle Park, NJ: Hayden Book Co., 1983; 176 pages, 15.5 by 23.5 cm, hardcover, ISBN 0-8104-0961-5, $16.95. Electronics Handbook, Mat- thew Mandl. Reston, VA: Reston Publishing Co., 1983; 376 pages, 16 by 24 cm, hard- cover, ISBN 0-8359-1603-0, $29.95. 40 Easy Steps to Program- ming in BASIC & Logo, James L. Poirot and R. Clark Adams. Austin, TX: Sterling Swift Publishing Co., 1983; 64 pages, 21.5 by 28 cm, soft- cover, ISBN 0-88408-275-X, $3.95. 44 Dynamic ZX-81 Games and Recreations, Ian Davies. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Pren- tice-Hall, 1983; 174 pages, 15.3 by 22.8 cm, softcover, ISBN 0- 13-329144-8, $19.95. Foundations of Computation Theory, Marek Karpinski, ed. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, #158. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1983; 532 pages, 16.5 by 24.3 cm, soft- cover, ISBN 0-387-12689-9, $22. Getting Started on the Sharp 1500 & Radio Shack PC-2, H. C. Pennington, Gary Camp, and Ralph Burns. Up- land, CA: IJG Inc., 1983; 280 pages, 21 by 27.5 cm, ISBN 0- 936200-11-1, $16.95. Getting the Most Out of Your Word Processor, Arnold Rosen. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Pren- tice-Hall, 1983; 222 pages, 17.3 by 23.5 cm, softcover, ISBN 0-13-354548-2, $9.95. Graph-Grammars and Their Application to Computer Sci- ence, Hartmut Ehrig, Man- fred Nagl, and Grzegorz Rozenberg, eds. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, #153. New York: Springer- Verlag, 1983; 464 pages, 16.6 by 24.3 cm, softcover, ISBN 0- 387-12310-5, $20.50. Guide to the IBM Personal Computer, Walter Sikonowiz. New York: BYTE Books/ McGraw-Hill, 1983; 312 pages, 15.3 by 22.9 cm, soft- cover, ISBN 0-07-057484-7, $19.95. Hardware Interfacing with the Apple II Plus, John E. Uf fen- beck. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1983; 256 pages, 18 by 24 cm, hard- cover, ISBN 0-13-383851-X, $19.95. How to Win at Video Games, the editors of Consumer Guide. New York: Crown Publishers, 1983; 64 pages, 21 466 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Books Received. by 27.5 cm, spiral-bound, ISBN 0-517-42470-3, $3.98. I Speak BASIC to My VIC, (Teacher's Manual), Aubrey B. Jones Jr. Rochelle Park, NJ: Hayden Book Co., 1983; 272 pages, 21 by 28 cm, softcover, ISBN 0-8104-6169-2, $18.75. IBM and the U.S. Data Pro- cessing Industry: An Economic History, Franklin M. Fisher, James W. McKie, and Richard B. Mancke. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1983; 544 pages, 16 by 24.3 cm, hard- cover, ISBN 0-03-063059-2, $37.95. IBM Data Files, David Miller. Reston, VA: Reston Publishing Co., 1983; 272 pages, 15.3 by 22.8 cm, soft- cover, ISBN 0-8359-3026-2, $15. IBM PC DiskGuide, David A. Wilson. Berkeley, CA: Osborne/McGraw-Hill, 1983; 48 pages, 13.5 by 13.5 cm, spiral-bound, ISBN 0-931988- 94-2, $8.95. The IBM/PC & Business Soft- ware, James E. Kelley Jr. Wayne, PA: Banbury Books, 1983; 354 pages, 18 by 23.5 cm, spiral-bound, ISBN 0- 88693-000-6, $39.95. Includes two 5V4-inch floppy disks. The IBM Personal Computer, Robert J. Traister. Blue Ridge Summit, PA: Tab Books, 1983; 202 pages, 19.5 by 23.5 cm, softcover, ISBN 0-8306- 1496-6, $10.95. IC Timer Cookbook, 2nd ed. Walter G. Jung. Indianapolis, IN: Howard W. Sams & Co., 1983; 384 pages, 13 by 21 cm, softcover, ISBN 0-672-21932-8, $17.95. Kaypro User's Handbook, the WSI staff. Cleveland, OH: Weber Systems Inc., 1983; 312 pages, 13.5 by 21.5 cm, softcover, ISBN 0-938862-12- X, $14.95. The Master Memory Map for the Commodore 64, Paul Pavelko and Tim Kelly. Res- ton, VA: Reston Publishing Co., 1983; 192 pages, 15.3 by 22.5 cm, softcover, ISBN 0- 8359-4243-6, $14.95. Mastering Micros, Hannah I. Blank. New York: Perrocelli Books, 1983; 368 pages, 16 by 24 cm, hardcover, ISBN 0- 89433-207-4, $24.95. Microcomputer Graphics and Programming Techniques, Harry Katzan Jr. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1982; 244 pages, 16 by 23.3 cm, hardcover, ISBN 0-442- 28419-5, $22.50. Minute Manual for Apple Writer II, Jim Pirisino. Colum- bia, MD: Minuteware, 1983; 85 pages, 13.5 by 21.5 cm, softcover, ISBN 0-913131-00-8, $7.95. Office Automation and Word Processing Fundamentals, Shirley A. Waterhouse. New York: Harper & Row, 1983; 368 pages, 18.7 by 23.4 cm, softcover, ISBN 0-06-046954- 4, $14.50. PC DOS Using the IBM PC Operating System, Ruth Ashley and Judi N. Fer- nandez. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1983; 240 pages, 17 by 25 cm, softcover, ISBN 0-471-89718-3, $14.95. Personal Computers & Games, the editors of Con- sumer Guide. New York: Crown Publishers, 1983; 64 pages, 21 by 27.5 cm, spiral- bound, ISBN 0-517-41595-X, $3.98. Pictorial Data Analysis, R. M. Haralick, ed. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1983; 480 pages, 17 by 25 cm, hard- cover, ISBN 0-387-12288-5, $49.70. Planning and Budgeting, An APPLE Business User's Guide, J. R. Alves, D. P. Curtin, and A. K. Briggs. Somerville, MA: Curtin & London, 1983; 144 pages, 21.5 by 28 cm, soft- cover, ISBN 0-930764-62-5, $15.50. Planning and Budgeting, An IBM PC Business User's Guide, DANA'S COMPUTER DISCOUNT * Highest Quality - Lowest Prices * IBM PC KIT INCLUDES: • DELUXE CASE • POWER SUPPLY W/FAN • DETACHABLE LOW PROFILE KEYBOARD • MOTHER BOARD FULLY SOCKETED • ALL COMPONENTS INCLUDED • FULL DOCUMENTATIONS • 128 K RAM ■ 5 EXPANSION SLOTS ONLY $995 00 ASSEMBLE IN 1 HOUR HALF HEIGHT Apple II & E Compatible Slim line • 40 trac w/patch Single sided 163 K capacity $194* FULL HEIGHT Apple II & E Compatible 35 Trac Single sided 143 K capacity $169 95 TEAC FD55B The Highest Quality! Slim line - 40 trac capability Double sided, double density Compatible I89 95 $1 LMS JOYSTICK Apple II & E Compatible Heavy duty case. $29* Commodore® Compatible Drive $ 299 s RAM CHIPS 4164 4164 150NS 200NS $5.95 ea. Limit 64 Pc $5.50 ea. per customer Dana's Discount Computer Buyers Club * * * * • $12.00 ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP (REFUNDABLE} • $10.00 CREDIT TOWARD FIRST PURCHASE. • SPECIAL ADDED DISCOUNTS. • MONTHLY SPECIALS FOR MEMBERS ONLY. • SPECIAL MEMBERSHIP ACCOUNT AND I.D. CARD. TRAC FD55F (DSOD-96TPII 12" Amber Monitor Low Res 12" Green Monitor Low Res 13" BMC Color Monitor 12" Atrona Amber Monitor Hi Res. 12" Atrona Green Monitor Hi Res . 80 Col. BMC Printer 3% Apple Compatible PERSONAL CHECKS ACCEPTABLE FROM CLUB MEMBERS. ** £"*] ^Compatible •••-••■• •'•■ ■ 5 V. (SSDD) Floppy Discs (Box ot 10). Cooling Fans for Apple $239.95 89.95 89.95 249.95 109.95 109.95 249.95 CALL CALL 16.95 44.95 APPLE II &E Disc Drive Controller Card Printer Interface Card Epson Compatible **5S8£S88? CO WPUTER' $44' 64 K Upper Lower 247 Functions on Keyboard Numeric Keypad H.D. Case $499* IC's Available & More 74LS323 $2.25 61 16 4.90 2114 1.49 6502 4.95 ORDER DESK 8:00 A.M. TO 5:00 P.M. PSTMON.THRUFRI. Orders normally shipped within 48 hours. J °ciuT Dana's Computer Discount And Save! P.O. Box 15485, Santa Ana, California Orders: 1-800-262-D AN A In California: (714) 953-9105 Product shipped in factory cartons with manufacturer's warranty. Prices & availability subject to change without notice. International orders accepted with a $5.00 surcharge for handling, plus shipping charges • We accept Visa, MasterCard, Money Orders. and Certified checks • Checks require bank clearance • California residents add 6% sales tax ■ All subject to availability, acceptance, and verification • All sales are final • Satisfaction guaranteed or full refund. 'Eagle, IBM, Apple, Apple ME, and Commodore are all registered trade marks of Eagle. IBM, Apple and Commodore corporal ions. Circle 208 on inquiry card. February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 467 Books Received, J. R. Alves, D. P. Curtin, and A. K. Briggs. Somerville, MA: Curtin & London, 1983; 144 pages, 21.5 by 28 cm, soft- cover, ISBN 0-930764-61-7, $15.50. Polishing Your Apple, vol. 2, Herbert M. Honig. Indiana- polis, IN: Howard W. Sams & Co., 1983; 112 pages, 14 by 21.5 cm, softcover, ISBN 0- 672-22160-8, $4.95. Problem Solving and Struc- tured Programming with For- tran 77, Martin O. Holoien and Ali Behforooz. Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing Co., 1983; 528 pages, 18.5 by 23.5 cm, softcover, ISBN 0- 534-01275-2, $21.95. The Programmer's CP/M Handbook, Andy Johnson- Laird. Berkeley, CA: Osborne/ McGraw-Hill, 1983; 512 pages, 18.5 by 23.5 cm, soft- cover, ISBN 0-88134-103-7, $21.95. The Programmer's Craft, Richard J. Weiland. Reston, VA: Reston Publishing Co., 1983; 176 pages, 18 by 24 cm, hardcover, ISBN 0-8359-5645- 8, $18.95. Programmer Productivity, Myths, Methods, and Murph- ology, Lowell Jay Arthur. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1983; 314 pages, 16 by 24 cm, hardcover, ISBN 0-471-86434- X, $22.95. Programming a Personal Computer, PerBrinch Hansen. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Pren- tice-Hall, 1983; 440 pages, 18 by 24.5 cm, hardcover, ISBN 0-13-730267-3, $25. The Programming Languages, C. H. Smedema, P. Medema, and M. Boasson. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall Inter- national, 1983; 160 pages, 15 by 23 cm, softcover, ISBN 0- 13-729756-4, $16.95. The Programming Language Ada Reference Manual, ANSI/ MIL-STD-1815-1983. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, #155. New York: Springer- Verlag, 1983; 344 pages, 16.5 by 24 cm, softcover, ISBN 0- 387-12328-8, $14.50. Programming Languages, De- sign and Implementation, 2nd ed. Terrence W. Pratt. Engle- wood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice- Hall, 1984; 624 pages, 18.5 by 24 cm, hardcover, ISBN 0-13- 730580-X, $24.95. Programming the Apple II in BASIC, Paul Tebbe. Engle- wood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice- Hall, 1983; 192 pages, 15.3 by 22.8 cm, softcover, ISBN 0-13- 729749-1, $16.95. Quadpack, A Subroutine Pack- age for Automatic Integration, R. Piessens, E. de Doncker- Kapenga, C. W. Uberhuber, and D. K. Kahaner. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1983; 312 pages, 15.5 by 23 cm, soft- cover, ISBN 0-387-12553-1, $22. Semiconductor Device Tech- nology, Malcolm E. Goodge. Indianapolis, IN: Howard W. Sams & Co., 1983; 512 pages, 16.3 by 24.3 cm, hardcover, ISBN 0-672-22074-1, $34.95. Simulation of Computer Com- munication Systems, Charles H. Sauer and Edward A. MacNair. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1983; 174 pages, 18.3 by 24.3 cm, hard- cover, ISBN 0-13-811125-1, $25. Software Design and Develop- ment, Philip Gilbert. Chicago, IL: Science Research Associ- ates, 1983; 704 pages, 19 by 24.5 cm, hardcover, ISBN 0- 574-21430-5, $32. Software Directory, 7th ed. Fairfax, VA: PC Clearing- house, 1983; 840 pages, 21.5 by 27.5 cm, softcover, ISBN 0- 88674-000-2, $29.95. The Structured Alternative: Program Design, Style, and De- bugging, Don Cassel. Reston, VA: Reston Publishing Co., 1983; 256 pages, 16 by 23.5 cm, hardcover, ISBN 0-8359- 7084-1, $24.95. Structured Cobol Report Writer, David Schechter and George Yvkoff. Reston, VA: Reston Publishing Co., 1982; 320 pages, 18.3 by 24.3 cm, hardcover, ISBN 0-8359-7097- 3, $24.95. 25 Advanced Games for the PET/CBM, Larry Hatch. Reston, VA: Reston Publish- ing Co., 1983; 224 pages, 15 by 23 cm, softcover, ISBN 0- 8359-7894-X, $12.95. The User's Guide to Commo- dore 64 & VIC 20 Computers, Software & Peripherals, the editors of Consumer Guide. New York: Crown Publishers, 1983; 80 pages, 21 by 27.5 cm, spiral-bound, ISBN 0-517- 41447-3, $4.98. User's Handbook to the Atari 400/800 Computers, Jeffrey R. Weber and Stephen J. Szczecinski. Cleveland, OH: Weber Systems Inc., 1983; 322 pages, 13 by 21.5 cm, soft- cover, ISBN 0-938862-15-4, $13.95. User's Handbook to the IBM Personal Computer, Jeffrey R. Weber. Cleveland, OH: Weber Systems Inc., 1982; 300 pages, 21.5 by 13.8 cm, softcover, ISBN 0-938862-13-8, $13.95. User's Handbook to the TRS-80 Model II Computer, Jef- frey R. Weber. Cleveland, OH: Weber Systems Inc., 1983; 304 pages, 13 by 21.5 cm, softcover, ISBN 0-938862- 01-4, $13.95. User's Handbook to the VIC-20 Computer, Jeffrey R. Weber and Stephen J. Szczecinski. Cleveland, OH: Weber Systems Inc., 1983; 280 pages, 13.3 by 21.5 cm, softcover, ISBN 0-938862-48- 0, $13.95. Using VisiCalc, Carol Klitz- ner and Matthew J. Plociak Jr. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1983; 277 pages, 17 by 25 cm, softcover, ISBN 0-471- 89852-X, $16.95. VIC BASIC, A User-Friendly Guide, Ramon Zamora, Don Inman, Bob Albrecht, and Dymax. Reston, VA: Reston Publishing Co., 1983; 360 pages, 15 by 23 cm, softcover, ISBN 0-8359-8377-3, $14.95. Visicalc DiskGuide, David A. Wilson, Berkeley, CA: Osborne/McGraw-Hill, 1983; 16 pages, 13.5 by 13.5 cm, spiral-bound, ISBN 0-931988- 98-5, $6.95. A Z80 Workshop Manual, E. A. Parr. London, England: Bernard Babani Ltd., 1983; 192 pages, 11 by 18 cm, soft- cover, ISBN 0-85934-087-2, £2.75. ■ This is a list of books received at BYTE Publica- tions during this past month. Although the list is not meant to be exhaus- tive, its purpose is to ac- quaint BYTE readers with recently published titles in computer science and re- lated fields. We regret that we cannot review or comment on all the books we receive; instead, this list is meant to be a monthly acknowledgment of these books and the publishers who sent them. The answer to the cnjpto- gram on page 386 reads: SOME CONSIDER IT FOOLISH TO WORK THESE PUZZLES, WHILE OTHERS PREFER ANAGRAMS AND CROSSWORDS. I LIKE THEM ALL AND HOPE THAT YOU HAD SOME FUN WITH THIS EASY ONE. BYTE's Bugs Gremlins Tiptoed Here Author Raymond A. Diedrichs wrote in to say that Gremlins had tiptoed through the version of his Font program ("A Character Editor for the IBM PC," November, page 467). The following patches should be made in the indicated pro- gram lines: line 2090 "1 + 1" instead of "I" line 2175 "CROW + 1" instead of "CROW" line 2280 "1 TO 8" instead of "0 TO 7" line 2325 "1 TO 8" instead of "0 TO T'm 468 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Clubs and Newsletters Scope for Scholars Scope (Scholarly Communica- tions: Online Publishing and Education) is a newsletter that is produced bimonthly at Queens College in Flushing, New York, and contains in- formation on networks, pub- lishing opportunities, calls for papers, a calendar, and annotated bibliographies. An annual subscription is $47. For details, write to Scope, Queens College, City Univer- sity of New York, Flushing, NY 11367-0904. A Word for IBM PC Users The Washtenaw IBM Per- sonal Computer User Society (WIPCUS) meets on the third Thursday of every month in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The monthly publication, WIP- CUS Word, contains minutes of meetings, information of sources for the IBM Personal Computer, and a list of recent acquisitions in the WIPCUS disk library. The club also maintains a hotline and an electronic bulletin board sys- tem, the WIPCUS Wire, that operates 24 hours a day on the three commonly used modem protocols. Member- ship is $18 a year; $12 for students and senior citizens. Address all correspondence to Sue Wooley, WIPCUS, 2647 Yost, Ann Arbor, MI 48104. Innovations In Education Hands On is a quarterly newsletter produced by Tech- nical Education Research Centers (TERC), a nonprofit, public service corporation dedicated to improving edu- cation by encouraging the ap- propriate use of microcom- puters in labs and class- rooms. Each issue includes articles, book and software reviews, a bulletin board, news, and an idea exchange. A $10 contribution is re- quested to receive the quarterly newsletter. For in- formation, contact Technical Education Research Centers Inc., 8 Eliot St., Cambridge, MA 02138. Computer Assistance for the Disabled The Center for Computer Assistance to the Disabled (C-CAD) is a nonprofit cor- poration that meets regularly to discuss how the discovery of computers has contributed to the quadriplegic business- person. Meetings also in- clude demonstrations of Logo, adaptive software, voice recognition, and more. For details, write to C-CAD, POB 314, Hurst, TX 76053. A Students' Scroll Scroll, a newsletter pre- pared by students in the technical-writing program at Middlesex Community Col- lege in Massachusetts, con- tains information about career objectives and skills that potential technical writers will need to develop. For further details, write to the Technical Writing Pro- gram, Middlesex Commu- nity College, Springs Rd., Bedford, MA 01730, or call Caryl Dundorf at (617) 275-8910, ext. 278. Guide to Periodicals The Computer Nezvsletter, a guide to microcomputer in- formation, is produced ten times a year in six editions for various brands of com- puters available today. Each issue contains a directory of recent articles from more than 50 periodical publica- tions. References are an- notated to include relevant source information. One sub- scription is $17.50 for all ten issues; when subscribing, in- clude the name and model of your computer. Contact MHN Services Inc., Depart- ment M3, POB 952, Cleve- land, OH 44120. Compupro Across the Board A national nonprofit users group for owners of God- bout's Compupro provides a forum in which to share tech- nical information, solutions, and special-purpose applica- tions. A monthly newsletter, a bulletin board system, and a member-list publication are planned. An optional charter membership is available for $10. To inquire or join, send your name, address, and equipment information to CPro Users Group, POB 1474, Woodbridge, VA 22193. Newsletter for Productive Lawyers The Automated Law Office Consultant is a newsletter that provides lawyers with infor- mation and analyses about automated-office products and how to select equipment that will improve productivi- ty in the law office. A sub- scription is $65 a year from Roadrunner Publications Inc., POB 13548, Austin, TX 78711. IBM Users In Bluegrass Country The Bluegrass IBM PC Users Group meets on the fourth Saturday of every month at 1 p.m. in the Univ- ersity of Kentucky Comput- ing Center's Micro Lab (Room 107, McVey Hall). Membership is $5 a year and includes a monthly newslet- ter and access to a software library. For further informa- tion, write to Diane Skoll, Room 72, McVey Hall, Univ- ersity of Kentucky, Lexing- ton, KY 40506-0045. For Genealogical Researchers The Quinsept User Group produces a newsletter that covers such topics as genea- logical-book reviews, prob- lem solutions, and articles of interest to genealogical re- searchers. The newsletter will begin as a quarterly and pro- gress into a bimonthly pub- lication. Membership is $15 annually and includes a sub- scription to the newsletter. To apply for membership, write to Quinsept User Group, 5855 Santa Teresa Blvd., San Jose, CA 95123. Oregonlan Commodorians The Southern Oregon Users Group meets twice a month to discuss the best uses for the Commodore 64 and VIC-20 computers. A newsletter is planned and anyone with ideas or sugges- tions is encouraged to send them to Jim Powell, 3600 Madrona Lane, Medford, OR 97501, (503) 779-7631. A Capital Idea The Capital Osborne Users Group (CAPOUG) meets once a month at the library in Bethesda, Maryland, to serve users from Maryland, north- ern Virginia, and the District February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 469 Clubs and Newsletters of Columbia. A $12 member- ship fee includes access to the software library main- tained by the club and a subscription to the newslet- ter that contains articles, tutorials, and advertise- ments. For details, write to Merrill Hessel, 6200 Winne- bago Rd., Bethesda, MD 20816. Math and Science Education Journal The Association of Com- puters in Mathematics and Science Teaching (ACMST), a nonprofit organization, pro- duces a substantive quarterly publication called The Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching (JCMST). It is applicable to elementary, secondary, and college edu- cators who would benefit from extensive features, re- views, resources, and a calendar. Members can bene- fit from the group's Com- puter Book Center, in which more than a dozen participat- ing publishers of computer books provide reduced rates. Membership in ACMST is $15 a year and includes a sub- scription to the quarterly JCMST. Author's guidelines and advertising rates are available upon request. For further details, write to The Journal of Computers in Mathe- matics and Science, POB 4455, Austin, TX 78765. Ataris are OK in Duncan The Duncan Area Atari Computer Users Group (DAACUG) welcomes every- one interested in computing with Ataris to attend their monthly meetings in south- ATTENTION LA36 USERS The DS120 Terminal Controller makes your LA36 perform like a DECwriter® III. The Datasouth DS120 gives your DECwriter® II the high speed printing and versatile performance features of the DECwriter® III at only a fraction of the cost. The DS1 20 is a plug compatible replacement for your LA36 logic board which can be installed in minutes. Standard features include: • RS232 interface • 20 mA Current Loop interface • Top of Form • Adjustable Margins • Double wide characters • Parity selection • Optional APL character set Over 9,000 DS120 units are now being used by customers ranging from the Fortune 500 to personal computing enthusi- asts. In numerous installations, entire networks of terminals have been upgraded to take advantage of today's higher speed data communications services. LSI microprocessor electronics and strict quality control ensure dependable performance for years to come. When service is required, we will respond promptly and effectively. Best of all, we can deliver immediately through our nationwide network of distributors. Just give us a call for all the details. • 165 cps bidirectional printing • Horizontal & Vertical Tabs • Page Length Selection • 1 1 0-4800 baud operation • 1000 character print buffer • X-on, X-off protocol • Self Test data©®* computer corporation P.O. Box 240947 Charlotte, North Carolina 28224 704/523-8500 western Oklahoma. Separate sessions for novice and ex- perienced users are held after each general meeting. An- nual membership dues are $10 and include access to the club's disk library and dis- counts on hardware and soft- ware purchases. For further details, contact John Bor- chardt, DAACUG, 911 Prim- rose St., Duncan, OK 73533. A Band of Colors The Vancouver Color Com- puter Club meets at 7:30 p.m. on the third Tuesday of every month in Burnaby, British Columbia. To develop as broad a base as possible, everyone interested in the TRS-80 Color Computer is welcome to join. The $15 an- nual membership entitles you to participate in group purchases, the software li- brary, hardware lending, and voting in the club. For details, contact the Vancouver Color Computer Club, 333 Boyne St., New Westminster, British Columbia V3M 5J9, Canada. ABACOS By the Bunch A Bunch of Atari Com- puter Owners (ABACOS) has formed in the Saugerties area of New York state to serve the users who live be- tween Albany and New York City. A newsletter, Refresh, is produced every two months and contains software re- views, an editorial, and a program of the month. A $4 annual membership includes a subscription to the news- letter. For details, contact ABACOS, 90-A Partition St., Saugerties, NY 12477, (914) 246-7193. News for Epson Users QHX, an independent newsletter for users of the Epson QX-10 and HX-20 com- puters, is produced every month by the Epson Com- puting Group. Readers are welcome to submit ques- tions, hints, or articles about new products to QHX for publication. The number of the free, club-maintained, ac- tive electronic bulletin board is (618) 997-3220. A one-year subscription to the newslet- ter is $25. For further details, contact the Epson Comput- ing Group, 400-2 East DeYoung, Marion, IL 62959, (618) 993-3600. Forum for Data The Data Forum is a user- oriented and -operated infor- mation exchange free to users who apply via the communi- cations line. The database has plans to expand with user input. For information, contact Stephan Anderson, Suite 718, 20993 Foothill Blvd., Hay ward, CA 94541, or call (415) 276-6322. ■ If you would like BYTE readers to know about your club or newsletter send the details accompanied by no more than one newsletter to Clubs and Newsletters, BYTE Publications, POB 372, Hancock, f\IH 03449. Overseas groups are encouraged to participate. Please allow at least three months for your announcement to appear. 470 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Circle 107 on inquiry card. ANNOUNCING THE INSIDE STORY ON DATA SPEC CABLES. underhood shield gold plated pins Take a look at the picture above. The shielding under the RS232 connector hood of DATA SPEC" cables is different from anything you've seen before. No flimsy foil. Or painted hood. Instead, DATA SPEC™ gives you an extra heavy gauge shield underthe normal hood which ensures that the cables exceeds the FCC requirements on emission standards. And, if you look further inside, underthe shield, you'll see the advent of PDT™* Technology. DATA SPEC™ cables are the first to employ this technique outside of aerospace applications. PDT Technology ensures that you will never have to solder a broken joint or even open the hood. However, the biggest news is actually the littlest part of the story. The price. You can find out about it at you r dealer who carries DATA SPEC™ products. Modern manufacturing techniques have made DATA SPEC™ cables priced lower than lesser quality shielded cables. DATA SPEC™ cables. There's more to it than meets the eye. *PDT(Poly-vinyl doping technique) involves the injection of poly-vinyl underthe shield to fuse the conductors and pins together, thus ensuring reliability under the most adverse conditions. PDT is a regis- tered trademark of Advanced Tool Technology Inc. qijoj TM THE FAMILYOF HIGH INTEGRITY COMPUTER SUPPORT PRODUCTS. 18215 Parthenia Street, Northridge, 91326 CA [213] 701-5848 §* 3 3 9 9 6 5 £ gSJJMX. BYTE's User to User Conducted by Jerry Pournelle Tried and True Dear Jerry, You stated in "Epson QX-10, Zenith Z-29, CP/M-68K, and More" (August, page 434) that you are interested in the UCSD p-System, especially under the CP/M operating system. A number of years ago, North Star had such a package available. It was purchased with the North Star Horizon I am using (1979 vin- tage) and runs fairly smoothly. I am quite intrigued by the concepts it presents in program development; however, I have had so much difficulty in getting its text editors to work properly that I abandoned the project. On another subject, I don't believe I can write you without including my fair share of cracks at your User's Column, which I read faithfully. I still use the North Star 1979-vintage Horizon with CP/M. This machine, and several workhorse machines that friends of mine own, serve us well year after year. I think you don't mention enough the path of the tried and true. Certainly I don't recommend the same hardware that I have to newcomers in the computer field. However, I also would not recommend the Sage, Com- pupro 68000 processor, or a host of other products you speak of quite fondly. For those of us who are not hardware/soft- ware experts and cannot afford the fre- quent services of an expert (I am not say- ing that you can, by the way), a somewhat less exotic, but time-tested, machine is the better buy. Lastly, I will make these off-the-cuff comments. You don't seem to give ade- quate press to North Star, Qume, and a host of other equipment. Also, the S-100 bus seems to have fallen out of favor with you. Need I cite the Epson, Otrona, Sage, and possibly more? I don't know about you, but as I look for a computer to sup- plement the services of my North Star, I am glad that I have a bus ready to plug new boards into. Any computer that I purchase in the next few years will cer- tainly be an S-100 machine. Paul Kile Appleton, WI My late mad friend also gave up on the UCSD Pascal editors, which caused him to scrap public-domain UCSD Pascal. I gather that Softech has made considerable im- provements, but I haven't seen its UCSD Pascal for S-100 machines. I don't know where you get the impression that S-100 systems have fallen out of my favor. I'm writing this on a Compupro Z80, our ivorkhorse machine is a Compupro 8085/8088 Dual Processor, and our major experimental machine is a Compupro that we use to test 8086 and 68000 boards. I remain very much an S-100 bus enthusiast. The only problem with S-100 systems is that they do take a bit of knowledge to get them set up and running. I'd never advise a casual user to order an S-100 system by mail from a discount house. On the other hand, Com- pupro Systems Centers sell working systems properly configured for anyone's needs at advertised prices. I have no hesitation in recommending a Compupro from a Systems Center to any user, no matter how naive. I can also recommend Sage machines to those willing to learn UCSD Pascal or CP/M-68K. The Otrona is my favorite portable, largely because Workman has got Write running on it; I use the Otrona when I travel. If I seem to ignore Qume and North Star, it's only because I don't have any of their equipment, and efforts to make contact with those companies haven't been successful. I'm not a theorist: I must write about machines I know and use. I try to look at a lot of them, but there's no way I can keep up with everything! . . . Jerry Fawning Sci-Fi Writers Dear Jerry, I enclose an article whose headline reads: Osborne Ceases Production: Furloughs Most Workers. It makes your pro-Osborne article ("The Next Five Years in Microcomputers," September, page 233) a bit less fawning. Having read your gushing article, I have only one observation. Where is Texas Instruments? When Apple and IBM finish their latest round of court cases against Franklin, its copycat-clone ACE, and the Taiwan /Japanese stolen-tech- nology copycats, all the unlucky owners of those clones of Apple and IBM will be orphans without any company support! A corollary is that very little will be left in the professional market except TI PC (Pegasus)— very carefully ignored by BYTE-IBM PC, Apple, TI-99/4A, TI-99/8, and Commodore 64. Certainly Mattel will fold, then Apple and Commodore will founder. What we are watching is the sinking of the first wave of innovators and the survival of the fittest, regardless of fawning by science-fiction writers who should know better. Who sold the first mass-market 16-bit microprocessor with speech? Who has more complete systems (i.e., disk drives and peripheral-expan- sion boxes) in homes, and who has cor- nered the market on assembly-language ROMs to plug in for those who don't wish to program or who wish to greatly expand the rather unexciting (to Jerry PourneJJe) TI-99/4A? I run mine with the PE Box, an Epson printer, a 128K-byte 4-bank RAM card, a 64K-byte CP/M card, and two double-sided Tandon drives— all sold for the 99/4A. When everyone on the medium and low end of the market final- ly goes under, will BYTE finally have any recognition of the 99/4A, TI PC, and the improved 99/4A called the TI-99/8? I doubt it. We TI owners call it "Apple on the Brain Syndrome," with submanias about IBM and assorted high-priced dinosaurs that only a lucky few will ever purchase, unless they own an oil well or two. Balance your BYTE articles! I know my personal subscription will not survive unless I perceive reality as opposed to personal fantasy and Quasi-Religious Fawning over ISOLATED low-retail-flow computer events/products! R. Castleton Richardson, TX Gee, I never knew what my problem was. Castleton reads different versions of both BYTE and the daily papers than I do; I thought we'd done a fair job of talking about TI equipment; also that there was some prob- lem with the TI-99/4As profitability. No one more eagerly awaited the TI-99 than I did, and no one was more disappointed when we discovered that TI wasn't interested in publishing anything about its internal details. When you deliberately cut yourself off from the hobbyist world, you forfeit very little poten- tial market— but you do forfeit an important source of software. I think Adam Osborne did a lot for this field, and his low-cost all-up machine complete with software and documents was one of the crucial events in micro history. If that be fawning, make the most of it. . . . Jerry 472 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. BYTE's User to User. Magazines and Advertisements Dear Jerry, Screenwriter II can be copied. I used Locksmith 4.0 on my copy and can usual- ly load the copy. Sometimes the program load fails, but the failure is not totally catastrophic, that is, it returns to the menu after considerable disk grinding. Then it loads the program on the second try. Slightly less than totally satisfactory, but it does preserve the original disk for future use. These days, with Wordstar on another machine, the 40-column Apple screen usually drives me away. In October's User to User (page 540), Mr. Henkin may be having trouble with an added feature of Screenwriter. After trying it on several Apples at my local dealer, I have come to the conclusion that trying to use the joystick option causes the total failure to boot. I don't know what the problem is, but I have never been able to boot the optioned Screenwriter with the joystick option enabled. Leave out that one option, and it does work. The function of character search within a displayed line was deleted between Superscribe and Screenwriter. I missed that feature when I made the change. And Screenwriter uses the disks in an odd manner that is not quite convenient and I think would be bothersome for anyone not fully oriented to making obstinate hardware work like your "late mad friend" and me. I was attracted to Calcstar by its similari- ty in command structure to Wordstar. Last week I placed an order with a BYTE advertiser; last evening the brown truck delivered the box (not COD as ordered). I went through the instruction manual, installing a copy of Calcstar, doing the exercises, and then tried to set up a time card for my work. While I found that I could set up some sort of a time card to take in hours' and minutes' beginning and ending times and to compute total elapsed time, I have been unable to accomplish anything that resembles proper numerical computa- tion. Like IBM FORTRAN, Calcstar uses binary floating point that even with 14 significant digits shows some approxima- tion errors. Then Calcstar column formats only truncate the display, not the stored data. So I took a column of start and end times, computed elapsed times, totaled elapsed times, and then tried to round to the nearest 0.1 hour (a fetish of mine on customers' bills), and multiplied the result by my hourly rate. The result? The charge shown in the next cell did not match the calculator multiplication of the displayed data. That's not a good way to give the clients confidence in your arithmetic prowess when dealing in engineering services! Conclusion: Calcstar is inherently too badly con- structed to be called a spreadsheet. So, the next step is to send it back to the store and hope that some other spreadsheet functions better (as some of the reviews and books on spreadsheet programs do declare), right? Nope, wrong. The advertiser said, "It does like the book says, then it is not defective and we won't take it back. You should have spent full retail if you wanted to try the product first." And, "Since we failed to send it COD, it hasn't been paid for; we will be sending you an invoice." I use CP/M partly not to have to worry about protection schemes that promise to prevent using programs for gainful pur- poses, and to have access to good pro- grams. Now I have wasted a half day or more and have spent money without gaining a useful program, and the seller of the product refuses to take it back under any conditions. Is this the way BYTE magazine wishes to treat its readers? Gerald N. Johnson, P.E. Ames, Iowa Few copy -protection schemes work for long; what one can do, another can undo. The real trouble is that the copy-protection attempt makes the software fragile. After all, the idea of copy protection is to make it difficult for the machine to read the disk— which may be a good idea for the vendor, but it's hardly what the user wants! Many spreadsheet programs have limited precision; it's a feature one must check very carefully. I'd like it if every mail-order house had a money-back guarantee, but some of the dis- count outfits operate at such a low markup that they simply can't do it. In general: the loiuer the price, the less support you can ex- pect from the dealer. Alas, you have the wrong idea about magazines and advertisements. The advertis- ing department doesn't tell me what to write, and I don't tell them what ads to accept. In- deed, as long as advertisers pay their bills, it's legally very difficult to reject an ad, even if the magazine doesn't want to take it. We had one item that generated lots of angry letters, but legal advisors said we couldn't reject the outfit's ad! Fortunately, they got in a snit about one of my reviews and cancelled, causing joy among those who had to open and file all the hate mail. . . . Jerry Assembly-Language No-Man's Land Dear Jerry, I greatly enjoy your User's Column in BYTE. Keep up the struggle for better documentation! It is partly in that regard that I am writing to you. Perhaps you can recommend some books or articles that deal with an area that is not often addressed. Texts on assembly-language program- ming invariably assume either that the reader knows all about it and only wants the details of some new processor (in- cluding hardware considerations that the programmer doesn't necessarily need) or that the reader knows nothing and must be told about number bases, etc. They then lead into the writing of whole pro- grams, systems, monitors, etc. Texts on high-level languages work in much the same way. Two sorts are available: references that define syntax with railroad diagrams and introductory texts that have to explain about the meaning of arithmetic assignment statements and such. A no-man's land exists between these two extremes that interests me. Specifical- ly, how do I use assembly language to write the critical subroutine that deter- mines program efficiency and link it into the main program that is written in FORTRAN-80, compiled MBASIC, or whatever? I have purchased Microsoft F-80 (subset FORTRAN-IV), L-80 (Linker), M-80 (Macro-assembler), and MBASIC compiler in order to do such things. A re- cent article in BYTE ("Chisel Your Code with a Profiler," August, page 286) described ways to conduct activity analysis to identify the 10 percent of the code that does 90 percent of the work. But it (as with most books and documenta- tion) says only to use assembly code to optimize that 10 percent. I know how to identify the critical subroutine. In a recent research project (a new numerical neutron-transport scheme), most of the code is input of the problem parameters, initialization of ar- rays, analysis of results, and printout. This all executes once per run. But one February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 473 BYTE's User to User. subroutine is called 294,912 times in a typical run. The program runs four hours on a 5-MHz 8088/8087 system. The documentation (and the advertis- ing) indicates that F-80, L-80, Lib-80, M-80, and MBASIC compiler constitute a "soft- ware development system" and that FOR- TRAN and assembly-language routines can be called from BASIC programs, etc. However, all the manuals point to each other as containing the details, and I have not successfully managed to use this soft- ware for its intended purpose. (When I called Microsoft Tech Support for details, the response was "Just try it. It all works." I found this less than helpful, but I tried it. The result: error messages. In par- ticular, it seems that the FORTRAN subroutine requires that the Forlib library be linked to define various global sym- bols. The main program similarly requires that Obslib be linked or the run-time system used. I prefer stand-alone code. However, linking both libraries results in "multiply defined global symbol" errors, and the programs don't run. If you fail to link either library, you get "undefined global symbol" errors. These tools were expensive, and it burns me not to be able to use them. So my question is: where do I find a text that will walk through some examples of ac- tually using assembly code to optimize a routine for a program written in a high- level language? Kirk Mathews Springboro, OH Good question. I wish I had such a book myself. There are Z80-code cookbooks and plenty of books on how to write the assembly- language programs, but darned little showing you precisely how to link in assembly pro- grams to previously written stuff. I've found the same kind of problem with CB-80 and Digital Research's RMAC assembler; it ought to be easy to do that kind of thing, but there are insufficient examples to let me puzzle it out. Maybe one or another of the readers can help? . . . Jerry Benchmark Marks Dear Jerry, Below are listed three variations of your 20 by 20 array benchmark, adapted to run in BASIC09 under the OS9 operating system on a 6809 card in an Apple II. BASIC09 compiles to an intermediate code that is then interpreted and is thus directly comparable to CBASIC in that respect. Benchmark Time Variation (min:sec) Integer Arrays, Integer Loop Indexes 00:31 Real Arrays, Real Loop Indexes 01:11 Real Arrays, Integer Loop Indexes 00:45 In comparison with your published figures (October 1982 BYTE, page 262) for other processor/language combinations the times would seem to be extremely good, especially when you consider that the 6809 is running at the Apple's nominal clock speed of 1.023 MHz. I don't think you've published figures for this particular combination. Please notice that a 68000 processor runs p-code almost as fast as an 8086 runs its machine language. If it weren't so popular, the 8086 and its 8088 cousin would be good jokes. I've never been able to understand why anybody would transplant 8-bit architec- ture to a 16-bit processor. Frank C. Kuechmann Vancouver, WA You and my son agree on the 68000 as a bet- ter way to go, but a number of people I respect prefer the 8086 (followed by the 286, etc.). As for me, I'm not so interested in chip architec- ture or in assembly languages. As the machines get fast enough and memory falls in price, most real programming will be done in higher-level languages. We at Chaos Manor are doing most of our work in Pascal just now, with the intention of switching to Modula-2 as soon as we have stable Modula compilers. Our programs are portable between the Sage and the Godbout 8086, and we expect to be able to recompile them and run on more advanced systems as they come out. . . . Jerry Transmitting Pages Dear Jerry, As a fellow H/Z-19 terminal owner, can you tell me who knows the special routine to make the "Transmit Page" (ESC #) function work? See enclosure. Two let- ters to Heath have drawn blanks. Peter Engh La Jolla, CA As your enclosure shows, the Heath documentation (page 23) discusses "Transmit Page" but refers to the possibility of special routines in the host computer. In big machines, you can edit material on the ter- minal and, when the screen is set up the way you want, send the whole page at once. This is useful for time-sharing systems because you're not using central-computer time while editing. I know of few microcomputers that operate in the transmit-page mode. If you want to save stuff from the Z-19 screen, youll have to write a special routine. The Z-19 manual describes what the terminal pitches; you have to write the catcher. . . . Jerry Copyrighting and Personalizing Dear Jerry, In the August 1983 issue of PC Magazine (page 58) under the Letters banner "Legal Matter," the secretary of Cincinnati's IBM PC User's group requests clarification of the legality of distribution of software copied from the pages of PC Magazine. I can't believe PC's response, which I quote: "The contents of each issue of PC Magazine are copyrighted by the publisher, and all rights of reproduction in all forms and media are strictly re- served. The original purchaser/subscriber only is authorized to make copies solely for his/her own use. Distribution, transmission, or transfer of copies to any other person is an infringement of the copyright. —Ed." To your knowledge, is this an industry standard? On to other things. Seems to me that a partial solution of the software-piracy conflict is to personalize each product. That is, include in each screen the name of the purchaser. Pirates would be easier to spot and would have to suffer at least some embarrassment to be blatantly using a product that was licensed to someone else. Sure it complicates manu- facture and it could be defeated on a case- by-case basis by clever counter- programming, but it is a thought. (If the retail vendor had to run a purchaser- specific customization procedure at the store, then at least it would guarantee the machine readability of the disks you pur- chase.) It would be irritating to be con- stantly reminded that a program you were using often was illicitly copied from another user whose name you are fre- quently reminded of. 474 ftbruary 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. BYTE's User to User. I use Compuview's Vedit on an Osborne 1 and am pleased with it. (This machine can perform string searches so much faster than any larger machine I've ever used that I'm continually amazed.) I'm glad to hear that the customization process will be simplified. I like Com- puview's software-update subscription option ($50 per year for Vedit). Larry Weiss Garland, TX Actually, PC's statement is just an explana- tion of the copyright laws. Only the copyright holder has the right to sell or distribute copies of copyrighted matter. There is no restriction on resale of the original material; it's legal for me to sell or lend used books. However, I may not make copies of them (except as provided under the "fair use" provisions of the Copyright Act). Specifically, I can't make a copy, then sell the original. Magazines traditionally buy various packages of rights (the right to publish in magazines, the exclusive or nonexclusive right to include the article in anthologies, and so on); what's bought varies from magazine to magazine and often from author to author within the magazine. Personalizing software is costly; imagine what it would cost to imprint the purchaser's name on each book sold by B. Dalton! We're also pleased with Vedit for program- ming, although the number of commands can be overwhelming when you first try it. . . . Jerry Wordstar Spelling Checker Dear Jerry, I recently discovered a useful way of using The Word Plus spelling checker with Wordstar. Instead of having The Word Plus mark the words you choose with asterisks or similar characters, I use a null character, CTRL @, as the marking character. There are several advantages to this. First, if you forget to remove a mark before printing, at least you don't call at- tention to the mistake — useful if you on- ly have time to print one copy of whatever you are working on. Second, you can use some of the Spellstar options of Wordstar, e.g., you can find the marks that you have placed by typing CTRL-QL. This has the advan- tage that it doesn't destroy any other searches you have previously set up by using CTRL-QA or CTRL-QF, and it remembers changes that you have already made. So if you tell it to ignore a mark you placed, when it "sees" the same word again, it removes the mark from that and continues automatically. Third, any words you tell Wordstar to put in dictionaries or ignore are record- ed in a file called filename. ADD, which you can later edit and turn into a special dictionary for The Word. (You must edit the file first— Wordstar adds I, D, or S to the front of the word.) By the way, I just read the book you wrote with Larry Niven, Oath of Fealty. I particularly chuckled over the part where the police have asked MILLIE for all the files in Rand's directory and MILLIE is told to print them at 300 baud. I trust that this was your idea. Miles Thomas Franklin Lakes, NJ Thanks for the kind words, and also for the tip. We tried it on the Z-100 Wordstar and it worked fine. Larry and I usually won't answer questions about who wrote what in our books, but given his public disclaimer on computer knowledge, 1 suppose I can admit that MILLIE was mostly my idea. . . . Jerry Z-DOS and MS-DOS Dear Jerry, Your brief note in "Eagles, Text Editors, New Compilers, and Much More" (September, page 307) about the incom- patibility problem between IBM PC pro- grams and the Zenith Z-100 was moderately helpful. It could have been more so if Victor Wright's address in Louisville, Kentucky, had been included. Your mention earlier in the column of your own Z-100 prompts me to ask you for any assistance and/or advice you can give in regard to "standard" program availability for the Z-DOS implementa- tion of MS-DOS. Gerald Erskine New Brunswick, Canada It's been my general policy not to include people's private addresses. Alas, I don't keep answered mail (much to the relief of my wife, housekeeper, and assistants; where would they put it?), so I can't look it up for you. BUSS ("The Independent Newsletter of Heath Co. Computers," 716 E St. SE, Washington, DC 20003, (202) 544-0900) is usually the first to list new Z-DOS software and is well worth the $20 annual subscrip- tion fee. (Single issues are $2.) I generally don't comment on anything I haven't used, and lately I haven't received much Z-DOS stuff. Of course, as soon as I write this, it will flood in. I hope so; the Z-100 is a machine. . . . Jerry No Problems with Valdocs Dear Jerry, As an almost first-time computer user I feel compelled to defend the Epson QX-10 computer and its Valdocs system. You were too harsh in your judgment of it and missed the point of who the system was really designed for. I purchased one of the first systems released and have had next to no difficulties with it. As a way of introduction, I'm a physi- cian with only a peripheral interest in computers up to now. I am a charter subscriber to BYTE and bought a Radio Shack TRS-80 Model I computer when it first came out. I learned a lot about computers from the Model I and how to program in BASIC, but I could never get the damn thing to save programs on cassette tapes and I didn't want to add the expense of a disk drive to a diabolical machine that drove me crazy. So I went back to reading computer magazines and waiting. Then I saw an article in BYTE ("An Introduction to the Human Applications and Standard Com- puter Interface," Parts 1 and 2, October and November 1982, pages 291 and 379, respectively) by Chris Rutkowski about a new computer system that he was work- ing on; it looked too good to be true. I then found out that a computer store in my town would be carrying it, and I became a permanent fixture in that store. Rumors were rampant — it will be out next month, next week, any day now, by Christmas. I was such a persistent customer (pest?) that when the store re- ceived the first QX-10 1 took it home even without instructions. I can honestly say that I have never taken a complex piece of machinery out of the box, plugged it in, and had it work as I thought it should with fewer prob- lems. It has changed my life. I have a problem with poor handwriting (typical physician?) and spelling. To use a typewriter involves a high frustration level, much time, and reams of paper. My use of a computer involves letters, short papers, and minutes of meetings. The Ep- February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 475 BYTE's User to User. son QX-10 has done this with no prob- lems whatsoever. My three daughters watched over my shoulders and wanted to use it for school work and letters to their friends. I let them try and, again, no problems. In fact, I had to give them each their own data disk so I could find my own material. The clincher happened when I tried another word processor. I wanted to try a spreadsheet and a dictionary; I got a deal on a package of four programs from Peachtree Software. As this package in- cluded Peachtext, I decided to try it. It in- cludes some features not found on the Valdocs program. I spent most of one weekend on the self-instruction book and got about halfway through it. A week later when I got back to it I had to start at the beginning. I'm sure that I could learn it, but unless I used it every day I would have the same problem each time I went back to it. I just returned from a two-week vacation, and using my QX-10 with the Valdocs program was like finding an old friend. I haven't had any problems with lost data. I use Control-M to change data disks and periodically press Menu and then Undo to save material as I write it. This takes about 10 seconds of my time. I guess if I got used to a faster program than Valdocs, I might enjoy it, but as it is, I can live with it! I will say that computers seem to be like a virulent virus. I now am making a pest of myself at the computer store again, waiting for the TPM primer and the Valdocs technical manual. I'm anxious to find out more about what goes^on in my computer and how to make it do all sorts of wonderful things. I have bought books on BASIC, assembly-language program- ming, CP/M, Supercalc, etc. In a year or two, I might agree with your criticism. Who knows? But for now, don't take my QX-10 and Valdocs away from me. By the way, I agree with you about the Epson FX-80 printer. It is quiet and seems to print well but is not at all easy to load. It does work fine with form-feed paper but not with individual sheets. My haunt of the computer store paid off yesterday, however. I now have a Comrex CR-II printer ($600), and it seems to correct all of the above-mentioned problems. Herbert Thompson Decatur, IL I'm glad you like your machine. Heaven knows, the QX-10 has got to be a lot better than no computer at all, and it certainly is easy enough to get running. (The only one I know of that's easier to get going right out of the box is the Eagle 1600). Moreover, if you in- tend to print only on continuous paper, without using stationery or letterhead, Valdocs isn't so bad (except that it takes too long to address the envelope). One question: why was your letter to me done on a Selectric typewriter instead of on your machine? . . . Jerry And the Next Five Years Dear Jerry, The next time you unlock your crystal ball to look into the future, you might want to have it checked out first. When you used it to write "The Next Five Years in Microcomputers" (September, page 233), it seems to have been looking into my window rather than the future. I am using a multiuser, multiprocessor system with a custom-designed serial board that enables me to appear to be five "virtual terminals." I can run up to five separate programs and jump back and forth between them by pressing function keys. The programs continue to run and update their own virtual-terminal screen even if they are not currently being displayed on the "real" terminal. When I jump back to a program, its current screen (including all character attributes) is displayed from memory in the custom- serial board. The board can also be used to allow two terminals to appear as two virtual terminals each. The multipro- cessor consists of a main Z80 with 64K, three satellite Z80s with 64K, an 8088 with 256K, and a 68B09E with 128K. All run under Micromation's M/NET, a derivative of Digital Research's MP/M. Frank Korzeniewski Berkeley, CA It sounds like a wonderful system. Not long after I wrote "The Next Five Years. . ."I found out some other outfits, including Compupro, had some pretty neat tricks up their sleeves. In my defense, two things: "The Next Five Years. . . " was written as a speech to be delivered in early spring, and I only said these things would happen in the next half decade, not what part of it! Some of what I predicted hasn't happened yet. . . . JerryB ferry Pournelle welcomes readers' com- ments and opinions. Send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to ferry Pournelle, do BYTE Publications, FOB 372, Hancock, NH 03449. Please put your address on the letter as well as on the envelope. Due to the high volume of letters, Jerry cannot guarantee a personal reply. ULTRA-RES IEEE-696 S-100 -1X512X512 $495 -3X512X512 $1250 - 1 X 1024 X 1024 $995 TM GRAPHICS IBM-PC - 1 X 512 X 512 $495 - 1 X 1024 X 1024 $995 - CONSOLE EMULATOR $50 FEATURES Starting Prices - PLOT 10 $150 Software drivers, Hardware zoom, Programmable Display Resolution, Windowing, Multi-Controller Capability, NEC UPD7220 Graphic Controller ULTRA-RES Trademark CSD Inc. IBM-PC Trademark IBM C.S.D. Incorporated P.O. BOX 253 Sudbury, MA 01776 (617) 443-2750 476 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Circle 43 on inquiry card. 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NOVATION J-CAT 300 Baud D-CAT 300 Baud SMART CAT 21 2A/103 $225 $175 $105 $169 $459j Subject to Available Quantities Prices Quoted Include Cash Discounts Shipping & Insurance Extra Book Reviews Legal Care for Your Software Daniel Remer Nolo Press Berkeley, CA: 1982 232 pages, softcover, S19.95 Reviewed by Ed Bernstein Legal Care for Your Software by Daniel Remer is a step-by- step, simply written, and thorough guide for anyone who writes or publishes commercial computer soft- ware or who wonders if it would be worth the trouble to do so. The book is full of examples, explanations, and even do-it-yourself legal forms that are basic to any- one trying to untangle the web of software law. Remer's point is that you may be the most talented programmer alive— and may deserve to be the richest— but if you aren't just as smart when it comes to the law, you could be in trouble. Remer, an attorney who serves as legal counsel to several software companies, never forgets what many pro- grammers learn the hard way: although the law may try to keep pace with tech- nology, the fact is that it is often left "from months to centuries behind." Software can, of course, be legally pro- tected, but the programmer's challenge is figuring out which legal methods apply and how to go about putting them in place. Because no one law applies to every situation, Remer ex- plains carefully, and with humor, the relative merits of trade secrets, copyright and patent protection, trade- marks, contracts, licensing agreements, and so on. Plenty of specific examples serve to illustrate each case. But his book isn't designed to replace lawyers, Remer says. In many complex cases, or in cases where mistakes have already been made, a lawyer may indeed be needed. But a knowledge- able author or publisher can save time and money by un- derstanding that "If you want full legal protection for your software, you are going to have to do much of the work yourself." Protecting code is a case in point. The ways to protect source code (the actual lan- guage the programmer uses, frequently in a high-level lan- guage such as BASIC, FOR- TRAN, or FORTH) may be far different from those used to protect object code (the low-level instruction to the computer created by the source code). Trade-secret law applies to both source and object code, Remer explains, and it is the industry's favorite way to protect software. But, as Remer notes, there are weak- nesses inherent in trying to protect code— the program- mer's ability, for example, to "keep a zipped lip." He also outlines a variety of other procedures that ensure that trade-secret status remains in place, including several nondisclosure agreements. Copyright protection is among the easiest to obtain; your software is, in fact, "born" with a copyright that makes it illegal for anyone else to copy it. But you have no protection against a fellow programmer who independ- ently produces a program that just happens to operate exactly like yours. A copy- right offers protection of an expression of an idea, not an idea itself. Two programs can produce identical results, but both can be copyrighted if they accomplish that task in unique ways. Patent protection sounds like the perfect solution be- cause it protects not only the expression of the idea but the idea itself. Unfortunately, software is almost never patentable, Remer says, and even if it were, the time and legal trouble involved in ob- taining a patent could easily exceed the lifespan and value of the program itself. Trademarks serve only one purpose: protecting the name of a program. Remer warns, at some length, about protecting yourself as well as your soft- ware. He discusses a variety of ways to limit personal liability in the event of un- happy customers, an in- evitability in the real world. Finally, the book provides copies of various contracts, agreements, and disclaimers that you can customize for your own applications. The sample forms and contracts— nearly 100 pages of them— may be the most useful part of the book. A careful read- ing of these forms can be as educational as the chapters that explain them. Remer writes clearly and with plenty of common sense. It's hard to imagine a more useful or less intimidat- ing guide to the legal com- plexities of protecting soft- wares Ed Bernstein (30 Belle Ave., Fair- fax, CA 94930) is director of editorial development for Broderbund Soft- ware Inc. of San Rafael, California. Through the Trap Door March 1979— $35 Breaking the Sound Barrier September 1977— $35 BYTE COVERS The prints shown at left are beautiful Collector Edition Byte Covers, strictly limited to 750 prints each, and signed and numbered by the artist, Robert Tinney. Each print is 18 in. x 22 in., and is accompanied by its own Certificate of Authenticity. To order, use the coupon below. Visa and MasterCard orders may call 1-504-272-7266. Please send . Trap Door prints ($35),. Through the □ Visa Card No. . Breaking the Sound Barrier Expires: . prints ($35), or sets of both prints Name: ($55). I have included $3 per order shipping Address: and handling ($8 overseas). city: _ □ I have enclosed check or money order State: □ MasterCard _Zip: Robert Tinney Graphics • 1864 N. Pamela Dr. • Baton Rouge, LA 708 15 | 478 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. « » »■*««. He's facing an uphill battle unless you help. This year, the U.S. Ski Team has given Americans a great deal to be proud of. Phil Mahre posted his second consecutive overall World Cup title while Bill Koch pre- sented the U.S. with its first ever Nordic World Cup crown. The U.S. Women's team finished the season number one in the world It's hard to believe that these magnificent athletes should need anyone's help, but they do. They need yours. Our Alpine and Nordic teams are not subsidized by the government. Mem- bers of the team dedicate years of their lives r/n training to win. And they depend on you for support. Please send your tax-deductible donations to the U.S. Ski Educational Foundation, Box 100M, Park City, Utah 84060. Thanks. M77EAM February Specials "Save This Ad- Space Limitations Prevent Us From Listing All Products." IBM PC System - Prices Start At $2650 PC Accessories Keytronics Keyboard $195 Quadlink IBM To Apple Converter $495 10 Megabyte Hard Disk $1575 64K RAM Expansion Set $59 Tandon TM100-2 DSDD Drive -f^S. \ $237 AST Research Expansion Cards: I/O Plus ' $120 Combo Plus $257 SixPak $270 Mega Plus HlP . . $305 MegaPak ,:. $257 Call The EXPERT (213) 344-6063 (800) 528-9537 Video Monitors ""Monthly Special" "JCS-RGB 13" For PC . $370 Princeton Graphics HX-I2 $475 BMC RGB $420 Amdek Amber 300A $160 Amdek Green 300 $140 Dynax Amber 20MHz $140 Dynax Green $129 MB122G Green 12" (PC Monochrome) $200 MB122A Amber 12" - By Round $210 Call The EXPERT (213) 344-6063 (800) 528-9537 Dajsywheel Printers Dynax DX-15 (15 CPS) $495 Brother HR-1 (19 CPS) $630 Brother HR-25 (25 CPS) $795 F-10 Starwriter (40 CPS) $1050 F-10 Printmastbr (55 CPS) ,.,,,. .... $1400 Call The EXPERT „ (213) 344-6063 (800) 528-9537 Dot Matrix Printers Epson FX-80 $550 Ok/data 92 $440 Okidata 93 $720 Okidata 84 $1050 Prowriter 8510 $370 Prowriter-II 1550 $650 Gemini 10 x $305 Gemini 15 x $450 Mannesmann-Tally 160L $699 IDS Prism-80 Color $1150 Riteman Portable Printer $385 Most Printer Cables $35 Call The EXPERT (213) 344-6063 (800) 528-9537 Other Computers Columbia 1600-1 Desktop w/Softare $2750 Columbia Portable VP $2599 Columbia Hard Disk Desktop $3900 Corona Desktop - 2 Drives $2475 Corona Portable - 2 Drives $2375 NEC APC Green - 2 Drives #H02 $2800 Epson Qx-10 $2195 Apple II-e $1375 Sekon 64 System (Like Apple) $1025 EXPERT Computers 21804 Roscoe Blvd., Suite 18 Canoga Park, CA 91304 (213) 344-6063 (800) 528-9537 Allll -I'S, R)ll VIS.VMASTERCA8I). 20* PREPAID DEPOSIT REQUIRED on cod ORDERS, CALIFORNIA RES1IIEN1S ADD SALES TAX. PRICES MAY CHANGE - CALL Til VERIFY PRICES AMD DELHT.KV. Rana ^ SANYO AXAIM 1i ) /J? FRANKLIN iis©ii^ Gemini 10X Q) Hayes* Novation EXPERT COMPUTERS Software Lotus 1-2-3 $335 dBase ii $425 Flight Simuiator $40 Megawriteh (Word Processor For PC/ Apple) ... $90 Megaspeller $90 Mail Merge $95 Fridays $260 Catalist (Universal "Mail Merge") $170 Call The EXPERT (213) 344-6063 (800) 528-9537 Extras For Other Computers ALS CP/M Card $285 ALS Smarterm II (80 Column Card) $145 Rana Elite I $265 Rana Elite II $435 Rana Elite III $555 Rana 2.5 (2.5MByte For PC) $CALL Microtek Dumpling-16K $160 Grappler + $125 Prometheus 16K RAM Card $60 Sekon 16K RAM Card $55 Sekon 80 Column Card $95 Sekon Hunter (Like Wildcard) $100 Sekon Z-80 Card $115 Video Cable For TI 99/4 $15 Call The EXPERT (213) 344-6063 (800) 528-9537 New Arrivals Sanyo MBC550 - 1 Drive, 3 Softwares $995 Sanyo MBC555 - 2 Drives, 6 Softwares $1395 * * * * February Special - Orders For Sanyo Earn $100 Discount On A Video Monitor Or Printer**** We've Signed Up 4 More Brands Of IBM Compatible Computers $CALL Indus GT Drive For Apple w/ 3 Softwares $250 Kraft Joystick $39 Dow Jones Connector $45 Pearl Soft (Data Base) - 6 Formats $200 Call The EXPERT (213) 344-6063 (800) 528-9537 Diskettes Verbatim Vehex SSDD $17 DATALIFE SSDD $25 DATALIFE DSDD $33 Head Cleaner Kit $9 FliPit (Use Back Side Of Disks) $17 Diskette Hamper $24 Library Case - Holds 10 Disks $2.25 "When you know enough to buy mail order, you're wise enough to buy from an expert." 480 BYTE February 1984 Circle 78 on inquiry card. What's New? TAXING SOFTWARE Tax Package Handles More Than 30 Forms The Micro-Tax tax- preparation system can compute and print more than 30 IRS schedules and forms for multiple clients, partnerships, and corporate returns. Depreciation is computed by individual items or groups of items. Other tax-computation abilities include underpay- ment penalties, self-employ- ment taxes, minimum and alternative minimum tax, and income averaging. Micro-Tax is said to be easy to use because it calls for simple prompts and organizes data entry in a se- quence that's similar to that of manual tax preparation. Micro-Tax is available for the DEC Rainbow 100 and MS-DOS- and CP/M 8080- , Z80-, 8085- , and 8086- based systems. Three versions are offered: per- sonal commercial accoun- tant, and partnership and corporate. The home com- puter Micro-Tax costs S195. The other versions are $1000 each. Annual up- dates and state tax- preparation programs are available. For more informa- tion, contact Microcom- puter Taxsystems Inc., Suite A, 6203 Variel Ave., woodland Hills, CA 91367, (818) 704-7800. Circle 550 on inquiry card. Individual Tax Planner The Individual Tax Plan- ner calculates alternative taxes for individuals and fiduciaries for 1983 and beyond. Projections for multiple years and cases are displayed on screen, and in- stant recalculations in a worksheet format allow rapid examination of the consequences of alter- native tax plans. Computa- tions include income averaging tax, alternative minimum tax, and auto- matic indexing of post-1984 years. Client information can be saved to disk for printing out comprehensive reports. Full help screens are provided. The Individual Tax Plan- ner for 1983 is available for a first-year subscription price of $595, which in- cludes documentation and toll-free assistance. An IBM or IBM-compatible com- puter with 128K bytes of memory, two disk drives, a monitor, and a printer are required. For further infor- mation, contact Tax Management Inc., 1231 25th St. NW, Washington, DC 20037, (800)372-1033; in Maryland, (800) 352- 1400; the District of Colum- bia, 258-9401. Circle 557 on inquiry card. Professional and Personal Tax Programs Aardvark/McGraw-Hill markets tax-preparation programs for professional and personal use. In addi- tion to standard tax calcula- tions, Professional Tax Plan Version 3.0 can compute self-employment taxes under the regular method, taxable unemployment compensation, taxable Social Security benefits for 1984 and after, and limita- tions for most credits. It can generate an investment report that summarizes the after-tax effect of invest- ment assumptions; addi- tional reports, such as in- come averaging, are possi- ble. Other features include income inputs, help screens, a file-information screen, and a calculator function. It runs on Apple, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, and CP/M systems. The sug- gested retail price is $350. For home use, Aard- vark/McGraw-Hill offers the Personal Tax Planner. This $99 program, which runs on Apple and IBM Personal Computers, can handle returns for homeowners and renters and one- or two-income households. Personal Tax Planner will cipher short- and long-term capital gains and losses, the purchase or sale of real estate, and business. It's available at bookstores and computer retailers nation- wide. For more information, contact Aardvark/McGraw- Hill, 783 North Water St., Milwaukee, Wl 53202, (414) 289-9988. Circle 552 on inquiry card. Accountant's 1040 Preparation System G & G 1040 is designed for accountants using CP/M-80 and CP/M-86 computers. This profession- al-level program features in- put screens that match IRS forms and the ability to pro- vide choices for the least tax consequences, such as whether Schedule A is pre- ferable to the standard schedule. Additional cal- culations include optional state sales tax, excess FICA, earned-income credit, in- come averaging, and mini- mum tax. The program pro- cesses 39 IRS schedules and comes with a batch com- pute/print mode and a depreciation module. It's claimed that the program calculates an entire return in 10 to 15 seconds. February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 481 What's New? The suggested list price for the G & G 1040 Profes- sional Series is $750. An- nual updates are available. A Starter Series that pro- cesses 15 forms but does not include batch opera- tions or a depreciation module costs $195. Contact G & G Software Inc., 610 Park Blvd., Austin, TX 78751, (512) 458-5760. Circle 553 on inquiry card. Lettered Schedules, 20 The Series 1040 tax- preparation program con- tains all lettered tax sched- ules and 20 numbered forms. With Series 1040, you have to enter informa- tion only once, which saves time and minimizes errors. All figures and new entries are "automatically carried over to applicable forms and schedules. Tax results are calculated and displayed instantly. The display screens replicate 1040 forms. Further Forms in One Package highlights are that it asks questions, traps mistakes, and prompts you from item to item. Series 1040 works on such machines as the IBM Personal Computer. Series 1040 costs $1150. Selected state modules are available. Complete infor- mation can be obtained from Calcu-Tax Computer Software Inc., 19-21 West Mount Pleasant Ave., Liv- ingston, NJ 07039, (201) 992-2274. Circle 556 on inquiry card. Personal Tax System for Multiplan EZ Ware's Tax-Prep per- sonal tax system works with Microsoft's Multiplan electronic spreadsheet. Pro- vided with 19 tax forms and schedules, Tax-Prep uses display screens that simulate IRS forms as work- ing templates. A data-entry procedure interrelates tem- plates for a complete series of federal tax forms and automatically applies entered data to appropriate forms and schedules. Tax- Prep will print directly on IRS 1040 forms and schedules, continuous 1040 forms, and computer paper used with an overlay. In addition, it can be used with Multiplan's advanced features to perform tax planning, budgeting, and analysis. Tax-Prep works with the Apple, Compaq, Tl Profes- sional, IBM PC, and Zenith Z-I00. Complete with a manual and tutorial, it costs $89.95. Annual updating is available. Tax-Prep is available factory-direct from EZ Ware Inc., 17 Bryn Mawr Ave., Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004, (215) 667-4833. Circle 551 on inquiry card. Tax Relief for IBM PC Tax Relief I and II for the IBM PC have been an- nounced by Micro Vision. Tax Relief II, a professional package, has such features as income averaging, alter- nate minimum and minimum tax, data and calculation carryover to rele- vant places, client sum- maries, and a client direc- tory. Entries can be changed and deleted at any time, and on-line helps aid data entry. Several print options and 25 federal schedules and forms are supported. An IBM PC or PC XT with a minimum of 128K bytes of memory, DOS 2.0, two disk drives, monochrome or color dis- play, and a parallel printer are required. Tax Relief II costs $299. Annual up- dates are available. Tax Relief I is designed for individual use. It supports 15 forms and has most of the features of Relief II. The suggested price is $149. For more details, contact Micro Vision, 145 Wicks Rd„ Commack, NY 11725, (516) 499-4010. Circle 554 on inquiry card. Commodore Tax Program Northland Accounting's Taxaid was developed by experienced tax accoun- tants for use on Com- modore 64 and VIC-20 computers. It computes a line-by-line readout of Form 1040 and related schedules. A manual with step-by-step instructions for data entry is supplied. Three versions of the pro- gram are available: Taxaid I, II, and III. Taxaid I, $19.95 tape or $24.95 floppy disk, is designed for the basic VIC-20. It outputs informa- tion to your monitor only. Taxaid II is tailored for 16K- byte VIC-20S. Output is to the monitor or a printer. An expanded version for the Commodore 64, Taxaid III will also output to either the monitor or printer. Tax- aid II and III are available on floppy disk or cassette for 482 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. What's New? $29.95 or $24.95. Contact Northland Accounting Inc., Software Department, 606 Second Ave., Two Harbors, MN 55616, (218) 834-5012. Circle 555 on inquiry card. SOFTWARE Templates Extend 1-2-3 Professional Software Technology has introduced two templates that expand the versatility of Lotus Development Corporation's 1-2-3: Personal Tax Preparer and Time and Billing. The Personal Tax Preparer condenses 1-2-3 to seven single-letter commands. Save, Print, and Destroy are the only fundamentals you need to prepare Form 1040 and a variety of lettered schedules. Once entered, numbers are automatically carried to the appropriate locations on supporting forms and schedules. Stan- dard features include inter- na/ tax tables, screen dis- plays of all forms in use, and the ability to print directly on federal forms. For its single-letter com- mands, Time and Billing uses simple associations, such as Z for zapping an ac- count. It accommodates more than 20 people per disk. A total of 10.000 clients can be maintained, each with up to 2000 bill- ing entries. It shows num- bers as they are entered, calculations as they are made, and the interrelation- ships between entries or the bottom line. Any sys- tem of keeping time slips can be used. Time and Bill- ing lets you customize up to 30 abbreviated service codes, which minimizes bill- ing-entry descriptions. Re- ceivables are monitored, and the aging of accounts is displayed. Both programs work with 1-2-3 Release 1A and any computer with 256K bytes of memory and a hard-disk or two floppy-disk drives. Previous knowledge of 1-2-3 is not necessary. Each program retails for $175. For full details, contact Professional Software Tech- nology POB 269, Rockport, MA 01966, (617) 546-3494. Circle 567 on inquiry card. Fast Word Processor The Qwerty word pro- cessor from HFK Software can keep pace with you even if you can type 140 words per minute. Qwerty provides variable margin settings ranging from 1 to 1 50 columns, tab stops, paragraph indentations, up and down scrolling, for- ward/backward search and search and replace opera- tions, and block moves. Dynamic insertion and typeover with automatic word and back wrap is supported. Text can be dynamically centered, and such character attributes as underscore, boldface, subscript, superscript, dou- ble underscore, and strike- through can be applied during or after text entry. Left, right, and delete operations can be per- formed by character, word, or line. On-line helps aid operation. Qwerty supports a wide range of printers. Print op- tions include a number of pitch and line-spacing set- tings, variable form and character sizes, automatic pagination with widow line elimination, and automatic user-selectable page numbering. Sixteen color sets are available when you use Qwerty with an RGB color graphics monitor. This program is designed to run on the IBM PC, PC XT, Chameleon, Compaq, and other computers using PC-DOS. With DOS 2.0, 96K bytes of memory are required. Complete with a tutorial workbook, Qwerty costs $325. For $25, you can try a full-function Qwerty. Qwerty is available factory-direct from HFK Software Inc., Old Danbury Rd., Danbury, NH 03230, (617) 259-0059. Circle 559 on inquiry card. Printer-Control Program Set-FX, a machine-lan- guage printer-control pro- gram for Epson FX-80/100 printers and the IBM PC or the Compaq portable, has been introduced by Soft- style Inc. With Set-FX, Ep- son printers can produce the full IBM PC character set, line graphics, foreign language characters, and math and science symbols exactly as they appear on screen. Menus are provid- ed for setting condensed, emphasized, proportional, and italic characters. Set-FX includes a custom font generator. According to the manufacturer, special fonts can be printed at 1 60 cps. Set-FX requires one disk drive and a monitor. Memory requirements are 64K bytes when running under PC-DOS 1 . 1 or 96K bytes with DOS 2.0. It's compatible with any hard disk operated under PC- DOS and with all Epson print modes. Complete with a manual, quick reference card, and a demonstration program, Set-FX costs $59.95, plus $2 handling. Contact Soft- style Inc., Suite 200, 7192 Kalanianaole Highway, Honolulu, HI 96825, (808) 396-6368. Circle 558 on inquiry card. February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 483 What's New? Communications Software and Controller Emulator for Lisa Apple Computer has in- troduced a pair of data- communications products, Lisaterminal and the Apple Cluster Controller, that enable Lisa to interact with mainframe systems. Avail- able at authorized Lisa dealers and through Ap- ple's national account ex- ecutives, Lisaterminal costs S295. and the Cluster Con- troller ranges from $4500 to $7000. Lisaterminal provides Lisa with TTY and DEC VT 100/52 terminal emula- tion and the ability to ex- change information via a modem with computers supporting asynchronous protocols. It permits access to remote mainframes and information services such as CompuServe and Dow Jones. Also provided are icons, cut and paste in- tegration between applica- tion programs, and multiple windows. A protocol converter, the Cluster Controller works like an IBM 3270-type cluster controller. When used with Lisaterminal, Lisa can communicate with IBM mainframe networks by mimicking IBM 3278 Model 2 terminal functions. It con- verts SNA/SDLC or BSC protocols to asynchronous protocols and monitors the flow of information in both directions, ensuring ac- curate transmissions. Both the Lisa and an attached printer communicate through a single Cluster port. The Cluster Controller can be accessed via a modem, making remote communications with a mainframe possible. The Cluster Controller comes with three or seven serial RS-232C ports for mixing and matching Lisas and printers. Apple has also an- nounced that Ryan- McFarland Corporation's RM/COBOL and RM/FOR- TRAN language compilers are available for the Lisa. For more information, contact Apple Computer Inc., 20525 Mariani Ave., Cuper- tino, CA 95014, (800) 538-9696; in California, (408) 996-1010. Circle 560 on inquiry card. Music Synthesizer Musicalc converts the Commodore 64's Sound In- terface chip into a three- voice music synthesizer. Musicalc lets you play along with preprogrammed mel- odies, create and store melodies for later playback, and compose music in a variety of styles. Standard features include real-time se- quencing, slide controls, modulators, and trans- Mouse Commands Jane is an integrated software package con- sisting of a word processor, spreadsheet, and a file/list manager. A mouse-driven system employing easily understood pictures and symbols rather than pro- gramming instructions is at the heart of Jane's user in- for Commodore 64 posers. Musical creations can be played back through television sets, stereo systems, or professional amplifiers by means of stan- dard RCA patch cords. The suggested retail price is $74.95. For details, con- tact Waveform Inc., 1912 Bonita Way Berkeley, CA 94704, (415) 841-9866. Circle 563 on inquiry card. Integrated Software terface. Access to various applications and the enter- ing of data is performed by pointing the mouse to the appropriate symbol on screen. Each application in- teracts with the others, and you can work with any or all of the applications through up to four on- screen windows. Window dimensions can be expand- ed or contracted. Jane runs on most 8- or 16-bit personal computers, such as the Apple, Atari, Commodore 64, and IBM PC, with 64K bytes of RAM. It comes with the mouse, mouse controller card, and users guide. The suggested retail price is S295. Graphics and communications pro- grams will be available. For complete details, contact Arktronics Corp., 113 South Fourth Ave., Ann Arbor, Ml 48104, (800) 225-5275; in Michigan, (313) 769-7253. Circle 561 on inquiry card. Software Targeted at Business Superex International Marketing recently released 15 programs targeted at businesses. Applications focus on wholesalers, retailers, importer/exporters, financial analysts, mail- order houses, and phar- macists. An integrated ac- counting package with ac- counts receivable/payable, general ledger, and payroll modules is also available. Most Superex programs are designed for use on floppy- or hard-disk systems, and many are offered in a special network configuration. A few pro- grams, such as the Phar- macist Assistant, require hard disks. Superex pro- grams support Apple, Col- umbia, Compaq, Corona, DEC Rainbow, Eagle, Franklin, IBM PC, Texas In- struments Professional, and Toshiba computers. BASICA or GW BASIC is necessary. Under MS-DOS, the minimum memory require- 484 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. What's New? ment is 128K bytes. Ver- sions for Apple and Franklin need 64K bytes of RAM. Prices range from $300 to S2000. For full particulars, contact Superex Interna- tional Marketing, 151 Ludlow St., POB 248, Yonkers, NY 10705, (800) 862-8800; in New York, (914) 964-5200. Circle 562 on inquiry card. Ovation for In- tegrated Software Ovation software lets you create, access, move, extract, and manipulate data in various forms without reentering data, preparing different files, or swapping applications modes. This program pro- vides built-in formats for let- ters, spreadsheets, and notes, customizing capa- bilities, single-keystroke macro instructions, and ad- vanced macros via text files. Five applications capabilities are provided: spreadsheet, graphics, information man- agement, word processing, and data communications. Different applications can be entered at any time, and data that is entered into a spreadsheet can be turned into a graph or inserted into a report on the same screen. A linking process automatically reflects any changes in associated forms. Thirty English-language commands, entirely sum- marized on a single card, are all that you have to learn to run Ovation. The commands are common across applications. Other features include context- sensitive helps, automatic backup and disk number- I at pleased to learn that soar sales perfoHtajwe in Region 1 has proceeded at m unparalleled' pate, Usur continuing efforts on hehalf of our conpang are new «ich appreciated, stow belo* are the sales figures for all regions over the past guarter, Keep up the good writ! SSL. tffiL ML. -v mmi im w* im J '■ S Wml E342 3454 3688 ^ mmi 3434 im im J lOttlS im 5454 15134 ing, and continuous prompts. Ovation runs on the Tandy 2000 and IBM PC and PC-compatible 8086/8088-based systems using MS-DOS. It reguires 256K bytes of memory. A PC XT with a hard disk is recommended, but Ova- tion will run with two flop- py disks. Color and most printers are supported. The suggested retail price is S795. For additional infor- mation, contact Ovation Technologies Inc., 770 Dedham St., Canton, MA 02021, (617) 821-1420. Circle 564 on inquiry card. Multifunction Package Offers Six Modules lntegrated-6, a multifunc- tion software package for the IBM Personal Com- puter, is manufactured by Mosaic Software. Its basic ingredients are a relational database, presentation- guality business graphics, a word processor, a spread- sheet, IBM PC-to-PC com- munications capabilities, and DEC VT100/52 or IBM 3101 terminal emulation. Standard operating features include menu-driven com- mands, fill-in-the-blank in- put formats, and built-in help screens, lntegrated-6 lets you create, store, analyze, graphically display combine, and condense in- formation and transfer it between modules and computers. The same infor- mation can be output in a variety of formats for presentations. The database module features disk access with a capacity of up to ]00,000 records per file. The graphics module, based on the Superchartman II pro- gram, offers nearly 20 graphic styles, ranging from pie and text charts to pie/bar chart combinations. Able to handle as many as 256 columns and 2000 rows, lntegrated-6 's spread- sheet can use information created and stored in the database for graphic displays or merge it with text to produce reports. lntegrated-6 is written in the C language. It reguires a minimum memory of 256K bytes. The company intends to transport it to other computers and enhance its emulation capabilities. The suggested retail price for lntegrated-6 is $495. Contact Mosaic Software, 1972 Massachu- setts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02140, (617) 491-2434. Circle 566 on inquiry card. TERMINALS Hi-Res Terminal Comes with DIM Keyboard Liberty Electronics' Freedom 200 is a high- resolution, nonglare 12-inch video-display terminal with a 106-key DIN-standard keyboard. This tilt-and- swivel unit features eight foreign character sets, 7 by 9 character cells in a 9 by 12 matrix, a 24-line by 80- character display format, and a user-accessible 25th status line. A software set- up mode and 10 program- mable function keys offer operator convenience. The Freedom 200 has nonvolatile memory for storing function keys and set-up modes during power- down. Nonembedded char- acter attributes for both the visual display and data February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 485 W^VB^tftt £ ^MfiW entry as well as double- height and double-width characters and 86 graphics characters are provided. Miscellaneous highlights in- clude programmable hand- shaking protocol, a bidirec- tional buffered auxiliary port with expandable buffers, programmable answer back, smooth scrolling, ad- justable screen time-out, split-screen capabilities with definable scroll regions, and Televideo 950 and Lear- Seigler ADM 31 emulation. The single-unit price for the Freedom 200 is $745. Quantity discounts are available. For more informa- tion, contact Liberty Elec- tronics, 625 Third St., San Francisco, CA 94107, (415) 543-7000. Circle 569 on inquiry card. CAD/CAM Graphics Monitor Colorgraphic Com- munications Corporation believes that its XL-13 monitor is a cost-effective solution for CAD/CAM graphics reguirements. Plug-compatible with the IBM Personal Computer, the XL-13 consists of a bit- mapped graphics board, graphics primitives, a high- performance 13-inch color video display, and a power supply. Its standard screen format is 80 columns by 24 or 48 lines, and character sizes can be 7 by 9 dots in an 8- by 10-dot grid or bit- map programmable. Both text and graphic cursor types are supported, with visible, invisible, blinking, or nonblinking attributes. Graphics features include an escape seguence inter- preter for such graphic functions as vectors, arcs, circles, polygons, and parallelograms; draw over and behind; independent draw and erase between graphics and text; geo- metric and complex fills; 128 fill patterns; zoom, pan, scroll, and scaling; and prefill or post-bounded fill with solid color or pattern. The graphics board pro- vides a 1024 by 512 by 4 resolution. The 40-MHz bandwidth monitor is swept at 32 kHz horizontal- ly and 60 Hz noninterlace vertically. This combination provides a flicker-free view- ing window of 640 by 480 pixels. The IBM PC's highl- and medium-resolution and alphanumeric modes are supported. The XL-13 lists for S3495. A 19-inch monitor version, the XL-I9, costs $3995. Volume discounts are offered. For additional infor- mation, contact Col- orgraphic Communications Corp., 2379 John Glenn Dr., POB 80448, Atlanta, GA 30366, (404)455-3921. Circle 570 on inquiry card. Touch-Sensitive Monitor for IBM Microtouch Systems has unveiled the Point 1 touch- sensitive monitor for the IBM Personal Computer. Point 1 lets you position the cursor, select from menus, and manipulate graphics with the touch of a finger on the video display. An on-board 8-bit 65F11 microprocessor controls data formats and calibra- tions and comes with a FORTH interpreter, 2K bytes of RAM for user programs, and 4K bytes of ROM for MTS firmware. Switch set- tings include 110 to 9600 bps data rates; none, even, odd parity; 1 or 2 stop bits; and software-adjustable parameters. The monitor is available with TTL or com- posite outputs and amber or green- phosphor screens. Resolution is 1024 by 1024 points at 75 points per sec- ond; the data rate is 200 points per second. Output is asynchronous RS-232C. Five commands are used to configure the screen, set parameters, and perform self-tests. Additional pro- gramming can be done using a proprietary Touch Commands Set and user- defined commands. Versions of the Point 1 are available for both monochrome and color graphics cards. A 4K-byte EEPROM is available as an option. In small guantities, Point 1 costs less than $850. An OEM kit of the touch screen can be ob- tained. For complete details, contact Microtouch Sys- tems Inc., Suite 5050, 400 West Cummings Park, Woburn, MA 01801. Circle 568 on inquiry card. PERIPHERALS IBM Data Acquisition and Control Metrabyte Corporation has announced an A/D data-acguisition and control board for the IBM Personal Computer. The Dascon-1 features 12 bits of digital I/O, 12-bit resolution of analog I/O, four analog input chan- nels with overvoltage pro- tection, switch-selectable input filters, two adjustable voltage references, two 1-mA constant current sources, external interrupt capabilities, and a battery- backed real-time clock. Resolution is 500 microvolts per bit. Optional switch selections can extend the 486 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. What's New? resolution to 0.5 microvolt per bit on two channels. Two channels contain RTD interfaces for built-in temperature measurements from -200 to 650 degrees Centigrade. Supplied software in- cludes I/O driver sub- routines and such util- ities as graphics and calibration/set-up pro- cedures. Options include two channels of 12-bit D/A output with switch- selectable ranges, a screw terminal connector, a solid- state I/O module board, and an electromechanical relay output board. Dascon-1 costs $485, in- cluding manual, 37-pin D connector, calibration resistors, and card guide. Options range from S12 to $128. Also available from Metrabyte is a parallel digital I/O card that provides 24 TTL/DTL-compatible digital I/O lines. It has interrupt in- put and enable lines as well as external connections to the IBM PC's bus power supplies. The two dozen I/O lines are provided through an 8255-5 pro- grammable peripheral inter- face. It costs $89. For more information on these prod- ucts, contact Metrabyte Corp., 254 Tosca Dr., Stoughton, MA 02072, (617) 344-1990. Circle 571 on inquiry card. Interface Grapples with Printer The Grappler CD in- telligent printer interface for the Commodore 64 is marketed by Orange Micro. The Grappler's C-1525 printer-emulation mode provides the means for such dot-matrix printers as Epson, Star, Okidata, Pro- writer, and NEC to produce graphics and special characters. Standard print features include high- resolution graphics screen dumps, text screen dumps, a transparent operation mode, and block graphics screen dump. Double-size, inverted, rotated, and em- phasized graphics are ac- cessible through simple commands. Margin and tab settings, page length, and skip-over perforation are among the Grappler's text- formatting features. More than 22 commands provide printing flexibility. The Grappler comes with all necessary cables and its own serial ports. Power is drawn from the Commodore's expansion port. The suggested retail price is $139. For the name of your nearest dealer, con- tact Orange Micro Inc., 1400 Lakeview Ave., Anaheim, CA 92807, (714) 779-2772. Circle 575 on inquiry card. Comprehensive Data Encryptor Transcryptor blocks unauthorized access to computers and terminals, generates its own encryp- tion keys, and automatical- ly encrypts messages upon transmission and decrypts them upon receipt. Trans- cryptor operates asyn- rJ SgggJS^R chronously, and it automat- ically adjusts to data rates ranging from 150 to 9600 bps. It has an error- correction feature that causes automatic resyn- chronization when line- noise errors occur. System hardware includes a Z80 central processor and dual RS-232C ports. Transcryptor can be easi- ly installed between a com- puter and modem or a direct line. The suggested retail price is $945. Contact Cryptext Corp., POB 425, Northgate Station, Seattle, WA 98125, (206)364-8585. Circle 573 on inquiry card. SYSTEMS 16-bit Desktop Sperry's 16-bit Personal Computer has built-in com- munications capabilities. The basic unit contains an 8088 microprocessor, floppy- or hard-disk drives, an asynchronous adapter for mainframe communica- tions, and expansion slots. Standard hardware in- cludes switch-selectable 4.77- or 7.16-MHz clock rates. 1 28K bytes of RAM, and seven expansion slots. Two color display moni- tors are offered for the Sperry Personal Computer: medium and high resolu- tion. The 15-inch medium- resolution display has an 80 from Sperry or 40 by 25 format, 16K- byte buffer, 320 by 200 or 640 by 200 resolution, and up to 16 colors. Character size is 5 by 7 in an 8- by 8-dot block. The 12-inch color monitor has four res- olutions, ranging from 320 by 200 to 640 by 400, a 1 92K-byte buffer, and the ability to display up to 256 characters. Its character size is 7 by 1 4 dots in an 8- by 16-dot block. A mono- chrome display is also avail- able. Mass storage is provided by 320K- or 360K-byte floppy-disk drives or by a 10-megabyte hard-disk February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 487 What's New? drive. MS-DOS level 1 .25 or level 2.0 is standard, de- pending on disk storage. Some of the applications programs currently offered are Multiplan, Wordstar, dBase II, and Mail Merge. The Sperry Personal Computer is available in seven models, differing in regard to monitor and stor- age selections. A dot-matrix printer is optional. Prices range from $2643 to S5753. For more informa- tion, contact Sperry Corp., Computer Systems Divi- sion, POB 500, Blue Bell, PA 19424, (215) 542-4213. Circle 590 on inquiry card. M68000 Runs Perkin-Elmer's 7350 Pro- fessional Computer is a desktop computer founded on the M68000 micropro- cessor. The 7350 is a modular machine consist- ing of a display unit, de- tached keyboard, a 15- megabyte Winchester hard-disk drive, and two double-density double- sided floppy-disk drives. The furnished DOS is Uniplus, a Bell Labs Unix System III derivative. The 7350 is of- fered in single-user, color graphics, and multifunction cluster console configura- tions. The single-user worksta- tion comes with 320K bytes Computer Uniplus of user memory. The color graphics version has 448K bytes of memory and a palette of 27 colors, 16 of which can be displayed simultaneously. The 1-megabyte multifunction cluster console can accom- modate three terminals. Its satellites have complete ac- cess to all host program- ming facilities and most ap- plications. A number of ap- plications packages are available for all versions of the 7350. The single-user worksta- tion begins at S8400. The cluster console starts at S 11,750. For more informa- tion, contact Perkin-Elmer, Data Systems Group, 2 Crescent Place. Oceanport, NJ 07757, (201)870-4768. Circle 587 on inquiry card. Royal Introduces Per- sonal Computer Royal Business Machines has introduced the Alpha- tronic Personal Computer. This Z80A-based machine comes with 64K bytes of RAM and 32K bytes of ROM. It has a BASIC inter- preter in ROM and inter- faces for a cassette recorder, two disk drives, and a paral- lel printer. It can be used with a home television or an RGB monitor; the dis- play format is 80 or 40 by 24. Character resolution is formed in an 8- by 12-dot matrix. A 79-character key- board with six program- mable-function keys and separate cursor controls and numeric keypad is pro- vided. For game and tuto- rial software, the Alpha- tronic has a built-in car- tridge slot. Slimline 5 '/4 -inch floppy- disk drives and software cartridges are options. The suggested price is S695. For details, contact Royal Busi- ness Machines Inc., 500 Day Hill R<±, Windsor, CT 06095, (203) 683-2222. Circle 586 on inquiry card. Tandy 2000 Is Powered by 80186 The 16-bit Tandy TRS-80 Model 2000, an MS-DOS- based system, is powered by Intel's 8-MHz 80186 microprocessor. Under MS- DOS, the 2000 can run such software as MS-Win- dows, Ovation, and Multi- plan. The 2000 has a 90- key keyboard with 12 func- tion keys and is offered in two configurations, both of which can accommodate up to 768K bytes of RAM. The basic 128K-byte 2000 has twin 5 'A -inch floppy- disk drives, totaling 1.4 megabytes of storage. It lists for $2750. The 256K-byte 2000 HD system has a 10- megabyte hard-disk drive augmented with a single floppy-disk drive. It costs $4250. A 12-inch monochrome and a 14-inch eight-color monitor are offered. The dis- play format is 80 by 25. High-resolution 640 by 400 graphics are optional. Other options include a mouse and a monitor stand. The Tandy TRS-80 Model 2000 is available at more than 1100 Radio Shack Computer Centers. Contact Tandy Corp./Radio Shack, 1800 One Tandy Center, Fort Worth, TX 76102. Circle 585 on inquiry card. MISCELLANEOUS Tool Identifies Dead Components Metrifast's Thermoprobe lets you quickly identify dead components without coming into direct contact 488 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. What's New? with the PCB. A solid-state device consisting of a ther- mistor probe connected to a modified Wheatstone bridge circuit, Thermoprobe measures minute tempera- ture changes of 1/25 degree Fahrenheit (1/45 degree Centigrade). Because dead ICs, resistors, transformers, and diodes do not emit heat, they can be readily identified on the unit's built- in S-meter, which indicates null to warm as the device is passed above the com- ponents. Thermoprobe is small enough to fit inside a shirt pocket. It's powered by a 9-volt battery. Thermoprobe is available for S 21.95, post- age paid, from Metrifast, 51 South Denton Ave., New Hyde Park, -NY 11040. Circle 593 on inquiry card. Money Talks The American Founda- tion for the Blind is market- ing a device that identifies and vocalizes the value of U.S. paper currency. The machine, known as the PMI (paper money identi- fier), uses an optical scan- ning device to identify SI, S2, S5, $10, and S20 bills and a voice synthesizer to announce the value. If a bill is fed into the machine face down, the voice says "over." PMI will also say "please try again" if a bill is tattered or otherwise un- recognizable. The rectangular PMI measures 3/2 by 6 by 15% inches and weighs 6 pounds, 2 ounces. Two controls, an on/off switch and a volume selector, are located on the front panel. PMI plugs into any standard three-prong, 120-volt outlet and can be used with a talking cash register devel- oped by the Foundation. PMI costs $600. Purchas- ing details are outlined in a free catalog, Products for People with Vision Prob- lems, which is available in print or braille from the American Foundation for the Blind, Consumer Prod- ucts, 15 West 16th St., New York, NY 10011. Circle 591 on inquiry card. Rewrite Labels When used with their complementary marking pen, Holman Data Prod- ucts' Rewrite Labels can be erased with a damp cloth and reused. These 4- by 4 V2 -inch labels have seven lines for information. A package of 100 Rewrite Labels with one marking pen costs S9.95. Quantity discounts are available. Contact Holman Data Products, 2059 West Lin- coln, Oroville, CA 95965, (916) 533-5992. Circle 595 on inquiry card. Workshelves Adjust to Your Taste The Stack*Rack line of computer workshelves comprises nine models that can be adapted to any microcomputer on the mar- ket. Produced by California Design Works, Stack *Racks feature adjustable shelves that can be set level, sloped, or vertically to suit personal tastes. They are made of solid red oak with an oil finish. Stack*Racks are available with 14-, 18-, or 22-inch shelves in single- or dou- ble-shelf configurations. Prices range from $38 to $ 1 1 8. For complete details. contact California Design Works, POB 3052, Mon- terey, CA 93940. Circle 596 on inquiry card. Micro Charts Aid Micro Logic Corpora- tion's Micro Chart #7 is a double-sided, full-page ref- erence card for 8086 and 8088 programmers. Micro Chart represents the recon- struction of the bits, codes, and special conditions found in data manuals. The data are presented in a fully decoded format, which fa- cilitates programming, de- bugging, and patching. Areas covered are conver- sion of instructions to and from hexadecimal, instruc- Programmers tion descriptions, cycle time, addressing modes, flag codes, register map, mem- ory map, pinouts, and ASCII codes. Diagrams and cau- tionary notes are provided as well. Micro Chart #1 is made of the same type of plastic as a credit card. In lots of one to nine, it costs $5.95, plus $1 postage. Order Micro Chart directly from Micro Logic Corp., 100 2nd St., POB 174, Hackensack, NJ 07602, (201) 342-6518. Where Do New Products Items Come From? The information printed in the new products pages of BYTE is obtained from "new product" or "press release" copy sent by the promoters of new products. If in our judgment the infor- mation might be of interest to trie personal computing experi- menters and homebrewers who read BYTE, we print it in some form. We openly solicit releases and photos from manufac- turers and suppliers to this marketplace. The information is printed more or less as a first-in first-out queue, sutject to oc- casional priority modifications. While we would not knowing- ly print untrue or inaccurate data, or data from unreliable com- panies, our capacity to evaluate the products and companies appearing in the "What's New?" feature is necessarily limited. We therefore cannot be responsible for product quality or company performance. February 1984 @ BYTE Publications Inc. 489 RIBBON RE-INKERS Introducing the Pika-Ink , an incredible new device which extends the life of your fabric printer ribbons by a factor of TEN! Works with any fabric ribbon th Vi-inch or narrower width. Automatically re-inks your ribbons either on or off the printer for consis- tent dark black print. Pays for itself on the first rib- bon! The Pika-Ink is a kit which includes # Stainless steel ink reservoir • ball bearing assembly • transfer felts • 1 15v 60Hz electric motor * power cord • special computer ribbon ink (extra ink available). Comes with complete instructions. Re- quires assembly and fabrication with hand tools. Pika-Ink kit each $89 3+ 10+ "$84 $78" TERMINALS & PRINTERS Micro-Term E301 $875 Visual 55 $850 Visual 102 $1050 QumeQVT-102 $675 plka QumeQVT-108 $850 Qume Sprint 11/40 $1495 Sprint Interface $90 Sprint Tractor $235 RS-232 BREAKOUT BOX The Pika-Hox RS-232 I/O tester is the most advanced breakout box on the market today. An absolute necessity for anyone who uses or works with RS-232 peripherals, interfaces, or data lines. Saves hours of aggravation. Available in standard or deluxe tri-state models. Lifetime warranty! • 25-pin male DCE and female DTE connectors. • Individual LED's monitor pins, 2, 3,4,5.6,8, 15, 17,20, 21,22,25, plus MARK and SPACE. • 24 DIP switches allow signal lines to be individually interrupted. • 25 test pins for monitoring or cross patching with in- cluded jumpers. • Tri-State model displays signals as high, low, or invalid. • Fits in shirt pocket. 2.9"x5.5"x1.5", wt. 8 oz, with batteries (included). • Fully assembled, ready to use. list Pika-Box $199 Tri-State Pika-Box S249 each T179 $219 3+ $174 $211 RS-232 SWITCHES SAVE 40% TO 80%! Allows several devices to share a single RS-232 data line. Enhances flexibility of your system and puts an end to juggling cables. You've heard them called AB switches or T-switches, and they have outrageous prices! The Pika-Switch" is an economical alternative in kit form. You assemble it yourself and save 40% to 80%! Available in two models: 2-device (AB + common) with 3 female connectors, and 5-device (ABCDE + common) with 6 female connectors. Switches any 8 lines. Silver plated switch contacts, gold plated con- nector contacts. Complete, nothing else to buy. Common Pika-Switch # 2 (AB) Pika-Switch # 5 (ABCDE) Male Connector Option each _3±_ $79 $75 $145 $135 No Charge TERMS: All Sales exclusively by mail/phone order. Cash, check, money order, MC, Visa. No COD. Add $4.50 shipping, NM residents add 4% tax. (Foreign customers: payment must be in U.S. funds drawn on a U.S. bank, add 10% for air shipment). ORDERS ONLY Ask for Dept. 501 Pika-Box 1-800-547-4000 P""H In Oregon, and outside the U.S. call (503) 620-1602 r™"^ Div. of Applied Computing Dept. 501 1808 Pomona Dr. Las Cruces, N M 88001 IITE "back issues for sale 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 Jan. $2.75 $3.25 $3.25 $3.70 $4.25 Feb. $2.75 $2.75 $3.25 $3.25 $3.70 $3.70 $4.25 March $2.75 $2.75 $3.25 $3.25 $3.70 $3.70 April $2.75 $2.75 $3.25 $3.25 $3.70 $3.70 May $2.00 $2.75 $2.75 $3.25 S3.25 $3.70 $3.70 June $2.00 $2.75 $2.75 $3.25 $3.25 $3.70 $3.70 July S2.00 $2.00 $2.75 $2.75 $3.25 $3.25 $3.70 $4.25 Aug. $2.00 $2.75 $2.75 $3.25 $3.70 $4.25 Sept. $2.75 $2.75 $2.75 $3.25 $3.70 $4.25 Oct. $2.75 $2.75 $3.25 $3.25 $3.70 $4.25 Nov. $3.25 $3.25 $3.70 $4.25 Dec. $2.75 $2.75 $3.25 $3.25 $3.25 $3.70 $4.25 Circle and send requests with payments to: BYTE Back Issues P.O. Box 328 I Hancock, NH 03449 Prices include postage in the US. Please add $.50 per copy for Canada and Mexico; and S2.00 per copy to foreign countries. □ Check enclosed Payments from foreign countries must be made in US funds payable at a US bank. □ VISA Card # _ □ Master Card _ Exp Signature Please allow 4 weeks for domestic delivery and 8 weeks for foreign delivery. name address city state _ zip 490 BYTE February 1984 Apple Country Ltd. has your Number for ROCK BOTTOM PRICES **!i 1-800-222-2602 AMDEK COLOR I PLUS AMDEK COLOR II PLUS AMDEK COLOR III AMDEK COLOR IV AMDEK VIDEO 300 (GREEN) AMDEK VIDEO 300 (AMBER) AMDEK VIDEO 310 (AMBER) BMC 12AU 12" GREEN BMC AU9191U 13" COLOR BMC 1401 13" RGB COLOR BMC AU9191MU 13" RGB IBM COMMODORE COLOR MONITOR COMREX 13" COLOR W/SOUN3 COMREX 12" HI-RES AMBER COMREX 12" HI-RES GREEN COMREX 12" HI-RES LT GRN COMREX 13" RGB COLOR ELECTROHOME 9" GREEN ELECTROHOME 12" GREEN ELECTROHOME 13" RGB IBM ELECTROHOME 13" RGB COLOR GORILLA 12" GREEN NEC 12" GREEN SCREEN ECONO GREEN LO-RES COLOR AMBER SCREEN COLOR - IBM PRINCETON GRAPHICS HX- 1 2 SAKATA 13" COLOR SAKATA 13" RGB COLOR SAKATA SUPER RGB MONITOR SAKATA 12" GREEN TAXAN 12" GREEN TAXAN 12" AMBER TAXAN RGB VISION I TAXAN RGB VISION III ZENITH 12" AMBER ZENITH 12" GREEN ZENITH RGB COLOR MONITOR USI 9" AMBER MONITOR USI 9" GREEN MONITOR USI 12" AMBER USI 12" GREEN MONITOR USI 14" LO-RES COLOR ANCHOR MARK I (RS-232) ANCHOR MARK II (ATARI) ANCHOR MARK III (TI99/4A) ANCHOR MARK V (OSBORNE) ANCHOR MARK VI (IBM PC) ANCHOR MARK VII (RS-232) ANCHOR MARK XII (RS-232) NOVATION J-CAT NOVATION 212 AUTO CAT SMARTCAT 212 (1200 BAUD) SMARTMODEM 3 00 BAUD SMARTMODEM 1200 BAUD SMARTMODEM 1200B - IBM US ROBOTICS AUTODIAL 2 12 294.95 424.95 369.95 749.95 134.95 144.95 164.95 89.95 299.95 349.95 629.95 269.95 269.95 134.95 129.95 129.95 269.95 129.95 144.95 379.95 359.95 89.95 154.95 109.95 289.95 164.95 479.95 489.95 264.95 499.95 679.95 104.95 124.95 129.95 294.95 439.95 119.95 99.95 389.95 129.95 119.95 149-95 139.95 289.95 79.95 79.95 99.95 94.95 199.95 109.95 279.95 104.95 579.95 429.95 194.95 484.95 449.95 449.95 ANADEX DP-9725B COLOR/SCRIBE ANADEX DP-9625A 1339.95 ANADEX DP-9620A 1129.95 ANADEX WP-6000 2199.95 ANADEX DP-6500TR 500CPS 2329.95 C.ITOH 85 10SCP COLOR NEW!! CITOH A10 DAISY WHEEL 539.95 C.ITOH 8510SP 569.95 COMREX CR-I DAISY WHEEL 629.95 COMREX CR-II DAISY WHEEL 469.95 DAISEYWRITER 2000 1129.95 DIABLO 630R155 1784.95 EPSON FX-80 W/TRACTOR LOW!! EPSON FX-100 F/T LOW! I EPSON LQ-1500 LETTER QUALITY EPSON MX- 100 F/T EPSON RX-80 EPSON RX-80 F/T GEMINI 10X GEMINI 15X GORILLA BANANA PRINTER IDS MICROPRISM IDS PRISM 132 IDS PRISM 132C - COLOR JUKI 6100 PRINTER (P) MANNESMANN TALLY MT160L MANNESMANN TALLY MT180L MANNESMANN TALLY MT440L NEC 3550 SPINWRITER-IBM 1754.95 NEC 8025 120 CPS 136 COL 719.95 OKIDATA MICROLINE 80 299.95 OKIDATA PACEMARK 2350S 1999.95 OKIDATA PACEMARK 2350S OKIDATA PACEMARK 2410P OKIDATA PACEMARK 24 1 OS OKIDATA 82A K/GRAPHICS OKIDATA 83A W/GRAPHICS OKIDATA 84 P OKIDATA 84S OKIDATA 92P OKIDATA 93P OKIDATA 9 3S PRINTMASTER (DAISY) PROWRITER I PRINTER PROWRITER II PRINTER QUADJET COLOR INK JET PRINTER QUME SPRINT 11/40+ 1399.95 SANYO PR5500 DAISY WHEEL 659.95 SILVER-REED 550 DAISY 699.95 STAR DELTA- 10 160CPS LOW! I STARWRITER DAISY WHEEL 1099.95 TOSHIBA P-1350 LP 1579.95 TRANSTAR 315 COLOR 449.95 TRANSTAR 120P 14CPS 464-95 TRANSTAR 130P 18CPS 699.95 TRANSTAR 140S 40CPS 1229.95 EPSON SERIAL (RS-232) 134.95 GRAFITTI CARD 84.95 GRAPPLER + 1 19.95 MICROBUFFER II 16K 144.95 PKASO INTERFACE 129.95 WIZARD BPO 16K 129.95 WIZARD SOB 16K 179.95 OTHER PRINTERS AVAILABLE LOW! ! LOW! ! LOW! ! LOW! ! LOW! ! 189.95 479.95 1299.95 1499.95 549.95 599.95 799.95 NEW! ! 2199.95 2329.95 2499.95 379.95 579.95 1049.95 1129.95 449.95 729.95 829.95 1549.95 ■ 344.95 619.95 COMMODORE 64 LOW!! COMMODORE 1541 DRIVE LOW!! IBM PC LOW! I COLUMBIA VP PORTABLE 2349.95 COLUMBIA COMPLETE SYS. 2649.95 IBM-PC COMPATIBLE SYSTEM 128K, 2-DS/DD DRIVES, KEYBOARD AND COMPLETE SOFTWARE PACKAGE CORVUS CONCEPT MC68000 $3199 256K, 8" FLOPPY DRIVE COMPLETE SOFTWARE PACKAGE BI-DIRECTIONAL 8-1/2X11 SCREEN CORVUS CONCEPT 512K $3599 EAGLE PC II 128K SYSTEM 2649.95 EAGLE SPIRIT XL 3649.95 PORATABLE 1 28K RAM EXPANDABLE TO 640K RAM ON BOARD, 1 320K FLOPPY 10 MEGABYTE HARD DISK, IBM COMPATABLE KEYBOARD, MONOCHROME MONITOR, 2 SERIAL t» 1 PARALLEL PORT, MS DOS 2-0, GW BASIC, CP/M 86 KAYPRO II 1449.95 LEADING EDGE IBM COMPATABLE COMPUTER 8088 MPC 7.16 MHz 7 EXPANSION SLOTS, BUILT IN CLOCK, PARALLEL AND SERIAL PORTS, 128K RAM, MONITOR, WORD PROCESSING SOFTWARE. CALL FOR LOW PRICE! NEC APC-H01 $2049 NEC APC-H02 $2549 NEC APC-H03 $3049 SANYO MBC 550 SYSTEM 769.95 SANYO WBC-1000 1529.95 TELEVIDEO 16-BIT DESKTOP 128K 8088 5MHZ DUAL 360K DRIVES INCLUDES CP/M $3499.95 TELEVIDEO 910 TERMINAL 549.95 TELEVIDEO 925 TERMINAL 789.95 TELEVIDEO 970 TERMINAL 1199.95 ZENITH Z-120 ALL-IN-ONE BUILT-IN GREEN SCREEN DUAL DRIVES SPECIAL $2999.95 APPLE //e NOW AVAILABLE WILDCAT STARTER SYSTEM 64K 2DR. 6502 i. Z80 APPLE-CLONE 1499.95 SS/SD ELEPHANT 16.95 OPUS 15.95 SS/DD ELEPHANT 19.95 OPUS 17.95 DS/DD ELEPHANT 25.95 OPUS 24.95 APPLE HARDWARE ALS CP/M CARD 299.95 AMDEK AMDISK 3" DISK DR 239.95 APPLE-CAT II 264.95 APPLE DUMPLING GX 119.95 4TH DIMENSION DRIVE+CTRL 289.95 4TH DIMENSION DRIVE-ONLY 199.95 HAYES MICROMODEM lie 249.95 KENSINGTON SYSTEM SAVER 64.95 KOALA GR/TABLET W/SFTWR 99.95 LAZER MICROSYSTEM DRIVE 189.95 MICRO-SCI A2 DRIVE ONLY 239.95 MICRO-SCI A2 W/CTRL-CARD 299.95 MOUNTAIN MUSIC SYSTEM 289.95 ORANGE MICRO SMART CARD NEW!! PREMIUM SOFTCARD lie 334.95 QUADRAM 64K80COL CRD He 124.95 RANA ELITE I W/CTRL-CARD 349.95 RANA ELITE II W/CTRL 499.95 RANA ELITE III W/CTRL 649.95 SOUNDCHASER MUSIC SYSTEM 619.95 SOFTCARD (Z-80 CARD) 234.95 SWEET P PLOTTER 459. y5 TG JOYSTICK W/TOGGLE He 49.95 TRANSMODEM 1200 499.95 WICO APPLE MOUSE 124.95 KOALA PAD TOUCH TABLET 99.95 KRAFT JOYSTICK 54.95 MICROSOFT SYSTEMCRD 256K 449.95 MICROSOFT MOUSE 134.95 MOUSE SYSTEMS PC MOUSE 224.95 QUADLINK APPLE EMULATOR 489.95 QUADRAM QUADBOARD I 64K 289.95 QUADRAM QUADCOLOR I 229.95 QUADRAM QUADCHROME MON 524.95 QUADRAM QUADSCREEN MON 1549.95 RANA DS/DD DISK DRIVE 259.95 STB SUPER I/O MULTIFUNCT 169.95 TG JOYSTICK W/TOGGLE 49.95 TRANSEND P.C. MODEM 1200 399.95 VERSAWRITER GRAPH TABLET 239.95 WIZARD SPOOLER P/S 16K 239.95 CBM64 HARDWARE CARDBOARD/5 5 SLOT EX PAN . 54.95 CARD? GRAPHICS INTERFACE 64.95 DATA20 Z80 VIDEOPAK 224.95 GRAPPLER CD NEW PRINT INTERFACE KOALA GRAPH TABLET W/SFT 79.95 MSD-SD1 DISK DRIVE 339.95 VOICE BOX 99.95 Circle 24 on inquiry card. We will try to meet or beat any advertised price! CALL US. . . WE CAN HELP! 1-800-222-2602 For technical assistance, order status and California calls (619) 765-0239 Apple Country, Ltd.. P.O. Box 1099, 2602 Washington St., Julian, Calif. 92036 ^^ Terms: We accept American Express. No extra charge for Visa/MasterCard, Cashier's Check, ^^^- "£■ personal check (allow 2 weeks to clear) Shipping & Handling: 5% ($5 ijiin.); APO FPO Alaska W /.''''*'}'' Hawaii & Monitors 5% ($10 min.) Foreign orders 15% ($15 min.) All items are new with /. /'.*.>'.' manufacturer's warranty. Prices are subject to availability & change without notice. Purchase order 1 si^*>* must include check. California residents add 6% sales tax. Send $1 (good toward first purchase) for ^h . ~* new fall catalog. x. .. Apple Country, Ltd. is a DISCOUNT MAIL ORDER HOUSE for the micro computer industry ^5 and is a California corporation not affiliated with Apple Computer Inc. Apple is a trademark of Apple Computer Inc. Circle 346 on inquiry card. CHECK SUNTRONICS NEW LOW PRICES IBM Compatible Products Apple Compatible Products General Products- cont. loinsaLv, 1-800-421-5775 Calif, orders and all Info Call 213-644-1149 S-1QQ Products COLUMBIA PC 1600-1 Includes: Drives, Video Card, Perfect Soft- ware Package, MS-DOS, CP/M, Fast Graphics, BASIC, CP/M-86, Home Accountant and Com- munications Program. PC 1600-1 only $2850.00 COLUMBIA VP (Portable). . . only $2750.00 AST SIXPACK CARD Six-function card with 64K-348K RAM Memory, Parallel Port, Serial Port, Clock Calendar, Super Drive and Super Spool. AST Sixpack Card only 291.00 MSI DUAL I/O 2 Serial/2 Parallel Ports, Clock 175.00 MSI 256K RAM Board 256K RAM Board with 64K 199.00 256K RAM Board with 256K Call MSI 256K w/Parallel or Serial Port 256K w/Parallel Port and 64K 259.00 256K w/Parallel Port and 256K Call 256K w/Serial Port and 64K 259.00 256K w/Serial Port and 256K Call VISTA DISKMASTER Diskmaster Floppy and Hard Disk Controller 225.00 APPRATE IBM PROM Blaster 129.00 CABLE for IBM Parallel Printer 29.95 CABLE for Columbia MPC Parallel Printer 29.95 MODEM Novation 103 Smart-Cat . .$210.00 AFDC-1 Floppy Disk Drive $CQ95 Controller 0«7 Runs DOS 3.3 with any standard Shugart com- patible 5Va" disk drive. (2 drives each card). Does not read Vl track. Apprate PROM Blaster 119.00 "ALS" 80 Column Card 159.00 "ALS" 2-CARD (Z80 CPU) 149.00 API Apple Parallel Printer Interface card. Centronics Compatible $45.00 WORD PROCESSOR (Benchmark) For IBM or MS-DOS $299.00 MAILING LIST (Benchmark) For Apple II 140.00 For IBM or MS-DOS 140.00 SPELLING CHECKER (Benchmark! For IBM or MS-DOS 105.00 TELECOM (Benchmark) For IBM or MS-DOS 85.00 CDEX IBM Training 52.00 TALLGRASS (J format) 50.00 Mitsubishi Disk Drives, 5V4" and 8 Slim 5%" Thin DSDD 40 Track : 310.00 8" Thin DSDD 80 Track 450.00 General Products DSKETTESALE 5 W Diskettes SS/DD (100% certified) DS/DD (100% certified) 10 up 100 up 1.75 1.55 2.50 2.30 SAM WOO 18MHz Video Monitors AMBER 9" 119.00 GREEN 12" 124.00 AMBER 12" 127.00 Composite video I/O. 750 lines resolution. 75'10K ohm impedance. BMC 13 COLOR monilar (or your home computer video game dis- play- Olfers 350 x 350 resolution with 400 dots at the center. 9191U ...249.00 BMC PRINTER BX-80 dol matrix printer h 80 cps, 9x7 prim head. Quiet, reliable and priced for entry level $OCQ00 end-user t«iCl Note: Please add S10.00 shipping and hand- ling for the video monitors or printer. EPROM & RAM SUPER SALE P/N Description 8-24 25up 2716 (450nSI 3.95 3.95 2732 !450nSI 4.40 4.40 2764 (28 pin) 8.95 5.95 4164 (in stock) Call Call 6116P-3 (150nSI 6.10 Call Mother Boards & Card Cages SLOTS Bare Bd KIT A & T w/CAGE 6 $1900 $44.00 S59.00 $84.00 8 24.00 56.00 81.00 116.00 12 29.00 75.00 110.00 150.00 10MHz, No termination. Includes power indicator and wiring for muffin fan. Uses OK connector for solderless installation and removal of power & reset lines. S1RC00 64KSM A&T without RAM ... I *J*J 64KSM A&T w 64k RAM (32-61 16's). 339.00 S-100 Board Uses 6MHz 61 16's. V? Amp max. power. Bank Select plus Extended Addressing allows for multi-memory board set-up. 4 independant 16K Blocks make easy use with multi-user sys- tems. Any 2K RAM may be replaced by a 2716 EPROM. SBC-880 Z80A CPU, A&T $169.00 SBC-880 Z80A CPU, Kit 149.00 4MHz Z80A CPU boards with SeriaVParaUel Paris. UFDC-1 Floppy Controller, A&T 245.00 UFDC-1 Floppy Controller, Kit 225.00 The UFDC-1 Floppy Controller uses the WD1795 chip which runs either and/or 8"'5W Disk Drives. CLOCK CALENDAR A&T 115.00 CLOCK CALENDAR Kit 95.00 This S-100 Clock Calendar Board has 4 interrupts, Time, Day of Week and Battery Backup. Special Sale Items Apple Keyboard Assm & Tested . . $49.95 SUN-721 S-100 Prototype Board 9.95 SUN-722 Apple Prototype Board 5.95 See our January 1984 BYTE Ad for above item descriptions. Quantities are limited. m SUNTRONICS CO., inc. STORE HOURS: MON.-FRI. 9:00am to 6:00pm SATURDAY 10:00am to 5:00pm *'*' * " ■ ' ' * 77 . '/. "■*'■ Mail Order— Min. Order $10. Visa or MasterCard (please include expiration date). Add $2.00 (shipping and handling) for 12621 Crenshaw Blvd., Hawthorne, CA 90250 first 3 pounds plus .50 for each additional pound to your order. CA residents add Calif, sales tax. MEGA BYTES FOR MICRO BUDGETS Why pay more for top quality peripherals and accessories when our prices are consistently among the lowest anywhere? Expand your system and shrink your cost. We invite you to compare prices, then call us. MICROSOFT, SALE PRICE MULTIPLAN $176.00 MULTIWORD WITH MOUSE 339.63 MULTITOOL FINANCIAL STATEMENT 70.49 MULTITOOL BUDGET 104.96 SOFTCARD SYSTEM CARDS CALL MISC. ITEMS SALE PRICE 92P . . . OKIDATA . . . PRINTER 485.10 93P . . . OKIDATA . . . PRINTER 812. 70 NEC JB1260 MONITOR 112.50 NEC JB1205 MONITOR 177.50 AMDEK COLOR II. . .MONITOR 466.50 PEGASUS DISK DRIVES CALL CORVUS DISK DRIVES CALL DYSAN DISKETTES (Boxes of 10 each) SALE PRICE 104/1 5.25" .SS.SD $32.83 104/1D 5.25" .SS.SD 34.72 104/2D 5.25" .DS.DD 41.04 3740/1 8" .SS.SD 34.09 3740/1 D 8" .SS.DD 42.29 3740/2 8" .DS.SD 42.29 3740/2D 8" .DS.DD 49.24 VIDEX SALE PRICE UL-00 . . . ULTRATERM $282.39 VT-600 . . . VIDEOTERM 60. Hz 207.87 VT-601 . . . VIDEOTERM 60.Hz SOFTSWITCH 230.22 VT-602 . . . VIDEOTERM 60.Hz SOFTSWITCH INVER . . .237.68 PS-000 . . . PSIO 170.61 ENH-000 . . . ENHANCER II 111.04 ENH-FS-000. . . . . . FUNCTION STRIP 29.06 ENH-FS-001 . . . . . . ENHANCER II, FUNCTION STRIP. . . . 133.37 MODEMS 01 HAYES 02 HAYES 03 HAYES 04 HAYES 05 NOVATION . . 06 NOVATION . . 07 NOVATION . . 08 NOVATION . . 09 NOVATION . . 10 U.S. ROBOTICS 11 U.S. ROBOTICS . .CHRONOGRAPH SALE PRICE $200.79 . .SMARTMODEM 300 ..SMARTMODEM 1200.... 232.37 568.29 ..MICROMODEM II . DCAT . AUTOCAT 313.60 180.58 657.95 . JCAT . SMARTCAT 103/212 . SMARTCAT 103 122.30 488.35 204.43 . . PASSWORD . .AUTO DIAL 395. 75 525.00 ORDERS ONLY 800-858-4810 IN CAL. 800-821-6662 — COMMERCIAL BUSINESS SYSTEMS 2858 S. ROBERTSON BLVD. LOS ANGELES, CA 90034 INFORMA TION (213) 559-0596 Phone orders accepted on Visa and Mastercard only. California residents add 6.5% sales tax. No C.O.D. Actual shipping and handling charge added to all orders. Prepaid orders as follows: Money orders or cashier's check — merchandise shipped upon receipt. Personal checks must clear before shipping. 20% restocking fee. Prices and availability subject to change. SI 00 minimum order. 492 BYTE February 1984 Circle 60 on inquiry card. CNAnneL axinecnons '■ The Channel Connecting You And Computers APPLE SOFTWARE . *AST Versa Form $245.00 Qbase 139.00 Templates PO/INV @ 39.00 ML/CRJ/EJ @ 33.00 ARTSCI Magic Window 99.00 Magic Mailer 49.00 Magic Words 49.00 Magic Calc 99.00 •ASHTONE-TATE'" dBase II ■ 385.00 Bottomline Strategist 279.00 Financial Planner 419.00 Friday! 198.00 BEAGLE BROTHERS Alpha Plot 28.00 Apple Mechanic 22.00 Beagle Bag 22.00 Doss Boss 17.00 Double Take 27.00 Pronto Dos 22.00 Utility City 22.00 BLUE CHIP Millionaire 39.00 BPI GL/AP/AR/INV/PR® 295.00 BRODERBUNO" A.E. 25.00 Choplitter 25.00 Bank St. Writer 45.00 Lode Runner 26.00 G. W/AP 305.00 AR/PR @ 275.00 CENTRAL POINT Copy II Plus 32.00 Filer 15.00 CONTINENTAL™GL/AR/AP/PR@ 158.00 Home Accountant 49.00 FCM 68.00 CRANE Menu Generator 29.00 DATA SOFT (Zaxxon) 27.00 Micropainter 25.00 DIGITAL RESEARCH™ CALL DOW JONES'-Market Analyzer™ 275.00 Market Manage/ , 235.00 Market Microscope 525.00 lnves'tment™Eva(uator 129.00 Connector • , 85.00 EDUWARE CALL FOX & GELLER"Quick Code 195.00 dGraph 195.00 dUtil 69.00 Quick Screen i 119.00 HAYDEN Pie Writer 99.00 HAYES® Smartcom 1 89.00 INFOCOHTDeadline 34.00 Zork l/ll/lll @ 27.00 INSOFT Electric Duet 22.00 GraphForth 56.00 KENSINGTON- Format II 113.00 LOTUS™ Executive Briefing System 149.00 MICROCOM Micro Terminal 59.00 MICRO PRO™ Infostar 259.00 •MICROSOFT Multiplan™ 169.00 Budget System 109.00 Financial Statement 69.00 Other products CALL MONOGRAM Dollars & Sense 79.00 MUSE* Supertext Home Office 73.00 Supertext Pro. (lie) 73.00 Castle Wolfenstein 22.00 PENGUIN Complete Graphics System II 49.00 Graphics Magician 39.00 Special Effects 29.00 PERFECT SOFTWARE™ Perfect Writer 149.00 Perfect Speller 99.00 Perfect Writer/Speller 199.00 Perfect Filer 199.00 Perfect Calc 99.00 Writer/Speller/Filer/Calc 489.00 PHOENIX Zoom Grafix 34.00 QUALITY Bag of Tricks 29.00 SENSIBLE Speller 83.00 SIERRA ON LINE Screen Writer II 85.00 Dictionary 69.00 Screen Writer/Dictionary 135.00 Frogger 25.00 Ultima II 39.00 SILICON VALLEY Word Handler 39.00 List Handler 35.00 SIRIUS Type Attack 28.00 Pascal Graphics Editor 75.00 SOFTWARE PUBLISHING ™ (Specify II+ or He) pfs: File 84.00 pfs: Report 79.00 pfs: Graph 84.00 pfs: Write (lie only) 84.00 SPINNAKER™ up to 30% off SSM Transcend I 69.00 Also SEE MODEMS STONEWARE D.B. Master 1 145.00 D.B. Master Ver. 4 229.00 SUBLOGIC Flight Simulator 25.00 TERRAPIN Logo 119.00 VISICORP Visicale (II/II+) (lie) 169.00 Other Products CALL APPLE HARDWARE. CENTRAL POINT Alaska Card™ 99.00 DANA » Fan 59.00 EPS Keyboard 319.00 Prom @ 29.00 GIBSON LABS LPS Light Pen 279.00 HAYES Micromodem II W/SC I 249.00 KOALA™ Graphic Tablet 85.00 KRAFT Joystick 49.00 Paddle 39.00 MICRO SCI A2 w/o Controller 219.00 A2 Controller 79.00 A40 w/o Controller 299.00 A70 w/o Controller 399.00 A40/A70 Controller 79.00 MICROSOFT® 16K Ramcard 69.00 Softcard 219.00 Softcard Plus 449.00 Softcard Premium 479.00 Premium Softcard lie 369.00 NOVATION See MODEMS ORANGE MICRO™ Buffered Grappler 16K 179.00 PRACTICAL PERIPHERALS Microbuffer II plus 16K PAR 199.00 Other Products CALL SSM See MODEMS TG Paddles Joy Stick Select a Port Track Ball Joy Stick (lie) TENCAL Cool & Time VIOEX Videoterm w/ss Ultraterm WICO Joy Stick 29.00 45.00 45.00 49.00 49.00 75.00 239.00 279.00 59.00 IBM SOFTWARE •AST Versa Form 245.00 Qbase 139.00 Templates PO/INV @ 39.00 ML/CRJ/EJ @ 33.00 'ASHTONE-TATE™ dBase II 385.00 Bottomline Strategist 279.00 Financial Planner 419.00 Friday! 198.00 BLUE CHIP Millionaire 39.00 BPI™ GL/AP/AR/PR @ 459.00 CENTRAL POINT Copy II PC 32.00 COMPREHENSIVE PC Tutor 1.1 45.00 PC Tutor 2.0 45.00 CONTINENTAL™ FCM 79.00 Home Accountant Plus 89.00 Property Management 329.00 DATAMOST Write On 89.00 DIGITAL RESEARCH™ CP/M 86 45.00 Concurrent CP/M 86 235.00 Dr. Logo 79.00 Other Products CALL DOW JONES™ Market Analyzer™ 275.00 Market Manager™ 235.00 Market Microscope 525.00 Investment Evaluator™ 129.00 Connector 85.00 FOX & GELLER Quick Code 195.00 dGraph '195.00 dUtil 69.00 HAYDEN Pie Writer 135.00 HAYES Smart Com II 89.00 INFOCOM™ Deadline 34.00 Zork l/ll/lll®. 27.00 INSOFT Data Desjgn 169.00 MICROCOM Micro Terminal 69.00 •MICROSOFT™ Multiplan 169.00 Budget System 109.00 Financial Statement 69.00 Word 275.00 Word w/Mouse 339.00 Other Products CALL MONOGRAM Dollars & Sense 119.00 MUSE™ Supertext Pro 73.00 •PEACHTREE Peachtext 50Q0 235.00 •PERFECT SOFTWARE™ CALL PETER NORTON Utilities 59.00 SIRIUS Type Attack 29.00 Gorgon II 29.00 SOFTWARE ARTS TK Solver 219.00 SOFTWARE PUBLISHING pfs: File 94.00 pfs: Report 84.00 pfs: Graph 94.00 pfs: Write 94.00 SPINNAKER™ up to 30% off STONEWARE D.B. Master Advanced 449.00 SUPERSOFT Personal Database 90.00 VISICORP CALL IBM HARDWARE AMDEK MAI Board 519.00 AST Call HAYES Smartmodem 1200B /SCII 439.00 KOALA™ Graphic Tablet 109.00 KRAFT Joystick 49.00 Paddle 39.00 MICROSOFT-' Mouse 149.00 System Card 64K 295.00 System Card 256K 465.00 QUADRAM Quadlink Quadboard 64K Ouadboard II 64K Quad 512 plus 64K Quad 512 plus 256K Quad 512 plus 512K 64K Ram Chips Quadchrome Quadscreen TG Paddles Joy Stick Track Ball WICO Joy Stick MODEMS 485.00 285.00 285.00 265.00 420.00 675.00 79.00 519.00 1,595.00 39.00 4900 49.00 59.00 HAYES® Micromodem II w/SC I (II) 249.00 SMartcom I (II) 89.00 Smartmodem 1200B w/SCII (PC) 439.00 Smartcom II (PC) 89.00 Smartmodem 1200 (RS232) 499.00 Smartmodem 300 (RS232) 205.00 Chronograph (RS232) 189.00 NOVATION Apple Cat II (300B) (II) 269.00 212 Apple Cat II (300/1200B) (II) 559.00 212 Apple Cat II Upgrade Kit 319.00 Cat (300B) (RS232) 139.00 D-Cat (300B) (RS232) 159.00 J-Cat (300B) (RS232) 109.00 Smart Cat 103 (300B) (RS232) 199.00 Smart Cat 103/212 (RS232) 409.00 212 Auto Cat(RS232) 569.00 SSM Modemcard w/SOURCE II 259.00 Transmodem 1200 (II) 499.00 AIO-2 Ser/Par Interface 169.00 MONITORS AMDEK Video 300 Video 300A Color I Color I plus Color II Color III Color IV DVM Interface (II) DVM Interface (lie) NEC 12" Green JB1201 12" Color JC1215 12" RGB JC1203 (PC) JC1203 to PC Cable PGS HX-12 QUADRAM Quadchrome Quadscreen TAXAN 13" Color 12" Green 12" Amber RGB Vision 1 12" Lo RGB Vision 3 12" Hi PRINTERS 135.00 149.00 289.00 319.00 439.00 389.00 895.00 169.00 169.00 159.00 299.00 559.00 24.00 539.00 519.00 1,595.00 319.00 145.00 149.00 319.00 559.00 EPSON FX 80/100 OKIDATA Complete Line DISKETTES DYSAN» 5'A" SS/SD 5V<" SS/DD 5V<" DS/DD Plastic Box Add CALL CALL 32.00 37.00 43.00 1.50 TERMS'. Add 3% for shipping & handling. $3.00 minimum. Allow 2 weeks for checks to clear. Add 6% for Calif. Sales Tax. Add 2% to total for Visa & Master/Charge. All sales final for software, accessories & diskettes. Defective Hardware, Monitors, Printers returns must be within 10 working days of purchase accompanied by RMA # for exchange only. Apple is the Registered Trademark of Apple Computer Inc. IBM is the Registered Trademark of International Business Machines Corp. ORDER DESK: National: 1-800-821-4381 Calif: 1-800-421-3245 Product Support: (805) 683-1779 Local Orders: (805) 683-3006 STORE HOURS: M-F 9-6pm, Sat. 9-5pm ORDER HOURS: Mon.-Sat. 8-6:30pm circle so on inquiry card. Circle 345 on inquiry card. SUNNY LOW LOW COST POWER SUPPLIES (LINEAR & SWITCHING) FOR S-100, DISK DRIVES NO. 806 & NO. 516 Mainframes Kit 1, 2 & 3 for S-100 R 2 , R 3 for 2 Drives(Floppy&Hard) S-100 & DISK POWER SUPPLIES: open frame, assy. & tested, 6 outputs, adju. & fuses protect. ITEM -I- 5V OVP ~ 5V (° r - l2v > I 24V(OR + 12V) + 8V ±16V SIZ E W x D x H PRICE 5A 1A 5-7A PEAK 13A 3A 10" x 6" x 5" 105.95 3A 8%" x 5" x 4%" 95.95 ^ST 12 SLOT & 2 FLOPPY ( 1 Floppy & 1 Hard Disk) S4 6 SLOT & 2 FLOPPY 4A 1A 4-5A PEAK 8A DISK POWER SUPPLIES: open frame, assy. & tested, regulated, adjustable & fuses protect. ITEM IDEAL FOR +5V OVP -5V(or-12V) + 24V (or + 12V) +8VUnreg. +12V SIZE W x D x H PRIC E S^brS-IOt^Onves 2.5A 2.5A - 5A Peak 4A 1A 3A - 5A Peak 6A 1A 6A - 8A Peak 6A 1A 6A - 8A Peak 2A 1A R 2 x 8" SLIMLINE R, 2 x 8" or 2 x 5V4" DISK R 2 [3x8" (or 5V4") FLOPPY] R3 [or 1x Floppy & 1x Hard] AC & DC POWER CABLES WITH CONNECTOR FOR 2 DRIVES 8.00 S-100 POWER SUPPLY KITS (open frame with base plate, 3 hrs. assy, time) ITEM (IDEAL FOR) +8V -8V t- 16V 16V +28V SIZE: WxDxH PRICE 5" x 4" x 4" 8" x 4" x 3%" 10" x 4 7 /e" x 3%' 9" x 6V4" x 4%" 51.95 56.95 71.95 98.95 KIT 1 KIT 2 KIT 3 15 CARDS 20 CARDS DISK SYSTEM 15A 25A 15A 2.5A 3A 3A 2.5A 3A 3A 5A 12"x5"x4%" 12"x5"x4 7 /a" 13'/ 2 " x 5" x 4'/a" 54.95 61.95 69.95 6 SLOT MAINFRAME assy & tested only $399^95 $299.95 + shipping $ia oo EACH MAINFRAME (ITEM NO. 806 OR 516) CONTAINS: EMI FILTER • FUSE HOLDER • AC POWER CORD • POWER SWITCH & INDICATOR • RESET SWITCH • 4V4" COOLING FAN • S-100 BUS 6 SLOT CARD CAGE • (110/220 VAC. 50/60 HZ.) POWER SUPPLY FOR DISK DRIVES & S-100 SLOTS • 2 EA DC POWER CABLES WITH CONNECTOR AND MOUNTING HARDWARE FOR DISK DRIVES • 9 EA. CUT-OUTS; 7 FOR DB25 CONNECTOR 1 FOR 50 PIN CONNECTOR S 1 FOR CENTRONICS • CUSTOM FINISH & LOGO-LESS • COMPACT SIZE • LIGHTWEIGHT. 28 LBS. ITEM #806 FOR 2 EA 8THINLINE FLOPPY (TANDON TM848- 1 & 848-2 OR EQUIV). OR ONE HARD DISK, POWER SUPPLY: +8V/8A. +16V/3A. . 5V/5A OVP. 5V/1A & 24V/5A SIZE: 12' (W) X 19 5 (D) X 9.8'(H). SHIPPING FOR EA. PWR SUPPLY: $5.50 IN CALIF.; $8.00 IN OTHER STATES;$18.00 IN CANADA. FOR EA. TRANSFORMER: $5.00 IN ALL STATES; $12.00 IN CANADA. CALIF. RESIDENTS ADD 6.5% SALES TAX. DEALER g INQUIRIES H INVITED No. 806 Mainframe >?P MAILING ADDRESS: pgjP I P.O. BOX 4296 TORRANCE, CA 90510 TELEX: 182558 SUNNY INTERNATIONAL (TRANSFORMERS MANUFACTURER) (213) 328-2425 MON-SAT 9-6 SHIPPING ADDRESS: 22129Vz S. VERMONT AVE TORRANCE, CA 90502 * * * The GRAY MARKET We don't play games Lowest Prices Anwhere! Here is why: 1. Low Advertising Budget 2. Large Volume Buying 3. No Support 4. No Repair Service Our advertising budget is kept low, we sell in large volume and you benefit by getting the best prices anywhere. You may use Visa, MasterCard, American Express or prepay (cashier's check or money order). We carry so many products that we are unable to list them all. However, call us for your specific needs. We have listed examples of some of our products and prices. Believe it or not, all our prod- ucts are priced the same. ALL PRODUCTS ARE NEW IN SEALED CONTAINERS IF YOU WANT THE LOWEST AND BEST PRICES CALL US (714) 557-3934 * ■¥■ COMPUTERS ALTOS $C»LL VIC 20 SCALL COLOMBIA JCALL CORONA SCALL NORTH STAR SCALL FRANKLIN SCALL DEC RAINBOW SCALL TELEVIDEO SCALL SANYO SCALL TEXAS INSTRUMENT SCALL ZENITH SCALL PIED PIPER SCALL Z0RBA SCALL PRINTERS - DOT MATRIXES EPSON FX-80 S5I9.00 0KIDATA92A $429.00 STAR MICRONICS SCALL C ITH0 SCALL PROWRITER SCALL IDS SCALL DATASOUTH SCALL ANADEX SCALL NEC SCALL TOSHIBA SCALL RITEMAN SCALL MANNSMAN TALLY SCALL OLIVETTE SCALL RIK0 SCALL LETTEA QUALITY BROTHER HR-1 559.00 DYNAX DX-15 $449.00 C0MREX SCALL NEC SCALL DIABLO SCALL QUME SCALL C ITH0 SCALL STARWRITER SCALL SILVER REED SCALL JUKI $CALL MONITORS AMDEK COLOR I .... SCALL NEC SCALL ZENITH SCALL SANYO SCALL TAXAN SCALL USI SCALL C0MREX SCALL GORILLA SCALL MODEMS HAYES 300 BAUD . . . SCALL NOVATIONS SCALL SIGNALMAN SCALL TERMINALS TELEVIDEO 925 SCALL QUME SCALL ZENITH SCALL AMPEX DIALOG SCALL TERMIFLEX SCALL DISC DRIVES SHUGART $CALL TANDON SCALL SIEMANS SCALL REMEX SCALL RANA $CALL C0MMAD0R 64 DRI . . SCALL APPLE PERIPHERALS GRAPPLER PLUS... S1 15.00 MICROTEK JCALL OTHER PARALLEL INTERFACES SERIAL INTERFAC... SCALL 80 COLUMN CARDS.. SCALL CPM CARDS SCALL 16K RAM CARDS SCALL LANGUAGE CARDS ... SCALL APPLE DISK DRIV . . . SCALL BUFFERS SCALL COMPLETE STOCK OF CABLES SCALL IBM PERIPHERALS RAM CARDS SCALL QUADRAM SCALL RAYTRONICS SCALL AST SCALL COLOR MONITORS SCALL 10 MEGA BYTE HA .... SCALL GRAPHICS CARDS SCALL DISC DRIVES SCALL MODEMS SCALL COMMADOR 64 - VIC 20 PERIPHERALS DIS DRIVES SCALL MONITORS SCALL INTERFACES SCALL CARDCO SCALL THE CONNECTION .. .. SCALL SOFTWARE SCALL PAPERCLIP SCALL DATA 20 SCALL WORD PLUS SCALL EXPANSION BOARD . .. SCALL PLOTTERS HEWLETT PACKARD . .. SCALL BAUSCH & LOMB SCALL AMDEX SCALL BMC SCALL STROBE SCALL HARD DISC DRIVES SWITCH BOXES ACCESSORIES DUST COVERS S7.95 PRINT WHEELS SCALL RIBBONS SCALL DISKETTE CASES SCALL SURGE PROTECTOR SCALL DISKETTES DS/DD - 10 ea IZ8 ' 95 494 BYTE February 1984 Circle 156 on inquiry card. TOLL FR : 1-800-545-2 .33 - Continental U.S. 77 TRADE YOUR 5V*" DRIVE SGL SIDBDBL DEN FOR DBL SIDE/ DBL DEN DRIVE $75.00 ALLOWANCE DBL SIDE/DBL DEN FOR 2 EA (TM100-2) FOR 1/2 HGT DBL SIDE/DBL DEN DRIVES $175.00 ALLOWANCE • IBM ACCESSORIES AST Combo Plus (Serial/Par/CLK 64 to 256K) 249.00 Six Pak Plus (Serial/Par/CLK 64K Expands to 384K) . 289.00 Meg-A-Plus(Serlal/CLK/64K Expands to 256K) 269.00 Meg-A-Pak (Expands Meg-A-Plus to 512K) 269.00 I/O Plus (SP) 129.00 PC-Net (with Shared User Software) 556.00 PC-Net Starter Kit 1,192.00 AST-5251 (Allows connection of IBM PC to System 340038) 700.00 MANY OTHER OPTIONS AVAILABLE. ASHTONTATE D-Base II 400.00 Bottom Line Strategist 279.00 Financial Planner 499.00 Friday 189.00 D.C. HAYES Smartmodem 1200B-Smartcom 2 software included 429.00 Smartcom 2-Telecomputive for 300/1200 on disk. . . . 89.00 LOTUS DEVELOPMENT Lotus 1-2-3(on disk) 369.00 KRAFT Joy Stick 47.50 Paddle (pair) 37.00 KEYTRONICS Enhance your PC-with a superior keyboard 210.00 M P I B-52 (DS/DD) 320K 210.00 MAYNARD Floppy Controller 155.00 Floppy Controller (Serial) 225.00 Floppy Controller (PAR) 205.00 Sandstar MOD-FDC MODULAR (for 5 V, " or 8" drives) . . 200.00 ADDONS FOR Pararrel MOD 60.00 SANDSTAR Serial-MOD 79.00 MOD-FDC Clock Calendar MOD .... 69.00 Game Adapter MOD 49.00 Sandstar Multi-Function Bd (Holds up to 6 modular add-ons 82.00 PLANTRONICS COLOR PLUS Color + Color Display Card (16 colors) 395.00 PRINCETON GRAPHICS PGS HX12-Hi-Res Color, The Best 469.00 OUADRAM Quadlink— Allows Apple Software to be used in IBM PC HAS 64K Ram-Game Port Display Gen-Disk Intf. w/software 489.00 Quadboard 2— 64K Ram (expands to 256K) 2 Ser Port CLK and software 289.00 Quadboard — 64K (expands to 256K) Par and Serial Port CLK and software 289.00 Quad 512 — 64 Ram (expands to 512K) Serial Port and software 259.00 Quadchrome — Color Monitor 489.00 Tilt Table 40.00 Chronograph Clk/Calendar BD 229.00 SHUGART DISK DRIVES SA455L-1/2 HGT 320 K DS/DD w/BRACKETS . . . 225.00 ea. 440.00 for 2 ea. TANDON DISK DRIVES TM100-2A 320K DS/DD 225.00 TM55-2 1/2 HGT 320 K DS/DD w/BRACKETS . . . 249.00 ea. 440.00 for 2 * APPLE/FRANKLIN ACCESSORIES ALS CPM 3.0 Card 289.00 Z-Card II 139.00 ASHTONTATE D-Base II 400.00 ASTAR RF Modulator 19.00 COOL TIME Fan, Clock, Surge Protector 80.00 GENERIC Z-80 Card (Emulates Micro-Soft) 99.00 80 Col. Video (Videx Compatible) 99.00 80 Col. Video w/Soft Switch 125.00 Joystick 20.00 E-Prom Writer 79.00 Pararell Interface 49.00 Pararell Interface w/Graphics 65.00 16K Ram Card 40.00 RF Modulator 13.00 HAYES Joy Sticks 29.00 Micro-Modem II 259.00 Micro-Model II w/terminal package 279.00 KENSINGTON System Saver/Fan & Surge Pro 75.00 KOALA TECH Koala Gr/Tablet w/Software 89.00 KRAFT Joystick for II E 44.00 LOTUS DEVELOPMENT Executive Briefing System 139.00 MICRO-MAX View Max 80 (80 Col for II +) 139.00 View Max 80E (80 Col W/64K Memory Exp to 128K) . 129.00 MICROTEK Dumpling 64K7lnterface and Graphics 64K Buffer . . 235.00 Dumpling GX-P/Par Interface Card and Cable 99.00 Parallel Interface Board (RV611C) 61.00 BAM 16 (16K Add-on Memory) 45.00 NOVATION Apple Cat II w/software 269.00 212 Apple Cat 625.00 Handset 29.00 ORANGE MICRO Grappler + (Graphics Interface) 119.00 Grappler + 16K (Buffer and 5 to64K) 175.00 Buffer Board 135.00 PRINCETON GRAPHICS Interface Card allows use of HX12Color Monitor .. 156.00 QUADRAM RAM 80— 80 Col 64K card 119.00 APIC— Par Intf. card 60.00 APIC/G— Par Intf. w/Graphlcs 65.00 CPI— 8' Cable (APIC to Cen. Printer) 34.00 APIC III— Par Printer Intf. for Apple w/8' Cable 95.00 TG PRODUCTS Joystick— For Apple II + 38.00 Paddles 29.00 Selecta Port 38.00 VIDEX Ultraterm 279.00 Videterm 189.00 VISTA A800 Floppy Controller for 8" Drives 300.00 A-800-1 Cable 27.00 * APPLE DISK DRIVES ALL DRIVES 1 YR. WARRANTY Vista Solo (35TR) 189.00 Micro-Sci A-2 (35TR) 209.00 Mlcro-Sci A-40 (40TR) 269.00 Micro-Sci A-70 (Quad) 329.00 Micro-Sci Controller 70.00 Rana Elite I 249.00 Rana Elite II 399.00 Rana Elite III 509.00 Rana Controller 85.00 Super 5 "THINLINE"/ size 163K40TR Green 189.00 Super 5 "THINLINE" Vi size 163K 40TR (TEAC DIRECT DRIVE) Red 225.00 •ATARI KRAFT Joy Stick 15.00 PERCOM AT 88 SS/DD Disk Drive w/Prlnter Port . . . 499.00 RANA Rana 1000— SS/DD Disk Drive 379.00 TRAK AT-D2 SS/DD Disk Drive 379.00 •COMMODORE STAR Star Gemini Interface to VIC 20 + CMD64 . . . 65.00 DOW JONES Dow Jones Invest/Evaluator 125.00 KRAFT Joystick 15.00 KOALA Koala GR/Tablet w/software (specify VIC20 or CMD64) 99.00 *KAPRO II - IV Sprinter K (5MHZ Speed-up) 99.00 K-Clock (Batt Backup Clk/Cal) 99.50 Video Output BD-(allows use of video monitor) .... 125.00 Kaypro II Upgrade Disk Drives (DS/DD) 239.00 (Trade In Allowance S75 for SS/DD Drive) •TI-PROFESSIONAL LOTUS 1-2-3 369.00 QUADRAM TI-64 64K Ram Card 206.00 QUADRAM TI-92 192K Ram Card 339.00 •WESPER WIZARD BPO (Same as Grappler + 16K Specify Printer) 149.00 WIZARD IPI (Same as Grappler + Specify Printer) . . 89.00 WIZARD EBO (Internal Buffer for Epson) 109.00 WIZARD 80 COI/64K For II E 139.00 WIZARD 80 Col/ For II + .^ 139.00 * TOLL FREE 1-800-545-2633 CONTINENTAL U.S. Circle 158 on inquiry card. TheL Computer Company, Inc. Retail Sales ^V 123 East 200 South Salt Lake City, Utah 84111 RetallHour* Monday-Friday 10 AM to 8 PM Saturday 10 AM to 5 PM Retail Phone -3844057 tiitamm SUPERMARKET DEALS ■ TOLL FREE 1-800-545-2633 - Continental U.S. MINIMUM SHIPPING $3.00 • NO SURCHARGE ON VISA/MASTERCHARGE SHUGART 5V<" SA400(35TR) 160K 169.00 5'/i"SA400L(40TR)190K 189.00 5'/<"SA455L(40TR)320K 1 /! HGT 225.00 8" SA801R(SS/DD) 600 K 355.00 QUME 5V<" 142 (40TR) 320 K Vi HGT 225.00 8" DT8 (842) 490.00 MITSUBISHI 5 '/< " M-4853 Vi size 96 TPI same as TM 100-4 410.00 M289&63 (DS/DD) 220V 449.00 8"M-289fr63 Thinline 8" DS/DD 1.2 MG 419.00 8" M-2894-63 (1 10V) STD 8" DS/DD 1.2 MG . . . 399.00 CDC 5V<" 9409-DS/DD 225.00 TAN DON 5VTM100-1 SS/DD 160K 150.00 5%"TM100-2AOS/DDf320/<; FOR IBM-PC 225.00 TM101-4(96TPI Quad Den) 339.00 8" TM848-2 (DS/DD) 1.2 MG 425.00 SIEMAN'S 8"FD100-8(SS/DD)110V801 R 169.00 8" FD1 00-8 (SS/DD) 220V Compatible 199.00 MP) 5V< ' - B-51 40TR SS/DD 180 K 145.00 • AC SURGE ELIMINATORS Grizzly (200W) uninterruptible power system + surge protection 750.00 Grizzly (500W) uninterruptible power system + surge protection 1,802.00 Hawk AC power monitor w/surge protection .... 160.41 Lemon (6AC outlets-3 prong) 44.00 Lime (5'-3 prong pwr cord w/on-off switch 69.00 Orange-AC surge + EMI (liter (6 outlets) 95.00 Peach (3 outlets) AC surge/EMI filter 69.00 • DATA CABLES B"DSC 88-2SKT-1or 2-8" drvs w/skt. conn 20.00 5V<"DSC55-2SKT-for1-5 1 /<"dvsw/skt.conn 20.00 RS232MM-5' (male to male) 19.00 IBM to PAR 32.00 Osborne to PAR 32.00 Kaypro to PAR 32.00 OKI-Data Serial 24.00 • CONNECTORS RS232 Connectors SOLDER TYPE DB25P 2.50 S-100 Connectors . 10/25.00 DB25S 3.00 DE9P 2.00 DB25 Hood 1.00 DE9 Hood 1.00 * DISK DRIVE CABINETS 8" CABINETS 8" DDC88V28 w/PS vertical tor 2-8" drives 269.00 8" DDC88T-1 w/PS vertical-tor 2 or 4-8" thinline drives 269.00 8" DDC88T-2 w/PS vertical for 2 8" thinline drives 200.00 8" DDC8V w/PS vertical for 1 8" drive 249.00 8" DDC88H w/PS horizontal for 2-8" drives 269.00 5V." CABINETS 5V«"DDC5H w/PS horizontal-for 1-5 '/."drive 55.00 5'/i"DDC5Vw/PSvertical-for1 ea.5'/4"drive 65.00 5V4"DDC55Vw/PSvertlcalfor2-5'/4 drives(NEW) 85.00 ■ • DISKETTES FOR APPLE, ETC. 5 'A" Soft Sector SS/DD 17.00/10 For IBM PC & PARTNERS lor Oty of 100 (1 5% Discount) 5% "Soft Sector DS/DD 24.00/10 CENTECH Color code your files: 5 colors In each pkg. (Red, Yellow, Blue, Green, Brown) 5'/<"Sglslde/dblden 23.00/10 BV4" Dblside/dblden 30.00/10 5V«" 10 sector 24.00/10 5V«" 16 sector 24.00/10 8" Sgl side/dbl den 30.00/10 8" Dbl side/dbl den 40.00/10 • MAXELL Sgl.slde/dbl.den5V4" 24.00 Dbl. side/dbl. den 5 V." 36.00 Dbl. side/quad den S'/T 45.00 MEMOREX, TDK, VERBATIM CALL • DISKETTE STORAGE AA-5 'A (Holds 82 Disks) 17.00 AA-8 (Holds 82 Disks) 26.00 Smoked Plexiglass Disk Tubs LIBRARY CASES CAS-5V4" 2.50 CAS-8" 3.00 Color Burst (Pack of 5) 12.00 FLIP "N" FILE Flip "N" File 25-5V4" (holds 25) w/lock 21.00 Flip "N" File 50-5 'A (holds 50) w/lock 27.95 Flip "N" File "Original-5" (holds 50) 21.00 Flip "N" File "Original 8" (holds 50) 29.95 Colors Available; color burst assl., beige, black, blue, red, gray • E-PROM ERASERS QUV-T8/1 H (hobby) 49.95 QUV-T8/2I (Industrial version) 68.95 QUV-T8/2P (w/timer & safety switch) 97.50 • DISK SUB ASSEMBLY OUR BEST BUY'S 8" SUB ASSEMBLY DDS + O 2EA SS/DD Siemens FD100-8 Drives w/cabinet 595.00 DDS + 2 2EA DS/DD Mitsubishi M2894-63 w/cablnet 1,075.00 DDS + 4 3EA DS/DD 8" Thinline Drives w/cablnet 1,150.00 Specify — Vertical or Horizontal Cabinet 5'/4" SUB ASSEMBLY DDS + 5 1EA SS/DD Disk Drive (SA400L) 239.00 DDS + 6 2EA SS/DD Disk Drive (SA400L) 489.00 • MODEMS Hayes Smart 300 219.00 Hayes Smart 1200 499.00 Multi-Tech MT 21 2 AD (1200/300) 475.00 Novation J-Cat 300 119.00 U.S. Robotics 212A Auto Dial 469.00 U.S. Robotics (300/1200) Password 375.00 • VIDEO DISPLAY MONITORS GREEN BMC12AU(15MHZ)80Col/12" 80.00 Dynax GM 120 (20 MHZ) HI-Res/80 Col/12" 129.00 SakataSC-1000 (18 MHZ) 80 Col/12" 119.00 USI PI-1 (20 MHZ) Hi-Res/9" 119.00 USI PI-2(20 MHZ) Hi-Res/12" 129.00 AMBER Dynax AM121 (20 MHZ) HI-Res/80 Col/12" 139.00 USI PI-4 (20 MHZ) HI-Res/80 Col/9" 125.00 USI PI-3I20 MHZ) Hi-Res/80 Col/12" 129.00 COLOR Amdek 1-12" Composite (For Apple) 259.00 Amdekll-12"-RGB(ForlBM-PC)w/audlo 429.00 Amdek I + Composite w/audio 275.00 Princeton HX-12-RGB(ForlBM-PC) 469.00 SakataSC-100-13" Composite (For All) 260.00 SakataSC-200-RGB(ForAII) 489.00 • CARD CAGES/MOTHER BOARDS • MAINFRAMES 'IEEE-696-No termination required w/card bare card Slots Bare Bd A + T cage cage 4 15.00 40.00 60.00 20.00 6 20.00 48.00 70.00 22.00 8 25.00 69.00 100.00 31.00 12 30.00 99.00 140.00 41.00 18 45.00 150.00 200.00 50.00 22 60.00 185.00 — 75.00 All card cages will accommodate a 4" fan Add $20.00 for 1 fan-Add $30.00 for 2 fans • SIERRA DATA SDS-SBC-100-Z80 (4mhz) master 2 serial 2 par/floppy controller/64k ram .... $655.00 SDS-SBC-100S4mhs slave/2 serial 2 par/64kram $565.00 SDS-ZSIO/4-4 serial port I/O bd $250.00 SDS-MUX-RS232 multiplexer bd $235.00 SDS-HDI-M-Hard disk bd for micropolis $129.00 SDS-CPM/B105-cp/m for SBC100 w/BIOS $150.00 SDS-Turbodos-Multi-user for master & slaves $645.00 For 2 Standard 8" Drives MF + DD6 (6 slot M/B) 575.00 MF+ DD8(8slot M/B) 625.00 MF+DD12(12slotM/B) 675.00 For 2 Thinline 8" Drives IMF + DD6F 300.00 For 2-5V4" Disk Drives MF+MD12(12 slot M/B) 560.00 Standard Plain Front MF+ 12 (12 slot M/B) 499.00 MF + 22(22slot M/B) 550.00 All mainframes except IMF + DD6F have EMI filter, 2 AC outlets, 15 ea. DB25, 2 ea. 50 pin, 2 ea. 34 pin, 1 ea. Centronic cutouts, power supply for 8" MF(-5V1A/ + 5V6A/ + 8V16A/ ±16V3A/ + 24V6A) • CLOCK/CALENDAR S-100»Time in hrs, min, sec.«AM/PM or Military Format'Date in Mo., Day, Yr, Day of Week & Leap Year recognition^ hard interrupts (1024 Hz, 1 Hz, 1 min, 1 hr) • On board battery (will last 14 mos. w/no power on) QTC-CCS-BB (S-100) $45.00 QTC-CCS-A(A +T) for S-100 $100.00 S-100 PRODUCTS • CQMPUTIMBQT BARE BD. SET * COMPUPRO PN-2048 Best Bare Board Set Available QTC-SBC 2/4 CPU (SBC 880) QTC-EXP + III 256K (CT256) Memory bd./Expandable to 1MG QTC-FDC 5/8 Floppy disk controller Bare Board Set $150.00 1) Includes manuals & assembly instructions 2) Parts available 3) Monitor S B10S available. Add $30.00. • CPU/MEM/I/O QTC-SBC 2/4 BB (SBC880) QTC-SBC 2/4 A A + T (SBC880) QTC-Z + 80BB(BIGZ) DYNAMIC (64K/256K or 1 MEG) QTC-EXP + III Bare Bd. (CT256) QTC-EXP + III64KA + T(CT256) QTC-I/O + BB 2 SEP, 2 PAP, A + T QTC-I/O + A + T QTC-ADAAOAConverlerA + T QTC-Dual GPIB-488 IEEE 488 Intfc. bd. $50.00 $265.00 $28.00 $75.00 $375.00 . $75.00 $300.00 $400.00 $795.00 20 Slot MB CALL CPU 8085/88 CALL CPU 8086/8087 CALL Disk I CALL CPM 2.2 for Disk I CALL Disk II CALL Ram 16-64K CALL Ram 17-64K CALL Ram 21-128K CALL Interfacer 1 CALL Interfacer 2 CALL Interfacer 3 CALL Interfacer 4 CALL System Support I CALL Active Terminator CALL Enclosure 2 (Desk) CALL Enclosure 2 (Rack MT) CALL CPU-Z CALL M-Drive H CALL 6 Slot MB CALL 12 Slot MB CALL CPU 68K CALL Circle 159 ort inquiry card. S CUSTOMER SERVICE J? DAVID " w " n " 1-801 -972*2739 The Great Salt Lake — j. Computer Company, Inc. ^801^972^717" Retail Sales 123 £ast 200 South Salt Lake City, Utah 84111 Retail Hours Monday-Friday 10 AM to PM Saturday 10 AM to 5 PM Retail Phone -384-0057 ^ffl ^ft MB N i 1 -£!■ I SUPERMARKET SERVICE BE SEP 8 YEARS (1976) EXPERIENCE IN COMPUTER MAIL ORDER BUSINESS CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS SAVE 6% SALES TAX • ALPHACOM • FOR ATARI, COMMODORE orTI. • 40 or 80 COL. • 80CPS • FULL CHARACTER SETS • LIGHT WT. 4 TO 6 LBS. • GRAPHICS • FRICTION FEED ALPHACOM 42 (40 col) w/lntorface 89.00 ALPHACOM 81 (80 col) w/lnteriace 149.00 40 COL PAPER (per roll) 2.80 80 COL PAPER (per roll) 4.50 • BROTHER HR-1 A 17CPS Daisywheel 3K Buff 550.00 HR-1A 17 CPS Daisywheel 3K Buff 589.00 • CENTRONICS 351 P— 200CPS, Par 1 00 CPS CORR 1 ,795.00 60B5P— 6O0CPS, Par w/cabinet 6,500.00 6085S— 6O0CPS, Serial w/cabinet 7,000.00 6085IBM— 6O0CPS w/cabinet 7,500.00 358 3 or 4 Automatic cut sheet feeder 695.00 • DATA-SOUTH DS 180 180CPS/Serial or Par/Tractor 1,400.00 • DAISYWRITER Daisywriter2000-48K Buffer/20T040CPS LTR/Par . 1,095.00 Daisywriter Cable 40.00 Daisywrlter Tractor 140.00 • DIABLO 620 (25CPS/Serial) 920.00 630 (40CPS/Multi-IF) 1,790.00 630 ECS/IBM 2,100.00 DYNAX Dynax-15 Par-13CPS Daisywheel 2 color PTG-3K buff 475.00 Dyanx 15 Serial-13CPS Daisywheel 525.00 + EPSON FX80 (160 CPS-Par 10") CALL FX100(160CPS-Par15") CALL • C. ITOH Pro-writer I (8510A) Par 120 CPS 350.00 Pro-writer I (8510A) Serial 120 CPS 529.00 Pro-writer II Parallel-15" 669.00 86O0(180CPS)ParorSerial18PIN90CPSLTR. . . 1,099.00 F-1040CPS/Diablo/Par or Serial 1,125.00 F-1055CPS/Diablo/Par or Serial 1,425.00 • APPLE/FRANKLIN APPLE II E Starter— Includes CPU 1 F.D. Monitor and Stand 1,395.00 FRANKLIN 1000 w/color 799.00 FRANKLIN 1200 Starter includes CPU 1 F.D. 80 col 1,625.00 FRANKLIN 1200 OMS includes CPU-2 F.D. and bundled software 1,825.00 • IBM'PC TYPES COLUMBIA (1600-1) 16 bit 128K Ram 2 ea. 320K Disk Drive-2 SER, 1 PAR, Key Bd. 8 slots, Display Cd., bundled software 2,775.00 IBM P.C. 16 bit 64K Ram 2 ea. 320 K Disk Drive, Princeton HG12X-ColorCard 3,395.00 EAGLE PC-2 16 bit 128K Ram 2 ea. 320K Disk Drive 12" Green (HH-Res) bundled software ... 2,650.00 EAGLE PORTABLE 16 bit 128K Ram 1 F.D./10 MG HD/ Green Screen MS-DOS 210 bundled software . . 4,000.00 • KAYPRO KAYPRO II w/bundled software 1,475.00 KAYPRO 4 w/bundled software 1,795.00 KAYPR0 10 w/bundled software 2,695.00 • MOLECULAR SYSTEMS MICRO 10-8 CPU 1 ea. 8" F.D.— 1 ea. 10 MB HD-64K Ram expands to 256K up to 8 users w/additional application processors— CP/M and CP/M 86 CALL MICRO 15-8 CPU 1 ea. 8" F.D.— 1 ea. 15 PRINTERS • GENERAL ELECTRIC Demand Document Printers 3400— 400CPS Serial/Tractor to 60 100 CPS Corr. 2,175.00 3404— 400CPS Serial/Tractor 100CPSCorr 2,459.00 • JUKI 6100-18 CPS/Diablo Compatible Par/Daisywheel . . . 569.00 • MANNESMAN-TALLY Spirit 80CPS Par 10" 330.00 160L(160CPC-40CPS LTR 10") 589.00 180L(160CPS-40CPS LTR 15") 829.00 • MPI MPI-Portable Sprinter/160CPS/IBM Port/4K Buff, up to 64K 100 CPS CORR. Keyed avlb CALL MPI-99G (9") Par CALL MPM50BI(15")Par2KBuffw/Graphics CALL MPI150AI(15")Par4KBuffw/Graphics CALL MPM50AI(15")Par16KBuffw/Graphics CALL • NEC NEC2010 20CPS Serial Daisywheel 950.00 NEC2015 20CPS Diablo Comp Daisywheel 950.00 NEC2030 20CPS Par Daisywheel 950.00 NEC2050 20CPS for IBM Daisywheel 1,050.00 NEC3510 35CPS Par Daisywheel 1,595.00 NEC3550 35CPS IBM 1,850.00 NEC7710 55CPS Serial Daisywheel 1,995.00 NEC7715 55CPS Diablo Comp Daisywheel 1,995.00 NEC8023A 100CPS-Par-Graphics-10" 389.00 NEC8025A 100CPS Par Graphics 15" 699.00 Serial Card 139.00 • OLYMPIA Typewriter/Printer Daisywheel 14 CPS 649.00 • OKI-DATA 2350— 350CPS 2 color tractor CALL 2410P 350CPS 2 color tractor CALL Microline62A(SER & PAR-120CPS 10") CALL Microline83A(SER&PAR-120CPS15") CALL Microline92(PAR-160CPS-LTR-10") CALL Microline93(PAR-160CPS-LTR-15") CALL Microline84P(PAR-200QPS-LTR-15") CALL Microline84S(SER-200CPS-LTR-15") CALL • STAR MICRONICS Gemini 10X NEWVERSION (PAR-120CPS-10") CALL Gemini 15X(PAR-120CPS-15") CALL Gemini Delta 10 (Par-160CPS-10"8K buffer serial) . . CALL • SILVER REED EXP550P-17CPSDaisywheel-PAR 669.00 EXP550S-17CPS Daisywheel-Serial 699.00 • TOSHIBA P-1350(192CPS-120CPSLTR PAR or Serial) CALL • TRANSTAR 120 P 14CPS Par Diablo Comp 479.00 315 Color Printer 500CPS Par 489.00 PRINTER ACCESSORIES • DIABLO Diablo 620-Uni-Direct Tractor 110.00 Diablo 620-Sheet Feeder 720.00 Diablo 630-BI-Direct Tractor 275.00 Diable 630-Tractor Sound Cover 29.00 Diablo 630-SGL Sheet Feeder 775.00 Diablo 630-DBL Sheet Feeder 1,395.00 • JUKI-6100 Serial Interface 55.00 Bi-Dir Tractor 120.00 Unl-DirTractor 90.00 • MANNESMAN-TALLY Factory Quick Tear 230.00 Auto Front Feed 1,150.00 • NEC Thimbles 20.00 Vertical Tractor 219.00 Horizontal 152.00 Bl-Dir. Tractor 330.00 Cut Sheet Feeder 1,100.00 • OKI-DATA 84 Cut Sheet Feeder 515.00 82/92 Tractor 55.00 Serial Intf. w/2K Buffer (For 82A) 125.00 Serial Intf. w/2K Buffer (For92& 93) 110.00 Oklgraph I 82A or 83A Graphics ROM 45.00 Oklgraph II 82A or 83A Disk for Apple 55.00 • STAR-MICRONICS Serial Intf. Bd 70.00 Serial Intf. Bd w/2K Buffer 120.00 Commodore 64 Intf. Bd 72.00 • TOSHIBA P-1350 Cut Sheet Feeder 800.00 P-1350 Bi-Dir. Tractor 210.00 SYSTEMS MB HD— 64K Ram expands to 256K up to 8 users w/additional application processors— CP/M and CPM 86 CALL AP 8001— ASYNC/9600 BPS Application Processor 589.00 AP 8003— ASYNC/19.200BPS Application Processor 839.00 AP8011— SYNC/50K BPS 1,079.00 • NEC PC8201A-Portable 2.4 MHZ CPU 16K Ram/Expands to 64K-32K RAM LCD Display— Keybd (67 key-5 function) Modem, Serial and Par Port-FD and Cassette Interface— Uses 4 AA Batt— bundled software 660.00 PC8201A-90— N1 Cad Pak 16.00 PC8221A— Portable Printer 149.00 PC8271A-02— AC Adapter 15.00 • S-100 COMPUPRO 816A 4,250.00 COMPUPRO 816B 5,595.00 COMPUPRO 816C 7,150.00 • TELEVIDEO TS-803 4 MHZ CPU-64K 2 ea. 360K F.D.— Graphics 12" green 1,900.00 TS-1603 5 MHZ CPU-128K 2 ea. 360K F.D.— Graphics 12" Green CP/M 2,400.00 * ADDS Viewpolnt-A1 (White) 509.00 Viewpoint-A2 (Green) 539.00 Viewpoint-3A + (Green) 509.00 Viewpoint 60-Same as Televideo 925 715.00 • QUME QVT-102 80 Col. Green (910 comp) 549.00 QVT-102 80 Col. Amber 560.00 QVT-103 80/132 Col. Green 865.00 QVT-103 80/132 Col. Amber 895.00 QVT-108 80/132 Col. Amber (925 Corp.) 715.00 • TELEVIDEO TV910 529.00 TV910 + 565.00 TV925 w/2nd page memory 715.00 TV950 w/2nd, 3rd, 4th page memory 925.00 TV970 1,019.00 RG1000/TV60 Graphics Upgrade for 925/950 . . . 1,100.00 * WYSE WYSE-100 725.00 WYSE-300 (Color) 1,125.00 TOLL FR! 1-800-545-2633 CONTH Mail Orders P.O. Sox 3150 Salt Lake City, Utan 64110 Monday Friday 8 AM to 6 PM Saturday 10 AM to 5 PM • ■ m ■ Lyco Computer Marketing & Consultants toll free 800-233-8760 TO ORDER CALL US In PA 1 717-327-1824 PRINTER PRINTER PAPER INTERFACING AVAILABLE lAvallabla for IBM PC, Apple, Atari, Vic 20 & Vic 64 SAVE- PRINTERS EPSON OKI DATA LETTER QUALITY SMITH CORON ATP2. . . $449.00 DIABLO 630 ..$1719.00 ALPAHCOM 42 $89.00 ALPHACOM 81 $129.00 NEC 8023 $389.00 NEC 8025 $699.00 NEC PC-8200 COMPUTER $CALL RX-80 $SAVE$ RX-80FT ON FX-80 In-Stock FX-100 EPSON MX-80FT PRINTERS MX-100 $$CALL$$ MANNESMANN TALLY SPIRIT 80 $CALL MT160L $CALL 80 JSAVES 82A CALL for 83A LOWEST 84 PRICES 92 on these 93 In-Stock PACEMARK 2350. . . PRINTERS ATARI 850 REPLACEMENTS IN-STOCK CITOH GORILLA GX1 00 $179.00 PROWRITER 8510 ...$339.00 PROWRITER II $659.00 8600 $1025.00 STARWRITER $1 099.00 PRINTMASTER $1499.00 STAR MICRONTICS GEMINI 10X $269.00 GEMINI 15X $CALL DELTA 10 $479.00 MODEMS ANCHOR MARK I ANCHOR MARK I HAYES SMART .. HAYES MICRO II Micro Bit APP-1OO0 NOVATION I CAT D-CAT J-CAT APPLE CAT II .... 212 APPLE CAT . S79.00 I. S79.00 S-239.00 S309.00 $129.75 S144.00 $155 00 S1 15.00 $279.00 5589.00 MONITORS Sakata Color $229.00 Amdek Color I $275.00 Alndek 300 Green $149.00 Amdek 300 Amber $149.00 Gorilla Green $99.00 CARDCO Cardprinter / L01 $499.00 Cardprint DM1 $109 00 5 Slot Expansion 64 $54.00 64 Write NOW $39.00 64 Mail NOW $29.00 2 j Write NOW $29^00 64 Keypad $29.00 Universal Cass. Int $29.75 Printer Utility $19.75 6 Slot Expansion $79.95 3 Slot Expansion $24 95 PRINTER INTERFACE $39.75 PRINTER INTERFACE with full graphics s6 5 75 LIGHT PEN , 2975 HES64 Sound Box $9.95 64Forth $55.75 Hesmon $25.75 Turtle Graphics $37.75 Heswrlter $28.75 Gridrunner .$19.75 SPINNAKER 64 Kindercomp $21.75 Story Machine $23.75 Face Maker $23.75 Snooper Trooper $29.7 5 Delta Drawing $34.75 Shamus II c/d $24.95 Pinhead c/d $22.95 DUST COVERS BOO $3.99 4O0 $3.99 1200 $3.99 410 $3.99 810 $3.99 1050 $5.99 PROWRITER $5.99 GEMINI 10X $5.99 PERCOM DISK $5.99 tipple SSI Battle of Shilo $26.75 Tigers in the Snow. . . . $26.75 Cosmic Balance $26.75 APPLE DUMPI INT. GX S99 75 APPLE LXJMPUNG 64 II6 Buf1ef)s1 79 75 INFOCOM Zork I. II. or III $26.75 Deadline $33.75 SYNAPSE 64 C O fTl IT"! O Cl O He ZEPPELIN C/D $24.75 BLUE MAX C/D $24.75 DIMENSION X C/D ....$24.75 EPYX 64 ASPHIR $28.75 JUMPMAN JRR $28 75 jPITSTOPR $28.75 ATARI Computers for people." O * Voice Box 2 . $99.75 600XL ...$CALL 800XL for 1400XL... Lowest 1450 Prices 1050 DISK DRIVE . 1010 RECORDER. . SSAVES .$74.75 PARKER BROTHERS Tutankham R $33.75 Super Cobra R $33.75 Astro Chase R $33.75 Frogger R $33.75 B «rt R $33.75 Popeye R $33.75 BRODERBUND 64 BANK STREET WRITER $49.75 CHOPLIFTER $24.75 LODE RUNNER $24.75 DROL $24.75 KOA LA TOUCH-TABLET. .. $69 75 Monkey Wrench 2 $52.75| SPINNAKER Story Machine R ..$26.75 I Face Maker R $24.75 Kinderomp R $20.75 Fraction Fever R . .$24.75 Delta Drawing R. . $26.75 ] BLANK DISKETTES ELEPHANT Single Side SO (10) $17.75 Single Side DD (10) $21.75 Double Side DO (10) $28.75 MAXELL MDM10) $28.75 MDII(10) «3S.75 CERTRON CASSETTES CC-10 12 for $15.00 CC-20 12 for $17.00 INNOVATIVE CONCEPTS Olsk Storage (holds 1 0) .... M. 05 Dlak Storage (holds 1 5) .... $0.05 Disk Storage (holds 50). . . . $26.05 TRAK DISK DRIVES AT-D1 $379.00 AT-D2 $399.00 PRINTER CABLE $22.95 Software for ATD-2 ....$22.95 RAN A DISK DRIVE COMPUTER CARE BIB 5V. DISK DRIVE CLEANER $12.75 COMPUTER CARE KIT $19.75 HARD DISK DRIVES for APPLE IBM-PC 5MEG $1349.00 10MEG ...$1599.00 15MEG ...$1999.00 20MEG ...$2359.00 •Add S Id nil In. TRS HO I), „.••, TEXAS INSTRUMENT Disk Drive... $245.00 FOR ATARI COMPUTERS AT88S1 .. AT88S2 .. AT**S1 PD RFD40S1 . RFD40S2. RFD44S1. ..$299.00 ..$535.00 ..$439.00 ..$399.00 ..$675.00 ..$449.00 AT88 doubler CS TO ORDER CALL TOLL FREE or send order to 800-233-8760 tt°£ZT ■Customer Service 1-717-327-1825 Jersey Shore. PA 1 774C POLICY In-stock items shipped within 24 hours of order. Personal checks require four weeks clearance before shipping. No deposit on CO. D. orders. Free shippingonprepaidcash orders within the continental U.S. PA residents add sales tax. All products subject to availability and price change. Advertised prices show 4% discount offered for cash, add 4% for Master Card or Visa. DEAl rn INQUIRIES INVITED. Circle 224 on inquiry card. DISPLAYED VIDEO IS DRIVING DOWN PRICES ON DISKS! FREE SHIPPING! TEC'S NEW HALF-HIGH 40 TRACK DISK DRIVE A//CASE & POWER SUPPLY AT AN INCREDIBLE LOW PRICE! $195.00!!!!! *JEW! TRUE HALF HEIGHT DRIVES! 1 5/8 INCH NOT 2 INCH OR 2 7/16 INCH! DIRECT DRIVE! NO DRIVE BELT! 3MS TRACK TO TRACK! FEAC's New Slimline 40 Track w/case & power supply $235.00 randon 40 Track TM- 100-1 w/case & power supply $220.00 (DOUBLE SIDED 40 TRACK DRIVES ADD $75.00) ihugart New Slimline Double Sided 40 Track w/case & P.S $299.00 ihugart New Slimline Double Sided 80 Track w/case & P.S $379.00 7andon Single Sided Slimline 8" Disk Drive w/dual case & P.S. . . . $545.00 randon Double Sided Slimline 8" Disk Drive w/dual case & P.S.. . . $625.00 rwo Drive 5 1/4" Cable (for most computers) $23.99 (WITH GOLD PLATED CONNECTORS) )V's Color Computer 1st Drive Only $389.00 ONE YEAR WARRANTY ON TEAC & SHUGART DRIVES/180 DAYS ON TEC & TANDON layes Smart Modem 300 Baud $225.00 1200 Baud $525.00 fodel I Double Density Board $89.00 )Vs Line Filter W/Surge Supression $45.00 diskette File Box "Holds 70 Diskettes" $29.95 PRINTER PRICES 1X80 FT w/Graphtrax Plus. $459.00 Gemini 10 $349.00 1X100 w/Graphtrax Plus . $659.00 Gemini 15 $479.00 X80 w/Graphtrax Plus. . . $389.00 Citoh Prowriter 8510 $395.00 X80 w/Graphtrax Plus. . . $569.00 Starwriter F10 $1169.00 X100 w/Graphtrax Plus. . $779.00 Smith Corona TP1 $595.00 'rinter Cable 10' long w/gold plated connectors starting at $25.99 1 DV'S EXCLUSIVE "YOU CANT LOSE" SIX MONTH WARRANTY! "NO YOU'RE NOT SEEING THINGS, TH 'ATS FOUR INTERNAL DRIVES IN A MODEL 4, WITH UP TO 4 MEG, DISK STORAGE AVAILABLE NOW! DV IS DRIVING DOWN PRICES ON DISK! DISPLAYED VIDEO is now offering TRS-80' MODEL 4 with TANDON/ TEC/TEAC disk drives, one of the most reliable disk drive systems on the market, for INCREDIBLY low prices. MODEL 4 with 64K dual 40 track double density disk drives, complete system with TRSDOS 6.0 and 1 BOX OF DISKETTES PLUG IT IN AND GO $1599.00/128K... $1679.00 MODEL 4 with 64K dual 40/40 track double density disk drives, complete systems with TRSDOS 6.0 and 1 BOX OF DISKETTES PLUG IT IN AND GO $1899.00/128K... $1979.00 MODEL 4 with 64K dual 80 track double density disk drives, complete systems with TRSDOS 6.0 and 1 BOX OF DISKETTES PLUG IT IN AND GO $1899.00/128K... $1979.00 MODEL 4 with 64K dual 80/80 track double density disk drives, complete systems with TRSDOS 6.0 and 1 BOX OF DISKETTES PLUG IT IN AND GO $2199.00/128K... $2279.00 MODEL 4 with 64K four 40 track double density internal disk drives, complete systems with TRSDOS 6.0 and 1 BOX OF DISKETTES PLUG IT IN AND GO $2299.00/128K... $2379.00 MODEL 4 with 64K four internal drives of any configuration available to achieve up to 4 meg of disk storage CALL MODEL 111/4 Internal Two Drive Kit: Includes controller board, dual drive mounting bracket, dual power supply, all hardware cable; and connectors (gold plated) & TEC Drive $399.00 4 DRIVE KIT MINUS DRIVE $349.00 MODEL 100 8K $679.00 24K $839.00 DV'S MODEL I DOUBLE DENSITY BOARDS $89.00 < Visit our retail location at: 111 Marshall Street Litchfield, MI 49252 (313) 426-5086 (313) 482-4424 (517) 542-3280 (517) 542-3939 (517) 542-3947 WE CARRY TRS-80. IBM, LNW, EPSON & FRANKLIN COMPUTERS IMMEDIATE DELIVERY DV'S SIX MONTH PARTS AND LABOR WARRANTY Authorized Dealership at: 111 Marshall Street, Litchfield, Michigan 49252 P142 To Order: Call (313) 426-5086; (313) 482-4424; (517) 542-3280 (517) 542-3939; (517) 542-3947 OR WRITE: Displayed Video, 111 Marshall St., Litchfield, MI 49252 'TRS 80 is a trademark of the Tandy Corporation Prices subject to change without notice. Circle 112 on inquiry card. ^^^ SPECIALS on INTEGRATED CIRCUITS 6502 @ 4.90 6520 @ 4.00 6522 @ 5.00 4116 @ 1.85 2532 @ 5.90 2716 ®> 4.45 6116 @ 6.45 4164 ® 6.90 Anchor Automation Signalman MODEMS FREE SOURCE MEMBERSHIP WITH SIGNALMAN All Signalman Modems are Direct Connect, and provide the best price-performance values. Dealer/OEM inquiries invited Volksmodem with computer cable 68 Mark VII Auto Dial/Auto Answer 99 Mark XII Smart Model 1 200/300 299 DC HAYES Smartmodem DC Hayes Smartmodem 1200/300 219 519 PflOM OUEEN for VIC 170 Apple Emulator lor Commodore 64 Call STAT Statistics Package for C64 95 Solid Oak 2 Level Stand lor C64 or VIC 29 C64/VIC Switch (networking) 1 29 BACKUP VI .0 tape copier for C64 or VIC 20 CARDBOARD/6 Motherboard - VIC 64 CARDBOARD/5 Motherboard r C64 56 CARD PRINT G Printer Int with Graphics 72 CARD PRINT B Printer Interface— C64/VIC 40 CARDB0ARD/3S Motherboard - VIC 22 CARDCO C64/VIC Calculator Keypad 32 CARDRAM/1 6 RAM Expansion - VIC 44 Complete CARDCO Line in stock CIE and VIE IEEE Interfaces in stock MSD SuperDrive for C64 or IEEE 365 MAE Assembler for C64 50 Koala Pad Touch Tablet— C64 or VIC 79 CBC 4/1 2 Analog to Digital 4 chan/1 2 bit 1 99 MULTIPUN for CG4 79 Dust Cover for C64 or VIC 6 Grand Master Chess for C64 24 COMAL Language for C64 17 with sprites, color graphics, sound, turtle graphics. Super BusCard by Batteries Included 1 59 ULTRA BASIC - 64 with Turtle Graphics 37 Super Disk Utility - C64 - includes backup 1 9 MicroChess - C64 - 8 levels of play 1 7 HES MODEM with software 55 Commodore 64 Programmers Reference Guide 16 WordPro 3+/64 with Spellright 85 VIController (also C64) - BSR Controller 50 COM VOICE Synthesizer for C64 or VIC 1 39 VIC products in stock - call for extra discounts. Victory Software for VIC and C64 In stock. APPLE— FRANKLIN ITEMS FRANKLIN— complete line in stock QUENTIN Drives for Apple/Franklin 219 Swapper Stopper 26 automatic switch between paddles and joystick KRAFT Apple Joystick 40 Kraft Apple Paddle Pair 30 Koala Pad Touch Tablet-Apple/Franklin 90 SPINNAKER Software in stock Broderbund Software in stock 16K RAM Card for Apple 59 Multiplan— Microsoft 1 85 Solid Oak 2 Level Stand for Apple 29 Serial Card for Apple 89 MCP RAM/80 column card for lie (AP/TXT) 139 Z80 Softcard and CP/M (Microsoft) 235 RANA Elite I with Controller 389 Parallel Printer Interface/Cable 69 Microtek and MCP Interfaces in stock Grappler + Interface 129 DC Hayes Micromodem II 299 PFS: File or PFS: Report or PFS: Graph 95 Videx 80 Column Card 209 Apple Blue Book 1 9 Q commodore See us for Personal, Business, and Educational requirements. Educational Discounts available. PETSCAN I $245 base price Allows you to connect up to 30 CBM/PET Computers to shared disk drives and printers. Completely transparent to the user. Perfect for schools or multiple word processing con- figurations. Base configuration supports 2 computers. Addi- tional computer hookups $100 each. COMPACK/STCP $115 Intelligent Terminal Package for PET, CBM, C64 Includes ACIA Hardware / STCP Software SCREEN MAKE R 80 Column Adapter lor C64 1 39 Provide big screen capability lor business applications. Copy-Writer Word Processor for C64 49 Full-featured package with 800 lines of text in memory. Includes double column printing, graphic capability, full prin- ter support. Special Screenmaker/Copy-Writer Combo 179 VICTOBY Software for VIC and C64 Metamorphosis Labyrinth of Creator Kongo Kong Chomper Man Bounty Hunter 1 6 Creator's Revenge 1 6 16 Galactic Conquest 16 16 Annihilate 16 16 Grave Robbers 13 16 Adventure Pack I or II 16 PAPER CLIP Word Processor- CBM/C64 75 ORACLE Data Base from Batteries Included 109 SPINNAKER Software C64, Apple, IBM, Atari Computers First Book of PET/CBM 1 1 POWER ROM Utilities for PET/CBM 78 WordPro 4+ - 8032, disk, printer 295 VISICALC for PET, ATARI, or Apple 189 Compute's First Book of 64 Sound & Graphics 10.40 SM-KIT enhanced PET/CBM ROM Utilities 40 PET Spacemaker II ROM Switch 36 Compute's First Book of Games 1 0.40 Dust Cover for PET, CBM, 4040, or 8050 8 CmC Interlaces (ADA1800, ADA1450, SADI in stock) Compute's Reference Guide to 64 Graphics 10.40 Computers Machine Language for Beginners 1 1 HES Software and Hardware in stock UMI products in stock FlexFile for PET/CBM/C64 $49 DataBase, Report Writer with calculations, Mailing Lists. Easy to use, and can be modified. FORTH lor PET/C64 full FIG model - Cargile/Riley 50 includes all FORTH 79 Standard extensions, structured 6502 assembler with nested decision macros, standard 16x64 screens, agility to read/write BASIC sequential files, sample programs, introductory + reference manual. Metacompiler for FORTH for independent object code 30 Floating Point for FORTH 20 KMMM PASCAL IV for PET/CBM/C64 99 Virtually full Jensen-Wirth implementation is now suitable lor advanced placement courses. EARL lor PET/CBM Disk-based ASSEMBLER 65 SuperGraphics - BASIC Language Extensions 45 Fast graphics, sound, turtle graphics routines for PET/CBM. BAM/ROM for PET/CBM 4K $75 8K $90 CBM PflHlcOomirinSt^m-^4/PETZ7_clfsks 75 STAT for PET/CBM/C64 and Apple 95 Comprehensive Statisticai Analysis Routines Includes complete file handling capabilities, summary statis- tics, confidence intervals, hypothesis tests, exponential mean tests, multiple and power series regression, analysis of vari- ance, histograms, and non-parametric tests. Page Mate GO Command Word Processor 40 Full-featured package for all Commodore computers (incl. VIC with 16K). Full screen editing, and supports disk, tape, and , all printers. DISK SPECIALS Scotch (3M) 5" ss/dd Scotch(3M)5"ds/dd Scotch (3M) 8" ss/sd Scotch (3M) 8" ss/dd 10/2.20 50/2.00 100/1.95 10/3.05 50/2.80 100/2.75 10/2.30 50/2.10 100/2.06 10/2.85 50/2.70 100/2.65 We stock VERBATIM DISKS Write for Dealer and OEM prices. Sentinal 5" ss/dd 10/1.90 50/1.85 100/1.75 Sentinal 5" ds/dd 10/2.55 50/2.50 100/2.35 We stock Dysan disks Wabash 5" ss/sd Wabash 5" ss/dd Wabash 5" ds/dd 10/1.50 50/1.45 100/1.40 10/1.90 50/1.85 100/1.75 10/2.60 50/2.50 100/2.40 We stock MAXELL DISKS Write for dealer and OEM prices. Disk Storage Pages 1 for $4 Hub Rings 50 tor $6 Disk Library Cases 8"— 3.00 5"— 2.25 Head Disk Cleaning Kits 12 AMARAY Disk Storage Systems in stock. Innovative Concepts FLIP 'N' FILES in stock. CASSETTE TAPES- C-10 C-30 -AGFA PE-611 PREMIUM 10/ .61 50/58 100/50 10/ .85 50/82 100/70 tVl Hewlett Packard Write or call for prices. DATASHIELD BACKUP POWER SOURCE $265 Battery back up Uninterruptible Power Supply with surge and noise filtering. The answer to your power problems. MultiPlan — IBM or Apple 185 Quadboard for IBM available KOALA PAD Touch Tablets— Apple, Atari, IBM, CBM Peachtext 5000 Software Package 209 PFS Software for IBM and Apple in stock SPINNAKER Software C64/VIC, Apple, IBM, Atari VOTRAX Personal Speech System 280 BMC 9191 Color Monitor 229 BMC 12A 12" Green Monitor 79 Dynax (Brother! DX-15 Daisy Wheel Printer 469 Brother HR-25 Daisy Wheel Printer (25 cps| 769 Itoh Prowriter Parallel Printer 379 Panasonic 1090 Printer with Correspondence Mode 279 Daisywriter 2000 with 48K buffer 1 020 Gemini 1 0X 299 EPSON, Okidata, Star Micronics printers in stock USI CompuMOD 4 R F Modulator 29 We Stock AMDEK Monitors AmdekDXY-1 00 Plotter 590 A P Products 15% OFF COMPUTER COVERUPS IN STOCK BROOKS 6 Outlet Surge Suppressor/Noise Filter 54 Surge Suppressor-6 outlet 29 Electrohome 1302-2 13" Hi-res RGB Monitor 335 Panasonic 1 2" Monitor (20 MHz) with audio 1 35 Synertek SYM-1 Microcomputer 189 AL L BOOK and SOFTWARE PRICES DISCOUNTED USI Video Monitors— Green or AMBER 20 MHz hi-res. Dealer and OEM inquiries invited Ymnith I data I systems ZVM-122A 109 ZVM-123G 95 ZVM-131 300 ZVM-135 490 Z29 Terminal (DEC and ADM compatible) 680 ZT-1 Intel. Terminal with Serial Port 340 Z1 00 16-bit/8-bit System CALL We stock entire Zenith line. ATARI -WE STOCK ENTIRE LINE SPINNAKER and Broderbund Software in Stock. 215-822-7727 252 Bethlehem Pike Colmar, PA 1891 5 A B Computers WRITE FOR CATALOG. Add $1.50 per order for United Parcel. We pay balance of UPS surface shipping charges on all prepaid orders (add extra for mail, APO/FPO, air). Prices include cash discount. Regular prices slightly higher. Prices subject to change. 500 BYTE February 1984 Circle 7 on inquiry card. ORDER WITH CONFIDENCE from one of the nation's largest consumer electronic parts distributors! DISK DRIVE l PRICE EVER! Slim disk drive for Apple II® com- puter. New in a box ? w A sturdy cabinet and 3' cable are included. Runs on Apple controller or our optional controller. ORDER NO. r ~~~. _- 83-APL-DD-1 $ 229.95 CONTROLLER CARD For two disk drives ORDER NO 83-WL-CTL-1 s 49.95 IBM COMPATIBLE JOYSTICK ^ Heavy duty all metal. Featuring ultra linear pots, self centering, dual fine center adjustments. The finest industrial/ commercial joystick available. ORDER NO. ... __ 83-IB-XY-23 s 44.95 APPLE' COMPATIBLE JOYSTICK With double trigger feature. (Four total) light weight, linear pots. ORDER NO. 83-APL-XY-9 $ 24.95 SELF CENTERING APPLE' COMPATIBLE JOYSTICK With double trigger feature. (Four total) light weight, linear pots. ORDER NO 83-APL-XY-18 5'/ 4 " DISK DRIVE SPECIAL MPI MODEL B-51 single side, double density BRAND NEW Never used, no cabinet ORDER NO. 83-MPI-B51 149.00 REPLACEMENT KEYBOARD FOR APPLE II Heavy duty — error free switches. Switchable N key rollover, last key repeat. Upper/lower case capability. Alpha lock, cable included. ORDER NO. ,__ __ 83-APL-KB-7 s 79.95 APPLE COMPATIBLE JOYSTICK Cord terminated with 16 Pin plug. Our most popular joystick. ORDER NO. 83-APL-XY-10 '16.50 RF MODULATORS Use your TV as a monitor. Con- verts video signals into RF. Hooks up to Apple with no modifications. FCC listed. Two versions: With sound and without sound. ORDER NO. without s1Cm 83-VM-42 sound S 16.0U HS 0E M°. „™ Wilh SOI OK 83-CRM-320 sound s 21.95 5A APPLE II COMPATIBLE REPLACEMENT POWER SUPPLY ^C* Full 2A more than the original power supply. Heavy duty. 110/ 220V operation. Mounts directly into Apple II case. AC cord included. ORDER NO. 83-APL-PS-51 $ 79.95 5A POWER SUPPLY With BUILT-IN COOLING FAN ^ g Newly patented Apple II® com- patible 5A power supply. Fits completely into Apple II case. Eliminates the need for external cooling fan. ORDER NO. ,__ __ 83-APL-PS-53 S 89.95 DATA SPEC™ SUPER CABLES Fully shielded — shock proof — low loss. 25 Conductor RS232 cable assembly with 100% alluminex shield. Special underhood molding cables fW .^rfl, currently made! ORDER NO. 1 83-MRS232MM-3 83-MRS232MM-5 83-MRS232MM-10 83-MRS232MM-25 83-MRS232MF-3 83-MRS232MF-5 83-MRS232MF-10 83-MRS232MF-25 LENGTH 3' 5' 10' 25', 3' 5' 10' 25' PLUG/JACK Male/ Male Male/Male Male/Male Male/Male Male/Female Male/Female Male/Female Male/ Female PRICE $24.95 27.95 29.95 37.95 25.95 28.95 30.95 38.95 SOLDER TYPE 25 PIN "D" (RS232) CONNECTOR RF CABLES RCA to RCA. Connects computer to monitor, etc. ORDER NO. 83-BRR-3 83-BRR-6 83-BRR-12 3' 6' 12' PRICE $1.95 2.50 4.50 Please Note: ORA Electronics products are intended to be sold to persons with a working knowledge of electronics and computing. If you do not have such knowledge, please visit your local dealer for products and information. MINIMUM ORDER $25.00. VISA. MASTER CARD accepted. No surcharges. Exact UPS charges will be added. PREPAID. Certified checks and money orders, send exact amount. No shipping, handling or insurance charges in the continental USA. PERSONAL CHECKS: add 5% shipping charges, allow 3 weeks to clear. INTERNATIONAL BUYERS: US currency and 20% extra for shipping. CA Residents, add sales tax. OEM / DEALERS: send forspecial prices on your company letterhead. NO PURCHASE ORDERS OR OPEN ACCOUNTS— NO EXCEPTIONS. ELECTRONICS "OUR SERVICE MAKES THE DIFFERENCE" To order, call TOLL FREE: (800)423-5336 Calif. TOLL FREE: (800)382-3663 Local: (213)701-5848 Telex 181011 ORA PARTS NTGE 18215 PARTHENIA STREET, NORTHRIDGE, CA 91325 BYTE February 1984 501 HALF-HEIGHT SHUGART DRIVE SYSTEM FOR IBM- PC Choose 2 or 4 320K byte half heights or 2 half-heights plus a hard disk. • Powered by energy efficient direct drive DC motor • Mounting kits available for most popular systems • Clear and simple instructions • Full one year warranty IBM-PC 10 Megabyte Half-Height Hard Disk Up grade your PC to an XT' Call 609-799-4440 1 Megabyte Halt-Height Hard Disk also available for your COMPAQ. SA-712Half-Hgt 10 Meg Hard Disk Call' SHUGART HALF-HEIGHT DRIVES ShugartSA465DS/DD Half-Height 96TPI New' Allows reading and writing in single or double density 5.25 diskettes Plug compatible with TANDON TM 100-4. SIEMENS FDD-221-5 and similar drives. 1 YEAR WARRANTY S350each 2 @ $295 each Formatted single density 700K bytes SHUGART SA860 DS/DD Half-HeightS" A double sided half m t$ height 8" high speed" — disk drive. DC only operation. Same as used on Zenith Z-100. 1 YEAR WARRANTY $495 each 2 & $475 each Formatted 1.25 megabyte Track to track 3ms SHUGART SA455 DS/DD Half-Height 48TPI A double headed minifloppy disc drive with up to320K on-line storage capacity. Plug compatible with any standard 5'V drive. Electrically the same as TM-100-2 andFDD-211-5 1 YEAR WARRANTY $245 each Formatted 320K bytps, extended 360K bytes Track to tra^k Rmc HEATH ZENITH H88, 89 or90TWOET SYSTEMS Dual internal half-height disk drives Now you can replace your built-in drive with two double-sided, double or single density, internal half- height drives in either 48 or 96tpi format, with all hard- ware, cables, power connector adaptors, and docu- mentation included. Our double-sided 48tpi works perfectly as a single sided right out of the box You can even use this system with your H-1 7 controller. And we have the software drivers (at additional cost) so you can run out 48 or 96tpi double-sided, single density drives on it! TWOET455 TWOET465 2 SHUGART SA-455 2 SHUGART SA-465 half- height half- height 48tpi double-sided 96tpi double-sided $595 $695 Both models are shipped complete with all hardware, shielded metal mounting plates, data cable with chas- sis connectors, and complete documentation. WHAT TO DO WITH YOUR INTERNAL DRIVE:For only $60 extra plus shipping, we'll send you a single 5' 4 case with power supply and data cable — ready to re- ceive your SIEMENS internal drive! A regular $80 value. The external chassis disk I/O connector comes with your TWDFT system W.S.T. DISK DRIVES (formerly Siemens) W.S.T. FDD-100-5B4 Same model used in Heath computers. Added "Flippy" operation feature. Works with almost any SA-400 compatible system: RS Model 1 , North Star. S- 100 and more. S235 each C3-$195 each (with Shugart type Bezel) W.S.T. FDD-211-5 Dual headed 5V.r. Records data in single or double density, using hard or soft sector techniques. An exact TM- 1 00-2 replacement Use in Northstar and IBM, or any system using dual head 48 tpi drives. Same as COMPAQ. $265 each. NUMBER OF HEADS 2 FORMATTED DATA CAPACITY 320K bytes extended 360K bytes W.S.T. FDD-221-5 A double headed. 5 V, 96 tpi (80 track) disk drive Capable of hard or soft sector, single or double den- sity, it's an exact replacement for the TANDON 100-4. $335 each 2 & $295 each Increase your on-line storage capacity by 2.5 mega- bytes with Our new 8" double sided half height disk drive. Styling matches IBM-PC Utilizes Shugart half- height 8" double sided disk drives. Allows reading CP-M data files with optional patch. FD-PC8 System $1270 Maynard Controller $245 (Allows use of two internal 5 'A" and the two outboard 8" system Add $70 for parallel) JFormat $50 JFormat-2 $50 We have half-height mounting kits for IBM and COMPAQ computers. APPLE HALF-HEIGHT DISK DRIVES Call for price ENCLOSURES I ALSO MODEL CONFIGUARTION STACKING DIMENSIONS AVAILABLE PRICE DH5A&T 2 standard 5'< horizontal 17' Lx 12"Wx5"H external chassis ' connector/ blank plates SI 25 00 SV5AST 1 slandard5'v vertical UV Lx3VWx6"H vertical 5'v case lor 2 half-height drives S55 00 Of S7500 lor 'i height DV5A&T 2 standard 5Vi vertical 11 V'Lx6"Wx7'H - S8500 D5HHHA&T 2 hall-height + space For single board computer horizontal 17"Lx 12"Wx3W"H blank plates ext. chassis conn. $1 25.00 5SHA&T 1 standard 5'V or 2 half-height drives horizontal 12"Lx8 ,, Wx4"H blank plate ext. chassis conn. $95.00 5SHHDA&T 1 standard or 2 halt-height hard disks horizontal 12"LxB"Wx4 H blank plate S165 00 8' ENCLOSURES AMI 00% ourdesign, these 8" enclosuresfeature a Iron t panel power switch desi£ nedwith 1 " clearance overthedriveto accomodate a jig board computer or a lard disk controller. All 1 6 gauge metal construction with DB 25 cutouts on the rear panel. CP-206 supply mounting holes, which are standard tor the 8" drive ndustry. DHBA&T 2 standards" (such as SHUGART 800-R series or SIEMENS FDD-100 series) horizontal 21 ,, Lx17 , 'V'Wx6Vj"H ext. chassis conn. S29500 SH8A&T 1 standards' or 2 half-height drives + space for single board computer horizontal 16"Lx 12V/'WxG ] « H blank plates ext. chassis conn S285 00 DHHH8A&T for SHUGART TANDON 848 or similar 8 halt-height designs horizontal 205 Lx 17 Wx4H blank plates ext chassis conn S320 00 FDPC8 for SHUGART 810-860 matches IBM-PC or Zenith systems horizontal blank plates S320 00 1 MULTIDISPLAY For IBM-PC. contains both mono and color display plus printer port, all on one card S575 PGS MONITOR The best RGB monitor going . S475 SANDSTAR MODULES FROM MAYNARD Sandstar Serial Port Module .^^^__ u Totally compatible with ■HB i ! If U software written foi WPr2"-T _. —t.S-1 IBM Asynchronous ' Adaptor. Connecls lo MODEM, serial printer, or any standard RS232-C interlace device Port may be con- figured as Serial Pert #1 or a 2. Can use IBM diagnos- tics. MSE1301 . $105.00 SandStar Clock Calendar Module Features clock and calendar with battery backup, which runs when PC power is turned off or plug is disconnected. Correct time and date loaded each time system is powered up. Software included. MCL1303 $85.00 SandStar Parallel Port Module A Centronics compatible I/O port. Use as general pur- pose I/O port or connect to printer Utilizes same type connector and pins as IBM Parallel Printer Adaptor, and is 1 00°o compatible with its software. Configure as Port »1 or #2. Can use IBM diagnostics MPA1302 $75.00 SandStar Memory Module Use with SandStar Memory Card. Expands memory by 320K bytes for640K bytes total system memory Uses only one IBM expansion card. No configuration required before plug in. Module maybe purchased with any 64 K incremenl and easily expanded lo 320K. Electronic disc and print spooling software are also available. MMODOOO OK $11500 MMOD064 64K $205 00 MMOD128 128K $300.00 MMOD192 192K $390.00 MMOD256 256K $485.00 MMOD320 320K $580 00 SandStar Game Adaptor Module Attach up lo 4 paddles and 2 loysticks to your IBM PC Can be used for general purpose input, with 4 diyitaland 4 analog inputs. 100°o compatible with IBM PC soft- ware Uses same type 1 5 pin "D" subminiature I/O con- ncctor as the IBM Game Control Adaptor Maynard Electronics Multi-Function Memory Expansion Board Adds form 64K bytes to 256K bytes to your IBM-PC. Expandable with either 1 or 2 optional asynchronous serial (RS232-C) ports Engineered for total compat- iblilily with IBM I/O specs Parity generation and de- tection included. Ready to plug into 64 K byte systems. Optionally available with 1 or 2 RS232-C ports with 20mA current loop 100°o compatible with IBM hard- ware and software, and may be used to connect your computer to a modem serial printer or other devices with computer interface. Board ports may be enabled or dis- abled and assigned as COM1 and/or COM2. MMF 1000 OK $21000 MMF1064 64K $305.00 MMF1128 128K $410.00 MMF1192 192K $510.00 MMF 1 256 256K $6 1 5.00 MMF1SER $100.00 (with one serial port added) MMF2SER $160.00 (with two serial ports added) (No parallel available). Maynard Disk Controllers RET Description MODFDC (Controller w/mod ports) $265 FDC8 (8 " Controller) $245 FDC5'«(5V Controller) $195 FDCPARALLELlContr. and para portsi $275 FDCSERIALlConlr. and serial portsi $285 FDC8PARA |8" Contr. and para ports) $315 HDM (hard disk module) $495 CONTROLLERS Magnolia Micro-systems for the H-89 S Z-90 Double Density Disc controller including CP/M 2.2 Complete hardware & sottware support for: -Four 5' 4 and Four 8' single or double sided drives -48 TPI 140 track; drives -9G TPI (80 track) drives -3-5VV drives supported by Heath Zenith controller H-1 7 This package includes: -double density controller card -CP/M 2.2 on either 5' 4' or8 media -new I/O decoder and monitor PROMs Shipping weight 7 lbs. DATA CONNECTORS 50 pin edge card 609-5015 50 pin inline end connector 34 pinedgecard 609-3415 609-5001M 50 pin inline chassis 34 pin mime end connector 609-5016 609-3401 M 34 pin inline chassis 609-3416 POWER CONNECTORS fc>e«j ; stacking bracket lor AC socket 8 . single sided 5Vor8 half-height drives C1 120 SB5orSB8 5'. DCconnector CI 1 16 SA 810/860 DC power 5' , DC socket C1 119 CI 115 PCB-8 DC CI 122 SA 850/85 I FDD-200-8-AC free-slandmg 8 8 double sided CI 114 DC connector socket C1 121 8 ACconnectoistandaid. 8 DC standard C1112 single sided C1 113 We sell many other disk drive models too numerous to list here. We encourage you to call tor our latest pricing and catalog. Due to production dead- lines, prices are 60 days old. Please call! Dealer inquiries invited. In our 5th yearl Prices and specifications subject to change without notice MasterCard, VISA accepted. NJ residents. add 6% sates tax. Shipping charges: $3.00 first 4 lbs.. $.40 each additional lb. COD charge $5.00. TOLL FREE ORDER LINE: 800-223-0306 In NJ, Call: 609-799-4440 9:00 am-5:30 pm est. 'FLOPPY IDISK SE RVICES IINC.1HHHB FLOPPY DISK SERVICES. INC 741 Alexander Road Princeton. NJ 08540 502 BYTE February 1984 Circle 145 on inquiry card. Freedom-Freed the Prices! We have met or have beaten most advertised prices. Buy Direct! 32CPS DTC380Z 48K Buffer Serial and Parallel I Year Warranty 380 Z S Unbeatable 38 K STAR WRITER .. S Unbeatable Mannesman)! Tally • Standard — 7 x 9 160 CPS • NLQ — 40 x 18 40 CPS • 2K Buffer and Tractor Standard 160 L 80 col. Call Best Seller 180 L 132 col Call Best Seller Spirit Call Best Seller IDS • Proportional Spacing • 8 Character Styles • 200 CPS Bi Directional • Color Optional • Sheet Feed • Graphics • 3.4K Buffer Prism 80 Prism 132 and Micro Prism Auto Cassette Sheet Feed s Call $ Call S Call EAGLE m OMSih OUR PC FLYS IBM Compatible Simply a better PC All models available;for immediate delivery Call Lowest S ALTOS ZENITH TELEV1DEO SANYO USI TRANSTAR PIED PIPER RANA STB QUADRAM DAISYWRITER FRANKLIN HAYES NOVATION ANADEX AXIOM DATASOUTH MICROTEK SWEET-P EAGLE RITEMAN I Juki 6100 18 CPS IBM Ribbons Diablo Compatible 2K Buffer Best Value Yet SCall U.S. ROBOTICS It's a Piece of Cake I High Quality Software for Personal Computers J-CAT ■■ Red Hot Special I Novation J-CAT i \Xford Processor i Mail List i Spelling Checker i Telecom NEW, • Graphics Package • Financial Planner • Data Manager Call for Prices! • 300 BPS Modem • Originate/Auto Answer Sizzling $ 89.50 PRINCETON GRAPHICS VENTEL AMDEK BMC TAXAN DIABLO NEC EPSON PRINTEK MOLECULAR UDS SILVER-REED OKIDATA COMREX JUKI STAR NORTHSTAR ADDS KIMTRON INTERCOLOR COLUMBIA CORONA C. ITOH DEC AMPEX TOSHIBA VEW RIXON HAZELTINE SEIKOSHA TTX \X/YSE SANYO PC. OTRONA BLUE CHIP PRINTACOLOR OUME KEYTRONICS ANCHOR BROTHER VISUAL DAISY Everything in computer related products: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS • Computers • Modems • Printers • Software • Monitors • Terminals • Accessories • Paper • Ribbons • Diskettes • Office Furniture • In-Store Training For Price Quotes and Ordering, Call: 1-800-821-4128 For Technical Information and Order Status, Call: 602-952-1057 or 602-954-6127 ********* FREEDOM COMPUTER MART INC. 3370 North Hayden Road • Suite 123-314 Scottsdale, Arizona 85251 Prices listed reflect a cash discount and are subject to change without notice CO D.s are shipped with a minimum C.O.D. charge Allow 3-7 days for personal checks to clear. Product is subject to availability Equipment is in factory sealed boxes with manufacturer's warranty There will be a re-stocking charge for returned merchandise. Call first for an RMA number. Software not warranteed for suitability No return of Software which has been opened. Add 2% for shipping S handling charges (minimum S2 50) All equipment shipped F.O.B Scottsdale. AZ 85251 Circle 212 On inquiry Card. BROAD LINE OF A/D PRODUCTS FOR APPLE II® TIMER/CLOCK ■ 4-YEAR CALENDAR, TIMES INTERVALS TO THE MILLISECOND, INTERRUPTS . . $175 12-BIT A/D ■ 40.000 SAMPLES/SEC. 0.1 % ACCURACY, 8 INPUTS. . . $375 8-BIT A/D ■ 60,000 SAMPLES/SEC. 0.4% ACCURACY, 8 INPUTS. . . $165 FULLY DIFFERENTIAL A/D - 1 MILLIVOLT RESOLUTION 12 SAMPLES/SEC, 4 INPUTS ... $195 THERMOCOUPLE THERMOMETER ■ 2 OR 6 CHANNELS.... $135 or $155 ALSO: INPUT MULTIPLEXERS, OUTPUT CONTROLLERS, AND CUSTOM SYSTEMS LAWSON LABS, INC. 5700 RAIBE ROAD COLUMBIA FALLS, MONTANA 59912 406-387-5355 wabash When it comes to Flexible Disks, nobody does it better than Wabash. MasterCard, Visa Accepted. Call Free: (800)235-4137 PACIFIC EXCHANGES 100 Foothill Blvd San Luis Obispo. CA 93401 (InCal. cal (805)543-1037) VisaCalc PFS: File Wizardry Zaxxon . $99.00 ...$50.00* . . $25.00* $9.99* ....$8.00* Circle 209 on Inquiry card. Circle 284 on inquiry card. Over 1200 Programs To Choose From KHFiTRENTl • two week member renta l Free Catalog: 619-481-0559 Swd^p 1-800-221-1031 California 1-800-221-4568 All Others Circle 333 on inquiry card. We're bringing in the New Year with specials on quality 3M information processing products, including: • DISKETTES • MAC L TAPE • DATA CARTRIDGES PLUS! Specials on many other pro- ducts in our full-range discount catalog of computer supplies. Call, write, or utilize reader service to obtain your free catalog of 1984 3M Specials. LYBEN COMPUTER SYSTEMS 1250-E Rankin Dr., Troy, Ml 48083 Phone: (313) 589-3440 Simply #1 in service & Reliability OM Authorized Distributor WlVI Information Processin recessing Products 5V4" DISK DRIVES • QUME 142A Half Height, Double Sided, 40 TRK/Side . • TANDON: TM 100-2 Double Sided, 40 TRK/Side • CDC: 9409 Double Sided, 40 TRK/Side . . »229 Free Shipping •235 Free Shipping »235 Free Shipping »229 Free Shipping Order Toll Free: 1-800-531-5475 (Outside Ot Texas) HI (512) 250-1489 (In Texas) WH Texas Residents Add 5H Salsa Tax. • SHUGART: SA 455 Half Height, Double Sided, 40TRK/Side 1C0mpuP.de) Corp. 13010 Research Blvd., Suite 101 Austin, Texas 78750 Apple ll/lle® Industrial Control Plug-In Boards (SOFTWARE INCLUDED) Opto-lsolated A32 I/O Board $295 • Individually Configurable • Compatible with SSR Modules • Opto-lsolated Interrupt Inputs 2 Axis Stepper Motor Interface • Positioning Control OlOET • Pulse Counting/Timing \ I HJl • Frequency Measurements ™ ww ROGERS LABS (714)751-0442 2710 S. Croddy Way, Santa Ana. CA 92704 Circle 223 on Inquiry card. Circle 65 on Inquiry card. Circle 316 on Inquiry card. IBM PC = 1. DEC VT100? 2. DEC VT125? 3. DASHER D400? SMARTERM™ DOES IT! • full emulation • powerful file transfer • full printer support • multiple setups • "smart" softkeys • 132 column support available • online help screens • 30-day return policy Available through your local software dealer or directly from: = ====R erSOft 2740 Ski Lane 1 Madison, Wl 53713 IlC. (608) 273-6000 Software lor Professionals. . . by Prolesslonals. 300 BAUD 1200 BAUD MODEMS SIGNALMAN. .Free hour on 'SOURCE' 300/1200 AUTO DIAL/ANS $319 'Hayes Compatible' 300 BAUD AUTO DIAL/ANS $119 300 BAUD direct connect $ 69 US ROBOTICS... 300/1200... MODEMS 'Hayes Compatible' 'Password' with cables, spkr $339 'S100' card $339 'Auto 212' dlxe $419 DOT noiMTrnc LETTER matrix rKJJN 1 LKb quality GEMINI 10 x 120 cps graphics $CALL PROWRITER 120 cps hi density $359 JUKI daisys wheel 18 cps $529 ibm HARD DISKS cpm 10 Mbyte $1295 40 Mbyte. . . .$2495 23 Mbyte $1995 65 Mbyte. . .$CALL IMAGE COMPUTERS P.O. Box 1164, Cardiff, CA 92007 CALL TO ORDER: (619)942-7373 W M V1SA/MC (619) 436-7669 ■» *PW ADD 3% (619) 270-3600 'Dealer Inquiries Invited LABELS • CONTINUOUS FORMS PeachText 5000 reg 395- 275 00 complete line of EDUWARE SOFTWARE plus other major brands 'Terms: Visa, M.C. or C.O.D. 'Dealer Inquiries Invited COMPU-MEDIA SOFTWARE, INC. 159 Main St. S.I.N.Y. 10307 AUTHORIZED DISTRIBUTOR CALL TOLL FREE 1-800-248-2418 " in N.Y. State 212-967-1700 Circle 292 on Inquiry card. Circle 178 on Inquiry card. Circle 390 on Inquiry card. ITEM- «»:i /cfea/ for • COMPUTERISTS • OEM MANUFACTURERS • DEVELOPMENT LABS • UNIVERSITIES • INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS THE ULTIMATE OEM/PC COMPATIBLE SINGLE BOARD COMPUTER FULL /BM - PC* COMPATIBILITY! DEALERS AND OEM MANUFACTURERS QUANTITY DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE Standard Key- board Interface (Full PC compatible) Eight Compatible I/O Interface Connectors (Full PC compatible) (compatible with all IBM-PC* plug-in cards) Special J1 Interface (Allows horizontal mount- ing of compatible expan- sion cards for easy bus expansion and custom configuring) (Board has 62 pin gold plated compat- ible connector) Extended ROM Capability (Runs all compatible PC ROMS) (Jumper program- mable to accommodate all popular 8K, 16K, 32K and 64K ROM chips and NEW EE ROMS! VPP power pin available for EP ROM burning!) (External VPP voltage required) Board Size 10.5 inchX 13.5 inch Full Mega-Byte Ram Capacity! On board! (With parity) □ 256K Bytes using 64K chips P 1 Mega Bytes using 256K chips Hardware Reset (Overcomes reset flaw in PC) Power Connector (Full IBM* pinout compatible) 8088 Processor (Same as PC) 8087 Numeric Processor (Same as PC) Peripheral Support Circuits (Same as PC) Configuration Switches (Same as PC) Speaker/Audio Port (Same as PC) Wire Wrap Area To facilitate special custom applications! ORDER NOW!!! Evaluation Board Kit! (Blank board with full assembly instructions and parts list.) Includes highest quality PC board with gold plating, silk screen, solder mask □ MEGA-BOARD™ with full assembly instructions $99.95 D USERS MANUAL with theory of operation, schematics, block diagram, application notes $19.95, . D MEGA-BIOS™ fully compatible TmS-DOS/PC-DOS BIOS $29.95 1 |10-day money back guarantee if not completely satisfiedj ORDER NOW!!! SATISFACTION GUARANTEED! DISPLAY TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION 4100 SPRING VALLEY ROAD SUITE 400 DALLAS, TX 75234 (214) 991-1644 TERMS: Shipment made 2 to 5 weeks from receipt of order. VISA, MC, money order, company check accepted. COD'S require $25 deposit. Balance UPS COD. Please add $2.00 shipping and handling per order. *IBM and IBM PC are trademarks of International Business Machines Circle 111 on inquiry card. ©1983 Display Telecommunications Corporation BYTE February 1984 505 Analog and Power Control I/O in a Single Board Computer 6801 Micro Conlro! System designed for DISTRIBUTED CONTROL or STAND- ALONE use: 6801 or 68701 MPU with 2K ROM or EPROM, 128 RAM, timer. Eight 12-bit analog inputs, 8-bit analog output, 8 AC or DC inputs or outputs, serial I/O, digital I/O, power supply. WINTKK Circle 388 on Inquiry card. IWintek Corp. 1801 South Street Lafayette, IN 47904 317-742-6428 USED PERSONAL COMPUTER BROKERAGE • A nationwide database service matching buyers and sellers of used P.C.'s and peripherals. • UPCB acts as middleman, providing security for both the buyer and the seller. • All equipment tested and warranlied by UPCB • All makes and models accepted (or listing • Bonded and insured • Reasonable listing rates and commissions For more information mail today! I am interested in Buying D Selling LU Name Address City, State, Z P Telephone ( ) Mail to: UPCB Fulfillment Dept. Suite 21 • 1116 A 8th Street Manhattan Beach, CA 90266 ADD/NET'" INDUSTRIAL/LABORATORY LOCAL AREA NETWORK ADD/NET provides a modular, low cost, easy to use approach to factory and laboratory networking. ADD/NET modules may be used stand-alone or linked together in an extended network. Features include: • Up to eight ports per module; interfaces include RS232C, RS422. RS449, IEEE^88, and industrial I/O • Transparent communication from any port to any other port within the network • User friendly menu permits easy interactive setup from a terminal • Command mode permits computer controlled setup for dynamic linking of ports • Multiple baud rates supported, with automatic baud rate lock-in and baud rate conversion • Up to 2000 feet between network modules • Error checking and correction for reliability • Ideal for linking your factory and lab equipment with your mainframe, P,C. and peripherals CALL TODAY (3051 293-2002 Adroit Electronics, Inc. Dept. A, 3790 Silver Star Rd. Orlando. FL 32808 Circle 370 on inquiry card. Circle 12 on inquiry card. Stop Gambling- Use your personal computer (or expert handicapping like the experts do - - - nR • Predicts game scores SEND r0 • Situation analysis program nATA * trend analysis program FREE "^ • unique handicapping guides m HSFL • Simple operating manual ON u • Use with Radio Shack, Apple cysTEM Commodore 64 and others • Order today-Win tomorrow START^ INNING WITH Send S225. for USFL System includes free money mgl. program (worth $50.) Enclose check, money order or VIsa/MC card No Computer Handicapping Systems P.O. Box 33034 Cleveland Ohio 44133-0034 USFI Winners Non-Baseball Next O Dyson ^/corporation Solve yourdbc problem, buy 100% mtrimx toted Dywn JhlnttM AD order* aMppcd from Hock, wtthln 24 hour*. QUI tofl FREE (800) 235-4137 for prices and Inhumation. Vfca and Maetar Card accepted. PACIFIC EXCHANGES 100 Foothill Blvd. San Luis Obispo. CA 93401. (In Cat call (805)543-1037.) Circle 113 on Inquiry card. Circle 284 on inquiry card HARD DISK DRIVE SURPLUS SALE! 9 *#> High reliability 8" Shugart SA 1002 5.33 Mbyte drives for $380. ea.. unused in their original factory packed cartons. 1000's of pleased customers. Also available: new Western Digital controller card ($350.); interfaces for IBM, Apple, S-100, STD, Heath/Zenith. SS-50, SS-30. Shipping for drive. $12. Call before they're gone — LIQUIDATORS, 803-877-9828, or send check or money order to 105 S. Main St., Greer, S.C. 29651. A Spooler that will Spoil You Addmaster Paper Tape Handler with Big New 7W Reels I Optional serial interfaces for RS232C or TTY or parallel interface/TTL. X-on/X-off capability, bi-directional reading and slew, reads 150 CPS, rewinds 300 CPS. Stops on character, contains power supply and Addmaster Model 601 paper tape reader. Sensibly priced. Addmaster Corporation, 416 Junipero Serra Drive, San Gabriel, CA 91776.(213)285-1121. DISK DRIVES (For PC, Mod I, III & IV) Tandon TM55-2 $229 Tandon TM100-1 $175 Tandon TM 1 00-2 $229 Tandon TM101-4 $315 CDC 9409 $239 Case and PS $ 45 PC EXPANSIONS MAYNARD Disk Controller $162 Sandstar Series call Internal 10MB Drive Systems, from $969 QUADRAM Quad board (64K) $269 AST Six Pak Plus: 64K SPC S269 Mega Plus: 64K & SC S269 I/O Plus(SC) $114 2nd S or P or Game $ 35 64K CHIPS Set of nine $ 55 HAYES Smartmodem 1200B . . $435 VLM Computer Electronics 10 Park Place • Mornslown, NJ 07960 (201) 267-3268 Visa. MC. Check or COD. Smith-Corona TP-I Daisy Wheel Printer 0^369°° UNBELIEVABLE! * fully-formed characters • serial or parallel Interlace • compatible with most • choice of 1 or 12 CPI mlao-compuiers models Also for your TP- 1 letter quality printer- the Smith-Corona Tractor Feed 1 Act|ustable tractor wldtl OO • For continuous forn • Quick, easy remov '129 Call Collect (214)826-6521 FIGURE LOGIC BUSINESS EQUIPMENT, INC. 6408 Gaston Avenue / Dallas, Texas 75214 Circle 11 on Inquiry card. Circle 142 on Inquiry card. L*l Hanclivcll 4962 EL CAMINO REAL. SUITE 1 19 • LOS ALTOS CA 94022 [415) 962-9265 » TLX 171947 HAhDWELL LTOS»1-(800) 821-3628 7400 7400 7401 7402 7403 7404 7405 7406 7407 7408 7409 7410 7411 7412 7413 7414 7416 7417 7420 7421 7422 7423 7425 7426 7427 7429 7430 7432 7437 7438 7439 7440 7441 7442 7443 7444 7445 7448 7447 7448 7450 7451 7453 7454 7459 7460 7470 7472 74 73 74 74 7475 7476 7479 7480 7462 7483 7485 7486 7489 7490 7491 7492 7493 7494 7495 7496 7497 74100 74107 74109 74116 74121 74122 74123 19 22 22 22 22 23 2.35 2.35 26 23 22 29 29 39 59 29 29 22 35 29 29 29 29 25 45 23 29 25 29 29 19 79 57 95 95 79 79 65 79 19 19 19 19 25 23 29 29 34 .34 38 34 4,60 49 95 55 65 35 1 75 39 57 45 45 69 65 69 2 90 2.90 32 37 1 95 29 39 59 74125 74126 74128 74132 74136 74139 74141 74142 74143 74144 74145 74147 74148 74150 74151 74152 74153 74154 74155 74156 74157 74158 74159 74160 74161 74162 74163 74164 74165 74166 74167 74170 74172 74173 74174 74175 74176 74177 74179 74180 74181 74182 74184 74185 74186 74188 74190 74191 74192 74193 74194 74195 74196 74197 74198 74199 74221 74251 74273 74276 74279 74823 74284 74285 74290 74298 74365 74366 74367 74368 74390 74393 74490 59 69 75 95 79 2.95 295 2 95 62 1.95 1 20 1 09 67 67 67 1 19 78 78 69 1 65 249 .89 87 87 87 1 20 1 95 1 69 4 75 79 89 85 75 75 1 34 75 1 75 75 2.25 2 25 9 95 3.90 1 15 1 15 85 85 85 68 85 85 1 39 1 39 1 19 95 1 05 1 89 75 1 40 3 90 3 90 1 25 95 68 68 68 68 1 45 1 90 1 90 DIP SWITCHES 4P05i|l< 5Pob.lit 6POSltl< FPosilx: BPowttOi 85 9U 90 90 95 SOUND CHIPS ,•64" 2 95 ,'6489 8 95 AV3 89H1 9 95 AY3-8912 12 95 MC3340 1 49 MOS PROMS 2708 2758 2716 2716-1 TMS2516 TMS2716 TMS2532 2732 2732-250 2732-200 2764 2764-250 2764-200 TMS2564 MC68764 27128 3 95 5 95 3 95 5 95 5 50 7 95 5 95 4 95 8 95 11 95 8.95 10 95 16 95 12.95 3995 2595 74LS00 J 74S00 74LS00 26 74LS162 1 05 74LS01 28 74LS163 1 05 74LS02 28 74LS164 1 19 74LS03 28 74LS165 89 74LS04 35 74LS166 2 48 74LS05 28 74LS168 1 15 74LSOB 28 74LS1S9 1 15 74LS09 35 /4LS170 1 99 74LS10 28 74LS173 89 74LS11 39 74LS174 39 74LS12 33 74LS175 89 74LS13 47 74LS13I 2 20 74LS14 95 74LSl*j 1 15 74LS15 33 74LS191 1 15 74LS20 26 74LS192 98 74LS21 33 74LS193 98 74LS22 33 74LS194 i 15 74LS26 33 74LS195 95 74LS27 33 74LS196 89 74LS28 33 74LS197 89 74LS30 26 74LS221 1 15 74LS32 33 74 LS 2-10 1 69 74LS33 55 74LS242 1 69 74LS37 45 74LS243 1 69 74LS38 39 74LS244 1 49 74LS40 26 74LS245 2 20 74LS42 79 74LS247 1 10 74LS47 79 74LS248 1 10 74LS48 95 74LS249 1 19 74LS5I 26 74US251 1 40 74LSS4 29 74LS253 1 40 74L.S55 29 74LS257 85 74LS73 45 74LS258 98 74LS74 142 74LS259 2 95 74LS75 59 74L.S260 65 74LS76 45 74LS261 2 49 74LS78 45 74LS266 59 74LS83A 79 74LS273 I 75 74LS85 l '9 74LS275 4 4U 74LS86 45 74LS279 59 74LS90 57 74LS283 99 74LS92 75 74LS290 99 74LS93 75 74LS293 99 74LS95 88 74LS295 1 10 74LS96 98 74LS298 1 19 74LS107 45 74LS324 t 75 74LS109 45 74LS347 1 95 74LS113 43 74LS348 1 95 74LSM4 43 74LS352 1 19 74L.5122 55 74LS353 1 19 74LS123 I 19 74LS363 1 49 74LS124 1 35 74LS365 69 74LSI25 89 74LS366 69 74LS'26 52 74LS367 69 74LS132 79 74LS368 69 74LS 1 36 49 74LS373 1 89 74LSI38 65 74LS374 l 89 74LSI39 85 741 S37^ 69 74LSM5 1 25 74LS377 1 95 74LS148 1 49 74LS385 1 95 74LS151 79 74LS385 65 74LS153 79 74LS390 l 95 74LS154 t 70 74LS393 1 95 MLSISS i t9 MLS39i 1 70 74LS15G 99 74LS399 2 35 74LS1:.7 85 74LS42I 2 95 74LS158 75 74LS663 1 75 74LS160 1 05 7JLS67I) 2 29 741^161 I 15 74LS378 1 95 74LS133 65 74LS379 1 95 74LS241 1 69 74LS36I 2 95 74LS28G 2 90 74LS640 2 95 74LS299 2 00 74LS645 2 95 74LS339 1 95 74LS690 1 50 Tel: 1-(800)-821-3628 Z80 SERIES 8000 SERIES 8200 SERIES 6800 SERIES CALL FOR PRICE S-RAM 2101 5101 21 11 2112 2114 2114-25 2114L-4 2114L-3 2114L-2 2147 HM6116-4 HM6116-3 HM6116-2 HM6116LP-4 HM61 16LP-3 HM6116LP-2 1 95 3 95 2 49 2 99 8 9 95 8 10 95 8 12 95 8 13 45 8 13 95 4 95 4 75 4 95 8 95 5 95 6 95 10 95 Miscel 74S00 74S02 74S03 74S04 74S05 74S08 74S09 74S10 74S11 74S15 74S20 74S22 74S30 74S32 74S38 74S40 74S51 74S64 74S65 74S74 74S86 74S112 74S113 74S114 74S124 74S133 74S134 74S135 74S136 74S138 74S139 74S139 74S140 74S151 74S153 74S157 74S158 74S160 74S174 74S175 74S188 74S194 74S195 74S196 74S240 74S241 74S242 74S243 74S244 74S251 74S253 74S257 74S258 74S260 74S280 74S287 74S288 74S373 74S374 74S387 74S471 74S472 74S473 74S474 74S475 74S570 74S571 74S572 74S573 74S940 74S941 74S132 74S161 74S163 74S181 74S189 74S225 74S283 74S289 39 43 45 52 52 49 49 42 42 42 42 42 42 49 1 19 49 42 46 45 69 72 72 72 72 3 69 54 66 1 15 1 69 1 29 1 29 1 29 73 1 29 1 29 1 29 1 29 2 79 1 49 1 49 2 69 1 89 1 89 1 89 2 75 2 75 2 99 2 99 2 99 1 35 1 35 1 29 1 29 75 2 79 299 2 55 3 10 3 1(1 2 75 7 95 7 95 7 95 9 95 9.95 5 75 5.75 8 95 8 95 2 90 2 9C 2 15 295 3 15 2.15 2.95 7 75 4 15 3 95 aneous 6502 68000 8748 8255-5 82S123 82S129 82S131 93422 93L422 93425 93427 D2125AL-2 D2104 AY5-3600 6810 8304 4.95 49.95 24.95 5.95 2.55 2.99 3.99 8.95 9.95 3.95 8.95 3.95 1.95 12.95 3.95 3.95 LINEAR DRAM LM301CN LM304H LM305H LM306H LM307CN LM308CN LM309K LM310CN LM311D/CN LM312H LM317T LM318CN LM319N/H LM320K-XX' LM320T-XX' LM320H-XX' LM323K LM324N LM337K LM338K LM339N LM340K-XX' LM340T-XX- LM340H-XX' LM344H LM348N LM350K LM358CN LM360N LM372N LM376N LM377N LM380CN/N LM381N LM383T LM386N LM387N 35 1.98 1.89 3.25 29 .98 1.49 1 25 89 1.75 1 70 1 49 1.25 1 35 1 39 1.25 4.95 .95 5.95 6.95 95 1 75 1.25 1 25 1.95 1.20 5.60 98 1.49 1 95 3.75 2.75 1.25 1 79 1 95 1.25 1 40 16RAMCARD Compatiblewith DOS3.3.CP M. Visicalc. PASCAL 1YR. WARRANTY $ 39. ! IN-LINE PRINTER BUFFER FOR ANY COMPUTER ANY PRINTER ■64K Byte "Parallel to Parallel •Parallel to Serial •Serial to Parallel 'Serial to Serial Model BF64S s 225.°° For single computer single printer Model BF64M '395.°° For multi-computer single printer Allow up to four computers Share one printer MULTIFUNCTION BOARD WITH MEMORY, I/O CLOCK FOR IBM P/C CALL FOR LOWEST PRICE SPEEDY EPROM PROGRAMMER FOR APPLE II PROGRAMMING 2716, 2732, 2764, 27128. 2532, 2564 IN 30 SECONDS $ 99. 00 Applell/lle Compatible $ 175.° DiskDrive CONTROLLER CARD $44.95 SUPER COOLING FANS FOR APPLE WITH SURG IBMMEMORY EXPANSION KIT IBM 64K $52.95 (9Pcs64KRAM) LOGIC PROBE WITH MEMORY FUNCTION s 22. 95 32 758klv 1 0mHz 1 8432 20 2 097152 2 4576 3 2768 3 579535 40 50 5 0688 5 185 57143 60 6 144 6 5536 80 100 10 738635 12 00 14 31818 15 16 17 430 18 18 432 20 22 1184 32 1 75 3 95 3 95 2 95 2 95 2 95 2.95 2.95 2 95 2.95 2.95 2 95 2.95 2 95 2 95 2.95 2 95 2 95 2 95 295 2 95 2.95 2 95 2.95 2 95 2 95 2 95 2 95 2 95 TMS4027 UPD411 MM5280 MK4108 MM5298 4116-300 4116-250 4116-200 4116-150 4116-120 2118 4164-200 4 1 64- 1 50 1 99 1 3 00 I 3 00 I 1 95 I 1 85 I 8 I 8 11 95 1 8 12 95 I 8 14 95 ■ 8 29 95 | 4 95 I 5 95 I 6 95 | HighQuality Diskettes 5 1 A" SS/SD 15/Box 5V«" SS/DD 17/Box 5'/V' DS/DD 27/Box 80 Column Dot Matrix Printer CP-80byC.T.I. 80cps parallel interface graphics printing compatibfe with EPSON MX80FT SALE PRICE s 299. 00 TERMS For shipping include S2 for UPS Ground or S3 for UPS Blue Label Air, Items over 5 pounds require additional shipping charges $10 minimum order. 1-(800) 821-3628 IS Hand well 4962 EL CAMINO REAL, SUITE 119 • LOS ALTOS, C,a 9-U.)??| (415) 962-9265 • TLX: 171947 HANDWELL LTOS | corp Circle 164 on inquiry card. BYTE February 1984 507 AFFORDABLE M 68000 COMPUTER SYSTEM M68KCPU 6 10 MHz CPU, 20K static RAW, : ' I6i< KPROW on board monlt< r, two RS-232 serial ports, 16-bit parallel port, 5 timet /counters Bare board » 99.95 t..,.. ..S615.00 : IttSI !K I2S-312K static RAM.floppytSisk ■ on llei '. . Bareboard 9 99.99 Complete Kit <128K)..,«*85.0O M68KE Enclosure with power supply, fan, filter, 4 slot card cage 9249.00 M60KASM M680oi foi CP/M80, IBM PC, rftS-80 md hmnt: U computers 4149.00 OPS si ttlng * 4 COD orders add Foreign orders add 020.00 California iesiden&adti 6.5% tax CMCE< Microcomputer (714)553.0133 aytems P.O. Box 16115* Irvine, CA 927 ! 3 S-100 EPROM PROGRAMMER EPROM -32 ■ High quality S-100 board meets Of exceeds IEEE-696. • Programs 1K through 32K (byte) EPROMs. ■ Textool zero-insertion-lorce programming socket. • EPROM is programmed through I/O ports and can be verified through I/O ports or located in memory space (or verification. • Programming voltage generated on-board. ■ Personality Modules simplify adaptation of board to different EPROM types: PM-1 -2508.2758 PM-3-2732, 2732A PM-6-68764 2516.2716 PM-4-2564 PM-8-27128 PM-2-2532 PM-5-2764 • CP/M-compatible control software includes commands for programming, $269.95 * verification, disk I/O and editing. .. ' T MlcroPynomUi 0R0ER DESK 1-800-237 840D exl 440 Technical Inquiries 19011-682-4054 Corporation 6363 Poplai Ave • Suite 10S Memphis TN 38119 "Price includes EPROM-32. documenialinn and two Personality Modules (specify). Additional Modules -S7.95. Conlrol software on 8" SSSD diskette- $9.95.UPS ground— $2 .00. UPS air — £4.00. COD— 51.50, foreign add $15.00, TN add 6% sales tax VISA and MASTERCARD welcome. ANALOG** DIGITAL DIGITAL** ANALOG CONVERSION MODULES SOFTWARE CAIN CONTROL amplifier - custom board test S-100 2 ta ^ Wv conversion rt/ne mixablc high ond low inputs gain 1 from 1 to 1024 ■ 19 bit --nrnpfe and hold amplifier ft rhonnpi differential 16-channel - onotacj io doitd hiqh rxfurncy progrommoble gain instrumentation amplifier r a«rom bocvrJ test 5 100 2 to 15 khz conversion time - maatilfi hiqh and lorn inputs nnm 'ram 1 ro IQP4 12-bit sample and hold amplifier 8-chonnel differential - |6rhomel analog to digital high accuracy - progrqrrtmnble gam instrumentation omoiifiei - custom board I. ",r S-100 - 2 in IS krv For adcfltlonal details about the ad-ioo-4 and other fine California Data Corporation 100°o individually tested, high reliability products, circle the reader service card number below or for faster response write or call us. CALIFORNIA DATA CORPORATION 3475 Old Conejo Road. Suite C-10 Newbury Park, CA 91320 1805) 498-3651 Circle 125 on inquiry card. Circle 245 on inquiry card. Circle 45 on inquiry card. PRINTER RIBBONS PRICE PER PER RIBBON DOZEN Anadex 9500 13.50 147.00 Apple DMP 5.95 68.40 Centronics 150/152 7.00 81.00 C. ItOh Prowriter 5.95 68.40 Commodore Pet 8023P 7.00 81.00 Epson MX-FX 70/80 5.25 60.00 Epson MX-FX 100 9.95 108.00 Gemini - 10 2.50 27.00 NEC 3500 M/S Single Sided .... 6.95 80.40 NEC 3500 Nylon 9.75 114.00 NEC PC 8023A 5.95 68.40 Okidata 80/82/83/92 2.50 27.00 Okidata ■ 84 5.00 57.00 Radio Shack D.W. II M/S 5.00 57.00 Radio Shack D.W. II Nylon 6.75 78.00 Radio Shack DMP - 2103 7.50 87.00 Radio Shack LP I II III IV & V 6.00 69.00 Silver Reed EX55 Single Strike 5.00 57.00 Toshiba - 1350 7.50 87.00 Wang Bearclaw 9.00 105.00 Xerox 610/620 M/S 7.75 84.00 Add $2.00 Shipping To Order Call (313) 569-3218 or Write for our Catalog DWIGHT COMPANY, INC. 15565 Northland Drive - West Tower Southfield, Michigan 48075-6496 Radio Shack TRS-80™ Computers At Guaranteed Savings from Pan American Electronics 1117 Conway Ave. Dept, B Mission, Texas 78572 Ph. 512/581-2766 Telex 767339 TO ORDER CALL TOLL FREE 800-531-7466 HOFA Books • Software • Hardware A tm J r i* ■ Id-Ons • fo t YDin ATAR 600XL/ 800 XL. Cornmoffore-64. VICZO.S nclair.Timex, Apple ll.Osb orne+OSI HOOKS far ATARI 4QOC600XL/800XL SOFTWARE IN MACHINE LANGUAGE FOR ATARI ATARI BASIC - Learning by Uiing ATMONA1 MUST Order No. 7022 (CI E19.95 rlrawmgs. special sounds, keys, paddles, ATMONA2 explore the ATARI RAM/ft )M iru Order-No. 164 67.95 You can slop at previously selected Small Busmen Software lot all ATARI 'S^MSSfm^StSL computers rs of trie SUPERMAIL (500 addresses on 1 rink) CPU may be clianged Includes , autotiook rlrsk No cartridge, nil DOS. no Order No. 7O50 dilk £54,00 Order- No. 731! S49.00 ATMAS Macro Assembler lor ATARI 10O4BK SUPERINVENTORY MOOO Kim, p.diskl One ol the most poweil above. (Disk only) Order-No. 7320 £49.00 Very fast. Translates 5k souri BUSIPACKl Iwrmen in FORTH) Com about 5 seconds Source cod can be invoicing (Disk only) Order No. 7313 £98.00 Order No. 7099 disk Order No. 7999 cartridge £128 DO ATCASH Convert your ATARI BOO inlo a powerful routines from book no. 169 on Order No. 7303 S49.9S ATAS Same as ATMAS but *Hho capability |32Kind48K RAM Mailing Lilt in BASIC PRINTER INTERFACES 850 needed 1 Order.ND.7213 (01 £24.95 Order No. 7291 £19.95 DMHrindOntributor mquirieeere mined. MTA**! atria iitlnifl of a: ELCOMP PUBLISHING, INC. 53 Rtdiock Lint Pomone.CA 91766 Circle 117 on inquiry card. Circle 286 on Inquiry card. Circle 126 on inquiry card. maxell Floppy Discs CALL NOW -TOLL FREE 1-800-328-DISC Dealer inquiries invited. C.O.D.'s and charge cards accepted. All orders shipped from stock, within 24 hours. Call toll FREE. M North Hills Corporation 3564 Rolling View Dr. While Bear Lake. MN 55110 1-800-328-DISC MNCall Collect 1 -6 12-770-048S Programmable Communications Translator The PCT-100 is a configurable in-line rs-232 protocol and data translator, the pct-100 can provide: * Terminal or printer emulation * dec or ibm system compatibility * macro-function keys * "type-ahead" and data buffering * Baud rate conversion * handshake protocol translation (E.G. CTS/RTS, X0N/X0FF) the pct-100 is configured using a built-in communications translation Language. Programs can be easily entered t edited from any ascii device. PCT-100-PCB (PCB ONLY) $ 289 PCT-100-ASM (PCB w/ CASE)..$ 339 PCT-512-M00 (POWER SUPPLY). $ 59 .68 y\A£fJ method systems incorporated 19751 South Lakeshore Boulevard Euclid, Ohio WIS C216) 531-0Wt \ferbatim flexible disks Call Free (800) 235-4137 for prices and information. Dealer inquiries invited. C.O.D. and charge cards accepted. VISA' PACIFIC EXCHANGES 100 Foothill Blvd. San Luis Obispo, CA 93401. In Cal. call (800) 592-5935 or (805) 543-1037. Circle 233 on Inquiry card. Circle 284 on inquiry card. * «^ MICRO SALES ■k MADE IN USA • BUY FACTORY DIRECT • j DISK DRIVE SPECIALS * We've Lowered Our Prices Offering A Complete Selection And. . . THE LOWEST PRICES IN BYTE! 8" Shugad 801R SS/DD - The Industry Standard $355.00 8" Shugart 851R Double Sided U Meg - The Old Reliable 457.00 8" flume Datatrak-8 DS/DO "THE BEST" of the floppys 479.00 8" Mitsubishi Full Height Double Sided 1 Year Parts + Labor . . . .445.00 8" Mitsubishi Thinline DS/DD 1 Year P+L Direct Drive 465.00 8" Tandon 848-1 Slimline SS/DD 600K BYTES D.C. Motor 355.00 8" Tandon 848-2 Slimline Double Sided 1.2 Meg. D.C. Motor 475.00 8" Siemens 100-8 SS/D0 ON SALE NOW!!! But How Long? 169.00 5V Mitsubishi Full height 96T.P.I DS/DD 750K M4852 295.00 5'/<"Mistubishi Slimline 96T.P.I. DS/DD 750K M4853 315.00 California Computer Systems YEAR END SALE SAVE $61.00 New CCS2066 64K Dynamic Memory • 65.536 bytes ol Dynamic BAM • Z-BO/8080. S-100 compatible • Port bank/16 levels of 64K = system memory ol 1024K • Independently addressed in 16K blocks • 200ns access and data lines • Hysteresis drivers and receivers lor high noise immunity and minimal bus loading effects. Part ffl-5000-50 ONLY $299.00 YEAR END SYSTEM SALE • 2300A Mainframe • 2422 Disk Controller • 2066 64K Memory • CP/M Operating System • 2810 Z-80A CPU • 2719 2-Port FtS-232 Serial • All AC/DC & Data Cables • 8-bit Parallel I/O A powerful package at ONLY $1495.00 CCS CALSTAR SYSTEM Now available and with FREE SOFTWARE: • Perfect Writer • Perfect Calc • Perfect Speller and • Perfect Filer. This powerful single box system includes: • Z-BO with 128K of RAM expandable to 256K • A networking interlace • SASI hard disk interface lo add-on a Winchester • CP/M 3.0 operating system • One parallel and two serial ports • Reads and writes the IBM 3740 format (compatible with X0R) ANO • Two double-sided double-density 8" floppy drives for 2.4 Megabytes ol formatted storage AND • Wil run two or more 8" or 5» " floppys. Part #S-15O0-05 ON SALE NOW Regu.larH Ha0 6 .00 — Our Price Only $2695.00 FANTASTIC SAVINGS! \ S 39S ' HELD OVER ON THE ORIGINAL S-100 MOD For engineers, hobbiests, and anyone who wants to save a bundle, the S1-M0D is the answer. Full regulated power to run up to lour floppy disks coupled with a mamoth S-100 power supply and 12 slot bus, makes the S1-M0D an excep- tional computer base. Single board design means no wiring from the power suppply to the motherboard. This eliminates all ground loop problems associated with other brands ol mainframes who are forced to use termination. The S1-M0D is being offered this month with a matching S-100-12 cabinet. Fan cooled, fused, with reset and keylock the cabinet is also enamel painted and silk screened. Four A.C. outlets are provided for peripheral hookup and plenty of cutouts available for RS-232, Centronics + others. Our regular $225.00 price for the S1-M0D and 250.00 price for our 12 slot cabinet is being SLASHED! SPECIFICATIONS: tjtfhfr> SAVE Regulated Unregulated ^^HSS «. _ + 5V@5A +8V @ 30A Wmm%B OVER + 24V @ 3A +16V@6A Hff *-,/•,« -5V@1A -16V @6A ^*^ *7UU Oon't settle for those cheap 6 slot immitations you've seen elsewhere in this mag. OWN THE BEST! XOR S-1 MOD and S-100-12 Cabinet $395.""' |5VQume 142 Slimline DS/DD. ~37fT00| 5'/i" Tandon TM-100-2 IBM. PC Add-on! DS/DO 48 T.P.I 259.00 5Vi" Tandon TM 100-4 DS/DD 96T.P.1. 750K 369.00 • WINCHESTER HARD DISKS • SPECIALS 5Va" Miniscribe Hard Disk *5 Meg $589 *10 Meg $749 6"'fluantum 20' Megacyle Winchester - Two flatters 1895.00 8" Quantum 40' Meg Four Platter - Most Popular 2395.00 8" Quantum 85" Megabyte - Special Order on this Monster! .... 2895.00 8" IOMEGA 10- Meg" Removeable Disk Drive with SCSI Controlled Inter- face Board. Runsuo to four drives 1895.00 8" IOMEGA 10 Meg* Cartridge Drive - No Control Interface 895.00 8" 10 Meg' Removeable Cartridge Media #M-2000-51 50.00 ♦ LAST MINUTE SPECIAL!!! Buy any Winchester hard disk drive above and get a Western Digital bard disk interlace board AT COST! DULY 295.00! 'Total storage space after lormalling. SPECIAL ONLY $450.00 Limit 5 per customer XOR-500 DAISYWHEEL PRINTER A letter-quality daisy-wheel printer at an unheard of wholesale price. This 20 cps workhorse features a daisy-wheel compatible with QUME's products. Full 132 column format with 256 character buffer, serial AND parallel interlacing (standard), 8 level automatic impression control - original and 3 copies. The $450.00 price is not a misprint. High reliability and quality performance sums-up the XOR-500 Daisy-wheel Printer. XOR-500 TERMINAL SLASHED? SALE Cut another $50 Only $445.00 That's right! A 700.00 terminal for $445.00, a special deal for our customers. Features: *Screen tilt •Detached keyboard *9 cursor con- trol keys *5 function keys *7 screen attributes *25th status line • 50-19.2 Kbaud •Column plus field tab *AND MORE •All these features with a full 6 month warranty makes this terminal the best buy on the market. DUAL DRIVE SUBSYSTEMS HORIZONTAL OR VERTICAL Fully Assembled and Tested Units ONE YEAR P + L WARRANTY On Shugart and Mitsubishi Subsystems */two Misubishi OS/DD Assem. + "ested 2.4 Meg $1170.00 */iwo Shugart 801R SS/OD Assem. + Tested 1.2 Meg 975.00 #/1wo Shugart 851R DS/DD Assem. + Tested 2.4 Meg 1225.00 w/two Siemans 120-8 SS/DD Assem + Tested 1.2 Meg 675.00 w/two Oume DT-8 DS/DD Assem. + Tested 2.4 Meg 1250.00 Cabinet Assem. & Tested w/Power Supply and Aces 235.00 Cabinet Top and Bottom with Mountirg Hardware Only 69.50 All cabinets A & T and subsystems include all AC/DC wiring and 50 pin data cable except the horizontal model whicn includes the internal 50 pin cable and requires an external 50 pin cable pan #06000-01 S 25.00 5Vi" Subsystems - Cabinet - Power Supply - Drives - Cables w/two 48TPI SS/DD includes all cables Assem + Tested 495.00 w/two 48TPI DS/DD includes all cables Assem. + Tested 595.00 w/two 96TPI DS/DD includes all cables Assem. + Tested . . . .695.00 ORDER TOLL FREE * EAST * 800-435-9357 ^r WEST $ 800-854-8174 do you innji r^f* Aiy hit AARJini iT^n to process NEED AN IBM-PC 16-BIT COMPUTER YOUR DATA? $1895 COMPLETE SYSTEM Model XPC with ^ MS/DOS features: r Sj^' •MS/DOS standard, V3 CP/M-86 operating system available at only $65.00 • 64K memory •Green CRT •2 serial, one parallel port •2 floppy drives for a total of 750K storage •Optional EPR0M to 32K •Optional Hard Disk add-on •Optional floppy add-on •Optional 8087 math co-processor •Multi-function keyboard (this is one part ot the system that's NOT like IBM's, it's better) • Fully expandable memory On-Board to 256K PLUS 5 expansion slots (all IBM compatible) •All available through U.S. Micro Sales and YES it's all fully IBM compatible THE XPC A New Model PC by XOR So close to the IBM PC you'll have to look twice. Due to the thousands of requests we've been receiving by phone, mail and visitors, we've responded by getting XOR to design this fantastic 16-bit IBM duplicate. We're offering a ONE YEAR warranty (vs. 90 days). Need more information? Order the manual for $5.00 (plus shipping). This low price includes drives, controllers, monitor, power supply, etc. About the keyboard ... If you've ever seen or used the IBM PC keyboard, you'll understand why we HAD to come up with something better — and we did! As a matter of fact, for those of you who own an IBM PC — it's time to take a hammer to that keyboard and call Toll Free to pick-up one of our compatible replace- ment keyboards at only $239.00 BASIC COMPUTER ONLY $895 The Features: •64K RAM memory •Expandable to 256K • Full monitor PROM •IBM PC compatibility • Multi-function key- board and cable • Runs MS/DOS and CP/M-86 (not included) •Power Supply +5V@ 10 Amp, +12V@6Amp, -12V @1 Amp •EPROM expandable on-board to 32K #5 expansion slots with room for 4 more INCLUDES: *8 level interrupt *2 serial and one parallel port *3 timer channels *4 DMA channels •Reset port, •Speaker port •and MORE! Circle 366 on inquiry card. BYTE Rbruary 1984 509 nuufMiiu iiv lent FIRST TIME BETWEEN TWO COVERS No matter what type of computer you own, this book will get you on-line TODAY! Complete information on computer bulletin board systems including: •What they are (and what's happening). •Kinds o( information available. •Public domain systems. •Free software (and how to get yours). •Blitz course in telecomputing. •Buyer's guide to modems. Over 400 verified listings. Periodically Updated. On-line Logbook. Electronic Mail Address Book. $14.95 P.P. Make checks payable to: Computer Food Press Div. of Coltrane & Beach 31754 Foxfield Dr. Westlake Village, CA 91361 Voice Orders-(213) 838-7716 Modem Orders-{213) 559-9033 HOOK IN NOW!! SPECIAL OFFICE When ordering, refer to this AD and receive your FIRST UPDATE FREE! ScreenWiz FULL SCREEN CONTROL An assembler subprogram you call from your programs to handle screen input/output as IBM mainframes do. Define full screen format specifications outside your program, and call ScreenWiz to retrieve Ihe formats, and do all the I/O for you. • One command input/displays a full screen • Use all of your CRT video attributes • Define up to 24 function keys • Define templates for display and input. • Validate input while keying. Insert and delete characters to correct fields • Tab fields forward and backward • Draw figures using vertical field displays • Save memory as only one format needs to be in memory at one time. Make the constants to display virtual, and they don't use any memory at all. • Build help screens. Call them with one function key then return to where you were. Available now for most popular — BASIC \ IBM PC $99 COBOL I CP/M-80 $99 FORTRAN [ Shipping $ 6 PASCAL ) Source code included IflTERDRTR 15 Toronto St. Suits 700 Toronto, Ont. Canada M5C 2E7 (416| 366-2136 (call collect to order! SYSTEMS INC. Visa, M/C Am. Express IBM PC COMPATIBLE Slimline Disk Drive $215.00 ea. (Shugart SA 455. DS.DD 320KB) Slimline Hard Disk $495.00 ea. (Shugart SA 706 5MB) Computer Case Call Keyboard Call Power Supply Call Disk Controller Card Call Color Graphic/Monochrome/Printer Interface Card Call Compatible Bare PCB Call 3M Diskette SS/DD $20/box 3M Diskette DS/DD $28/box Dealer Inquiries Welcome ELECTRADE CO. (408) 946-2541 780 Trimble Rd., Suite 605 San Jose, CA 95131 Circle 73 on inquiry card. Circle 185 on inquiry card. Circle 127 on inquiry card. MEMORY FOR IBM PC-XT 64K —$159.95 320K — $319.95 384K — $359.95 51 2K — $439.95 • Uses 64K Drams • Gold Fingers — Solder Mask • Addressing On Any 64K Block • No Parity Add 6% sales tax in California. Add $2.00 for shipping. Add $2.00 for C.O.D. Send check or money order to: In §ync 5738 Commerce Blvd. Rohnert Park, CA 94928 (707) 585-2793 Circle 180 on inquiry card. Scotch Diskettes Rely on Scotch* diskettes to keep your valu- able data safe. Dependable Scotch diskettes are tested and guaranteed error-free. The low abrasivity saves your read/write heads. They're compatible with most diskette drives. (800)235-4137 Dealer Inquiries Invited Printer Cables & .oo* S35.00* — Parallel — ALTOS ATTACHE ATARI CENTRONICS COLUMBIA EAGLE IBM- PC KAYPRO OSBORNE SANYO TI-99 $3 S Oo* $35 SERIAL — 00* ATTACHE COM. RS232 (DB25P) (9 conductor 1-8, 20) CABLES UNLIMITED 4030 Wabaska Dr. San Diego, CA 92107 619-222-3366 Circle 391 on inquiry card. | The Statistician | CPM IBM-PC TRS-DOS XENIX * Multiple Regression * Survey Research Stepwise * Nonparametrics Ridge * X-Y Plots All Subsets " ANOVA Backward Elimination * Random Samples * Time Series Analysis " Data Base * Descriptive Statistics * Search & sort " Transformations * Hypothesis tests Please call TOLL FREE 1-800-334-0854 (Ext. 814) ^K ■ Hk for more information ^k ^L or H Quant Systems V W Box 628 ^Hgl Charleston. SC 29402 ^^^^ VISA-M/C Accepted IBM PC, APPLE, etc. SHARING AND SWITCHING PROBLEMS? GILTR0NIX HAS THE SOLUTION! HI Any CPU Modem or Other Peripheral MANUAL UNITS AUTOMATIC UNITS 2-6 Porls OR 2-7 Porls Selecto-Swilcti Auto-Switch Serial (RS 232)/Parallel (Centronics) LOW COST ADD-ONS FROM THE MAIN MANUFACTURER (VI COGiltronix L^J 3780 Fabian Way Palo Alio, CA 94303 (■115) 4931300 Circle 152 on inquiry card. Best Prices On TRS-80 Computers Our 6th year of discounts Ed or Joe McManus Fgt. Prepaid. Save Tax. Toll Free 800-23 1 -3680 Marymac Industries, Inc. 225 1 1 Katy Fwy., Katy (Houston) Tx 77450 I -7 1 3-392-0747 Telex 774 1 32 See us in the Wall Street journal every Tues., Wed., Thurs. Circle 284 on Inquiry card. Circle 308 on inquiry card. Circle 231 on inquiry card. I VI I THE PC SYSTEM SPECIALIST PRICES AND AVAILABILITY SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE COMPLETE SYSTEM VERY SPECIAL PRICE 64K, Two Disk Drives, Floppy Disk Controller, Video Card and High Res Monitor 2S6K RAM, 360KB Disk Drive, FDC, Video Monitor & Adaptor 10MB Hard Disk Sub-System. PERSONAL COMPUTER Special of the Month! $2590 IBM PC COMPLETE LINE $3990 APPRICOT An IBM PC Compatible Computer W/Two Drives & Monitor W/$1250 worth of Software- Complete System, $2999 TAVA PC WE WOULD LIKE TO START THE NEW YEAR BY INTRODUCING THE TAVA PC! A Superior quality IBM PC Com- patible Personal Computer. Runs DOS 1.1, 2.0, 2.1, CP/M86® UCSD p-System® Runs Lotus 1-2-3? Multi- plan® Word Staff PFS® dBASEII® and ALL FOR £1995 many more! Hardware includes 128K -^^^ **MiMj K\MW\ *fX^ CPU, Floppy Controller, Two DS/DD Disk Drives, Video Monitor. Video \^^ ^"^ ^ "' SllCICf ested LlSt Adaptor, Parallel & Serial Ports. $2395 SLIMLINE DISK DRIVE FOR IBM PC DS/DD 320KB By tava corp $190 ADD-ON Disk Drive for IBM PCjr® .... CALL HARD DISKS FOR IBM PC® ffl* 10 MB Hard Disk Sub-System by TAVA CORP. includes Software, Cables, etc. Internal . $1295 MEMORY BOARDS CONOGRAPHIC High Res. Color Graphics Card $995 OUADRAM Quad Card. Fully pop. 256K $450 QUADLINK CALL AST SIXPAK 384K CALL HERCULES Graphics Card $490 APPLE He Computer System, Controller, Two Disk Drives, Monitor $1590 DISK DRIVE FOR APPLE Slimline, or Standard $190 PRINTERS DAISYWRITER 2000 CALL OKIDATA 82,4 83A 93A $440 $690 84A 92A $975 $575 $970 BROTHER HR-1 DX-15 $750 $450 MONITORS AMDEK 300A 300G 310A IV $190.00 $160.00 $190.00 /, . II . III. PRINCETON GRAPHICS SYSTEMS Hi-Res Color $340.00 $690.00 $390.00 $1190.00 $490 ROMAR II Apple Compatible Computer W/Z-Card Controller, Two Disk Drives and a Monitor for $1195 NEC TANDON TAVA IBM APPLE QCS MAYNARD LNW ROMAR PRODUCTS AVAILABLE ■viiwim^ivi 631 E. First St., Tustin, CA 92680 (714) 838-9100 *1BM PC is a registered trademark of IBM Corp. *dBASE II is a registered trademark of ASHTONTATE, Inc. LOTUS 1-2-3 is a registered trademark of Lotus Development Wordstar. Spcllstar. Mailmerge are registered trademarks of Micropro Internationa! Visicalc is a registered trademark of Visicorp Multiplan :s a registered trademark of Microsoft Corp PFS is a registered trademark of Software Publishing Co. CP/M86 is a registered trademark of Digital Research. Inc. MS-DOS ss a registered trademark of Microsoft Corp- UCSDp is a registered trademark of Softech Microsystems Circle 248 on inquiry card. BYTE February 1984 511 Vis*/**** %h&J!& DISKETTES 3M Scotch' BRAND AT SUPER LOW PRICES WE WILL SHIP YOUR ORDER WITHIN 24 HOURS AND WE PAY THE SHIPPING CHARGES COD ACCEPTED DEALER INQUIRIES INVITED =TJ CALL TOLL FREE 800 922-8193 IN CALIFORNIA 800 468-1068 T»yco Buiiniu Forms Computer Supplies Posl Office Box 605 Newbury Park, CA 91 320 ZH "™ Heath Users Double Your 5%" disk storage capacity without adding a drive. Get twice as much from your H88 or H89 microcomputer. Our FDC-880H floppy disk controller, in conjunction with your 5 1 /," drives, for example, expands memory capacity from 256 bytes to 512 bytes per sector. And it handles single and double- sided, single and double-density, 8" and 5 1 /!" drives — simultaneously. Ol C.D.R. Systems Inc. Controlled Data Recording Systems Inc. 7210 Clairmont Mesa Blvd., San Diego, CA 92111 (619) 560-1272 Circle 450 on inquiry card. Circle 349 on inquiry card. Circle 47 on inquiry card. MagiKey- THE FULL-FEATURED KEYBOARD EXPANDER Redefine any key to send a string ol characters. MagiKey'" does more . . . * automates application software, integrates function or cursor keys * "help" menus displayed al any time * built-in batch processing more powerful than SUBMIT or XSUB * strings can redefine keys, pause (or lill-the- blanks keyboard input, or contain nested key definitions * invisible to system and software * lor any 8080-8085-Z80-CP/M 2.2, no system or software modifications $ioo 6" SSSD. Kaypro 5V - inquire about other 615" formats check. VISA, MC add 6% lax in CA PfvO , ; mkroSystems CP M (im) Oorta 1 Research 16609 Sage wood Lane Poway, California 92064 (619) 693-1022 The INTELLIGENT GRAPHICS TERMINAL All of this on a single S-100 board • Full 512 color mapping pallette • TTL/analog RGB color or 8 level grey • 680x480 4 color and/or 340x480 16 color • Transparencies, overlays, multiple pages • 8086. EPROM, 128K RAM expandable on -card • Full editing terminal/graphics firmware • Text throughput is greater than 2000 cps • 10 windows, individually scrollable • Programmable terminal formats to 113x40 • 64K x 64K virtual screen graphics with clipping and scale • Drawn/filled circle, pie, arc, polygon • Complex fill patterns and line styles Low introductory prices: Assembled and tested $895. Partial kit $295. Availible soon: Fully integrated expansion card adds speech, sound effects, serial and parallel ports, and time-of-day clock. Advanced Graphics Engineering P.O. Box 3403, Retton, VA 22090 (703) 435-8110 OTDK flexible disks Call Free (800)235-4137 for prices and information. Dealer inquiries invited. C.O.D. and charge cards accepted. visa- PACIFIC EXCHANGES 100 Foothill Blvd San Luis Obispo. CA 93401 (InCal call (805) 543-1037) Circle 304 on inquiry card. Circle 14 on inquiry card. Circle 284 on inquiry card. CONVERSES COMPUTER AT LAST! A FULL IMPLEMENTATION of the original ELIZA program is now available lo run on your microcomputer! Crcaled al MIT in 1966. ELIZA has become Ihe world's most celebrated artificial inlelligence demonstration program ELIZA is a non-diceclivc psycho! heraoist who analyzes each siatemeni as you type tt m and then responds with her own comment or question— and her remarks are often amazingly appropriate' Designed to run on a large mainframe. ELIZA has never before been available lo personal computer users excepi in greatly stripped down versions lacking Ihe sophislication which made Ihe original program so fascinating Now. our new microcomputer version possessing the FULL power and range of expression of the original is being offered al the introductory price of only S25 And if you want to lind out how she does it for leach her to do more), we will include the complete SOURCE PROGRAM for only S20 additional. Order your copy of ELIZA loday and you'll never again wonder how to respond when you hear someone say. 'Okay, let's see what this com- puter of yours can actually do!" ELIZA IS AVAILABLE IN THE FOLLOWING FORMATS: ARTIFICMJL INTELLIGENCE RESEARCH GROUP ■_««««««_. 921 North La Jolla Avenue. Dept B ^^7^1 Los Angeles. CA 90046 ^jjl^-w (213)656-7368 (2131654-2214 (^^^^^■i mc VISA and checks accepted u APR V. IheAr APPLE WARE, RMC Apple Users Group Software Library Bonanza At truly affordable prices! For the? Iirsi Lime enjoy your Apple to us fullest rapacity, using specially packed disks with over 60 outstanding programs Bach. [not, available (rum any other source] Each packed disk includes an extensive variety ol interesting, uselul and entertaining programs . indispensable Lo all compuiensis 1 Each mined category packed disk includes BUSINESS • EDUCATIONAL • DATA BASE • GAMES UTILITIES • SCIENCE • MUSIC • GRAPHICS • FINANCE Library Disks I, II and lil are mned categories Dedicated disks are • GAMES • UTILITIES ■ GRAPHICS ■ INTEGER ■ SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY. Each packed disk is available for only S59.95 each. WHY PAY MORE? Drder direct from this ad and Sawe up to S150. Buy Library Disks I, II and III and get a special bonus disk FREE over ?60 programs "for SI 79 95 * S3 shipping For [.he best value, receive all 9 disks featuring over B0Q of our best programs for only 65C each for a package price of only 5389 Postage Paid 1 NEW BusnesS • Prolessonal • Executive Package (enabling vim Lu bring voui busness tu its lugnest level ol efficiency] also Bvateble. dree Readers Sarvce Card fur mr complete caiatog For Orders Only Call now TOLL FREE: 1-800-327-8664 Florida: 1-305-987-8665 lie, HI Eniul . ana Franklin Ace [For 3 3 DOS} Tektronix 40XX Terminal Emulation EMU-TEK™ IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR IBM PC, XT, AND MOST COMPATIBLES • Access powerful mainframe graphics using: —PLOT 10 (trademark of TEKTRONIX. Inc.) — DISPLA (registered trademark of ISSCO) — DARC (available from QUESTEL. Inc.) —and most similar packages and services. ■ Upgrade with complete software compatibility. • Increase versatility with options such as: —High resolution board support — Local pen-plotter support —Hard copy on matrix printer — Advanced communications program features — Other terminal emulations, including: — VT100 (trademark Digital Equipment Corp.) —RETRO-GRAPHICS (trademark Digital Engineering, Inc.) • 30 DAY NO-RISK TRIAL PRIVILEGE. . 10801 Dale Sl./PO. Box 615 F_T_C3J Stanton, CA 90680 ( DATA SYSTEMS < 7,4 > 995-3900 FTG will soon become PC INNOVATIONS Circle 28 on inquiry card. Circle 25 on inquiry card. Circle 139 on inquiry card. ^FV FORMULA INTERNATIONAL INC. fe^i> ^^ -^^ 12603 Crenshaw Blvd., Dept. B, Hawthorne, CA 90250 ^^^^/ ^^>. v^* For information (2131 973-1921 • Orders Onlw (nutsirip C.aMI \ fftOm fi79-R7";« '/Y V pinecom TM Pioneer of Low Cost Apple* Compatible Computer No Copyright Problems! Compare These Features with Our Competitors: • Powerful Utility Program (100% Apple Compatible) • 68-Key Upper & Lower Case Keyboard with Numeric Keypad • 25 Pre-programmed Function Keys • 2 Speed Auto Repeat Funtion • 64K User Memory — expandable to 1 92K • 5A Switching Power Supply (1 10/220VAC) • All ICs Are Socketed for Easy Service • Nation-wide Dealer Network for Convenient Technical Support And best of all, the price Assembled and Tested is just Now with New Improved Keyboard and 64K RAM 00 499 pinecom dp-64 Dual Processor (6502 and Z80A) Detached Keyboard 64K RAM Expandable to 192K 25 Function Key Keyboard Auto Repeat Keys w/Upper/lower Case 2 Slim Disk Drives (optional) 100% Apple II Compatible 40/80 Column Display (optional) Runs Both Apple Soft and CP/M Software i m #§. m i mMmMM m ._ J Model DP-64 Fully Assembled $ 650 00 AP-II COMPUTER A&T Apple Look Alike 48K User Memory Supports Upper & Lower Case 100% Apple II* Compatible MICRON COMPUTER 1 00% Apple Compatible > $ 455 00 AP-II MOTHERROARD Apple II + * Compatible 48K Memory Space 8 Expansion Slots Bare Board $69.95 ea. Assembled & Tested . . . .$295.00 ea. No Copyright Problems! Model I 48K RAM . Model II 64K RAM . . PRINTER by Super-5 Parallel Interface (Centronics Compatible) Standard Microprocessor Electronics 80cps Bidirectional with Logic Seeking 96 Character ASCII Adjustable Sprocket and Friction Feed $265 00 SEND ONE DOLLAR FOR OUR DETAIL CATALOG Model CP-80 . Shipping & Handling Charges Under $50.00 Over S50.00 $47500 $51500 $ 555 00 Model III 64K RAM w/Dual CPU. . (6502 for Applesoft & Z80A for CP/M) Case and Keyboard Only $159.95 All above models are standard with Numeric Keypad, Function Keys, Auto Repeat Keys, Upper/lower Case Function, Fully Assembled and Tested. PERIPHERALS Autoterm 80-Col. w/Softswitch $99.95 80-Column Card 99.95 80-Column for Apple lie* 49.95 Z80 CP/M Card (no software) 99.95 16K RAM Card w/Cable 47.50 Parallel Printer Interface 85.00 Buffer for Printer Interface (16-64K) Serial Printer Interface Card w/Adj. Baud Disk Controller Disk Controller DOS 3.2/3.3 Auto Select. EPROM Writer Card (2716/2732/2764) . . 85.00 85.00 65.00 75.00 75.00 3M DISKETTES SALE Single Sided / Double Density Soft Sector 10 for $ 24 50 Inside California 10% 5% Outside Calif. (Incl. Mexico & Canada) 15% 10% Overseas 25% 20% Circle 146 for Dealer Inquiries. Circle 147 for End-User inquiries. Purchase 5% 10% 20% Minimum Order $10.00/Calif. Residents add 6.5% Sales Tax. Phone Orders Accepted on VISA or MC ONLY. NOC.O.D.'s. Prices sub- ject to change without notice. STORE HOURS MON-FRI— 10-7 SAT— 10-6 ■Apple and Apple II are the trademark of APPLE COMPUTERS, INC. C LANGUAGE PROGRAMMERS c-systsms C COMPILER c-window™ The complete c language source level program testing and debugging tool. • Single step by c source line. • Set breakpoints at line numbers. • Display and alter variables by symbol name, using c expression syntax. • No more printf or assembler level debugging! c-window™ is a support package tor the c-ayatams C COMPILER for 8O86/8O88 based systems. Contact. c-eyetem* P.O. Box 3253 TM c-systems Fullerton.CA 92634 714-637-5362 ft APPLE COMPATIBLE Disk Drive $150. 00 ea. Controller Card $35.00 ea. Computer Case $55.00 ea. Keyboard $70. oo ea. (Numeric and Function Keys) Switching Power Supply. .$49.50 ea. Joystick (Heavy Duty) . . . .$17.50 ea. Slim Fan $25.00 ea. Prices for dealers in quantities of 25 or more. End Users Inquiries welcomed. ELECTRADE CO. (408) 946-2541 780 Trimble Rd. Suite 605 San lose. CA 95131 SUPER PRICE SAVER Apple Hardware CALL IBM PC System 2550. Dynax 449. Gemini 10X 279. Okidata 92/93 439/799. NEC 8023 399. NEC 3550 1850. Amdex 300/3100 129/167. Lotus 123 319. Rana Elites 239. Tandon TM100-2 239. Slim Dr. 5 ! /4" Apple/IBM 199. Password 329. Anchor Mark XII 300-1200 289. Hayes 1 200/1 200B 469/429. Koala Apple/IBM 78/98. Micromodem He 259. Quadram 64K 269. Software 30% OFF CALL Computer Price Club 16783 Beach Blvd., Huntington Beach, CA 92647 714-841-6160 _ NO CLUB FEE :•■ Circle 128 on inquiry card. Circle 77 on inquiry card. "CONTROL YOUR WORLD" «£# WITH YOUR VIC-20 . With simple circuits using low cost parts and our program supplied on cassette tape, we'll show you how to use your COMMODORE VIC-20 for: ■ Digital Thermometers ■ Digital Clock . ■ Burglar Alarm - 2 Zone, Time Controlled ■ Fire Alarm - 2 Zone, Time Controlled ■ Dusk to Dawn Lighting with Photo Cell ■ Furnace and Air Cond., Clock and Thermostat ■ Clock Controlled Appliance Switches Simple program variations in basic can operate lights, motors, furnaces, machines, heat pumps, radios, sound systems, test equipment, swim- ming pools, garden watering, and more. Your video screen will display simultaneously: • Two Digital Temperatures • Digital Time • Two Analog Inputs • Five Input Ports Status • Eight Output Ports Status. GET A LOW COST EDUCATION IN COMPUTER CONTROL. ORDER YOUR CASSETTE AND INSTRUCTION BOOK NOW! $39.90 PRICE INCLUDES POSTAGE. Terms: MASTEH CAHD/VISA The Continental Press, Inc., Elizabethtown, PA 17022 Toll free: 800-233-0759 Collect in PA: (717) 367-1836 APPLE® -PROM EPROM BURNER CARD All menu-driven software is provided along wltn a complete user's manual. All com- mands are self-prompting, there are no per- sonality modules required and all voltages are on-board card. BURNS E PROMS FEAT URES 2708 2532 2732 "Auto erase verify 2716 2516 2764 "Auto burn verify 2732A 2564 * Partial burn capacity mMnfz 'Low Insertion force only 149 95 socket Now Available APPLE' -prom console unit! Computer Technology Associates New Products Division 1704 MOOn, N.E. = = = (505) 298-0942 specifications subject to change without notice. Apple is a registered trademark of Apple computer. Inc. visa/mc/ae Accepted COMPILER for 8080/8085/Z80 New version oi the compiler The object code is COMPACT and is FASTEST iii current (' compili Our "Sieve" program runs in 8.0 seconds (standard) and 6.2 seconds (optimized) (See lanuary 1983 BYTE, pp 283-326) for pamphlet write: P.O.Box 508 STA. CRUZ CA. USA 95062 LSI JAPAN CO., LTD. 2-24-9 YOYOCI SHIBUYA-KU TOKYO (151J WRAM f'IIONL((Jl)!79-2427 Circle 89 on inquiry card. Circle 79 on inquiry card. Circle 221 on inquiry card. CORONA $2395 • 2 Dr. 320Kea. • 128KRAM • software • RAM Disk your choice of DESKTOP or PORTABLE • NEC 8201 A note book computer $677 • IBM-PC 64K, 2 Drs, color graphics . . $2499 • COLUMBIA 2 Drs, Kybd, software . . . $2495 • EAGLE-PC 2 Drs, Mon, 128K, software $2495 • SANYO-550 IBM Compatible, 128K ... $899 • FRANKLIN Ace 1200 OMS package . $1699 • FRANKLIN Ace 1000 Pro package . . $1199 • SIGMA DESG 10MB expsn chassis . $1799 • DATAMAC 10 MB Internal (IBM-PC) . $1499 • EPSON FX-100 the best of Epson .... $739 • EPSON FX 80 $535 • DYNAX DX-15 letter quality, 16 cps . . $429 • SILVER REED EXP-550 20 cps, 16'' wide $599 • OKI 92 160 cps DP, 40 cps correspdn . .$445 • OKI 84 200 cps DP, 50 cps correspdn $948 — Call for other items not listed— We meet or beat any price MICROLAND 5223 Beechnut Add 3% for MCA/ISA Houston, TX 77096 COD 15% deposit (713) 668-4695 (ship same day order) $2 credit tor long distance phone order TeleVideo DEALERS • Fasl Dump/Restore over 600k per disk $60 • Type Ahead with Print Screen 64 Character Type Ahead Buffer $60 • 3270 8 2780/3730 Bisync Communications from Phone 1 & Baleen $700 4 $300 • TurboDOS for TeleVideo Start at $225 • LYNC* Communications Package $155 • 8" Disk Drive for 802 Computer Drive & Software $1,100 • RM Cobol'" lor TurboDOS Full System $525 Run Time $175 • Standby Power System 200VA-400VA-800VA As low as $363 RM/COL Is a registered trademark of Ryan-McFarland Corp. CP/M* is registered trademark of Digital Research, Inc. TurboDOS is a registered trademark of Software 2000, Inc. PLUS OTHER GOOD TELEVIDEO STUFF! COGITATE, Inc. SPECIALISTS IN UNIQUE TELEVIDEO SOFTWARE 24000 Telegraph Road, Soulhfield, Ml 48034 (313)352-2345 VISA/MASTER CARD Accepted Scotch' DISKETTES Call Toll-Free 1-800-328-DISC for prices and infor- mation. Dealer inquiries invited. C.O.D. and charge cards accepted. All orders shipped from stock, within 24 hours. Call toll FREE AK North Hills Corporation 3564 Rolling View Dr. White Bear Lake, MN 55110 1-800-328-DISC MNCall Collect 1 -612-770-0485 Circle 247 on inquiry card. Circle 57 on inquiry card. COMPUTER DISCOUNT PRODUCTS CDP guarantees the lowest available price! You pay our discounted price or the lowest advertised price in this issue. Proof of price rests with customer Excludes typographical errors, items out of stock & products sold through authorized outlets unless we are also authorized. MICROSOFT SP/HMUtm inFOCOIR QUADRAMt A.LD.S. APPLESOFT COMPILER BASIC COMPILER COBOL COMPILER FLIGHT SIMULATOR (IBM) MOUSE (IBM) 1 MULTI-TOOL BUOGET I MULTI-TOOL FIN. STMT. 1 SOFTCARDII 1 SOFTCARD PREMIUM (lie) 1 64KIBMSYSTEMCARD 1 WORD MULTI-PLAN 75.99 116.99 239.99 559.99 34.99 129.99 109.99 69.99 215.99 359.99 295.99 SCALL 165.99 '• APPLE SOFTWARE 1 BPI (GL AP, AR. PAY. INV) 299.99 ■ BR00ERBUND Arcade Machine 44.99 Bank Slreel Writer 44.99 Drol 27.99 Loderunner 26.99 ■ CENTRAL POINT Copy 11+ 25.99 1 OATAMOST Aztec 26.99 Kids & Apple. VIC. COMM. ea. 14.99 1 DATASOFT Canyon Climber 17.99 Zaxxon 29.99 1 DLM Alien Addition Sch-37.99. H-27,99 Alligaloi Mix Sch-37.99, H-27.99 Demolition Division Sch-37.99. H-27.99 Dragon Mix Sch-37 99.H-27.99 Meteor Multiplication Sch-37.99 H-27.99 Minus Mission Sch-37.99.H-; ■ Verb Viper/Word Invasion 37.99 Woid Man/Word Maslei 37.99 Woid Radar/Spelling Wiz 37.99 1 EPYX Crush Crumble Chomp 22.99 I HAYDEN Piewnler 94.99 Saigon II 26.99 1 LSS Crossword Magic 39 99 1 LEARNING CO Bumble Games 29.99 Bumble Plol 26.99 Gertrudes Puzzle 29.99 Juggles Rainbow 19.99 Magic Spell 26.99 Moplown Parade 26.99 Rocky' s Boots 33.99 LIGHTNING Maslerlype 29.99 MICROLAB Oala Factory 229.99 Miner 20-49er 27.99 ODESTA CHESS 53.99 Odin 37.99 PENGUIN Graphics Magician 38.99 SIERRA ON LINE Froggei 24.99 Screenwriter II 89.99 Ultima It 4499 1 General Manager 169.99 1 ULTRASOFT Serpents Slar 29.99 Mask o! the Sun 29.99 1 VISICORP Scall 1 MICROPRO 1 Infostar/Wordstar 259.99 | Wordstar Pro 389.99 ALPHABET ZOO (new) DELTA DRAWING 19 99 32.99 FACEMAKER 21.99 FRACTION FEVER (new) 21.99 KINDERCOMP 19.99 MOST AMAZING THING 26.99 SNOOPER TROOPS 2799 STORY MACHINE 21.99 APPLE HARDWARE 1 CDP 16K RAM CARD 39.99 Printer Card & Cable 39.99 Fan w/surge, 2 outlets 39.99 DAN PAYMAR Lower Case 1 (rev 1-6)25.99 Lower Case 2 (rev 7) 19.99 DARK STAR Snapshot II 89.99 FOURTH DIMENSION Drive 219.99 HAYES Micromodem lie SCALL HOME Repeal Key 19.99 KOALA PAD 89.99 KRAFT Joystick 44.99 KRAFT Paddles 31.99 LEGEND !28KRam 359.99 MICRO-SCI Drive 219.99 MOUNTAIN CPS Card 159.99 NOVATION Applecal II 25999 Applecal Upgrade 1200 Baud 309.99 ORANGE MICRO Grappler + 119.99 1 Bufterboard 119.99 1 Bufferd Grappler + 179.99 PADDLE ADAPPLE 24.99 SATURN 128K Ram 379.99 1 Accelerator II 444.99 1 Neptune 64 K 199.99 Neplune128K 29999 ALSCP/M3.0 279.99 ..„ KENSINGTON ?I MICROWARE SYSTEM SAVER • Surge Suppression • Fits Apple Stand • Dual Outlet • U.L. Listed $£C • GreatGift! DO DEADLINE ENCHANTER PLANETFALL SUSPENDED WITNESS STARCROSS ZORKI, II, II 32.99 32.99 32.99 32.99 32.99 ea. 24.99 ACCESSORIES 1 3 Ring Disk Sheets (1D) 7.99 1 1 Flip 'n File (original) 17.99 1 1 Flip n File w/Lockliay (25) 17.99 1 1 Flip 'n File w/Locklray (50) 27.99 1 1 HAYES300BaudSmailmodem 199.99 1 1 1200 Baud Smarlmodem 474.99 1 1 Library Case 1 NOVATION J Cal 1.99 1 104.99 1 1 NOVATION 103/212 Aulo Cal 429.99 1 1 NOVATION 103 Smarl Cal 169.99 1 1 NOVATION Expansion Mod. 29.99 1 1 Power Strip w/surge 17.99 1 1 Printer Stand Small (plxgls) 24.99 1 1 Printer Stand Large (plxgls) 29.99 ■ 1 RIBBONS- Brother SCALL 1 1 MX&FX80 4.99 1 1 MX4FX100 7.99 1 1 OKI 82. 83. 92. 93 & Gem 2.99 1 1 USI Compumod RF MOD 34.99 1 1 Fingerprint 1 (Epson Enhancer) 44.99 1 380Z Letter- Quality Printer 999.99 1 MONITORS *MDEK SCALL 1 'RINCETON RGB HZ-12 489.99 1 1UADCHR0ME RGBHX-12 499.99 1 AXAN 12" Amber 18 mh 139.99 1 AXAN 12" Gieen 18 mh 134.99 1 JSI Pi 1 9" Green 20 mh 116.99 1 JSI Pi 2 12" Gieen 20 mh 119.99 1 JSI Pi 3 12" Amber 20 mh 146.99 1 JSI Pi 4 9" Amber 20 mh 136.99 1 JSI I400C Color Composite 288.99 1 JSBORNE Monitor Cable SCALL 1 le lo Princeton 139.99 1 TAXAN 420 RGB (AP, IBM) 499.99 APIC (APPLE ///PARALLEL) ERAM 80 column 64K HE MICROFAZER OUADBOARD I or II (64 K) OUADC0LOR I 0UADC0L0R II 0UAD512+(64K) 0UADCHR0ME MONITOR 129.99 SCALL SCALL 269.99 234.99 20999 219.99 499.99 QUADLINK 479.99 1 Supp&it U, off Qtitmoit 9 mpxrttance, SEE OUR AD ON PAGE 18 QS0OQQQ 305-974-0967 Circle 217 on inquiry card. APPLE USERS: REGAIN CONTROL! APPLE STOP CARD •FREEZES THE ACTION OF ANY PROGRAM OR GAME WITH THE FLIP OF A SWITCH •HANDLE INTERRUPTIONS WITHOUT ABORTING YOUR PROGRAM •GREAT FOR GETTING HIGHER GAME SCORES ANOFOROEBUGGING •INSTALLS THROUGH SIDE VENT SLOTS •NO TOOLS REQUIRED •USEABLE IN APPLE II AND COMPATIBLE COMPUTERS •90 DAY LIMITED WARRANTY •$29.95 PLUS J2 SHIPPING. CHECK, M.O.. MASTERCARD OR VISA ANTELOPE COMMUNICATIONS P.O. Box 4116 Madison, Wl 53711 Apple Is a trademark of Apple Computers, Inc. WISC residents add 5% sales tax. A Circle 95 on inquiry card. Circle 53 on inquiry card. Circle 23 on inquiry card. TOLL-FREE ORDERING: 800-222-8686 PPT CUSTOM COMPUTER Ull I TECHNOLOGY FOR TECHNICAL SUPPORT/ 1 CRAFTSMAN COURT - BOX 4160 - SEDONA, ARIZONA 86340 SERVICE / IN ARIZONA: 602-282-6299 Purchase your Hardware and Software directly from an OEM/Systems Integrator. Take advantage of our buying power! We stock a full line of Board Level Components, Software, and Peripherals. Call for your needs. We'll give you the Lowest Prices, and the Technical Support and Know-How we are quickly becoming well-known for, Satisfied Customers Nation- wide! The Nations's Custom Systems House for Business, Education and Science. Call for a system quote. FOREMOST QUALITY • ADVANCED SUPPORT • REASONABLE COST OF PRIME INTEREST Our prime interest at CCT is service and support. We build and sell hundreds of systems per year to the serious computer market. We rigidly adhere to our strict policy of reliable machines, and reliable people behind them. We feel the Com- puPro product line to be the state-of-the- art of the computer industry. THE CCT EXCLUSIVE WARRANTY With any system we build, we provide, in writing, an unconditional 12 month direct warranty on the entire system, in- cluding mainframe, boards, drives, power supplies, cabling and peripherals! We of- fer guaranteed 24 hour in-house repair and/or replacement with just a toll-free phone call. We can offer this, since we are so sure of our level of quality and reliabili- ty. It's great to know that in the event of a problem, you're not out of business waiting on service turnaround. We deliver! Our various OEM contracts with all the manufacturers of the components we in- tegrate, allow us this unprecedented flex- ibility. No factory O.K.'s necessary — just get it running — NOWI Wyse 100 terminal- 14" Green ... $699 WS Prom Option - Installed $50 Mitsubishi 8" DSDD drives, full or half height. Set-up FREE OF CHARGE .. $449 Okidata 82 $389/83 $619 84 .. $1029/92 .. $469/93 .. $779 AshtonTate dBASE II 8" or MD ... $299 Supercalc86-forCP/M86SMP/M .$99 Visual Terminals in stock Call LearSieglerADM 20 $499 Freedom 50 $499/100-$549 Hays Modem-$259 • Diablo 620-$1029 We carry a full line of software in all available formats at discount prices. TECH TIP CORNER dBASE II USERS - CUSTOM TERMINAL KEYS! Implement your arrow keys; emulate Wordstar edit commands - send an SASE with $2.00 - (ATTN: TTC). Tell us your arrow key codes. We'll return easy, detailed instructions to change almost anything. It's beautiful — Pat... PROFESSIONAL LEVEL BUSINESS SYSTEMS STATE-OF-THE-ART QUALITY, PERFORMANCE, RELIABILITY CCT ANNOUNCES: INTRODUCTORY PRICE: $3,399 OUR OWN IN-HOUSE ENGINEERED CUSTOM COMPUPRO SYSTEMS CCT-1 - ENTRY LEVEL S*-10*0 BUSINESS SYSTEM • Enclosure 2-Desk-20 Slot Mainframe • • CCT 2.4 Dual 8" Mitsubishi • CPU 8085/88 - 6Mhz 8085/8Mhz 8088 • DSDD Drive System - 2.4 Megabytes • • Disk 1 - DMA Floppy Disk Controller • • CP/M 80 - 2.2 LD/M - CCT Modified • • RAM 16 - 64K Static RAM - 12 Mhz • • All Cabling, Complete CCT Assembly, • Interfacer 4 - 3 Serial/2 Parallel I/O • Testing, and Minimum 20 Hour Burn-in • RUNS ALL STANDARD 8" CP/M SOFTWARE - INCLUDES OUR EXCLUSIVE 12 MONTH DIRECT WARRANTY CP/ M MP/ M NOTE: Each copy we furnish is CCT modified for the target system. M-Drive/ H and hard disk drivers are furnished, and the BIOS optimized for the fastest disk step rate, as well as terminal and printer compatibility. • • CCT-2- THE FASTEST MICROCOMPUTER IN THE WORLD!! * * Enclosure 2-Desk • 90K Baud Parallel Terminal Board • 78 Key Professional Ergonomic Keyboard CPU 8086- 10Mhz • Disk 1 • 512K M-Drive/H • High Resolution Amber Monitor. INTRODUCTORY PRICE: 128K- 16 Bit Memory • CP/M 86 -CCT Modified • CCT 2.4 Dual DSDD Drive System lnterfacer3-8 • SS1 • All Cabling, Complete CCT Assembly, Testing, & Minimum 20 HourBurn-in RUNS ALL CP/M 86 SOFTWARE - ULTRA FAST - INCLUDES 12 MONTH DIRECT WARRANTY * * CCT-3 - WMhz 68K System similar to above, with 128K RAM $6,699 * * imuuuuiunT rmot $6,799 We are the largest in the custom configuration of complete state-of-the-art S-100 systems, at package pricing, with integration, burn-in and programming. We custom build CompuPro systems / hard disk systems for business applications. Call for Com- puPro literature, CCT system configuration data and technical information. We can save you money! * SUPER PRICES * COMPUPRO COMPONENTS * IN STOCK * SYSTEM SPECIALS -ALL CCT A&T, BURNED IN: 816AS4299 816B-$4999 816C-$6499 M-Drive CP/M -Blowout-$39 • Disk1w/CP/M-$449 • M-Drive/H-512K-$1149 CPU 8085/88-S319 • CPU8086/87-$579/10Mhz-$659 • CPU68K-$519/10Mhz-$639 • CPU-Z-$249 CPU286-$1249/10Mhz-$1359 • Disk 1-$369 • Disk 2-$599 • Disk 3-$599 RAM17(12Mhz)-$329 • RAM 16(1 2Mhz)-$359 • RAM 21 (128K)-$779 • RAM 22(256K)-$1399 Interfacer 1 -$229 • Interfacer 2-$249 • Interfacer 3-5-$399/3-8-$459 • Interfacer 4-$349 System Support 1 -$299 • Enclosure 2-Desk-$599/Rack-$649 • 20 Slot Motherboard-$210 CP/M80-S99 • CP/M86-$150 • MP/M8-16-$699 • CP/M68K-$279 • UNIX-SOON 86 Upgrade Kit: Consists of CP/ M 86, 64K Ram, System Support 1 , Cable - $749 Call tor CSC Boards — New Releases — Operating System Mods/Updates * PRICE BREAKTHROUGH * Hard Disk Subsystems CCT/Fujitsu 5V<" subsystem, includes Disk 3, custom enclosure & power supply, all cabling, A&T, formated, burned- in. Ready for any CompuPro or similar S-100 system: CCT-5(5.5Meg)-$1599 CCT-10(11Meg)-$1899 / CCT-20(22Megj-$2299 ?? HARD DISK DECISIONS ? ? Hard/Floppy Combinations An exclusive CCT innovation. CCT/ Fujitsu/ Mitsubishi ultra-system: 5V<" hard disk next to a 1.2 Meg. DSDD 8" floppy. Includes Disk 3, custom horizontal enclosure and power supply, all cabling, A&T, formatted, burned- in. Will stand alone in any CompuPro system: CCT-5/1-$2099 CCT-10/1-S2399 CCT-20/1-S2799 NEW DISK 3/5V4" HD SYSTEMS * 2.4 Megabyte Floppy Systems CCT/ Mitsubishi 2.4 Megabyte Dual DSDD 8" system. Includes custom horizontal enclosure, all cabling, A&T, burned-in. This is the fastest system available: $1149 With stacked half-height drives: $1175 All Systems Carry Our Exclusive 12 Month Warranty. Prices & availability subject to change. All products new, and carry full manufacturer's warranties. Call for catalog. Free ware for your system. Plug-in and go. Arizona Residents add sales tax. CompuPro* Trademark — W.J. Godbout technical help to anyone. We can configure boards & sott- ; CP/M* MP/M* Trademarks - Digital Research Circle 101 on inquiry card. BYTE February 1984 519 WE LOVE TO PASS THE BUCK! W? v.iJJ do uur best to Ik'hi any competitor's price. WE WANT YOUR BUSINESS! DNMMIC MM Z80 FAMILY 4164 4104 4118 41 IB B118P3 61I6LP3 6264P 15 58725 27B4 2784 273! 2732 2718 27181 2801 200nt 15.30 15»!i 5.50 200ni 1.80 150™ 1.75 150ni 15.10 150nt 5.80 ISOni 35.00 ISOni 5.00 300n> 250ni 450ni 350ni 450ni 351ii 15.80 5.80 4.10 4.85 3.50 4.70 CPU. CTC. P10 13.00 0*flT 9.00 Ml*. SIOJ0I2 13.00 Z80B CPU. CTC. PIO 11.00 NORTHWEST MICROCHIPS DISTRIBUTORS 1730 Vim Ofivi S £. Part OrEjunt, Wit II3IB 12011 171 12»1 lull nttotl TERMS STOOD Minimum Order. Money Order. Cashiers Check, UPS COO, Washington Residents add 7.8% lax. Shipping and insurance eitra. Quantity discounts available. Ask tor our catalog. PRICES SUBJECT TO CHANGE. (6502 & Z-80 dual processor) 64K COMPUTERS (Apple compatible) in super modern styles. USS420 US5425 IBM pc look alike case •(Above prices exclude drives, monitor) & keyboard •Add 5% as shipping charge US$450 (Detail brochure forwarded on request) •We also sell cases, keyboards, power supplies, motherboards, components separately and interfaces. • Full repair & guarantee available •Assembled in Canada with CS.A. (Shipment from WA., U.S.A.) ABC COMPUTERS LTD. (6 stores In B.C. Canada) 643 E. HASTING ST., VANCOUVER, B.C. CANADA VSA 2ZS PH: (604) 254-2634 & 254-1062 Dealer Inquiries welcome Apple Is a registered trademark ol Apple Computer Inc. LIFETIME WARRANTY GENERIC SERIAL COMMUNICATION CARD For Apple II + ' and Apple He The Generic Serial Communication Card (GSCC) Is an asynchronous device that sup- ports all protocol needed for tull handshake communication (Hardware DTR, CTS, RTS and Software XON, XOFF). The board features 3 se- lectable options: Baud Rate from 110 to 9600, Full or Half Duplex and Auto Linefeed On or Off that are software selectable. And the 3 options can be controlled without burning a new EPROM. Special Introductory 0„P095 ■ iai iniroauc 79 ! plus shipping and handling. Dealer Pricing Available. Computer Technology Associates _.. jgjji === ^= New Products Division I ■ I 1704 Moon, N.E. = ■ ^^ Albuquerque, N.M. 87112 58 SHI (505) 298-0942 Specifications subject to change without notice. Apple is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. VISA/MC/AE Accepted Circle 271 on Inquiry card. Circle 8 on inquiry card. Circle 80 on inquiry card. T L Relocatable Threaded Language $150 RTL is a new language which retains the speed and extensibility of Forth but adds many additional advantages as a result of its more structured dictionary. Names, code, and vari- ables are all stored in separate areas for easy generation of headerless, romable code. All code is relocatable. RTL supports local vari- ables, multitasking, redirected I/O, and even allows definitions to be changed retroactively. All source code is included. Versions are cur- rently available or under development for 68000. 6809, 8080, 280, 8086, 8088, and 6502. RTL Programming Aids 10844 Deerwood SE Lowell, Ml 49331 (616)897-5672 INDUSTRIAL CONTROL MICROCOMPUTERS We have six single board computers, two video boards and 20 other control products. You can use our products for security systems, heat control, light control, auto- mated slide show, traffic lights, irrigation systems, home computer systems, auto- mated process control, and robot control just to name a few. OEM prices available. For catalog call or write to: JOHN BELL ENGINEERING, 1014 CENTER STREET SAN CARLOS, CA. 94070 (415)592-8411 INC. Serial 4 ■ ' ■ ' ' ' ' ' ■ ► Parallel PRINTERS! PLOTTERS! PUNCHES! ROBOTS! Convert What You Have To What You Want! * RS232 Serial * Centronics Parallel ' 8 Baud Rates * Handshake Signals * Latched Outputs * Compact 3'., x < Cor a J 800-847-1718 PRICES IN THIS MAGAZINE ** PRINTERS Dot Matrix & Letter Quality BMC BX80 (Epson Compatible) S 239 Daisywriter 2000 W/48K Buffer S1099 Dynax DX15, LetterOualitv S 469 DX25 call NEC 8023A(100cps) S 339 8025(15" Carriage) 699 Okidata 82AI80CPS) S 329 83A (15" Carriage) 569 84P(lnStOCk) 999 New Series Okidata 92PI160CPS) S 429 93P(15"Carriage) 739 c. itoh See NEC for Better Products Epson RX-80(120cps) Call MX-80FTI80CPS) Call FX-80(160CPS) Call FX-100 (15" Carriage) Call Star Micronics Gemini lOXd20cps) S 299 Gemini 15X 399 Power typed 8 cps) 479 PRINTER INTERFACES Orange Micro Grappler + S 119 Crappler + w/16K 179 Microtek Dumpling GX(GrapplerCompatible) S 99 Dumplingw/16K 159 wesper Micro wizard Full Graphics interface S 79 Apple Par Card & Cable Card&Cable S 49 Cables IBM to Printer S ? R Kaypro to Printer : RS232Cables 19 Okidata Options Tractor for 82 & 92 S 5 Serial Interface 9 Star or Epson Serial interface S 119 APPLE ADD ON'S Micro Tek Bam 16, 16K Memory Serial Interface Micro Soft i6KCard PremiumSoftCardllE MultiPlan SoftCard(Z80) Micro Max Viewmax80(80col) Viewmax80E(ForllE)64K . . . zcard CPM 3.0 Card Joystick GraphicsTablet RF Modulator . . Fanw/Surge . . . Disk II Monitoril Kraft Koala Astar Apple IBM ADD ON'S Ast Research Six Pack + Mega + Call for All AST Accessories Ouadram QuadCoiorCard Quad Link Quad Chrome Monitor Monochrome Adaptor Monochrome Monitor Colorcard Plantronics URI Display Paradise Systems Multi Display Card 64K upgrade 64K Memory Centronics cable pccable Tandon TM100-2 Panasonic 1/2 Height, 320K Circle 61 on inquiry card. Computer Components Unlimited RETAIL STORE & MAIL ORDER: 11976 Aviation Blvd. inglewood, CA 90304 All merchandise new We accept MC Visa Wire Transfer, COD Call, Certified Check, POs from qualified firms, apo accepted Shipping: Minimum S4 50 first 5 pounds. Tax California Res Only add 6' ? sales tax Prices Subiect to Change APPLE DRIVES Micro Sci A-2 Controller Quentin Research Applemate Controller Rana Systems Elitei Elite ii Elite in (Quad Density) Controller .... Slimline . Controller Super 5 5 V 4 & 8 DISK DRIVES 5V«" Tandon TM100-1.160K TM100-2, 320K TM101-4(Quad.) Shugart 801RSgl/Dbl 851RDbl/Dbl Mitsubishi 2894Dbl/Dbl Qume Panasonic 1/2 Height, 320K Tandon 848-1 Slimline sgi/DW 848-2SlimlineDbl/Dbl Siemans FDD 1 00-8, Sgl/Dbl DISK DRIVE CABINETS 5%" Cabinets single cab. w/ powersupply Duaicab. w/powersupply . 85 8" Cabinets Single Cab. w/fan& powersupply S 209 Dual Cab. w / fan & power supply 259 Sales Desk (800)847-1718 (213)643-5188 Outside California inside California Customer service & Technical (213)643-5188 Mon.— Fri. 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sat. & Sun. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. This Ad Supersedes All Others no Surcharge for Credit Cards CaIiFornia DiqiTAl Post Off ice Box 3097 B • Torrance, California 90503 FREE Plastic library case supplied with all diskettes purchased from . California Digital. DISKETTES ■■ '16.50 FIVE INCH SINGLE SIDED DOUBLE DENSITY tS!IS Each Sox 10 Boxes 100 Boxes SCOTCH VERBATIM MEMOREX MAXELL DYSAN LCAL-S01 CAL-510 CAL-516 MMH.744/0 MMM-T44/" MMM-744/ 19.95 )8 26.50 VRB-52S<01 __ __ VHB-S25M0 26. 50 VRB-S25J16 ■"*•■'»•» MRX-34G1 __ __ MRX-34B3 26. 50 MRX-3485 —**■*"» MXL-MD1 _ _ rt MXL MHW10 20,50 MXL-MH1M6 w«w» 18.50 24.50 25.25 16.50 I 21.75 I 23.50 22.25! 18.75 24.50 23.25 33.00! 30.50 FIVE INCH DOUBLE SIDED DOUBLE DENSITY SCOTCH VERBATIM MEMOREX MAXELL MAXELL/ 96 DYSAN DYSAN /96 24.95 MM M 7-45.0 __ __ MMM-745M0 39.95 MMM-74SM6 "»*™«**» vno-550'01 VRB-550'10 VRB-550/16 MRX-3491 MRX-3493 MRX-3495 MXL-MD2 39.95 35.00 39.95 45.00 DYS-104I2D DYS-107/2D -« EA DYS-105/2D 4£.3U DY5-204I2D 49.95 22.75 37.95 37.95 31.25 37.95 43.00 40.50 47.95 20.50 31.25 32.75 26.25 34.75 41.25 35.50 45.75 EIGHT INCH SINGLE SIDED SINGLE DENSITY SCOTCH mmm-740/o 29.50 MEMOREX mrx3062 27.75 VERBATIM vRB.34/9000 31.50 : I DYSAN Dvs.3740/1 35.75 I EIGHT INCH SINGLE SIDED DOUBLE DENSITY SCOTCH MMM-741/0 MEMOREX MRX-3090 VERBATIM VRB-34/8000 DYSAN DVS-3740/1D MAXELL ' MXL-FDi 37.75 35.50 35.25 40.75 45.50 SPECIAL Shugart410 '129 These Sliugarl 4)0 5'j disk drives are all lactory fresh 1983 production, (ecenlly purchased from the Four Phase Division ot the Motorola Corporation. Those disk drives are single sided 80 track(96TPI) suitable lor use wilh the Radio Shack Model 1 and Model 3 Or any other application thai can support an 80 track second drive such as the IBM/PC. The A 10 is lull height and (unclionatly Ihe same as the Tandon TM 1 00-3 Complete with power connector and installation manual When these Shugarl -tlOs are liquidated the price will revert to our regular price o! S249 SHU-SA4 1 ___ ==== MEMORY BLOWOUT SAlE II California Digital has recently participated ir the purchase ol several Ihousand Siemens^ FDD 100-8 lloppy disk drives. These units are electronically and physically stmiiiar to lhal of the Shugan 801 R. All units are new and shipped in lactory sealed boxes. Manual and power connectors supplied free upon request. Your choice 1 15 Volt. 60 Hz. or 230 Voll 50Hz aige Quantity ol 230 votl 50 Hz units wa'cnousoO n nade to will call these drives m quantities ol 50 di more 16K DYNAMIC 1.95 4116 150ns. 64K DYNAMIC 5.95 4164 150ns 4.95^ 2732 EPROM L9 450ns 16K STATIC 4.95 6116 200ns. 2764 EPROM SALE '5.95 DYNAMIC MEMORY EIGHT INCH DOUBLE SIDED DOUBLE DENSITY SCOTCH MMM-743/0 MEMOREX MRX3102 V E R BAT I M VRB-34/4001 DYSAN DYS-3740/2D MAXELL MXLFD2 23" COMPOSITE MONITOR *159 35 1 15 77 30 3 95 3 65 95 5 75 5 50 crin \=A CUD i Ml i-.nd ;T.,r run :;■.■■!--■. run .i T' CND-37S CND-37H 2 25 I 95 1 CND-50P 5 50 5 10 -i CND-50H 2 60 2 40 2 CND.2HS 09 69 AMPHGN0L / CENTRONICS TYPE 57O03U0 36 P CNC-3CP 7 05 6 35 3 IEEE48B C dar CND-2JP 7 95 6 35 5 DISK DRIVE POWER CONNECTORS 8 6 pin DC CNP-6DC t 95 1 29 8 3ACSgl-S CNP-3SS 169 109 S 3ACnGl'S CNP-3DS 169 109 5'* iti-ii DC CNP-4DC I 79 I 19 ) pin DIN tocpt CNP-D3P 259 t 99 t Shipping: First five pounds S3.00, each additional pound S.50. Foreign orders: 10% shipping, excess will be refunded. California residents add 6Vz% sales tax. • COD s discouraged. Open accounts extended to state supported educational institu- tions and companies with a strong "Dun & Bradstreet" rating. Retail location: 15608 Inglewood Avenue, Lawndale 90260. Atari n ■eight cfwges REMEX D £ E '219 California Digital has iusi purchased a large quanlily of Reme* RFD-4000 Eight inch double sided disk drives Remex is Ihe only double sided disk drive lhat has an double gimbal mounted head assembly lhal guaranties lower head tracking. This drive is mechanically solid Remex has always been known for producing premiere products for Ihe floppy disk market The Remex company is a subsidiary ol Ihe Ex-cell-o Corporation, a Fortune 500 Company Eight Inch Single Sided Drives One Two Ten 385 375 365 385 375 365 169 169 159 369 359 349 SHUGART801R SHUGART810 Half Height SIEMENS FDD 100-8 TANDON 848E-1 Hall Height Eight Inch Double Sided Drives SHUGARTSA851R SHUGART 860 Half Height QUME 842 "QUME TRACK 8" TANDON 848E-2 Half Height REMEX RFD-4000 MITSUBISHI M2894-63 495 485 475 485 475 459 459 459 449 459 447 465 219 219 209 379 375 369 MITSUBISHI M2896-63 Half HI. 459 449 409 Five Inch Single Sided Drives SHUGART SA400L 235 229 225 SHUGART SA410 96TPI/80Trk. 129 119 call SHUGART SA200% Height 159 149 139 TANDON TM100-1 189 179 175 Five Inch Double Sided Drives REMEX RFD480 IBM compatible SHUGART SA450 SHUGART SA455 Half Height SHUGART SA465 Half Ht. 96TPI TANDON TM50-2 Half Height TANDON TM55-4 half HI.96TPI TANDON 100-2 TANDON 101-4 96TPI 80 Track MITSUBISHI 4851 Half Height MITSUBISHI 4853 Vi Ht. 96TPI MITSUBISHI 4854 VzHt., 8" elec. QUME 142 Half Height TEAC FD-55B Half Height Three Inch Disk Drives SHUGART SA300 with diskette 229 219 209 Five Inch Winchester Hard Disk Drives SHUGART 612 13M/Bytes 895 865 825 SHUGART 706 6 M/Byte, Half Ht 795 775 755 SHUGART712 13 M/Byte, 1 / 2 Ht. 895 865 825 SEAGATE 506 6 M/Byte 465 445 425 TANDON 503 19 M/Byte 895 875 855 Upon request, all drives are supplied with power connectors and manual ENCLOSURES California Dicjilal manufactures an asortment ol stock and custom disk drive enclosures It Ihe volume is justified we will custom design an enclosure lor your application. The following stock disk drive enclosures are available All include power supplies the 8 enclosures are supplied with exhaust fans 199 189 175 319 309 299 259 249 239 289 279 269 215 209 199 329 319 309 279 269 259 369 355 350 259 249 245 339 329 319 465 449 439 239 229 219 299 389 275 Horizontal mount two 8 ft height drives. S279 00 Vertical mount two full height E disk drives. S299 0Q Horizontal mount one lull height or two half height B disk drives S239 0X1 Vortical mount two lull height 5 disk drives S139 00 TOLL FREE ORDER LINE (800) 421-5041 TECHNICAL & CALIFORNIA (213) 643-9001 CaMFornja Diq'iTAl Post Office Box 3097 B • Torrance. California 90503 & WESTERN UNION EasyLink Calilornia Digital has recently contracted with the West- ern Union Telegraph Company for the privledge of offer- ing subscriptions to Western Union's new EasyLink data communications network. Subscribers are able to transmit and receive domestic and international communications from a network of over 1.5 millon Worldwide Telex subscribers. EasyLink also allows access to other Western Union services that till recently have been available only to dedicated Telex installations. Send telegrams, Mailagrams and computer letters as easy as telephoning Western Union's toll free access line. Your personal computer and modem become your link to the World. One time S35.00 Installation fee includes EasyLink self teaching user manual. Telex directory and your EasyLink access password. Your Choice Second Drive or Monitor SANYO IBM COMPATIBLE '995 -- »55.t4*J Sanyo Electronics has just released the lor g awaited IBM/PC look-a-like, the MBC-550. This is a complete microcomputer that includes 128K/byte o< memory, a 5 V 160K/byte disk drive upgradeable to320K/byte drives. Also includes both color composite and RGB graphics interface, low profile key- board, and parallel printer port. Extensive software such as Sanyo Basic, disk utilities. Wordstar word processing software, Calcstar spread sheet & Easy Writer I. MS-DOS is supplied with the Sanyo computer. Most programs written for the IBM/PC will operate on the MBC-550. Along with all this California Digital offers FREE" your choice of either a second disk drive, or a high resolution green or amber screen monitor. All ai the super low price of only S995. We are currently experiencing an initial shortage of this computer. Please place your orders early. The MBC-550 will be shipped on a first c rdered basis. PRINTERS '289 Sfar Gemini MATRIX PRINTERS SlarGamitii-lOX I30d Sta'Gem.n. 15X lOOdi.i' sec 15 mdi." Slar Gemini DoUj - 160 CMi sec Slat Cop* HOF T trrclion S (raOOf To'iiii|jnPi:j5(J I92',har soc li.'1'er quality Gk.dala 02A senal S pa'aM IV ,- caper :..av.i;, 160 cl Data U3A & parallel 15 paper Gk dasaWAt paiiiici '0 papei Okmaia 2350 mow, 350 enar/scc Lp'.onFXliO 10 150 char -'sec wilii graijiiii.'n l:;]',L''iMXiniiwilh(;r 1 ij|tilr.-|» 15 paper NECSO&MptraNeig'i paper graphics Afiadei 9601 A riign speed *iingrapnici Anadei9630A2O0cha'sec pari & senal Ouantei 7030 corosporxienco quality '80 char-: GonHa low cosi dot main* punier Ptnurttet Bf. 10 parallel 9' . paper I'rowntcrll p.lMNpltS pBpff graphics D.lt.ipfOQu;.!-, B-600-3 band punier 600 LPM Pr:n|rpn.« P3011 hrg<- spued punier 300 lines per I Pftnironn PtiOO ultra iugn Speed 600 lines per rru. islar l30Pp,irl ISM PC com pal i Cl e STH-GlOX STR-G15X STR-D10 VSLCOOFT TOS 13=0 OKI-82A OKI-9ZA OKia3A OKI-8-1A OKI 3350 FfPS-FXEO EPS-MXIOO NEC-B023A ADX9501A ADX.962DA OTX- 7033 PRO-7500 PRO-SSI 3P PHO-2P DPSBSOO PTX-P300 PTXP600 TNS-130P WORD PROCESSING PRINTERS MEC7T10 fi'jcliar 'second str.al mierlaco NE.CJ730 Kchai'sec part interface NEC3S50 r-apuiaiu'iinerae!.i(jned'or'.tieiBM F NEC205P dBttmedta ©M PC 20 char, sec par Silver ReM EXP5G0 Uetiawsec parnnlertnce Silver Reed EXPiBO 1 7 Char sec pat I mle'lace 0iaDlo630J0char.sec serial 0'Mto620 prtjporrionai spacing. *ior> & -cert fat) Juhi6lOO_t8elw 'sec graphic " ' Brolh. HRU rl parail BttMACM HH 1 A s.vi.-tt interlace rjvMeiF 10 senal -JOcnai sec muter F 1 parallel 40ctiarsec Camre» CRi worrtprocetioingprmier s NEC- 77 10 NEC 7730 C NEC-3550 l NEC-2050 SRD EXPOOO SRD-EXP550 DBL-G30 20cps D0L-62O JUK-6100 BTH HR1P BTHHRlS PRO-FlOS PROF 1 0P CRXCRlS CHXCR2P 1-195 00 379 00 J79 00 619 00 1019 00 1995 00 529 00 58900 389 00 1099 00 1199 00 1595 00 189 00 689 00 6935 00 ■1250 00 5 795 00 629 00 I 799 00 995 DO 459 00 659 00 1765 00 879 00 539 00 695 00 779 00 1125 00 9 00 MONITORS i;*.'C i;'ii;i«'!i cnoij:ri;;r i-.MH» compos. BMC 12 high resou-iion 20MH- ZeniitiZW.I22AmOcr Phosphor 12 40. 60 column switch Junilh A'MI.?.) ijinon priu>.rjl'i.ir 12 40/ BO column swilth NECJB1301 green ptnsptei I8MH* eomposil video NEC JOi;>ji)iummfrr:ialijr.ii].;ccimposi1 USI Amber screen 12 composit monilor UoKvpia 23 QfMfl frame Wk. imhitecomposil v«Jeo Motorola 12 open irame ruquires no'z sync andpowe' Contact open trama requires lion sync & 12v supply COLOR BMC AlStfllUCcJOi composit video with sound r.'.'C C-! .'.Mf-r,[ dos.(;ro;'l*n-"jie*ilri!r;el8McompulC( NECJC1203DM RGBcoW monitor NECJC1201 co'jr composit 2emth 2VM13-1 HGBcdIO- SUriabW 'o: IBM PC BMC-12A BMC-12EN ZTH-122 ZTH-Z123 NECJ3U01 NEC-J31260 USl-tBA MOT-EW23 MOT-BWI2 CON-BW9 BMC-9191 BMC-9131M NEC- 1203 NEC-JC1201 ZTH-Z134 COM-tjjOO AMK-100 79 00 134 00 119 00 105 UG 1 69 00 129 00 169 00 159 00 499 00 699 00 — MODEMS DIRECT CONNECT S69 httyttg Smart Modem I200baud egtoantimti aoioaiai K8T«S 1200B bM uie IWOI Ihc IBM PC t200 DaurJ Hayes Smailrnodeni 300 baud only autoanswer auiofli Hayes Micron waem II 103 Apple direct connect Hayes Uoomodeni too B- 100 auto answer autodial Hayes Chro'iociMph itme 8 dale US RoDot>cs2'2A 300. 1200 Baud auto dial 'answer Penrsi 300 1200auto<3iai.au!olo National -Si'micnrni^rioi Ul' tl-10'.t HAM Cunnoller chip Split termmalion ne1WOrksareust!,-IiM! .ill i:ldrf:<-. Iim.v. CASi.n,- .in.-l RASim.-, I'liminnlin.-j itn> ia',1 Iracrsiii nriifUKj Tun txusci uses two separate voltage regulators One lor Itte DRAUs and one (or trie Menace iticjic. increasing the noise immunity ol the ram ariiiy Typical power dissipation is 8 walls Documentation includes Ifeory ol Operation COrfigufahOn guide a scften.iiic ana application noles on Hie use ol trie memory management oiiNons CAL-256K ? Lbs S- 100 BOARDS 16 BIT MICROPROCESSORS Octagon mm nru tiOBB ;ho ScttUtollet QV.-mim 735 utt Godooul siHifi B067 mtctacemp ie im GBt-flear «5 00 Godboul da.il t»nu 5101 8085 B3BB fl.16 GBT-B588 359 00 SINGLE BOARD COMPUTERS InsoWKH IZK.4hh4 nulS-lOO INS-EQ4 59b 00 hUvj:--: .;',: i ;■;,--. 0-1K AMI! YHtl /SO 00 i !■!,;!(:, Si.t.-ii i .-■■■- .■filloi'.ijy lytri Hi :,M I r.V, (lO telete* f DC-1 snqlB board TO mmtiun/ TELFDCI G75 00 8 BIT MICROPROCESSORS Gadtiout^SO 24 oil wtL'rtilKl idd GBT-iBO 250 00 CalilDinia Compuie: l&0 nnciotiiweyini fXS ..till 275 00 latticll IBO Willi two RS232 parts TAH-ZflO 330 00 FLOPPY DISK CONTROLLERS GoUUDal Pish I doable density GBt DSK1 305 00 Calilornu Compuler 2J22A wan CPM CCS-242? 339 00 Mar tow Disk Jockey II With CPM 2 2 MTJS I)J? 350 00 MatFOwlJisii Jockey I *itnCI'M M|l ln-n M1JS tlJl 225 00 l.irlifllili'MmmcMluiililiMlensily 1AH-00C 419 00 l.irntll I Iim iminr:-. -,.i'i)Hr (leiisily TAR-SDC 279 00 Fulcrum DMA Oitiriitjisk I'OtuhlttJflS* fCM-ODI 389 00 CPM OPERATING SYSTEM DiaiUr>ResnrctiCP/U3 s sal dan DMC-cpM3o 24a oo (iiiillnml CPM? 2 lor Disk 1 GBI-C|iM:>;' 159 no ii,„l!:i,i.il ri'M^ijli.-.'-.diJi.riD.'llilii, liBI-CjiMI!'. .'65 ()(; TailWB ElecIron.es CPM 2 2 fAR-CpM^2 159 00 HARD DISK CONTROLLERS Ocisgoii ii^/d uisk cqrUfctflei w«nE C oct-hOi ti(itlliuiit[')n;h;! a & 1. fludti-djl Di'it .1 Iuj'j'i W.rlclii.-slcr-. i.'uiiM Di.-: ;j:i-i ai'iuuliet lor 5'i Vi cm i)SK;' 509 00 tliil i)SK:l Nov MOS-V.500 495 00 EPROM BOARDS STATIC MEMORY BOARDS Gtidboul K im :c d ;k 16 ti GBr-Hir ■ii'j n" .!3'J I'D H53 OU .'J9U0 DYNAMIC MEMORY BOARDS Caiitnm. i Dif t .: 756K enaano lo 1 Metj CAL-D;'5tJ 495 BO CariloiiiuCui-iQ ?f)66 04K bJin. seire: CCS-2f<.6 295 00 INTERFACE BOARDS teifaccri PwrrjIoorH GB1-UJA leilau'ii tifsuUpj, ipuns GBT -tbOA iwticeti.i «nii 5 w pr.ni (1BI t.ltiA GodOtWt Werticer I pwraioom GBT-133A 23900 Gouoo-jiinitiijdri. i w:yf3wr ipuns GBT-ibOA 26900 GrjfJtWi ISllaEVM win b scnai pons GBI I35A 495 00 | Godboul imeiUcei m . . i. - GBI-1H7A 3: Cniotr- iCar-. j:cr.;iO Jsro psitis CC5-2710 21 Ciiil0in:jC3nBJinr?.'l& ?ifrj. 2 par i CCS-2ri9 2! CaMarnia Computet 2'?0 4 pen pji I CCS-2720 2' r.i.iinriM Cofflmlai ?83D 6 pen serial CCS-ZBM 4i Morrow Designs Mulnmurd 3 S 7P tf'>5-Mll' 3- SPECIAL FUNCTION BOARDS Hayes S-lJOM Processor w/8086 only CPU 8086/80B7 AST CPU 8086/8087 CSC CPU 8085/88 AST CPU 8085/88 CSC 3/6MH2 CPU-Z AST 3/6 MHz CPU-Z CSC SDSystems Usl Price SALE Price Z60 SINGLE BOARD COMPUTERS $ 695.00 $ 595.00 $ 850.0b i mm ASTS 750 00$ 675.0B CSC$ 850 00 S 765.00 $1050.00$ 039.00 SI 150 JOS 1065. 00 $ 495 00$ 380.00 $ 595.00 $ 407.87 $ 325.00 $ 270.00 $ 425.00 $ 347.87 DISK CONTROLLER DOARDS DDSDS38005 BBSDS3BBB2 BBSDS38007 0OSDS3B0B8 BDSDS38BB9 BBSDS38097 BBS0S3B076 BBSDS38062 BBSDS38B8I BBSDS38096 BBSBS3809B SBC-300 4MHz ZB0A CPU A&TS 74100$ 619. SBC-300 6MHz Z80B CPU AST$ 825 00$ 689. Z80 Starter System AST ExpandoRAM IV 256K AST ExpandoRAM IV 256K w/EDC AST ExpandoRAM 111/696 256K PR0M ; 100 w/software AST RAM Disk 256K AST ROM Disc 128KA&T 1/0-8 4-Port Async Ser. AST 1/0-8 8-Port Async Ser. AST $ 450.00 $ 399. $114500$ 975. $1990 00 81675 $ 825 00 $ 749 $ 285 00$ 210 $ 875 00$ 775 $ 35000$ 310 $ 600.00 $ 540 S 695 00$ 589 Part Number Description -'■ ADVANCED DIGITAL CORPOHAJXM Usl Price SALE Price i 0BADCS0P6128 Super Six 6MHz 128K Mastc $995 00$B49.00 w/1 AOC PS1 RS232 Serial Adapter BBADCSPRSLV612B Super Slave 6M Hz 128 K $695.00 $595.00 BBABCSBC15 Ruper Quad for S V< " drives S750.00 $695.00 BBABCSBC18 Super Quad for 8" drives $750 00 $695.00 SOFTWARE & I/O PORT ADAPTERS 0B 00 00 00 Port S 79500 $ 699.00 BAP08171ACPM DISK 1 (AST) w/CP/M' 22 $670.00 When purchased with two 8" disk drives: BB6BT54018 BBBBT41BBB DISK 1 Floppy controller (AST) $49500 CP/M'' 2 2 lor Z80/8085 w/manuals8BI0S.8"S/DDisk CP/M-86' lor CPU 8085/88 S CPU 8086/87 CPUs w/manuals BIOS 8" S/D Disk DISK 2 8" hard disk controller $795 00 w/CP/M - 2 2 lASTl DISK 3 ST-506 type 5 V hard $795 00 disk controller w/CP/M-80" & CP/M-86' (AM) S 489. 00 $450.00 $425.00 $148.95 $249.00 $725.00 $725.00 I/O BOARDS 1/0-8 4 Sync. 4 Async, Serial I/O A&T Versafloppy III Floppy S ST-506 S 895 00$ 759. Hard Disk Controller DBPDBVF339I 45* w/5 Si" unbanked CP/ M " 3 $ 1 083 00 $ 888. w/8" unbanked CP/M*' 30 $108300 $ BBS. w/5%" banked CP/M' 3 $1083 00$ B88. w/8" banked CP/M' 30 $1083 00 $ B88. Versafloppy It/696 (AST) $ 400 00$ 344. w/5V«" unbanked CP/M" 30 $ 588 00$ 424. w/8" unbanked CP/M' 3 $ 588 00 $ 424. w/5V banked CP/M' 3 $ 588 00 $ 424. w/8" banked CP/M' 30 $ 58800$ 424. •CP/M-Plus'" (3 0I configured lor the SBC-300 See Complete Specifications on Pages 12-25 Of Our '83/'84 Engineering Selection Guide BBSDS38B9S BBPDBVF33914B BBPD0VF339147 BBPDBVF33914B BBSDS38093 BBP0BVF239141 BBPD0VF239142 BBPDBVF239143 BBPDBVF239I44 BBABCPS1 BBADCCPSP BBADCCPM22*t BBADCCPMSO't BBABCTDOS40*t PS/Netl RS232 Serial Adapter $ 35.00 Centronics Parallel Port Adapter $ 35.00 Advanced Digital CP/M' 2 2 $150.00 Advanced Digital CP/M Plus" 13 0) $350.00 TurboDos' 1 2. or 4 Multi-user $550.00 'Replace * with Q to specify Super Quad: $ for Super Six t Replace t wilhB lor 8" IBM' 3740 formal. 48 lor 514" 48 TPI format or 96 lor 5W" 96 TPI format. ST506/SA1000 HARD DISK CONTROLLER BBADCHDC100I5 BBADCH0CI00IB BBADCHDCINSTl BB6BT56010 System Support 1 Multifunction $450 00 $375.00 1/0 (A&T) BBGBT5B0I0/56531 SSf w/8231 Math Chip A&J S645 00 $570.00 DBGBT5601 0/56320 SSI w/8232 Math Chip A&T $645 00 $570.00 BBGBT53030 Intertacer 3 - 8 port serial (A&T) $699 00 $599.00 BB6BT53040 Interfaced 3 Serial. 1 Cenlron- $450 00 S389.I ICS Parallel. 1 Parallel (AST) 8/16 BIT MEMORY DOARDS BBGBT52016 RAM 16 1 2MHz 32K Static A&T$ 55000$ 495.00 BBBBT52021 HAM 21 12 MHz 128K Static AS.TS 995.00$ 895.00 BB6BT52022 RAM 22 12MHz 256K Static A&TS1750 00 $1549.00 BB6BT52012 M-Dnve/H 512K RAM Disk A&TS1475 00 $1195.00 #&*" {^octagon BOARD LEVEL PRODUCT BBBCTCP0816 8/16 Bil SBC (AST) $ 895 00 $ 795.00 BB0CT80B7N0P 8087 tor CPJ 8/16 $300.00 BBBCTCPM86 CP/M 86' $ 150.00 BB0CTC0NCPMB6 Concurrent CP/M-86' $ 195.00 BB0CTMPMB6 MP/M-86' $ 495.00 ST-506 Hard Disc Controller $ 595 00$ 525.00 MAINFRAMES BBBCTH0C BBDCTHDS0BI9 BB0CTS256TBD BBBCTD5I2K BB6BT51200 20 Slot Desk Top (A&T) $925.00 S79S.C BBG8T5I250 20 Slot Rack Mount (AST) $975.00 SB50.C For more CompuPro Specifications see Ml" 2-33 ot our New Catalog Manufactured by Vector Electronic Co. under license from CompuPro BBVCTB8006FB Intertacer 1 2-Senal (AST) $295 00 8219.00 BBVCTB80BGF2B Intertacer2.3-Par.1-Ser (AST) $325 00 $239.09 BBVCT8800GRI7B RAM 17 64 K 10MHz $450 00 $369.00 Static RAM (A&T) 192Mb Hard Disc Subsyslem $229500 $1995.00 256K Static RAM (A&T) $185000 $1719.00 512K Dynamic RAM (A&T) S145000 $1345.00 See Specifications on Pages 12-27 Ot Our '83/'84 Engineering Selection Guide COMPLETE OCTAGON 8/16 " SYSTEMS BB0CT8I6SMPMW/256K Sialic RAM S MP/M-86'" $7350.00 BB0CT816SCCPH W/256K Static RAM 8 Concurrent CP/M-86 $7350.00 BBBCT8160MPMW/512K Dynamic RAM S MP/M-86 $7350.00 BB0CTIIB0CCPMW/512K Dynamic RAM S Concurrent $7350.00 CP/M-86 See Complete Specifications on Page 5 Of Our New '83/'84 Engineering Selection Guide ST506 514" Winchester Conl $500 00 $450.00 8" Winchester Com $500 00 $450.00 Install program (or use with non-ADC $ 10.00 CPU board (Supplied on 8" CP/M" compatible disk) See Complete Specifications on Pages 14 - 27 of our 'B3/'84 Engineering Selection Guide MACKO'i'KCH International Corp. MAX: 1 S-100 SLOT 1 MEGABYTE The MACR0TECH MAX is a 256K lo 1 Megabyte S-100 IEEE/696 dynamic memory board Thai's right up to 1 Megabyte on a single standard size S- 1 00 board The first 384 K is on the Host card thai plugs into your motherboard. The remaining 640K ts located on a unique "piggy- back" card that attaches to the host The MAX family is ideally suited to applicalions where density, speed, and software flexibility are essential See Page 1 6 Of Our New '83/04 Engineering Selection Guide for Complete Specifications Ordering Information: The 256K and 384K versions include the fully socketed Host card. The 512K and larger versions also include the fully socketed "piggy-back" card. List Price SALE Price BBMACMAX256 256K Dynamic RAM (AST) S112500 $1165.00 BBMACMAX384 384 Dynamic RAM (A&T) S1467 00 $1395.00 BBMACMAX512 512K Dynamic RAM (A&T) S186000 $1795.00 BBMACMAXM 1 MEG Dynamic RAM (A&T) $2449 00 $2325.00 BBMACMAXTM MAX Technical Manual $ 15.00 BBMACMAXVDSK MAX Virtual Disk Software supplies $ 25.00 on 8" S/D Disk BBMACM3 Memory Mapping Option $ 91.00 Attention CompuPro CPU 8085/68 liters: You must order the CPU modification hardware to insure complete compatibility BBMACGBTMOD Hardware modification lui CompuPro CPU 6085/88 10.00 = ORDER TOLL FREE (800) 420-5922 - CA, AK, HI CALL (8 1 8) 709-5 1 1 1 circle 303 § DEAL PAGES 092 & 393 DISK DRIVES & CABINETS ON SALE!! 5V»" FLOPPY DISK DRIVES BBMPI5I* MPI Full Height SS 48TPI {5 lbs.) $200.00 B8MPI52* MPI Full Height DS 48TPI (5 lbs.) $270.00 BBMPI9I- MPI Full Height SS 96TPI (5 lbs.) $275.00 BBMPI92* MPI Full Height DS 96TPI (5 lbs.) $400.00 BBMPI50I MPI Vi-Height SS 48TPI (4 lbs.) $260.00 BBWPI502 MPI Vi-Height DS 48TPI (4 lbs.) $300.00 BBTNDTM1001 Tandon Full Height SS 48TPI $199.00 BBTNDTM10O2 Tandon Full Height DS 48TPI $249.00 BBTHDTMID14 Tandon Full Height DS 96TPI $339.00 ■Replace with M lor MPt Door, oi S for Shugart SA400 Type Door Dual 8" Disk Enclosures All ol these rugged enclosures feature forced, filtered air cooling, hefty power supply, with the heat producing elements mounted to outside for cool, reliable operation. The rear panels are punched for the appropriate data cables. FDE002. Economical design for two standard size 8" floppies. Hinged lid for easy drive access. Power supply: 5V(B4A, -5V@i.8A. +24(°> 3A DT1002. Cabinet for two 'A-heigtit 8" drives or 1 full height 8" floppy or Winchester. Includes Shugart type AC power cable Lit Price SALE Price Part Number Description 5 1 /." Disk Drive Cabinets BBJMMC5 BBJMR2C5 BBJMR2C5C Single Drive Cabinet (5 lbs) Dual Drive Cabinet (9 lbs.) Dual w/lnternal Data Cable (9 lbs.) $ 79.00 $ 99.00 $115.00 BBIIIF0E002 FDE002 Dual Enc. (35 lbs.) $359.95 $325.00 BBIIIDTL002SHU DTL0C2 Dual Thin Line(12 lbs.) $225.00 $175.00 BBIItDTLMPIKiT MPI Vi-Heighl DTL adapter kit $ 24.95 BBIIICBLSPH3D4FM Shugart to Qume AC Cable $ 4.95 BUY CABINETS WITH DRIVES AND SAVE! Combinations with FDE002 s3Bwir*^5j(Kf 5V«." Hard D sk BBMCPI302 Micropolis 20.4/25.9 Mb (12 lbs.) $1465.00 BBMCP1303 Micropolis 33.9/43.2 Mb (12 lbs.) $1675.00 BBMCP1304 Micropolis 40.8/51.9 Mb (12 lbs.) $2195.00 BBTNDTM501 Tandon 6 Mb (9 lbs.) $ 699.00 BBTNDTM502 Tandon 12 Mb (9 lbs.) $ 849.00 BBTNDTM503 Tandon 19 Mb (9 lbs.) $ 995.00 BBSHU8Q1R Shugart Full Height SS (IB lbs.) $349.00 BBSHU8S1R Shugart Full Height DS (18 lbs.) $479.00 BBSIEFDD1006 Siemens Full Height SS (18 lbs.) $169.00 BB0METRAK842 Oume Full Heighl DS (18 lbs.) $459.00 BBMITM2B94S3B Mitsubishi Full Height DS (18 lbs.) $375.00 BBIUPMIS MPI Full Height SS (11 lbs.) $300.00 BBMPM2S MPI Full Height DS (1 1 lbs.) $460.00 BBMPI41D MPI Dual '«- Height SS (22 lbs.) $760.00 BBMPI42D MPI Dual '.-Height DS (22 lbs.) $630.00 BBMPW1M MPI VHeight SS (9 lbs.) $380.00 BBMPI42M MPI Vi-Heighl DS (9 lbs.) $460.00 BBTNDTM8481 Tandon v... Height SS (9 lbs.) $359.00 BBTN0TMM62 Tandon V Height DS (9 lbs.) $435.00 BBPDBIIIFDE2S2 w/2 SHU801R Drives BBPDBIIIFBE2M2 w/2 MFM289463BS Drives BBPBBIIIFBE2Q2 w/2 QMETRAK842 Drives BBPBBIIIFBE2B51 w/2 SHU85IR Drives BBPDBIIISIE W/2FDDI008 Drives Combinations with DTID02 $ 969.00 $1049.00 $1199.00 $1239.00 $ 595.00 BBPDBIIITND1 w/2 TNDTM8481 Drives $ 879.00 BBPDBIIITNB2 w/2 TNDTM8482 Dlives $1039.90 BBPDBIIIMPI1 w/2 MPI41M Drives $879.60 BBPDBIIIMPI2 w/2 MPI42M Drives $1039.00 Due lo UPS Regulations, drives end ceblneti will be shipped separately. Please Include shipping lor each disk drive and cabinet. All of the necessary power for two TANDON TM500 series or equivalent hard disk drives Just imagine, you can have 1 0OMbytes of storage using two of the Micropolis 5 Vi" Winchester disk drives and this cabinet! Power supply: +5V(fC 6A and +1 2V@ 6 A The rear panel is punched for two 20. two 34, and one 50 pin header connector. Fan cooled. BBIIIHD5002 Dual Hard Disk Enclosure $369.00 DUY CABINET WITH DRIVES AND SAVE! BBPDB50IHD5 BBP0B502HD5 BBPDB503HD5 BBPDB1302HD5 BBPDB1303HD5 BBPDBI304NB5 w/2 TM501 Drives w/2 TM502 Drives w/2 TM503 Drives w/2 MCP1302 Drives w/2 MCP1303 Drives w/2 MCP1304 Drives $1599.00 $1899.00 $2149.00 $2999.00 $3799.00 $4399.00 Due lo OPS Regulations, disk drives will be shipped separately from cab- inets. Don't lorget to include shipping lor each disk drive cabinet maxell irS WORTH IT! 1200 BAUD MODEM SALE (5?1-?— - « UT » DIAL/ U.S. ROBOTICS -. AUTO ANSWER FREE SOFTWARE! Part number BMgjjtjM Uil Price SALE BBPDBPASSTEU3 Password Modem w/Com- $528.00 $379.00 munication Software 8" CP/M'" BBFDBPASSTEL5 Password Modem w/Com- $528 00 $379.00 munication Software 5V Apple BBPDBADIALTELB Auto Dial 212A Modem $67800 $$495.00 w/Communication Soltware 8" CP/M 1 BBPDBADIALTELS Auto Dial 21 2A Modem $678 00 8495.00 w/Commumcation software 5W Apple BBPOBSIOOTEU S- 100 Mortem Card w/operating S528 00 $379.00 software on 8" CP/M' diskette D.C HAYES For more details on Modems, toe pages 36 S 39 ol our New Catalog Part Number Description Ust Price Oor Price BBDCH0400P 1200 Baud Smartmodem $695.00 $514.95 BBDCN0200P 300 Baud Smartmodem $279.00 $229.00 BBDCH0300P Chronograph $249.00 $199.00 BBDCNB100P MicroModem 100 $399.00 $349.00 BBDCHOOOOP MicroModem II $379.00 $299.00 BBDCNI200B IBM-PC" Modem card $599.00 $499.00 PJXON 1200 Baud Direct Connect w/10 Number Memory 5%" DOUBLE DENSITY DISKETTES BBRIXR212A 1200 Baud Stand Alone unit $495.00 $449.00 BBRIXPC2I2A 1200 IBM PC" modem (2 lbs.) $495.00 $449.00 BBRIXPCC0MI IBM PC" Modem Software (1 lb.) $ 69.00 BBPOBBIXIBM IBM Modem i Soltware Together (3 lbs.) $539.00 Part Number Sectors Tracks Sides/ Heads Price Per Box ol 10 1 2 or more BBMXLMDI M Soft BBMXLMHI 10M 10 hard 6BMXLMHII6M 16 Hard 40 40 40 1 1 1 $28.00 $28.00 $28.00 $25.00 $25.00 $25.00 BBMXLMD2DM Soft BBMXLMK210BM 10 Hard BBMXIMH2I6DM 16 Hard 40 40 40 2 2 2 $42.00 $42.00 $42.00 $30.00 $38.00 $38.00 BBMXLMDI DDM Soft 80 1 $36.00 $33.00 BBMXIM02DDM Solt 80 2 $44.00 $40.00 BBMXLMH2I6D0M 16 Hard 80 2 $44.00 $40.00 All mini disks with exception of MD 1 DOM MD2HD & MD2DDM are with hub ring 8" DOUBLE DENSITY DISKETTES 8BMXLF01I26M1200 Soft BBMXLFHI32MI200 Hard $36.00 $33.00 $36.00 $33.00 BBMXLFB2XDM1200 Sofl 2 $45.00 $40.00 BBMXLFH232BMI200 Hard 2 $45.00 $40.00 Go on The Gold Standard! A GOOD COLOR TERMINAL NEEDN'T COST A LOT OF MONEY yffcy HITACHI IMJ Al \&J Hitachi Denshl.Ltd. UVHL TRACE SCOPES NOW WITH A 5 YEAR WARRANTY!! NEW LOWER PRICES! FOR COMPLETE SPECIFICATIONS ON HITACHI OSCILLOSCOPES, SEE PAGES B2 « 83 IN OUR 03/'84 ENGINEERING SELECTION GUIDE 40MHz with Delay Line BBHITV422 List Price $895.00 SALE PRICE: 60MHz with Trigger View BBHITV65I 'List Price: $1195.00 SALE PRICE: 100MHz Delayed Sweep/ Quad Trace BBHITV105BF List Price: $1595.00 SALE PRICE: $ 749. 00 $995. 00 $1 395. 00 (Shipping Weight 17 lbs I (Shipping Weigh! 31 lbs) (Shipping Weigh! 31 lbs) ■UK. ADDS Phone Today and Get On Our Priority Interrupt Mailing List! PRIORITY Circle 303 on inquiry card. ELECTRONICS 9161 Deenng Ave., Chatsworth, CA 91311-5887 ^ffl ^S BBAODCOIOK Viewpoint/Color Terminal (40 lbs.) List: $129500 ON SALE NOW FOR ONLY: $1 129.00 ORDER TOLL FREE (800) 420-5922 - CA, AK, HI CALL (818) 709-51 1 1 s Terms US VISA. MC BAG Check. Money Order U S founds Only Ca residents add6'/ ? % Sales Tax, MINIMUM PREPAID ORDERS1S0O. Include MINIMUM SHIP- = PING S HANDLING oJS3 00 for Ihe first 3 lbs plus 404 tor each additional pound Orders over 50 lbs. sent freight collect Just in case include your phone number Prices ^^= subiect to change without notice We will do our best to maintain prices through February. 1 984 Many quantities are limited. Son - io ramchecks. no refunds or ex- — changes on sale merchandise Credit card orders will be charged approriate freight Sate prices lor prepaid orders only We are not responsible tor lypographical errors ^=| 2 RETAIL STORE PHONE NUMBERS: (Cholsworth:) (618) 709-5464 - (Irvine:) (714) 660-141 1 |g Digitalker rmsoa 74LS02 74LS03 74LSC4 74LS0!. 74LS08 741S09 74LS10 7415)1 74LS12 74LS13 74LSI4 74LS15 74LS20 74L521 74LSZ2 74LS26 74LS27 74LS28 74LS30 74LS32 74LS33 74LS37 74LS38 74LS40 74LS42 74LS47 74LS4B 74LS49 74LS51 74LS54 74LS55 74LS73 74LS74 74LS75 74LS76 74LS78 74LSB3 74LS8S 74LS86 74LS90 74LS92 74LS93 74L595 74LS96 74LS107 14 74LS109 16 74LS112 16 74LS113 14 74LS1I4 14 74LS122 14 74LS123 16 74LS125 14 74LS176 14 74LS132 14 74LS133 16 74LS136 14 74LS138 16 74LS139 16 74LS151 16 74LS153 IE 74LSI54 24 74LS155 16 74LS1S6 16 74LS157 16 74LS158 16 74LS160 16 74LS161 16 74LS162 16 74LS163 16 74LST64 14 74LS165 16 74LS16B 16 74LS169 16 74LS170 16 74LS173 IB 74LSI74 16 74LS175 16 74 LSI 81 24 74LS190 16 74LS191 IB 74LS192 74LS193 74LSI94 74LS195 74LS197 74LS221 74LS240 74LS241 74LS242 74LS243 74LS244 74LS245 74LS247 74LS248 74LS249 74LS251 74LS253 74LS257 74LS25B 74LS260 74LS266 74LS273 74LS279 74LS2B3 74LS290 74LS293 74LS298 74LS352 74LS353 74LS365 741.5366 74LS3B7 74LS368 74LS373 74LS374 74LS375 74LS3B6 74LS393 74LS399 74LS670 81LE95 81LSQ7 74SO0 74S02 74503 74S04 74S05 74508 74S09 74S10 74S11 74S15 74S2Q 74S22 74S30 74S32 74S38 74S40 74S51 74S64 74S65 74S74 74SB5 74S86 74S112 74SII3 MrJJ. I' IM 14 74S1I4 74S133 74S134 74S135 74S136 74S138 74S139 74S140 74S15I 74SI53 74SIS7 74S15B 74S160 74S174 74S175 74S188- 74S194 74S195 74S196 74S240 74S241 745242 74S243 74S244 74S251 74S253 74S257 745258 74S260 74S280 74S287- 74S2BB* 74S373 7453 74 74S387* 74S471" 74S472* 745473' 74S474' 74S475* 74SS70" 74S571" 74S572' 74S573* 74S940 74S941 CA3010H CA3039H CA3Q46N 14 CA3059N 14 CA30EON 16 CA3065E 14 CA3080E 8 C040QO CD4001 CQ4002 CD400G CD4007 CD400? CD4010 CD401I CD4017 CD40I3 CD4014 CD4015 CO4016 C04017 C0401B C04019 CD4020 C04021 CD4022 CD4023 CD4024 CD4025 CD4026 CD4027 CD4028 CD4029 CU4Q3D C04034 CD4Q35 l [Moo ir CA30B1N CA3082N IS 1.19 CA3083N 16 1.49 CA3086N 14 .69 CA3089N 16 l 69 CA3Q96N 16 1.49 I C04040 CD4041 CD4Q42 CD40J3 CD4044 CD4Q46 CD4047 CD404S CD4049 C040SO CD4Q51 CD4052 CD4D53 CD4056 CD4059 CD406Q CD4Q66 CD4068 CD4069 CD4Q70 C04071 CD4072 mm C04075 CD4076 CD4078 GD4081 CD4082 C04093 CA3130E CA3140E CA3I60H CA3161E CA3162E CA3189E CA3401N CD4098 CD4506 CD4507 CD4508 CD45I0 C0451 1 CD4512 CD4514 C04515 C04516 CD4518 C04519 CD452D C04526 CD4528 C04529 CD4543 CD4S62 CD4566 CD4583 CD4S84 CD4723 CD4724 MC14409 MCJ4412 16 MC14419 16 MC 14433 24 MC14S38 16 MC14S41 14 13.95 13 95 11.95 40 CPU 40 MPUw/Clcck 40 MPUw/Clcckal3MHz . . . 40 CPU-8-M (Internal Clock) iMHi 40 CPU-8-M lEilemal Clock) lMHr . 40 MPU— B-bil (6MHz) 40 CPU-Sgl.chipfHiill12Bbts.Ram) . . 40 CPU (256 bytes RAM] ... 40 CPU (64 bytes RAM) 40 CPU w/Basic Micro Interpreter 40 CPU .. 40 CPU 16-bH 5MHz 4D CPU 8/16-blL 40 HM05 RAM I/O Port-Timer. 40 HMOSEPROMMPU -280, 280A, 280B, Z8000 SERIES- 40 CPU (MK3880N)(7flOC) 2MH7 28 Counter Time; Circuit 40 Dual Asynchronous Rec. /Trans. 40 Direct Memory Access Circuit . 40 Parallel I/O Interlace Controller 40 Serial I/O (TiCB and RxCB Bondcdl 40 Serial I/O (Lacks 01RB). .. 40 Serial I/O (Lacks SVNCB). 40 Serial I/O 40 CPU (MK3B80N-4)(7B0C-1) 4MH* 28 Counter Timer Circuit 40 Dual Asynchronous Rnc. /Trans 40 Direct Memory Access Circuit 40 Parallel I/O Interlace Controller 40 Serial I/O (TtCB and RxCB bonded) 40 Serial I/O (Lacks DTRB) . 40 Serial I/O (Lacks SVNCB) 40 Serial I/O . .. 40 CPU(MK3880N-6(6MHz. 2B Counter Timer Circuit 40 Dual Asynch. floceiver/Transmiller 40 Parallel I/O Interlace Controller 48 CPU Segmented 40 CPU Won-Segmented 40 Serial Comm Controller 40 Counter/Timer i. Parallel I/O Unit 12.95 44 95 34.95 44 95 29.95 -6500/6800/68000 SERIES — 40 MPU wilt) clock and RAM [2MHz) 40 Peripheral inter Adapter 40 MPU 40 MPU wnri clock and RAM 40 CPU (IMHi] Eternal (Locking) 40 Peripheral Inter Adapl (MC6820) 24 Priority Interrupt Controller 24 1024x8-bi(ROM(MC68A3O-8) 24 Asynchronous Comm. Adaptor 24 Synchronous Semi Data Adapter 24 O-GOObps Digital MODEM 64 MPU 16-Bit (8MHzj 40 General Purpose Int. Adapter 40 Multi. Protocol Camm Controller 2B Enhanced Prog Comm. Inl. 24 64K EPROM 1450ns) . . 40 Peripheral Inter Adapter INS8080A TM555Q1 INS8154 8156 INS82C06 DP8212 DP8214 DP8216 DP8224 DP8226 DPB22B DPB23B INS8243 INS8245 INS8246 INS8247 INS82J8 INSB250N DP8251 DP8253 DP8255 DP8257 -60B0A SER1ES- INS177M FD1791 FD'793 FD1795 FD1797 6643P 40 CPU 40 Synchronous Data interlace (SIRC) 40 128 Byte RAM 16-Bil I/O . 40 RAM with I/O Port and Timer 20 Octal D Flip Flop Trl-State (74C374) 24 B-bitlnput/Ou1pul|74S412) 24 Pnonty Interrupt Control 16 B>* Directional Bus Driver 16 Clock Generator/ Driver 16 Bus Driver .. 28 System Com. /Bus Driver (74S428) 28 System Controller (7-5S438) 24 I/O Expander lor 48 Series 1B 16'Key Keyboaifl Encoder [74C922I 20 20'Key Keytxard Encoder (74C923) 23 Di5playController(74C91l) 28 Display Controller (74C912) 40 Asyn. Comm Elemwl . . 25 Prog Comm. I/O (USART) 24 Prog Interval Timor 40 Prog. Peripheral 1/Ol.PPl) 40 Prog DMA Control 28 Prog Interrupt Control 40 Prog CRT Controller 40 Prog. Key Dear n7 Display Imerlace 20 8-BTl Tri-Siaie Bi fractional Trans 20 B-bil Bl-Dtrocllonal Rsceiver .. 20 8 bit BiDirectional Receivef . 20 8-cHtBi-Drectional Recerver 20 Octal Laiched Peripheral Dnver 4D 8'bit Urav Peripheral Interface 4D 16K EPROM with I/O — DISK CONTROLLERS 40 Single Don si ly ... 40 Single/Dual Density |lrw.) 40 Si ngle / Double Den si ly ( T rue ) id :".-.. j [>;-.:.:■, ;■:::-■ :-:'::i . 40 Dual Density/Side Select True 40 Fioppy Disk Coniroiter (1MHz) — SPECIAL FUNCTION 2995 29 95 29 95 29 95 2995 OS0025CN DS0026CN INS2651 MC3470P MM58167AH MM58174AN C0P402N C0P402MN CDP470N W.t535'i-\A II MM536GESI B Dual MOS Clock Driver (5MZ) . 8 Dual MOS Clock Onver (5MZ) 28 Communication Chip . IB Floppy Disk Read Amp System 24 M icroprocessor Real Ti me C lock 16 Micro. Compatible Time Clock 40 Microcontroller w/64-Oigit RAM and Direct LED Drive 40 Microprocessor w/64-digit RAM & Direct LED Dnve w/N Buss Inl. 20 32-segVACFluOr Drvr (20-pin pkg ) S Prog OSDltatorrDivider (60Hi| 8 Prog Osciltator/Drvider(100Hz) ■■\>m DYNAMIC RAMS 4027 4116N-2 4116N-3 4116N-4 4164NI50 4164N-200 MM526I MM5262 MM5270 MM52S0 MM5290-2 MM'ii-.in-i i.mw/'M 1 MM!,;"!)! .1 18 10241 1 1300ns) 99 16 4096x1 (2S0ns) 2.49 16 1t>.384xl (150ns) 1 89-8/14 95 16 16.384x1 (200ns) 1 69-8/12.95 16 16,384x1 (250ns) 1 .49-8/10.95 16 65.536x1 1 150ns) 6.95 - 8/49.95 16 65.536x1 (200ns) 5 95-8/44.95 IB 1024>1 (300ns) 49-B/195 22 2048x1 (365ns) 40-811.95 IB 4096*1 1250ns) MK4096 4.95 22 4096x1 (200ns) 2107 16 16.384x1 (150ns) 16 16.384x1 (200ns) 16 16.384x1 (250ns) 16 8192x1 (200ns). STATIC RAMS- (650ns) 89- B/ 14 95 69-8/12 95 19-8/10.95 22 256x4 16 1024x1 16 t 024x1 IB 256x4 16 256x4 4S0IKI8101 (350ns) (450ns)L.P (450ns)8lll . (450ns) MOS 16 1024x4 (450ns) . 1024x4 (450ns) LP 1024x4 (200ns) 1024x4 (200ns) LP 4096x1 (70ns) (70ns) 2102 21L02 2111 2112 2114 2114L 2114-2 2I14L-2 2147 2I4B TMS4045 TMS40L47-45 20 !D24x4 5101 22 256x4 (450ns} CMOS MM5257 IB 4096.1 (450ns) 4044 HMG116P-3 24 2048x8 (150ns) CMOS HM6115-4 24 204Bx8 (200ns) CMOS HM611BLP-4 24 2048x8 (200ns) L P CMOS HM6264P-15 28 8192x8 (ISOns)CMOS 27LSO0 16 256x1 [BOnsJLP 16 16x4 22 256X4 I 49-8/9.95 1 95-8/1395 1 75-8/11.95 2 25-8/14.95 7489 74C920 74C921 74C929 74C930 74S1B9 74S200 74S206 74S2B9 82S10 82S25 (50ns) 3101 (250ns) - (250ns) CMOS (250ns)CMDS(6501) l250nS)CMOS(O5!B) |35ns) 93405 .i!l.l;l,.,'):).|IO . ^tioxi (60nsl9341t 16x4 (35ns)3l01 1024x1 (50ns)O.C (93415) 16x4 (50ns)O.C.(74S289).. PROMS/EPROMS 256.1 1702A 74 256x8 4.95 2708 ?4 1024x8 (450ns) 3.95 2708-5 ?4 1024x8 (550ns) SM00246 .2.95 TMS251D ?4 2048x8 (450ns) 2716 5.95 1MS2532 ?4 4096x8 1450ns) NMC2532 ... .6.95 TMS2564 IX 8192x6 |450ns) 14.95 TMS2716 74 2048.8 |450ns) 3 voltage 9.95 2716 74 2048.B (450ns) 4.95 2716-1 74 2048x8 (350ns) S,95 2716Q-5 74 2048x8 (550ns) .4.49 2732 74 4096x8 (450ns) 6 95 2?32A-3 74 4096x8 (300ns) 7.95 2732A-4 74 4096x8 (450ns) 21V 6.95 27320-4 74 4096x8 (55Dns] 595 27580-A 74 1024x8 (450ns) 2.95 2764-4 7fl 8192x8 |450ns) 9.S5 2764-3 78 8192x8 (300ns) 14.95 MM52D40 74 512x8 |1us) 4.95 MCl.llitl/ii.t 74 8192x8 (450ns) .... 24,95 27128 78 16.384x8 1450ns) 128K EPROM 59.95 74S188 1B 32x8 PROMO.C 16330-1). 1.49 74S287 IR 256.4 PROMTS (6301-1) 1.95 74S288 IB 32x8 PROMTS (6331-1) 1 95 74S387 1ft 256x4 PROMO.C (6300-1).. 1.95 74S471 70 256x8 PROMT. S (6309-1). . .5.95 74S472 711 512xB PROMTS (6349-1) . .4.95 74S473 ?n 512x8 PROMOC (63481 ... 4 95 74S474 74 512x8 PROMTS (0M87S296N .4.95 74S475 74 512x8 PROMO.C (8340) 4.95 74S476 18 1024x4 PROM T S 6.95 74S4 7B 74S570 74S571 7i<;-.,n 82523 82S115 82S123 82SI26 b;':>i; ,( ' 82S130 82SI85 B2S190 82S191 16 32x8 24 512x6 16 32x8 16 256x4 16 256x4 512x4 1024x8 PROMTS 16 512x4 PROMO.C (6305) 2.95 16 512x4 PROMTS (6306) 2.95 18 1024x4 PROMO.C (635?) .... 4.95 IB 1024x4 PROMT.S. (82S137) . ,4,95 PROMOC (27S18) . 2 95 PROMTS (27S15) 9.95 PROMTS I27S19) . 2 95 PROMO.C. (27S20) . . 2.95 PROMT S (27S21) . ., .2,95 PROMOC (27S12) .. 3,95 IB 2048x4 PROMT.S (TBP24S81) 9.95 24 2048.8 (80ns) . . 14.95 24 2048.8 180ns) .. 14.95 DM87S180N 24 1024x8 PROM C I82S1B0) 9,95 DMB7S181N 24 1024x8 PROMTS (82S1B1) 9.95 0M87S1B4N IB 2048x4 PROM D C (82S184) 9.95 DM87S1S5N IB 2048x4 PROM T S (82S185) . .9.95 DM07S19ON 24 2048.4 PROM C (82S190) ,14.95 0M875131N 24 ?04Bx8 PROM T.S (82S191) , ,.14,95 DATA ACQUISITION DC 10 Mostek DC/DC Convert +5VIO-9V 2.95 MC3470P IB Floppy Disk Read AMP System 4 95 MC14U8L7 16 7-tiil D/ A Convener (DAC0807LCN) 1 49 MCI408L8 ia 8 hii D/A Convener (DAC0808LCN) 2,25 ADCOB03LCII 20 8-bit A/D Convenor (±1/21 SB) 4 95 ADC0804 20 8-bit A/0 Converter (USB) 3 49 DAC0806 16 B-liil O/A Convener (0 78% Lm ) . . . I 95 ADC0809 28 8 Oil A/D Converter (8-Ch Multi.) 4 49 ADC0817 40 B-hil A/D Convener (16-Ch Mulli.) 9 95 OAC1000 24 10-Bit D/AConv Micro Comp |0 05 j /j) 7 95 OAC100B 70 10-bit D/A Conv Micro Comp. (0.20V,) 6 95 DACI020 16 10-bilO/AConv (0 05% Lm ) .. 7.95 DACI022 16 10-hil D/AConv (0.20% (.In.) . . . . 5,95 DAC1222 1812-mi D/AConv (0.20%Lin.) . . .6.95 LM334Z Constanl Currenl Source ' 119 LM335Z Temperature Transducer 1 40 LM399H Temp Comp Prec Ret ) 5ppm/C°) 5 00 AT-5-1013A 40 30K Baud Uar1 (TR16Q2I .3.95 LOW PROFILE (TIN) SOCKETS 8 pin L 14 pin L 16 pin L 1B pin Li 20 pin Li 22 pin LI 24 pin LI 28 pin LI SOLDERTAIL(GOLD) STANDARD 14 pin IB pin IB pin nSQ 1.03 ST s WW SOLDERTAIL STANDARD (TIN) 14 pin S 16 pin S IB pin S 20 pin S 24 pin S 20 pin S 40 pin S WIRE WRAP SOCKETS (GOLD) LEVEL #3 Spin WW 10 pin WW 14 pin WW 16 pin WW ISpin WW 20 pin WW 22 pin WW 24 pin WW 2B pin WW 36 pin WW 40 pin WW 1.75 1-79 $10.00 Minimum Order — U.S. Funds Only California Residents Add 6'/:% Sales Tax Shipping — Add 5% plus $1.50 Insurance Send S.A.S.E. for Monthly Sales Flyer! Spec Sheets — 30c each Send $1.00 Postage for your FREE 1984 JAMECO CATALOG Prices Subject to Change ■3 ameco EEBEEIIIEa 1355 SHOREWAY ROAD, BELMONT, CA 94002 2/64 PHONE ORDERS WELCOME — (415)592-8097 Telex: 176043 DT1050 — Applications: Teaching aids, appliances, clocks, automotive, telecommunica- tions, language translations, etc. The DT1050 is a standard DIGITALKER kit encoded with 137 separate and useful words, 2 (ones, and 5 different silence durations. The words and (ones have been assigned dlscrele addresses, making it possible to output single words or words concatenated Into phrases or even sentences. The "voice" output ol the DT1050 Is a highly In- telligible male voice. Female and children's voices can be synihealz- ed. The vocabulary is chosen so that It is applicable to many pro- ducts and markets. The DT1050 consists of a Speech Processor Chip, MM54104 (40-pln) and two (2) Spoech ROMs MM52164S5R1 nnd UM52164SSR2 (24-pln) along with a Master Word list and a recommended schematic diagram on the application sheet. DT1050 Digitalker™ $34.95 ea. MM841D4 Processor Chip $14.95 ea . DT1 057 - Expands the DT1050 vocabulary from 137 to ovor 2GD words. Includes 2 ROMs and specs. Pari No. DT1 057 $24.95ea. Pan Ho. "Pins Function Ptto 70451PI 2B CMOS Precision Timer 14 95 7045EV/KH" 2B SlOpwalcti Cflip, XTL 19 95 710ECPL 40 3Vi Digit A/0 iLCDOnve) 9 95 FE02O3D 3Vi Dtgil LCD Display for 7106& ?115 19-95 7IOBEV/KH* 40 IC. Circuit Board, Display 34.95 7107CPL 40 3'ftDlgii A/D (LED Drive) . 11.95 7lQ7EV/KiP 40 IC, Circuit Board. Display ,. ,29.95 7116CPL 40 3ftD: .lies .-'nil nnxjums various 8-Bit Word EPflOMs Irom 8K to 6-tK-Bn mc-mcy capacity Data can be entered into the JE 664 's internal 8K 1 6-Bil MM m three ways. ( 1 1 Irom a ROM cr EPROM. 12) Irom an external computer via the cptiona! JE665 RS232C BUS. c3j Irom its panel keyboard i"ne jE664's RAM* may be accessed tor emulation purposes from tne panel's lest socket to an external microprocessor. In oroorammnrj and emulation, the JE664 allows tar examination, change and validation ol program conieu The JE664's RAMs CM bo piorjraniffKiO qntcMy loali " l"s (or any value), allowing unused addresses in Ihe EPflOM |g ix- Drwiumined la'.ei without necessity ot "LTV" erasing. The JEG6-1 displays DATA and ADDRESS in convenient heiadeomal (alphanumeric) format. A "DISPLAY EPROM DATA" button changes the DAIA readout hem RAM word to EPROM word and 15 displayed in both haartacln w l *~a binary code The ticnt panel features a convenient operating guide The JE664 Programmer ircludos one JM16A Jumper Module las listed below). JE664-A EPROM Programmer $995.00 Assembled S Teste d (includes JM 1 6A Modjie) JE665 - RS232C INTERFACE OPTION - The RS232C Interface Option implements computer access lo Ihe J£6G4's RAM. This allows the compute' to manipulate, store and tr.ins'er EPROM data loand Irom the JE664. A sample program listing is supplied in MQASICfc CP M computers Documentation is promied to adapt the software to Direr computers with an RS232 twt 9600 Baud, fl-b-t word, odd parity and 2 slop tuts FOR A LIMITED TIME A SAMPLE OF SOFTWARE WRITTEN IN BASIC FOR THE TRS-BO- MODEL I. LEVEL II COMPUTER WILL ALSO BE PROVIDED. JE664-ARS EPROM Prog. w/JEBH Option $1195.00 Assembled S Tested (Includes JM16A Module) EPROM JUMPER MODULES - The JE6M's JUMPER MODULE (Personality Module) is a plug-in Module 'hat presets Ihe JE564 lor the proper programming pulses lo Ihe EPflOM and configures the EPflOM socket connections tor that particular EPfluM. jaw meat mm ' [MOM MWurUIHO) nWf JUOBA zros !SV aho, Mcwtto tot. mid ti 114 55 JHTH ?716 T«S!SI6fTl| !SV IfiKt. Mane*!, Na. NEC 71, AMO. Hmcm. Male-. . 514 95 JMIrjfl !"■-.'■ = ■'.■■: W.+5V.-1N MoinroU. 71 *U'hS JM32* TMS2532 2SV Mourda, Tk Hiiactn, OKi SM'Ji •"338 ?r» 25V AMO. FwBu. NEC. Hrtadt. Intel. Sites J432C mix 21V FijpM, kM tU 35 JMEU tA-.iMirt-: 21V MotuoH. . . S14.95 jum 2764 21V intiH, Far Hind. OKJ S14 95 4-Digit Fluorescent Alarm Clock Kit ely i I incl y tram Vs The JE750 Clock Kit is a versatile 12-hour digital clock with 24-hour alarm. The clock has a bright 0.5" high blue-green fluorescent display. The display will automat- ically dim with changing light conditions. The 24-hour alarm allows the user to disable the alarm and immediat- ely re-enable the alarm to activate 24 hours later. The kit includes all documentation, components, case and wall transformer. Size: 6 VL x 3^ "W x 1 VD. JE750 Alarm Clock Kit $29.95 Lx9.8"Wx3 , s"H Lx7'b"Wx 1'.2"H 3 BDDIIllOOOMi a maaaaaaaamm _. aaooaaocioaai ifii 19»4"l_x6VWx 1»"H u :'. #n 1 06-Key 8-Bit Serial ASCII Keyboard ■ Numeric and cursor keypad • 1 user defina- ble keys • 7 LEO function displays • Security lock ■ N-key rollover • Color: white with black panel • Documentation included ■ Weight: 6'6 lbs. KB139 $59.95 Micro-Switch 1 06-Key Keyboard 8-Bit Serial ASCII • Numeric and cursor keypad • 8 user defina- ble keys -Japanese/English characters -8 LED function displays • Documentation incl. • Fits DTE-22 enclosure • Wt: 3'/2 lbs. KB106SD29-4 $29.95 SMK 1 03-Key Unencoded Keyboard Numeric and cursor keypad • SPST mechan- ical keyswitches ■ 40-pin header connection • Fits DTE-22 enclosure • Weight: 314 lbs. KB9000 $19.95 Power/Mate Corporation REGULATED POWER SUPPLY ■Inpul: 105-125/210-250VAC at 47-63 Hz -Output: 5VDC 8 3.0 Amps/6VDC S 2.5 Amps ■ Size: 4!i>"L x 4"W x 2VH • Weight: 2 lbs. EMA5/6B $29.95 Power/Mate Corporation REGULATED POWER SUPPLY ■ Input: 1 05-1 25/2 1 0-250VAC at 47-63 Hz • Output: 5V <8 6 amps/6V 8 5 amps • Size: 5VL x 4?s"W x 2VH • Weight: 4 lbs. EMA5/6C $39.95 Power-One's REGULATED POWER SUPPLY • Input: 105-1 25VAC, 47-440 Hz ■ Output: +5V S 12 amp; +12V @ 1 .7 amp; -1 2V tj 1 .7 amp • Size: 1 4.25'L x 4.87"W x 2.75"H ■ Weight: 11 lbs. DBB-105W $59.95 POWER SUPPLY +5V0C ® 7.5 AMP, 12VDC @ 1.5 AMP SWITCHING Input' ItSVAC. 50-60H; '<, 3 HW/230VAC, 50Hi ffi 1 6 amp. Fin volt, /pnwir (iipply ssl.ct awlt- cl!.!nlS/_230VAC| Output: 5V0C B 7 Samp, l2VDCf, 1 6 amp, UN. blk. pow. MM. Hft'TKl POWER SUPPLY 4-Channel Switching - Apple Compatible Mlcroprocenar. mini-computer, tormlnal mudlcal aqulpmonl and procatt control appllcalltmii. in- put: 90-13QVAC 47-440HZ. Output: +BVDC®8A, -SV0C (?c 1A; +12V0C t-c I A, -12VUC g iBulM BbmwI URICE 10 »4 05 ice inn -. ' DSDD Soil Stclot mlK Hub n.n una En.glopg . ■ DSDD Sou Soclor Blltl HuO Ring IBulM] tO 31.19 100 13B.8S . - SSOD Soli Sdcroi »im Envoiopa En,«l0D« 10 M.as ■.- SSDD So'1 Skioi *iss Hun «,n iBuiM 100 \A»M sm;o ; ■ DSDD Soti Spcip- -mn Hub H^no unrj En.Biooo 10 !fl.95 100 199.95 ULTRA MAGNETICS — 8" DISKETTES ■juiinz ■ ■' '":• . - -. \ "««"»__ 100 219.15 • DSDD So'I Soclor lUnldrrluimii Bulk _^ nitova tie soil jecrovca aii nan Hub R.ngt *.rn mt fceet.on l» N Drive Stylo Part No. 1-4 s + 5 V. " M S34-36-C 7.95 7.25 5'/. " N S34-60-C 8.95 8.39 8" M S50-36-C 10.95 9.95 8" N S50-60-C 12.49 10.95 DUAL DRIVE CABLES Drive Styl. Pari No. M 5%" O S34-36C-18C 12.59 11.19 5 '/a" P S34-60C-24C 14.29 12.69 8" O S50-36C-18C 16.49 14.49 8" P S50-60C-24C 18.95 16.95 Power Cable Kits Kits include: Connector shells, connector pins, and power cables. Power Cable Kit for 5V« " Drive Price PartNo.PCK-5 $2.95 Power Cable Kit for Full-Sized 8" Drive Part No. PCK-8 $3.95 Power Cable Kit for Oume Full-Sized 8" Drive PartNo.PCK-Q $4.95 Circle 192 on Inquiry card. BYTE February 1984 533 ^-/UemvncedI X Z>-COWPUTERl ^/raoDucrs *>. APPLE IBM PC COMBO CARD MEMORY PLUS AT LOW PRICES! Now! "Multicard" expandable from 64-256K with (1) PARALLEL (1) SERIAL (1) CLOCK/CALENDAR $22900 $ 399 00 COEX 64 SPC with 64K COEX 256 SPC with 256K S-10064KcmosRAMCARD Unbelievable Price! '299° 100 Assembled and Tested ACP has sold over 1 000 of these IEEE compatible low-priced, high-reliability 64K Static RAM Cards • Single 5-Volt operation. SIEMEN'S SALE You can now purchase Shugart compatible 8" Disk Drives below your existing factory direct pricing I These Prices are the lowest ever published "Siemen's SSDD FDD100-8. . $169.00 Also, with purchase of Disk Drives you can buy the Vista V-1000 Dual Case with Power Supply and Cable for only $375.00 — Regular Price $495,00 Otter Limited! Factory Warranty 90 Days! Shipped Immediately from Stock! 'OEM Quantities DOT MATRIX PRINTER COEX 80-FT y 9x7 Dot Matrix, 80 CPS. Bi-Directional Printing v 2K Buffered Memory v 80, 96. 132 Columns. Graphics and Block Printing v Selectable Char Pitch. Line Spacing and Feed COEX Interface Card to Apple $49.95 ACP HAS DISK DRIVES APPLE II Thin Line Drive COMPATIBLE ^ TOSHIBA Half High PC Compatible • Double Sided $24g00 TANDON 100-2 PC Compatible • Double Sided $23900 HARDWARE AST Megaplua" Card L P'N MG064 (64K, S. C) 3 •Comboplus " Card P/N MC-064SPC (64K. S. P. C) 3 •PC I/O Plus II™ Card P.-N I/O (C. S) 1 • 'SIX PACK'* PAN SP064SPC (64K. S, P, C) COEX Extender Card Prototype Card HERCULES Hercules Graphic Card MOUSE SYSTEMS Mouse for IBM MICROSOFT Mouse plus Multiiool Word M&R 6 Slot Expansion Chassis for IBMPC/XT or Eagle etc ORCHID Hi-Res Graphics Adaptor PERSYST Spectrum (64-256K) P/N SP64, (64K. Clk, S. P) PLANTRONICS Color plus'- Card OUADRAM Quadboard (64-258K) P'N Q64. 64K w.'4 functions 3 OuadLink Apple Card 6 Quadboard 64K Microfazer Print Buftor MP-64 Ouadchrome (Hires RGB) RIXON PC212A Modem I'O 5 SSM Transmodem 1200 USI Multidisplay Card VISTA "Multicard"' (exp. 64-256K) P/N V-064 (64K, Clk, S. P) 3 P/N V-256 (256K. Clk, S. P) 6 • "Maxlcard "" (up to 576K) P/N V-576-64K P/N V-576-576K •"PC Master" (10 I/O) 4 •'•PC Extender" (up to 10 I/O) 2 •"Dlakmaater" 2 •8' Thlnllne Dual Floppy • V I2O0 6.2Mb Cartridge Drive 449 479 299 PRNTERS COEX 80F'T BOcps $299 DYNAX Daisywheel SILVER REED EXP500 132 Column STAR MICRONICS - NEW! Gemini 10X 120cps 39! Gemini 15 15" 59< EPSON FX80 69E FX10O 695 BROTHER HR'IBMC 1195 DAISYWRITER 1495 TTX Daisywheel •JFC Splnwnler 3550 BM PC lo Parallel Cable 60 MONITORS AMDEK CORP 300 GrBen 12" $19J 310 Amber 12" 21C Color 1 Composite.Hilachi 39S Color II RGB Hi-Res 89E 3MC 12" Green 12E PRINCETON GRAPHICS RGB IBM Lookalike 700 DISKETTES DYSAN 5V." SS SD 10 '$55 3YSAN 5%" DS SD in 65 BM 5W" SS SD 10.-6C BM BW SS DD 10/65 VERBATIM 525-01 SS 10/45 VERBATIM 550 01 DS 10/55 MAXELL MD1 SS 10/5C MAXELL MD2 DS I0/6C -lip Storage Box 5"." (80 disks) 3ULK SPECIAL SS 10/25 With Sleeve and Box 100/195 MORE BM GOOD ES C0MPUCA8LE Keyboard & Drive Covers (set) CURTIS PC Pedeslal PGS or Ouadchrome Adaptor Vertical PC System Sland IBM Mono Extension Cable Keyboard Ext. Cable (3-9') EPD PROTECTION DEVICES The Lemon (Surge Protector) The Peach (Surge Prolector) ThB Orange (with EMI'RFl) The Lime INTEL 8087 IC KOALA PAD KRAFT Joystick IBM RAM EXPANSION I6K Motherboard (16 IC's) 64K Memory Exp (9 IC's) OTHER DR VES WE STOCK TANDON 848-2 Tlilnline $479.00 SHUGART 8Q1R TEAC FD55B 299.00 SHUGART 860 Thlnllne 479. C PANASONIC C155 (PC Compj . . 259.00 SHUGART SA400 2 Ill.uol MP1 B52 279.00 SEAGATE ST506 (6MB Win.) . . . 599. 00 1 HAYES Smart mod em 300 PC Modem Software 1 .3 (above) Smartmodem 1200 PC Software 1 4C (above) Smartmodem 1200B Smartcom II 800-854-8230 TWX 910-595-1565 COMPATIBLE DISK CONTROLLER Only $4995 Apple Printer Interface $AQ95 w/Apple lo Epson Cable T 1 *M Apple Me Compatible $9995 80 Column Card W/64K 49 APPLE COMPATIBLE POWER SUPPLY APPLE COMPATIBLE Iff* J ° Y s 999 s 49 95 NEW LOW ACP PRICE Also from COEX, NEW EPSON Parallel Interface for Apple. Wi th cable $49.9 5 VISTA A800 8" Disk Controller $29995 for Apple VISTA "DISKMASTER" IBM Compatible $19995 3". 5". 8" and V1200 Compatible Mappkz computer WW' Authorized Dealer APPLE COOLING FAN with Surge ^Suppression 95 STICK only $ 1 5 95 ^^^^ Computer Company VISTA V1200 6.2 Cartridge Drive w/Controller Apple or IBM Compatible Please Specify S00095 with Order VISTA "SOLO" iW^^^— Apple It/lie I Compatible ^1 I Disk Drive Totally compatible to Apple Drives. .n„'199 95 Controller $49.95 Just plug in and run. Apple II 16K RAM CARD Compatible with Z80 Softcard ' . PASCAL CP/M Full 1 year Warranty. Top Quality by COEX Apple lie w 6-iK Apple lie System Apple lie Sys w/Exl Texl Disk II w/Conlroller Disk II w.o Controller Monitor III Green Super Serial Card Parallel Interface Card BO Column Text Card Extended 80 Column Texl Doi Matrix Printer 249.00 529.00 Apple Products Available In-Store Only" UST $1395 00 1995.00 2195.00 545.00 395.00 249.00 195 00 165 00 \25.00 295.00 695.00 ACP $1195.00 1695.00 1B95.00 449.00 359.00 199.00 169.00 139.00 MORE HARDWARE MICROSOFT Z60 Softcard 16K Ramcard SSM AIO-II 4 Function Serial Parallel EASTSIDE Wildcard Apple II KENSINGTON System Saver KEYBOARD COMPANY Numeric Keypad Apple II Joystick Apple II Hand Controllers KRAFT Joystick Hand Controller MPC 126K Bubble Memory PROMETHEUS VERSAcard Four-in-1 VISTA COMPUTER CO. AB00 6" Disk Control Quartet Disk Drive 5W Solo Disk Drive w/Conir Solo Drive w/o Contr Vista 5W Disk Contr Type head Buffet VIDEX Videoterm 80x24 Card Keyboard Enhancer II Soft Switch Function Strip Keys PRACTICAL PERIPHERALS 16K MicrobuHer 32K Microbuffer Snapshot Option VOTRAX Type n'Talk Speech Personal System VYNET Apple II Voice Syn. Apple II Telephone I/O SCOTT INSTRUMENTS Voice Recognit'n VETB0 COEX 16K RAM Card Parallel Card w/Cable Apple Protocard Apple Extendercard Apple lie Ext RAM Card CORVUS ORANGE MICRO The Grapplnr I/O (Plus) The Bufferboard SATURN SYSTEMS 32K RAM Card 128K RAM Card STREET ECHO II LEGEND 64KC ll He 128KC II lie 18SRC 18K Static MICROPRO Wordstar w CI J M MOUNTAIN COMPUTER CPS Multifunction Music System AD plus DA ROM Plus MAR ENTERPRISES Sup'rtsrm 80x24 Card SuprMod II SuprMod V (IBM) ALS TheCP.M Plus ZBO Card Smarterm 60x24 Card The Synergizor Package UST $395.00 195.00 149.95 49.95 29.95 199.00 379.95 849.00 299.00 24900 92.00 49.95 345.00 259.00 299.00 149.00 799.00 99.00 99.00 29.00 29 00 199 00 ACP $249.00 89.00 179.00 115.00 89.00 124.95 44.50 25.95 49.00 40.00 699.00 166.00 299.00 799.00 249.00 199 00 49.00 35.00 279.00 129.00 30.00 69.00 ' 220.00 253.00 109.00 49.95 49.95 19.95 327.00 599 00 149 00 499 239.00 395.00 350.00 155.00 399.00 349.00 699.00 269.00 I 499.00 135.00 415 169.00 | 335.00 299.00 129.00 | 269.00 49.00 49.00 329.00 | 279.00 549.00 ■J.I.I!J*M.J.M.MI=M.ii«J SAVE UP TO 40% BUSINESS Screen Writer BD Master Visicalc " 3 3 VisiplOl PFS. File II PFS, File III VisiUenrJVis'plol PFS. Graph II PFS, Graph III Mulliplan Versa form Wordstar dBASE II Supercalc PFS. Report II PFS, Report III Accl Plus G/L G/L, A/P, A/R Above + Inventory Magic Window HOME Home Accountant Trans end I Transend II Visiterm ASCII Expts. Prol $129 HOBBY 155 Zoom Graphics 185 Utility City 159 Locksmith 4 115 Nibbles Away II 155 GAMES 25 Choplifter 115 Ftogget 155 Wizardy 199 Snack Attack 279 Cannonball Blitz 299 Knight Diamonds 439 Zotk I 169 Zork III 95 Starcross 115 Serpentine 299 Star Blazer 599 Deadline 799 Tubeway 115 Flight Simulaior Space Vikings 59 Sargon II 76 Spitfire Simulator 119 Apple Panic 89 Olympic Decatri Apple" Apple Trademark of Apple Computer IBM" IBM Trademark of International Business Machines Mail OnlEt P.O. Bin 17329 Irvine. CA 92713 Retail: 131 (IB E. Edinyer, Santa Ana. CA 92705 (714) 558-8813 542 w Trimble. San Jose. CA 95131 (408) 946-7010 TERMS: MO Cashier's Check Bank W«e Personal checks allow 2 weeks lor processing Include Drivers License a credit card *s Visa, AMEX CB add 3% service charge Add 3% shipping & handling or $2.50°. whichever is greater. . 10% lor loteign orders or US Parcel Post Include Telephone number NO CODS. Prices subject to change without notice Some items subject 10 phot sate. Wo reserve Ihe right 10 Substitute manufacturer Retail prices may vary 534 BYTE February 1984 Circle 13 on inquiry card. ADVANCED AtYilSMiar. PRODUCTS Serving Computer Professionals Since 1976 HARDWARE AST Megaplus" Card List P/N MG064 (64K, S. C) 395 •Comboplus" Card P/N MC-064SPC (64K, S. P, C) 395 •PC I/O Plus II'- Card P/N I/O (C. S) 165 •"SIX PACK" P/N SP064SPC (64K, S. P, C) COEX Extender Card 40 Prototype Card 69 HERCULES Hercules Graphic Card MOUSE SYSTEMS Mouse lor IBM MICROSOFT Mouse plus Multitool Word ORCHID Hi-Res Graphics Adaptor 395 PERSYST Spectrum (64-256K) P/N SP64, (64K. Clk, S, P) PLANTHONICS Color plus' - Card QUADRAM Quadboard (64-256K) P/N 064, 64K w/4 (unctions 395 QuadUnk Apple Card 680 Quadboard 64 K Microfazer Print Buffer MP-64 Quadchrome (Hires RGB) RIXON PC212A Modem I/O 596 SSM Transmodem 1200 USI Multidisplay Card VISTA "Multlcard"" (exp. 64-256K) P/N V-064 (64K. Clk, S, P) P/N V-256 (256K, Clk, S, P) ►"Moxlcard""' (up to 576K) P/N V-576-64K P/N V-576-576K •"PC Master" (10 I/O) •"PC Extender" (up to 10 I/O) • "Dlskmaster" •8" Thinline Dual Floppy •V12O0 6.2Mb Cartridge Drive 395 695 495 249 299 ACP $279 299 29 35 359 269 Call 339 319 399 279 525 279 190 4S8 449 479 299 249 729 329 199 199 Call 999 PRINTERS COEX 60F/T SOcps DYNAX Daisywheel SILVER REED EXP500 132 Column STAR MICRONICS ■ NEW! Gemini 10X 120cps Gemini 15 15" EPSON FX80 FX100 BROTHER HR-VBMC DAISYWRITER TTX Daisywheel NEC Spinwriler 3550 IBM PC to Parallel Cable S299 $199 525 649 399 319 599 469 699 549 895 749 1195 895 14«h 1295 549 1875 60 39 MONITORS AMDEK CORP 300 Green 12" $199 $155 310 Amber 12" 210 175 Color I Composite/Hilachi 399 339 Color II RGB Hi-Res 899 695 BMC 12" Green 129 89 PRINCETON GRAPHICS RGB IBM Lookalike 700 545 DISKETTES DYSAN 5V SS SD 10/$55 S38 DYSAN 5Vi" DS SD 10/65 48 IBM 5V«" SS SD 10/60 43 IBM5WSSDD 10/65 47 VERBATIM 525-01 SS 10/45 23 VERBATIM 550-01 DS 10/55 34 MAXELL MD1 SS 10/50 29 MAXELL MD2 DS 10/60 39 Flip Storage Box 5W (80 disks) BULK SPECIAL SS 10/25 19 19 With Sleeve and Box 100/195 149 MORE IBM GOODIES COMPUCABLE Keyboard & Drive Covers (set) S19 CURTIS PC Pedestal $80 64 PGS or Quadchrome Adaptor 10 Vertical PC System Stand 20 IBM Mono Extension Cable 50 44 Keyboard Ext. Cable (3-9) 34 EPD PROTECTION DEVICES The Lemon (Surge Protector) 43 The Peach (Surge Protector) The Orange (with EMI/RFI) 68 122 The Lime 76 INTEL 8087 IC 199 KOALA PAD 99 KRAFT Joystick IBM 70 40 RAM EXPANSION 16K Motherboard (16 ICs) 19 64K Memory Exp. (9 ICs) 50 TIME SHARE SERVICES COMPUSERVE Subscription SOURCE Subscription MODEMS HAYES Smartrnodem 300 $210 PC Modem Software 1.3 (above) 49 Smartrnodem 1200 525 PC Software 1.4C (above) 79 Smartrnodem 1200B 445 Smartcom II 79 Smartrnodem to IBM Cable 25 SOFTWARE dBASE II $ 399 00 Condor $ 389 00 SuperCalc $ 99 00 SuperCalc 2 $ 1 79 00 Multiplan $ 1 89 00 Wordstar $ 299 00 Lotus 1-2-3 Call! T. K. Solver! Call! Flight Simulator $4500 Context MBA Call! Computer Inovations C86C Compiler $369 00 Copy II Plus $0000 Visiword $23900 s^rn-ww^ If You're Thinking IBM PC" READ THIS! Digital Research Pascal MT + 86 $295.00 Concurrent CP/M 86 260.00 CBASIC86 149.00 Plus More Great Software Values In Our 1983 Catalog! Send For Your Copy NOW. MULTI CARD II Plus (The optimum PC Expansion Card) * OK to 384K RAM * ASYNC Serial Port * Clock/Calendar w/Nicad Backup * Parallel Printer Port * Joy Stick/Game Port * RAMDisk Software * Spooler Software 64K „, $ 229 00 384K O „ $ 499 00 '" Zero "K" Version Available Only $199.00 PLUS! . . .with Purchase of either Memory card above SUPERCALC™ only $89.00 (195.00 value) Disk Emulator FREE Print Spooler FREE ACP PC "FEATURE OF THE MONTH" IvJ 1. DISKMASTER™. Disk Controller for IBM PC or XT adds both 5'/T and 8" floppy drives. Complete with Software. Same card can also handle List ACP the Amlyn 6.2 Mb Cartridge Add-on Subsystem $299 $199 2. VISTA 1200 with DISKMASTER" $999 3. M&R "SUP'R EXTENDER"" 1 . IBM PC & XT Expansion Chassis with (6) Slots, Power Supply and Fan. Your price!!! only $439.00. You cannot afford to live without one. DISK DRIVES TANDON 100-2 PC Compatible • Double Sided $23900 TOSHIBA V; High PC Compatible • Double Sided $24900 Circle 13 on inquiry card. TERMS: MO. Cashier's Check. Bank Wire. Personal checks allow 2 weeks for processing. Include Drivers License and credit card #s Visa. AMEX. CB add 3"'° service charge. Add 3% shipping & handling or $2.50, whichever is greater. Add 1 0% tor foreign ordBrs or US Parcel Post Include Telephone number. NO CODs. Prices subject to change without notice. Some items subject to prior sate. We reserve the right to substitute manu- facturer. Retail prices may vary. Wo are not an authorized IBM dealer. IBM" trademark of International Business Machines. MAIL ORDER: P.O. Box 17329 Irvine, CA 92713 Retail: 1310 E. Edinger, Santa Ana, CA 92705 (714) 558-8813 542 W. Trimble, San Jose, CA 95131 (408) 946-7010 800-854-8230 TWX 910-595-1565 64K MEMORY + P.S.CS229.00 64K DYNAMIC 200 NS $595 TIYIIYI2016 2KX8 STATIC 200 NS Wi STATIC RAMS 2101 256x4 (450ns) 1.95 5101 256x4 (450ns) (cmos) 3.95 2102-1 1024 x 1 (450ns) .89 2102L-4 1024 x 1 (450ns) (LP) .99 2102L-2 1024 x 1 (250ns) (LP) 1.49 2111 256x4 (450ns) 2.49 2112 256x4 (450ns) 2.99 2114 1024x4 (450ns) 8/9.95 2114-25 1024 x4 (250ns) 8/10.95 2114L-4 1024 x4 (450ns) (LP) 8/12.95 2114L-3 1024 x 4 (300ns) (LP) 8/13.45 2114L-2 1024x4 (200ns) (LP) 8/13.95 TC5514 1024 >4 (650ns) (cmos) 2.49 TC5516 2048 x 8 (250ns) (cmos) 9.95 2147 4096 x 1 (55ns) 4.95 TMS4044-4 4096 x 1 (450ns) 3.49 TMS4044-3 4096 x 1 (300ns) 3.99 TMS4044-2 4096 x 1 (200ns) 4.49 MK4118 1024 x8 (250ns) 9.95 TMM2016-200 2048 x 8 (200ns) 4.15 TMM2016-150 2048 x 8 (150ns) 4.95 TMM2016-100 2048 x 8 (100ns) 6.15 HM6116-4 2048 x 8 (200ns) (cmos) 4.75 HM6116-3 2048 x 8 (150ns) (cmos) 4.95 HME116-2 2048 x 8 (120ns) (cmos) 8.95 HM6116LP-4 2048 x 8 (200ns) (cmos)(LP) 5.95 HM6116LP-3 2048 x 8 (150ns) (cmos)(LP) 6.95 HM61 16LP-2 2048 x 8 (120ns) (cmos)(LP) 10.95 Z-6132 4096 x 8 (300ns) (Ostat) 34.95 HM6264 8192 x 8 (150ns) (cmos) 49.95 L LP ■ Low Power Qstat = Quasi-Static EPROMS 1702 256x8 (1us) 4.50 2708 1024 x 8 (450ns 3.95 2758 1024 x8 (450ns (5v) 5.95 2716 2048 x 8 (450ns (5v) 3.95 2716-1 2048 x 8 (350ns; (5v) 5.95 TMS2516 2048 x 8 (450ns (5v) 5.50 TMS2716 2048 x 8 (450ns 7.95 TMS2532 4096 x 8 (450ns (0V) 5.95 2732 4096x8 (450ns CSv) 4.95 2732-250 4096 x 8 (250ns (5v) 8.95 2732-200 4096 x 8 (200ns (5v) 11.95 2732A-4 4096 x 8 (450ns (5v)(21vPGM) 6.95 2732A 4096 x 8 (250ns (5v)(21vPGM) 9.95 2732A-2 4096 x 8 (200ns (5v)(21vPGM) 13.95 2764 8192 x 8 (450ns (5v) 6.95 2764-250 8192x8 (250ns (5v) 7.95 2764-200 8192x8 (200ns (5v) 19.95 TMS2564 8192x8 (450ns (5v) 14.95 MCM68764 8192 x 8 (450ns (5v)(24pin) 39.95 MCM68766 8192 x8 (350ns (5v) (24 pin)(pwr dn.) 42.95 27128 16384 x 8 (300ns (5v) 29.95 5v - Single 5 Volt Supply 21vPGM - Program at 21 Volts DYNAMIC RAMS EPROM ERASERS QSPECTROIMICS CORPORATION TMS4027 UPD411 MM5280 MK4108 MM5298 4116-300 4116-250 4116-200 4116-150 4116-120 2118 MK4332 4164-200 4164-150 MCM6665 TMS4164-15 4096 x 1 4096 x 1 4096 x 1 8192 x 1 8192 x 1 16384 x 1 16384 x 1 16384 x 1 16384 x 1 16384 x 1 16384 x 1 3276B x 1 65536 x 1 65536 x 1 65536 x 1 65536 X 1 5V = single 5 volt supply (250ns) 1.99 (300ns) 3.00 (300ns) 3.00 (200ns) 1.95 (250ns) 1.85 (300ns) 8/11.75 (250ns) 8/7.95 (200ns) 8/12.95 (150ns) 8/14.95 (120ns) 8/29.95 (150ns) <5v) 4.95 (200ns) 9.95 (200ns) (Sv) 5.95 (150ns) (5v) 6.95 (200ns) (5v) 8.95 (150ns) (5v) 8.95 Capacity Intensity Timer Chip (uW/Cm') PE-14 9 8,000 83.00 PE-14T X 9 8,000 119.00 PE-24T X 12 9,600 175.00 PL-265T X 30 9,600 255.00 PR-125T X 25 17,000 349.00 PR-320T X 42 17,000 595.00, • computer managed inuentoru — ulrtually no bach orders! • ueru competltlue prices! • Friendly staff! • Fast seruice - most orders shipped within 24 hours! 6800 I 68000 49.95 I 6800 2.95 6802 7.95 1 6803 19.95 I 6808 13.90 1 6809E 14.95 I 6809 11.95 I 6810 2.95 I 6820 4.35 6821 2.95 6828 14.95 I 6840 12.95 6843 34.95 6844 25.95 I 6845 14.95 1 6847 11.95 1 I 6850 3.25 I 6852 5.75 1 6860 7.95 I 6875 6.95 6880 2.25 6883 22.95 1 68047 24.95 | 68468 19.95 | 6800 = 1MHZ I 68B00 10.95 I 68B02 22.25 68B09E 29.95 68B09 29.95 68B10 6.95 1 68B21 6.95 68B40 19.95 I68B45 19.95 I | 68B50 5.95 | 68B00 - 2 MHZ 6500 8000 8200 6502 4.95 6504 6.95 6505 8.95 6507 9.95 6520 4.35 6522 6.95 6532 9.95 6545 22.50 6551 11.85 6502A 6522A 6532A 6545A 6551 A 6.95 9.95 11.95 I 27.95 11.95 DISC CONTROLLERS I 1771 16.95 1 1791 24.95 1 1793 26.95 I 1795 29.95 I 1797 49.95 1 I 2791 54.95 I 2793 54.95 1 2795 59.95 I 2797 59.95 I 6843 34.95 1 8272 39.95 1 | UPD765 39.95 1 MB6876 29.95 MB8877 34.95 1691 17.95 I L.2143 1B.95J 8035 8039 INS-8060 INS-8073 8080 8085 8085A-2 8086 8087 I 8088 I 8089 18155 I 8155-2 18156 18185 8185-2 18741 I 8748 L.8755 5.95 5.95 17.95 49.95 3.95 4.95 11.95 I 24.95 CALL 29.95 89.95 I 6.95 I 7.95 I 6.95 I 29.95 I 39.95 I 29.95 I 24.95 I 24.95J CRT CONTROLLERS 6845 14.95 68B45 19.95 HD46505SP 15.95 6847 11.95 MC1372 6.95 68047 24.95 8275 29.95 7220 99.95 CRT5027 19.95 CRT5037 24.95 TMS9918A 39.95 .DP8350 49.95. 8202 24.95 8203 39.95 8205 3.50 8212 1.80 8214 3.85 8216 1.75 8224 2.25 8226 1.80 8228 3.49 8237 19.95 8237-5 21.95 8238 4.49 8243 4.45 8250 10.95 8251 4.49 8253 6.95 B253-5 7.95 8255 4.49 8255-5 5.25 8257 7.95 8257-5 8.95 8259 6.90 B259-5 7.50 8271 79.95 8272 39.95 8275 29.95 8279 8.95 8279-5 10.00 8282 6.50 8283 6.50 8284 5.50 B286 6.50 8287 6.50 8288 25.00 .8289 49.95., Z-80 2.5 Mhz zBo-cpu zeo-CTc z8o-dart z8o-dma zBo-pio zso-sio/o zeo-sto/1 zso-sto/2 Z80-S10/9 4.0 Mhz zsoa-cpu Z80A-CTC Z80A-DART Z80A-DMA Z80A-PIO Z80A-SIO/0 Z80A-SIO/1 Z80A-SIO/2 Z80A-SIO/9 6.0 Mhz 3-95 I 3.95 I 10.95 I 14.95 I 3.95 I 11.95 I 11.95 I 11.95 I 11.95 I 4.49 1 4 95 9.95 1 12.95 4.49 12.95 12.95 12.95 12.95 I Z80B-CPU Z80B-CTC Z80B-PIO Z80B-DART Z80B-SIO/2 ZILOG Z6132 34.95 Z8671 39.95 9.95 12.95 12.95 19.95 I 39.95 I CRYSTALS^ 32.768 khz 1.95 1.0 mhz 3.95 1.8432 3.95 2.0 2.95 2.097152 2.95 2.4576 2.95 3.2768 2.95 3.579545 2.95 4.0 2.95 5.0 2.95 5.0688 2.95 5.185 2.95 5.7143 2.95 6.0 2.95 6.144 2.95 6.5536 2.95 8.0 2.95 10.0 2.95 10.738635 2.95 14.31818 2.95 15.0 2.95 16.0 2.95 17.430 2.95 18.0 2.95 18.432 2.95 20.0 2.95 22.1184 2.95 ^32.0 2.95 CMOS UARTS AY3-1014 6.95 AY5-1013 3.95 AY3-1015 6.95 PT1472 9.95 TR1602 3.95 2350 9.95 2651 8.95 IM6402 7.95 IM6403 8.95 INS8250 10.95 GENERATORS BIT-RATE MC14411 BR1941 4702 COM5016 COM8116 MM5307 11.95 11.95 12.95 16.95 10.95 10.95 FUNCTION I MC4024 3.95 LM566 1.49 XR2206 3.75 L.8038 3.95 MISC. UPD7201 29.95 TMS99532 29.95 ULN2003 2.49 3242 7.95 3341 4.95 MC3470 4.95 MC3480 9.00 11C90 13.95 95H90 7.95 2513-001 UP 9.95 ,2513-002 LOW 9.95. r CLOCK ^ CIRCUITS MM5314 4.95 MM5369 3.95 MM5375 4.95 MM58167 12.95 MM58174 11.95 ■MSM5B32 3.95. ^EYBOARD^ CHIPS AY5-2376 11.95 AY5-3600 11.95 AY5-3600 PRO 11.95. 4000 4001 4002 4006 4007 4008 4009 4010 4011 4012 4013 4014 4015 4016 4017 4018 4019 4020 4021 4022 4023 4024 4025 4026 4027 4028 4029 4030 4034 4035 4040 4041 4042 4043 4044 4046 4047 4049 4050 4051 4053 4060 4066 4068 4069 4070 4071 4072 4073 4075 4076 4078 4081 4082 4085 4086 4093 4098 4099 14409 14410 14411 14412 14419 14433 4502 4503 4508 4510 4511 4512 4514 4515 4516 4518 4519 4520 4522 4526 4527 .29 .25 .25 .89 .29 .95 .39 .45 .25 .25 .38 .79 .39 .39 .69 .79 .39 .75 .79 .79 .29 .65 .29 1.65 .45 .69 .79 .39 1.95 .85 .75 .75 .69 .85 .79 .85 .95 .35 .35 .79 .79 .89 .39 .39 .29 .35 .29 .29 .29 .29 .79 .29 .29 .29 .95 .95 .49 2.49 1.95 12.95 12.95 11.95 12.95 7.95 14.95 .95 .65 1.95 .85 .85 .65 1.25 1.79 1.55 .89 .39 .79 1.25 1.25 1.95 4528 4531 4532 4536 4539 4541 4543 4553 4555 4556 4581 4582 4584 4585 4702 74C00 74C02 74C04 74C08 74C10 74C14 74C20 74C30 74C32 74C42 74C48 74C73 74C1* 74C76 74C63 74CB5 74C86 74C89 74C90 74C93 74C95 74C107 74C150 74C151 74C154 74C157 74C160 74C161 74C162 74C163 74C164 74C165 74C173 74C174 74C175 74C192 74C193 74C195 74C200 74C221 74C244 74C373 74C374 74C901 74C902 74C903 74C905 74C906 74C907 74C908 74C909 74C910 74C911 74C912 74C914 74C915 74C918 74C920 74C921 74C922 74C923 74C925 74C926 74C928 74C929 1.19 I .95 I 1.95 I 1.95 I 1.95 I 2.641 1.191 5.79 I .95 1 .95 I 1.95 I 1.95 I .75 I .75 I 12.95 .35 I .351 .35 I .35 I .35 .59 I .35 I .35 I .39 I 1.29 I 1.99 I .65 I .65 I .80 I 1.95 I 1.95 I .39 I 4.50 I 1.19 I 1.75 I .99 .89 5.75 2.25 I 3.25 I 1.75 1.19 1.19 1.19 1.19 1.39 2.00 1 .79 I 1.19 1.191 1.49 I 1.49 1.39 I 5.75 1.75 2.25 2.45 2.45 .39 .85 .85 10.95 .95 1.00 2.00 2.75 9.95 8.95 8.95 1.95 1.19 2.75 17.95 15.95 4.49 4.95 5.95 7.95 7.95 19.95J *JDR Microdevices 1224 S. Bascom Avenue, San Jose, CA 95128 800-538-5000 • 800-662-6279 (CA) (408) 995-5430 • Telex 171-110 © Copyright 1984 JDR Microdevices VISIT OUR RETAIL STORE HOURS: M-W-F, 9-5 T-Th., 9-9 Sat. 10-3 PLEASE USE YOUR CUSTOMER NUMBER WHEN ORDERING TERMS: Minimum order $10. For shipping and handling Include $2.50 lor UPS Ground and $3.50 lor UPS Air. Orders over 1 lb. and foreign orders may require additional shipping charges — please contact our sales department lor the amount. CA residents must Include 6°/o sales tax. Bay Area and LA residents include 6' i%. Prices subject to change without notice. We are not responsible lor typographical errors. We reserve the right to limit quantities and lo substitute manulacturer. All merchandise subject to prior sale. 536 BYTE February 1984 Circle 193 on inquiry card. 21iarBox BYTE' s Ongoing A/lonitc Article it Page Article Author(s) 1 30 The Apple Macintosh Computer Williams 2 58 An Interview: The Macintosh Design Team Lemmons 3 84 Apple Announces the Lisa 2 Williams 4 88 Build the Circuit Cellar Term-Mite ST Smart Terminal, Part 2: Programming and Use Ciarcia 5 113 User's Column: Chaos Manor Gets Its Long-Awaited IBM PC Pournelle 6 147 BYTE West Coast: A Business Computer, A Business Program, and More on Voice Recognition Shapiro 7 160 Don't Bench Me In Houston 8 168 Beyond MIPS: Performance Is Not Quality Carroll, Rosson 9 175 Software Performance Evaluation Boyle 10 193 The Art of Benchmarking Printers Mello-Grand 11 218 Benchmarking FORTRAN Compilers Tetewsky 12 227 Benchmark Confessions Marvit, Nair Lewis 13 235 The Word-Processing Maze 14 243 Evaluating Word-Processing Programs Naiman (5 252 ProDOS Moore 16 267 Knowledgeman Walker 17 278 The IBM CS-9000 Lab Computer Clune 18 292 The Rixon R2 1 2A Intelligent Modem Weger 19 303 Savvy Callamaras 20 308 The Micro-Sci Gameport III for the Apple III Purpura, Purpura 21 310 The Videx Ultraterm Callamaras 22 318 Apple Disk Emulators: Axlon, Legend, Pion, and Synetix Gilbert 23 331 IBM/Apple Communication Jones 24 342 A Low-Cost, Low Write-Voltage EEPROM Blagg 25 346 Foot "Control Pfister 26 349 Inside a Compiler: Notes on Optimization and Code Generation Christian 27 370 Writing Device Drivers for MS-DOS 2.0 Using Tandon TM 100-4 Drives Roskos 28 383 Deciphering Word Games Worley 29 388 Five Original Graphics Sussman. Sussman 30 395 Bubbles on the S-1 00 Bus. Part 2: The Software Wheeler 31 416 Calculating Overhead Costs by Computer Hunter WANTED: Byte Nyoole document #112 |"An M6800 LISP In- terpreter" I979|; MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab "HakMem" Memo #239 (on Collatz' problem. I972|: and a textbook, "Computer Approaches to Mathematical Problems" by J. Nievergelt [Prentice- Hall. 1974). Will pay copy costs and postage or will buy your original at your price. Barry Knapp. 4695 Osage Dr.. Boulder, CO 80303. (303J 494-8390. FOR SALE: 2708 EPROMs. 200 EPROMs were removed when eguipment was upgraded to 2716. All were working when re- moved: perfect for the hobbyist. I to 25: SI. 25 each; 25 or more at S I each. Rich Matthews. POB 80685. Baton Rouge, LA 70898. |504J 291-0832 evenings and weekends FOR SALE: Codata CTW 300/20/f8 8-user Unix computer. 20-megabyte fixed disk. 386K floppy. 256K RAM. C. Pascal. FOR- TRAN 77. excellent condition: Sll.95'0. Tom Cole. 1207 Ceder- wood Dr.. Joliet, IL 60435, |8I5| 729-0300, WANTED: Atari 810 disk drives, used but in good working order. Also, 1200-bps modem with software for Atari 800. 80-column board. 48K RAM plug-in board, and business-oriented software. Offers of game programs given consideration Stephen A. Risik. 10224 Windsor View Dr.. Potomac. MD 20854. WANTED: Technical and service information for a G.E. TN-1200 impact (chain) printer. Also, nonworking printer for parts. Russel Hill, c/o Industrial Counseling Services, POB 278. Ashland. OR 97520. (503) 488-0220. BOMB Cites Chaos Manor Jerry Pournelle's User's Column, "The Latest from Chaos Manor," won top spot in the November BOMB. Dr. Pournelle wins $100. The five authors of "Technical Aspects of IBM PC Compatibility," Charlie Mon- tague, Dave Howse, Bob Mikkelsen, Don Rein, and Dick Mathews, will divvy up the $50 prize for second place. "Concurrent CP/M" by Joe Guzaitis grabbed third place. Lawrence J. Curran and Richard S. Shuford's interview with "IBM's Estridge" was a close fourth. And Bobbi Bullard's "Comparing the IBM PC and the Tl PC" placed fifth. Heartiest congratulations to these authors. Correspondence Address all editorial correspondence to the editor at BYTE, POB 372. Hancock, NH 03449. Unaccept- able manuscripts will be returned if accompanied by sufficient first-class postage. Not responsible for lost manuscripts or photos. Opinions expressed by the authors are not necessarily those of BYTE. En- tire contents copyright © 1 983 by BYTE Publica- tions Inc. All rights reserved. Where necessary, per- mission is granted by the copyright owner for librar- ies and others registered with the Copyright Clearance Center |CCC) to photocopy any article herein for the flat fee of S 1 .50 per copy of the arti- cle or any part thereof. Correspondence and pay- ment should be sent directly to the CCC, 2 1 Con- gress St.. Salem, MA 01970. Specify ISSN 0360- 5280/83. S 1 .50. Copying done for other than per- sonal or internal reference use without the permis- sion of McGraw-Hill is prohibited. Requests for special permission or bulk orders should be ad- dressed to the publisher. BYTE® is available in microform from University Microfilms International, 300 North Zeeb Rd.. Dept. PR, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106 USA or 18 Bedford Row. Dept. PR. London WC1R4EJ England. 542 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. Reader Service Inquiry No. Page No. 1 1 SUPER WAREHOUSE 400 3 1ST PLACE SYSTEMS 336 5 800 SOFTWARE 134 6 A.S.T. RESEARCH 239 7 AB COMPUTERS 500 8 ABC COMPUTER LTD 520 9 ABC DATA PRODUCTS 423 10 ACL INC. 460 11 ADDMASTER CORP. 506 12 ADROIT ELECTRONICS, INC. 506 13 ADV. COMP. PROD. 534, 535 14 ADV.GRAPHIC ENGINEERING 512 • ALF PRODUCTS, INC 306 298 ALPHA BYTE 314 15 ALPHA NUMERIC INTL. 273 16 ALPHA OMEGA COMPUTER 14 19 AMDEK CORP. 55 20 AMER. BUYING & EXPORT 426 21 AMER.SQUARE COMP. 357 22 ANADEX 429 23 ANTELOPE COMMUNICATIONS 518 244 ANTEX DATA SYS. 116 • APPLE COMPUTER INC. CM, 1 24 APPLE COUNTRY LTD. 491 25 APPLEWARE, INC. 512 26 APPLIED DIGITAL DATA SYS. 192 27 APPLIED SOFTWARE TECH. 437 28 ARTIFICIAL INT'L. RESEARCH 512 29 ASHTON-TATE 73 30 ASHTON-TATE 345 31 ATARISOFT115 4 AVATAR 339 32 AVOCET445 459 BASF SYSTEMS 287 34 BAY TECHNICAL ASSOC. 98 • BECK MFG 78 35 BELL, JOHN ENGR. 520 36 BHRT283 37 BIBLE RESEARCH SYSTEMS 139 38 BOEING MILITARY AIRPLANE 41 1 • BORLAND INT'L. 99 39 BOTTOM LINE, THE 189 40 BROWN DISC MANUFACTURING 234 ' BYTE PUBL. INC. 368, 369 ' BYTE PUBL. INC. 463 • BYTE PUBL. INC. 490 41 BYTEK COMP. SYS. CORP. 246 42 BYTEWRITER 20 • C WARE 262 • C-SYSTEMS 514 43 C.S.D. INC. 476 391 CABLES UNLTD.-DIV. WORSWICK IND. 510 44 CADMUS COMPUTER 110, 111 ■ CALIF. DIGITAL 528, 529 45 CALIF. DATA CORP. 508 • CALIF. MICRO COMP. 124 46 CAPITAL EQUIPMENT 334 47 CDR SYSTEMS 512 48 CENTRE COMP.CONSULTANTS 516 50 CHANNEL CONNECTION 493 51 CHIPS & DALE 520 52 CIRCUITS WORLD ELECTR. 516 53 CIRCUITS WORLD ELECTR. 518 55 CLEO 448, 449 57 COGITATE 514 58 COLORADO COMP. PERIPH. 516 59 COLUMBIA DATA PROD. 385 404 COMMAND SERVICES CORP. 378 60 COMMERCIAL BUSINESS SYS. 492 61 COMP. COMPNTS. UNLTD. 526, 527 62 COMP. WHLSLRS. OF FREDERICK 364 406 COMPANION COMP. 300 • COMPAQ COMPUTER CORP. 10, 11 63 COMPETITIVE EDGE 174 64 COMPLEXX SYSTEMS, INC. 149 65 COMPUADD 504 66 COMPUPRO 25 67 COMPUPRO 401 • COMPUPRO 439 68 COMPUSERVE 330 69 COMPUSHACK 447 70 COMPUTER CHANNEL 204 71 COMPUTER CLASSIFIEDS 354 72 COMPUTER DISCOUNT PROD. 515 73 COMPUTER FOOD PRESS 510 113 COMPUTER HANDICAPPING 506 74 COMPUTER HUT OF N.E. 341 75 COMPUTER INNOVATIONS 120 76 COMPUTER MAIL ORDER 166, 167 • COMPUTER PLUS 459 77 COMPUTER PRICE CLUB 514 Inquiry No. Page No. 79 COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY 514 80 COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY 520 • COMPUTER WAREHOUSE 333 81 COMPUTERS AND MORE 180 82 COMPUTERS AND MORE 120 83 COMPUTERS WHOLESALE 379 84 COMPUVIEW PROD.INC. 263 390 COMPU-MEDIA, INC. 504 85 CONCURRENT CORP. 126 86 CONROY-LAPOINTE 156, 157 87 CONROY-LAPOINTE 156, 157 88 CONROY-LAPOINTE 156, 157 89 CONTINENTAL PRESS INC, THE 514 90 CONTROL DATA CORP. 305 92 CORONA DATA SYS. 67 93 COSMOS 75 94 CRE WHOLESALE PROD. 518 95 CRE WHOLESALE PROD. 518 96 CREATIVITY UNLTD. 518 97 CROMEMCO 5 98 CRYPTRONICS INC. 72 450 CUESTA SYSTEMS 512 101 CUSTOM COMP.TECH. 519 208 DANA COMPUTER DISCOUNT 467 102 DATA MANAGEMENT ASSOC. 261 410 DATA STORAGE SOLUTIONS 93 41 1 DATA STORAGE SOLUTIONS 93 104 DATA TECH INDUSTRIES 163 105 DATA TRANSLATION INC. 453 106 DATASOUTH COMP.CORP. 335 107 DATASOUTH COMP.CORP. 470 395 DATA SPEC 471 396 DATA SPEC 471 108 DAVIDGE CORP. 516 • DELUXE COMP. FORMS 398 109 DIAMOND SFTW.SUPPLY 205 454 DIGITAL RESEARCH 216, 217 • DIGITAL RESEARCH COMP. 517 • DIRECT SOFTWARE 195 110 DISCOUNT SOFTWARE 352 • DISKWORLD 290 • DISKWORLD 518 1 1 1 DISPLAY TELECOMMNCTNS. 505 112 DISPLAYED VIDEO 499 114 DOKAY COMP. PROD. INC. 524, 525 115 DOW JONES SOFTWARE 101 116 DOW JONES SOFTWARE 315 117 DWIGHTCO., INC. 508 118 DYNAX, INC. 103 403 DYSAN CORP. 47 119 DYSAN CORP. 231 120 EAGLE SOFTWARE 152 121 EASTERN ENTERPRISES 213 122 EASTMAN KODAK CO. 170 123 EASTMAN KODAK CO. 171 124 ECOSOFT 404 125 EDUCATIONAL MICROCOMP. 508 126 ELCOMP 508 127 ELECTRADE CO. 510 128 ELECTRADE CO. 514 129 ELECTRONIC SPECIALISTS 360 130 ELEK-TEK 184 131 ELLIS COMPUTING INC. 187 • EMPIRICAL RESEARCH GROUP 130 132 ENGINEERING SPECIALTIES 520 405 ENGLISH I COMP. TUTORIALS 378 • EPSON AMERICA 86, 87 135 EPSON AMERICA 413 136 EXCEL 128 137 EXCEL 140, 141 412 EXECUTIVE MGMNT. SYS. 127 78 EXPERT COMPUTERS 480 138 EXPOTEK 270 139 F.T.G. DATA SYS. 512 140 FALCON SAFETY PROD. 85 142 FIGURE-LOGIC BUS. EQUIP. 506 143 FIGURE-LOGIC BUS. EQUIP. 520 458 FLAGSTAFF ENGINEERING 155 145 FLOPPY DISK SERV. INC. 502 146 FORMULA INT'L. 513 147 FORMULA INT'L. 513 212 FREEDOM COMP. MART 503 148 FUJITSU PROFESS.MICROSYS. 291 149 FUTECH INT'L. CORP. 104 150 GENERAL TECHNOLOGY 355 151 GIFFORD COMP.SYS. 399 152 GILTRONIX, INC. 510 154 GMS SYSTEMS 387 155 GOULD, INC. 181 156 GRAY MARKET 494 158 GREAT SALT LAKE COMP. 495 159 GREAT SALT LAKE COMP. 496. 497 Inquiry No. Page No. 160 GTEK INC. 53 • H&E COMPUTRONICS 138 161 H&M DISK DRIVE SERVICES 376 162 H.E.I. INC. 26 163 HANDWELL CORP. 394 164 HANDWELL CORP. 507 • HAYES MICROCOMP.PROD. 94 166 HAYES MICROCOMP.PROD. 95 167 HAYES MICROCOMP.PROD. 397 168 HEATH COMPANY 129 169 HITACHI 69 414 HUMAN DESIGNED SYS. 375 157 HYPERGRAPHICS 225 170 I. B.C. 19 172 I.T.M. 226 173 I/O TECHNOLOGIES 351 174 IBM CORP. 232, 233 176 IBM SYSTEMS SUPPLY DIV. 435 177 IDEA WARE 259 178 IMAGE COMP.PROD. 504 180 IN SYNC 510 181 INCOMM 456 182 INFOCOM 240, 241 457 INMAC 426 183 INTEGRAND 66 184 INTERACTIVE STRUCT. 295 185 INTERDATA SYSTEMS, INC. 510 452 INTERFACE, INC. 135 453 INTERFACE, INC. 135 187 INTERTEC DATA SYS. 13 455 INTEX MICRO SYS. 462 460 IQ TECHNOLOGY 202 400 J.M.I. SOFTW. CONS 182 190 JADE COMP.PROD. 521 191 JADE COMP.PROD. 522, 523 192 JAMECO ELECTR. 532, 533 • JANUS 136, 137 193 JDR MICRODEVICES, INC. 536, 537 194 JDR MICRODEVICES, INC. 538, 539 195 JDR MICRODEVICES, INC. 540 196 JOSKO ENTERPRISES 516 197 JUKI INDUSTRY OF AMERICA 209 198 KADAK PRODUCTS 154 199 KAYPRO SOFTWARE DIR. 431 200 KELLY COMP.SUPPLIES 518 203 KEYTRONICS CORP. 299 205 KNOWLEDGE SYS. 45 206 LABORATORY MICROSYS. 122 215 LANGLEY-ST.CLAIR 405 207 LASER MICRO 380 209 LAWSON LABS 504 210 LEADING EDGE PROD. 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INC. 508 234 METRO SOFTWARE, INC. 203 235 MFJ ENTERPRISES, INC. 186 236 MICRO AGE COMP.STORES 425 237 MICRO CONTROL SYS. 16, 17 398 MICRO CRAFT CORP 81 238 MICRO DATA BASE SYS. 185 240 MICRO MANAGEMENT SYS. 454 241 MICRO MART 340 242 MICRO MINT 455 243 MICRO-TAX 183 245 MICRODYNAMICS 508 246 MICROHOUSE 337 247 MICROLAND 514 248 MICROMAIL 511 249 MICROMATION 360 250 MICROPROCESSORS UNLTD. 516 To get further information on the products advertised in BYTE, fill out the reader service card with your name and address. Then circle the appropriate numbers for the advertisers you select from the list. Add a 20-cent stamp to the card, then drop it in the mail. Not only do you gain information, but our advertisers are encouraged to use the marketplace provided by BYTE. This helps us bring you a bigger BYTE. The index is provided as an additional service by the publisher, who assumes no liability for errors or omissions. "Correspond directly with company. Inquiry No. Page No. 251 MICROSTUF, INC. 281 252 MICROTECH EXPORTS 366 253 MICROWARE 188 254 MID-AMERICA WHOLESALERS 410 255 MILLER, J.W. 340 256 MINI MICRO MART 403 257 MOORE BUSN. CENTERS 56, 57 258 MOUNTAIN VIEW PRESS 275 259 MPI 297 260 MTI SYSTEMS CORP. 164 • MUSYS CORP. 271 261 MYTEK 442 262 NATIONAL COMPUTER LTD. 124 263 NAVAL UNDERWATER SYS.CTR. 409 264 NEBS COMPUTER FORMS 364 265 NEC INFORMATION SYS. 353 266 NESTAR SYSTEMS INC. 105 267 NETWORK CONSULTING, INC. 250 268 NETWORK CONSULTING, INC. 461 269 NEVADA COMPUTER 434 • NORTH HILLS CORP. 508 • NORTH HILLS CORP. 514 270 NORTHWEST DIGITAL SYS. 64 271 NORTHWEST MICROCHIPS DIST. 520 • NRI SCHOOLS ELECTR. DIV. 417 144 NWS 434 272 O'HANLON COMP.SYS. 197 273 OCTAGON SYSTEMS CORP 518 274 OMNISOFT 82 275 OMNISOFT 83 276 OPEN SYSTEMS, INC. 266 • ORA ELECTRONICS 501 279 ORYX SYSTEMS 190, 191 281 OSBORNBMCGRAW-HILL 327, 328, 329 283 P.C. NETWORK 325 284 PACIFIC EXCHANGES 340, 378, 434, 504, 506, 508, 510, 512, 520 285 PACIFIC INFOTECH CORP. 126 286 PAN AMERICAN ELEC. INC. 508 408 PC PIPELINE 300 337 PC WARE, INC. 316, 317 413 PEGASUS DATA SYS. 459 290 PEOPLE & TECHNOLOGY 172 ' PERCOM DATA 9 291 PERSOFT118 292 PERSOFT 504 293 PERSONALIZED COMP.PAPER 154 294 PHONE I, INC. 321 • PIKA-BOX, DIV.APPLIED COMP. 490 295 P0PC0M/PRENTICE CORP. 248, 249 296 PRACTICAL PERIPH. 260 297 PRACTICAL PERIPH. 269 319 PRACTICAL PERIPH. 363 300 PRIMAGES, INC. 419 301 PRINCETON GRAPHIC SYS. 313 302 PRINTER STORE, THE 52 175 PRIORITY ONE 392, 393 303 PRIORITY ONE 530, 531 304 PRO MICROSYSTEMS 512 305 PROMETHEUS PRODUCTS 359 306 PURCHASING AGENT, THE 70 307 QUADRAM CORP. 22, 23 308 QUANT SYSTEMS 510 309 QUARK INCORPORATED 41 310 QUBIE DISTRIBUTING 307 311 QUELO 215 312 RADIO SHACK CIV 313 RAN A SYSTEMS 27 314 RELMS 424 315 RHINO ROBOTS, INC. 237 401 RIXON 277 • ROCKY MTN. SOFTWARE 133, 139 316 ROGERS LABS 504 318 RTL PROGRAMMING AIDS 520 320 S C DIGITAL 276 321 S-100 DIV. 696 CORP. 477 322 S.E.I. INC. 462 323 SAFEWARE 152 324 SAGE COMP. TECH. 361 325 SAKATA 125 326 SCOTT FORESMAN 312 • SCOTTSDALE SYSTEMS 131 461 SD SYSTEMS 65 327 SEATTLE COMP.PRODS. 44 328 SEE-DATA CORP. 516 329 SEEQUA COMP.CORP. 6 331 SEMI DISK SYSTEM 77 • SILICON SPECIALTIES 76 • SOFTCON 342 333 SOFTRENT 504 334 SOFTWARE AUTOMATION 79 335 SOFTWARE BANC 221 336 SOFTWARE SERVICES 340 288 SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS, INC. 117 339 SOFTWARE TOOLWORKS 272 340 SONY VIDEO PRODUCTS 46 • SORCIM 264, 265 341 SOURCE EDP 441 342 STAR MICRONICS 415 343 STARBUCK DATA CO. 516 344 SUN SOFTWARE 427 345 SUNNY INT'L. 494 346 SUNTRONICS 492 • SYSTEMS STRATEGIES 272 348 TAVA CORP. 255 349 TAYCO BUSINESS FORMS 512 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. 543 Reader Service. Inquiry No. Page No. 351 TDK ELECTRONICS 150, 151 * TEKTRONIX, INC. 112 352 TELETEK ENTERPRISES, INC. 49 399 TERMINALS TERRIFIC 464 353 TEXAS COMPUTER SYS. 408 • TEXAS INSTRUMENTS 144, 145, 302 299 THIRDWARE COMP.PROD. 201 354 THREE M COMPANY 223 355 T1NNEY, ROBERT GRAPHICS 54 356 TITAN TECHNOLOGIES 206 357 TOPAZ, INC. 107 358 TOSHIBA AMERICA, INC. 420 359 TOSHIBA AMERICA, INC. 421 Inquiry No. Page No. 360 TRANSACTION STORAGE SYS. 257 361 TRANSTAR 121 362 TRANSTAR 451 363 TRISTAR DATA SYS. 164 364 TSK ELECTR.CORP. 247 365 U.S. ROBOTICS 377 366 U.S. MICRO SALES 509 368 UNIPRESS SOFTWARE, INC. 284 369 UNIVERSAL DATA SYS 21 370 USED PERSONAL COMP.BRKRGE 506 407 VANTEC 300 372 VAULT CORP. 285 373 VERBATIM CORP. 153 Inquiry No. Page No. 374 VIDEX 15 375 VISUAL TECH, INC. 28, 29 376 VISUAL TECH, INC. 119 • VLM COMPUTER ELECTR. 506 381 WADSWORTH ELECTR.PUB.CO. 348 382 WANG ELECTR.PUB.INC. 80 • WANG LABS, INC. 323 383 WAREHOUSE SOFTWARE 102 384 WASHINGTON COMP.SYS. 215 456 WESTERN AUTOMATION 376 385 WESTERN TELEMATIC 352 386 WHITESMITHS LTD 146 387 WILLIAMS, MARK CO. 443 Inquiry No. Page No. 388 WINTEK CORP. 506 392 WRITING CONSULTANTS 354 393 WYSE TECHNOLOGY 367 394 XOR CORP. 123 *Correspond directly with company. 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Singapore 1024 72 01 81 France 720 33 42 Republic of Singapore 544 February 1984 © BYTE Publications Inc. a THE MY THE IBM® PERSONAL COMPUTER BECAME OBSOLETE. ■ »'« *J IBt -. ■■ .■—■•■: ■ It was a monday In the autumn of '83, The day they announced the And unlike IBM's, ours comes com- plete with a high-resolution monitor, controller, seven expansion slots, serial port, parallel port, a tlme-of- r^^-'^rxv.^i'm^a^iiVi'.r^i'Wv^iiriit'.yr.i IBM® PC, at just about hatf the price. of dollars worth of software to get /, more powerful. (for example, our disk drives have a "mean time between failures" of 20,000 hours, versus an 8,000- hour MTBF for theirs), it's compatible with Just about all the software and peripherals that the IBM is. It run (an extra $40) . . . and $170 Just for the time of day (a calendar/ clock that's standard with Leading Edge). In short, the basic package comes to you as a very expensive It's this simple, The Leading Edge P* . *l • • 1 ■ cessing (the most powerful w.p. program ever created to run on an IBM-type personal computer). In short, the basic package comes to you complete and ready to work. With IBM, on the other hand, you get charged extra for everything . Even for the PC DOS disk that makes Edge PC... Get serious. In the age of the personal com- puter. Leading Edge, means what it says. LEADING EDGE PRODUCTS, INC, 225 TURNPIKE STREET. CANTON, MA 02021. 1-800-343-6833. IN MASSACHUSETTS, (617) 828-8150 IBM Is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. Circle 210 on inquiry card. The dawn of a new era in microcomputer technology NEW TANDY TRS-80 MODEL 2000 High Performance MS-DOS Computer That Operates at Twice the Speed of the IBM PC Our Tandy® 2000 delivers much more than other 1 6-bit MS-DOS based computers. More speed. More disk storage. More expansion. Higher resolution graphics. And a modular design that advances the science of ergonomics. Use the Hottest Names In Software Like dBase II, a powerful relational data base management program. Microsoft-Multiplan, the "second-generation" elec- tronic worksheet. PFS:File, a simple way to organize informa- tion. MultiMate, the highly-acclaimed word processing program. And many more already acclaimed by the entire microcomputer industry. Still more programs are coming, in- cluding Microsoft's state-of-the-art MS-Windows operating environment. You can view several "windows" at once — files, letters, graphs and more — and exchange information between them. More Speed, Storage and Expansion A "next-generation" 16-bit CPU makes the Tandy 2000 dramatically faster than the IBM PC and other MS-DOS systems. The vast storage capacity lets you set up massive data bases. You can add more memory, high- resolution color and monochrome graphics, our new Digi™-Mouse and much more. And you can install most of these options yourself. Complete Service and Support The Tandy 2000 is backed with the quality and sup- port that have kept Tandy Corporation in the fore- front of the microcomputer industry. See the Tandy 2000 today at over 1 000 Radio Shack Computer Centers and participating Radio Shack stores and dealers nationwide. ! ; N\hi fhhii-rip I I I I I I 1 I f ' J / i r ' ' ' i i r ' i / ■ i ■ i , : i '"" f J ' r , it i i i , ~j; Compare the Tandy 2000 to the IBM Personal Computer '^SBMHBsHBBHi m Price Comparison 1 Tandy 2000 IBM Personal Computer Base Unit $2750 $2104 2nd Drive Included (720K) $529 (320K) Monochrome Monitor $249 $345 Display/Printer Adapter Included $335 128K RAM (Total) Included $165 RS-232 Included $120 MS-DOS 2.0 Included $60 Total Cost* $2999 $3658 Feature Description Tandy 2000 IBM Personal Computer Internal Memory 128K Standard 64K Standard Disk Capacity Per Drive 720K 160K or 320K (optional) Microprocessor Clock Speed 8 MHz 4.7 MHz True 16-Bit Microprocessor Yes (80186) 16-bit/1 6-bit data path No (8088) 16-bit/8-bit data path User-Available Expansion Slots* 4 2 Graphics Options Color Resolution 640 X 400 320x200 Number of Colors 8 4 Monochrome Resolution 640 X 400 640x200 Tandy 2000 With Two Disk Drives Tandy 2000 HD With Built-in 10-Megabyte Hard Disk 2750 OO 26-5103 4250 OO Commercial Lease Available For Only $95 Per Month (Plus Applicable Use/Sales Tax) Commercial Lease Available For Only £150 Per Monlh (Plus Applicable Use/Sales Tax) "Comparable IBM configuration with monochrome adapler and display, commumcalions adapier, {wo 320K disk drives and 128K RAM tManulacturer's pricing as ol 9/1/83 Non-interlaced monitor, graphics and Digi-Mouse not included Now Available! See the Tandy 2000 Today! Radio /hack The biggest name in little computers® A DIVISION OF TANDY CORPORATION Circle 312 on inquiry card. Prices apply at participating Radio Shack slores and dealers IBM is a registered Irade- mark ol International Business Machines Corp PFS is a registered trademark ol Software Publishing MS and Mulliplan are trademarks ol Microsolt Corp MulliMate is a trademark of Sotlword Systems Inc dBase II is a trademark of Ashton-Tate.