PersonalComputerNews089-01Dec1984.pdf

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ENU
COVER
STORY
SPECTRUM
dlsb
Everyone knows what
a
~at
machine the
Spectrum
111-but
add•
complete
disk
system
lh8l'
•
aometh1ng
elM! John
Leu1c:e
examines
the Timex
disk
drives
and
reaches
80me
favourable
conclua1on.s
MicroBuyer's Cuide
Just 1ntime forChrn1tmu11hoppmg, lheop1n1onat.ed
PCN
gu
ide
to
th
e
machines
on
the market
Check out
20 machines in the
sub-£500
price bracket before makingyourcho1ce-ar1A!rall,
you
only Want
one
turkey thi,s
Chns
tm
u.
ONITOR
Surveyslams Spectrum
The Smcla1r Spectrum hu
taken a
hammering
1n
a
micro
reliability
survey
In
th
e aurvey
reta1len
aa1d
that over
25
per cent of
Spee-
trurruuoldwerereturnedtothe
11.hopa.
The
maJ0r1ty
of these
wereconfirmedufaulty.
The Acom Electron, Am·
1
OUTPUT
displays
12
See
what magic
a
htt.le mathematical theory
can
"'·ork
on your
64
screen
test
·Jusll
1
kethaL
20
The1urveywascarr1edoutby
Bu1uneuDeci
1ion.sLtd lOI·~
8061' who questioned a crou
eection of
100 retail
outlet.a
1nclud1n
gbranchesof8ootaand
WH
Sm1tM
an
d
independent
computer
ahope.
It
wu conducted m October
on behalf
of
Aspect. Acorn's
advertunng
agency
Busmeu
Dec1s1ona'interv1ewert uked
the reta1len: 'Thmkmg of
th
e
brandl individually,
cttn you
=~~;~f~~~&~~~onwo::o:
tumedmtheluu
,xmonthsfor
~O:tr:Ji!~:~.tli
~;~~re
~:::~
Acom
r
~~
of
around
five per
cent.
The
figuret
compare
un·
favourably
with the
figure,
quoted
by the manu(acturen
thernaelvH. In
a 1urveyt11rried
oul by
PCN
in
the
run
up
to
Chri1tma1 laat year, the per·
centageofretumstothe
manu.
facturer during the warranty
period wu:
under ~:
under
5c.(.
It
should
be
streaed
that
theee
figures
are
baaed
on
retu
rns
to
the
manufacturer
.
Commodore aa1 that
1t
d
wouldn't
necessa.nly
quarrel
with
th
e
result.soft.he Bu11neu
Dec1111ona'
1urvey
but would
prefer toaee
more
of the
11
rvey
u
before making
a
full
comment.
'But
the
11tuat1on
hu
changed
very drastically since
th
emovetothenew
producti
on
~~~
i!;.~~-
l Corby,'
a
spokea-
a
'The last
,
,x
month& have
::~.:y t:~::i°~.a~rer:i~~~:
one
issue at Corby at
t
he
moment
and
everyone
is
worlt-
mg flat out on 1t. The
quality
conLrol1tandarduofnowi1,w•
believe, eecond
to
none.'
p~::t
b~ou;~i~~fi~~
,ions.
'To comment properly
we
~;~f
i~i::!~d:e::n
are
very
1ub8tant1ally
lower
and curre
nt
ly well over 40 per
~!of::.~::1i=i~~:uri
lighted that 118reliability
fi.
gure,
are
90
good
in compar
l10n
withitlcompetitol'I.
Butitdoet
thin
k that the resu
lta
of the
11urvey llhould 10und a loud
ra:ir:~to!ri:h~:~~i.t~:~
:
eciOUIJapaneee
arrive
, 'It
i•
exactly the
IIOrt
of thing
thal
let.a
MSX
m
throug
h
the
back
door,'aaidaapokeaman.
A
,
uperfast ut1hly that
alloW1multiple
high
resoluti on
&ereena
Orie
shoolout
23
Duck
Shoot
not
only
h1ghl1ghta
aome
uJJeful programming
lec.hniques, 1t'8 fun
to
play
loo
HARDWARE
TinyOTRONA
38
f'ull
IBM
compat1b1lity,
twin
d1sk8,
bu1IL ecreen, and
up to
·in
640K
of
RAM
may notsound
amall
butt.hen
you
haven'teeen 1l
for
:::h ::n~e~:.
25.4'lc
Spectrum
V1c20
18C\
Commodore64
13%
4~
Amstrad
5c:l
Electron
8
~ responae
to
another qu~
t1on, reta1len aa1d that taking
=o~~l!~!~~!h;i~;:
were
because
of
machine..
a!':g
~::'w~~af!~~
faulty
ft':!:
Wea1ze1lu p
~~~
sonwARE
SS
A
su1teofd1sk
u1.1l11.1es
might make \1fea
l11.lle
ea.a1e
See
what'•
r.
1n
,t
foryou
f:.';i';~~~:~~~~;~~
,~1~:~:J~:~de-
I~!::
fo~n~;;:
Powerpacks
28%
Son.ware
loadmg
24~
Keyboard
20%
The
ml\)Ori y
of
faulta 1n the
t
Vic
20
were
due
to
the
c8.88elte
~~Yf~ea~~:/~!':m~i:
Electron
and
BBC
the
mam
problem.awere
with keyboards,
power
aupphet
and
cable con-
nect.101\1..
REGULARS
Monitor
Reliability
report ahock,
th18
page;11l1conand.Sands, page
2;
Elite
due for the
Spectrum
,page
3;
Victor r1JJeS
from
dead, pa.ge
4; llome
Front
.page
5
__
~-
-
Du
-
nc
-----
18
_
Camepiay
46
~:v:e~r:r~ri ::~;~yre!,~
I
·
,-no-lh-,'-e,-'d,-o,e-n-...,.-.-,-,.-
tha
t
h1t1tocltao(popularmicroe
A
.-.,...c..:.
1
come under the crit ical
eye
of
laatCh
risLmu.
Random
Access
Lhe
PCN
rev,ewmg team. No
Morethoughtafrom
ourerudite
holdllbarred
readers
.
BiUboanl
57
~::nt~~:~:
L~
gamet1make an
appearance
RoutiHfaquirin
Ju
llt
the
place
to
pick
up
a
Thepan
e
lof
experta10lvea
few bargain.or
make
a b1tof extra
more
problem11.
cash for Chr1lltmas
Quit
64
Mtel"OWfffl
10
ld1ocy expotted
-
including
H1nt.t,
tipe11ndhelpful
routin
e.
oun,
plw,
a
few dat.ea
for your
help
you get
more
from
your executive detktop appoint-
m1
cro.
menta
reguter
l'CN
D0C
EM8f:R
1
1984
8
ct:;~~
Another trip
into
the deplhA of
the
crypl m
aearc.h
of
treasure,
excitement
and
a
good
punch
up
Softworepreview
42
Thepagetoreadto•tayintouch
withthe1JOR.ware11eene
Micro makerspromisefull Christmasstocks
The
big three micro malten
:>~oc:i:mt1:':;/
=~i:
deliverydatel and demand.'
Acom
too
is exuding confi-
dence
that
1t
can me,et Chr111t-
mas
demand
for
BSC.
and
El=ke-
lut
year we
did not
turn the production tap off over
the
summer
penod,
' a 11
okes--
p
man
aaid.
Commodore
bpecta
'great.er
emphasi
•'
thi•
year
on
peripheral.a,
but
ita Corby
fac-
tory a.
in
full production,
work-
ing
16 houn
•hirt,.
'We
don't
foreaee
any problem&,' ui
d
a
epolte.man
.
Sinclair
expecta
to
eell
INBRIEF
..,.....
......
that
hit.
batch
ofSpectrum PluaeNtent
to
WH
Smith(i.eeue87)havenowbeen
reaolved.
&me
\l.le1'1
rouod
when
they
tipped the micro
Something old,
less
that'
s
new
MOlltcities
make
110methini -
::
tely
lut
=:r!;~1:!
:C·
week
the
ga~ling
v~~
ria
capital or
America played hoet
to
100,000
dealers and manu·
faet.uren
in
one of the biggNL
upe.ide down 10me
of
the
keys
fell
off'.
However,
a epoke.
woman from
WHS
uid
the
problem
hu
bee.n
fixed.
s-
could become
eaaie
r
th.anU
to
a
hybrid
•>'9-
t.em developed
by
Racom of
Readi
ng.
Raoom'•
MX70
i•
in-
t.ended
to
be
inat&lled in
llhop1
and
lo.ded
with
preview,
of
games on
video
tapet.
A
tape
can
hold 70
N.mplea,
each
luti ng
about
50
te00nds,
and
a..... •
coo:~~~~~
i~·i;:.~U:t!vh:i
a~~
largely railed
to
live up to the
macbine.reworthebig110ft.ware
publishers unveiled anything
rn:~~w
::~f~
:/~(ycZn1rna:~
were
Predkt
ably,
lBM
dominated
the procffliinp,
to
the
dismay
Sc~i
1
~:anJ~hnot
U't~
At
the
licensing
TI
:J!:!':1~\~:::,r:c.
keynote
1peech
that
:y-:
the announced
a
same totime, deal
opened
The MX70
h.u
a
22in colour
with A9hton· Tate
produce
ecreen, keyboard,
and
a
gn.phict gene
ra
tor
.
...,,..
T...
~
hu
laun-
ched
a
pair
of
text
adventurea
on
Microdriv
e
for
the
Sinclair
QL.
The
gllmff
,
called ZKUL
1
1
lhow,Sculleywamedthatcom·
theet,programmabledatabue,
buaiDeN
graphict
,
mail
merge
andaoon
.
bii?t;-:~i::ki:~~:l:!i
ri;:i~m'!!!!,i;f
~e
~ib/~;
year.
The introd
uction
or
the
dBuelliandf'ramework
forita
J=/~,.°:~=ng~
will
be
availab
le
in
March
next
and
Weet.cost.£19.96each-if
:~ki~
o~a:m~-=1
t
dead
and
buried
before
long.
of
buli-
llffll
machinee
will
crow
s.,,.,..,.......,.....
•
another arm in
Janua,y
with
the
launchof
theMBC775. Thil
ii
a portable
with
an 8088,
256K RAM,
and
16K
of
video
RAM
.
Sanyo
LI
continuing
to
plug
'ffiM
PC
compat.i.bility'
with
the
machine.
.
1
hand-held micro, HU.Uy
Com-
the
Pro-Lite.
Epeon had
a
couple
of in-
tereating
new
producu
on
di•
play
-
a
miniature thermal
printer and
a radica
l
altema·
tive to luer printers
.
The
!..by
iat.he
P-80availablewitha
9
or
24-element print head
ror
ther
·
ma! printing
.
Epeon
aay•
the
machine
ia
the
amallest.
SO.
column
printer
on
the
market.
at
around
12x3x2
inchee.
It
will
print
in
multiple
font.
,
italic and empbui.aed,
plus
portable computera.
Luer
pnnte.rs may
be
att.racting
a
lot
or atte
ntion
but
Epeon
hu
gone
it.
own
way
with
a
pqe
printer
bued
on
'liquid cryata.1
abutter with
elect.rophotographic technolo-
,.....
Among
52 other
1upplien
ahowing
Mac
produ
cts
wu
Koala Technology
-
bette.r
known
for
graphict
devices
for
the
Commodore
64
.
Koala bad
=-=an~
P!~a;:.~f~
SJ>1~8!
the
1
M2K
version of
Hunter,
delcribed by the
compan y
u
ideal for app1ication1 where
complex aoftwa.re needa
to
be
prteent.ed in a
si
mple form.
the
battlemt;nta
1
:;e~°Kl!~n:~i~c:e=~
!r~~~
ly difficult for
independent
compani~ to build
a
long-term
bu.linett propoeition on IBM-
competib
ility
alone',
he
aaid.
He
al11>
called for innovation
at
the Uler level rather than
worrying
about
'eeoteric
mat,.
ten
'
like
operat ing
ayatem
atandarda.
Tht-.reiaa
farb
igger
opportunity to run our buaineee
u a
market-driven compc1ny
than it
ia
to have
a
knee.jerk
reaction
to every
new
technolo-
rical reature that
competitors
ri""fng~i::!~·t::iir
bacU on IBM wu rathe
r
like
ukifl4'.
them to
bet
the
lon.g
ahota
in
the
cuinoe.,
but Apple
had
more to
offer
than
threat.I
and
the Macintolh bad a
very
~~~
~Tr~~»·
!:,.e:r
Mart..___..
::~~~}1e~J:a~
ft.!:
the
official Cry1t..l CNtle.
in
Decembe
r
atabout.flO
.
Y......,.Nn'edli
1o
ffering8BC
bug-hunteraan SK
ROMcalled,
app:J:riet.ely,
Micro-Scope.
It
tended
erro
r
reporti
ng,
and
tplitl
~u:~:,:i::r::1:;
rac
~~=~r::W~~
:'.t~if:w:r::i:
ima.get
ta.ken with
a
video
came.re, at.ore them
on
the
Macintolh, manipulate them
uaing
Macpeint,
incorporate
them
into
Macwrite
docu-
ment.1,ortransmitthemdowna
modem. And
ror
uDder
$400.
Another
company 1triking
out
in
a new
direct.ion
is
In·
rooom, renowned for
adve.nture
programs like the Zork
trilogy
.
lnfooom had
ita
n.m
buei
n
ees
program on
ahow -
a
prog-
rammable databue called Cor-
nentone for
the
IBM
PC.
lnfocom
hu
brought ita
ex·
te.naivet.e.xtrbandJingexpertite
from
adventure.
to
buMne.
and Cornerstone
baa
attracted
a
rave
reception
from
m-,jor
dimibuton.
But more interelting
ia
ln-
(ocom'anewgame
.
lt
hube.ate
n
many publi1hen to the
punch
The
Hitch
·Hiker' aGu
ide
to the
!1:=
gy'
{oo,
we don't
know
what that
:::~o~l~~=
Gala,y
.
Adamsbu helpod.,.._
mea.na,
either).
W::K::t;c:
rJ:J~'!.1:iJ\.r:=
.:!~of~~i.
:~':.,~
l~':~:u,ua:.
TI
machine{aee
lut
week'•
or
holding
•
downloaded
s!'..~
The
char-
Al
$5,000
it
colt.a
about heitr vert
h
i1
radiotrV/book htt for
the
prioe
or compara
ble
luer
juat
about
every
machine in·
pri
nters
and will output. eeven
eluding Commodore
64, Apple,
IBM,a ndAtari
.
:.:~~
y~r.=:en:r;
th
e
IICrMD
to give
ita
output alonpide
the
PJ'OI
·
ram
'a.
lteosta.f20
.
....,,h
a.uig:tu
prightato
::r.7:!;om~~o~C=
Suicide Espree, rame.
The
~.are
Black
Thunder
and
iNue) bca
lledlhe
Pro-Li
teand
featuret
an 80C88 proceeeor,
256K RAM
expandab
le
to
768K,
3.6in
built-in diak hold·
&CW:reet
,
and
allow•
lette
r
quality
print and high denaity
grap
hict.
So to the
Macintoeh
,
and
i~~KBpt~=~~D
but.
an external colour monitor
em,
an
8087 coproceeeor, and a
aoft.ware
'drawe
r'
that
will
take
ROM
app
licati
on
modules.
:::r:.r~:=::t
:i~r1Ul~~:~°tf.!::~:!ri:.
:~i:.~c-};:;~~:!::1i!:
J
au. Jui
i•
an
integrated
~!or~A~:~
~
word
proceaor
,
1pread-
ing
~N!.°R
goto Firebinl
Spectrum
ownen
ca
n look for-
ward
to
joining the
Eli
te
next
1prina
.
The auction
(or
the
Z80
right. of the
Acom
mega.ga me
(Wlue
82)
ha.1
been
won
by
British
Telecom
1ubiiidiary,
Firebird
Software.
Fireb
ird
hopes
to
get a
Spec-
trum
venio
n out
within five
monlha
with
an
Ar11$t
ver·
rad
aion
to
follow.
The
company
ha.I
not
aaid whethe
r
it intenda
to
produce
an
MSX
version.
1 1
Lo
;::
°::!~~i:ri:-~
game for
th
e
Spectrum
and
wan'8
to
interfere with
the
origmal
8.111
le
u
poui
ble.
litt
$f
\
1EW
FROM
JAPAN
]
or
proc::-.in
1
c1at.1i
step •ta
one
Record
companies
push,e.releases
~~
.
K-T
el, CBS,
Tel.Star. What
do
t.heee
Da.m have in common?
et
They're
all companiee involved
in the
mu,.ic
bu.lineu
and
hav
e
recenUy
ta.ken up eoO.waredi•
lribution
.
Now
they've
been
by
Arioluofl,
alias
But
record
compe.niea
aren'
t
=il~!x~~i!::.
b
cap.
caft'
~ef~
penultimate, they will
be
able
of
90lvin.g problema by
inference. Tbi1
i.
be.t
iJlut,-
tnt.ed
by
the
caption
to
a
cartoon in wh ich
tM
computer
t.ella
the
operato
r,
'
I
couldn't
Howcloeearewetoacompu-
~=~~.:rm=;;.
191.....tion
Is
~:;!
Fifth
tim
e,
albeit
under
grey import.
~
:e:n
:~~
:~~~~vo:
old
before
Its
thne
~z ~':
rw;~:
!:t~a.,e
~·
.::
ir::itii;:nce~:eot.e;~
!~i?;:
what
the
conference
WU
=~
:iTn1:C::~Lo~;~~!:
a.JI
~-1:::n:.°!:-~=
~
!~~
~~,.:~n.
!ft'.!!r:
fT
and
a
lthough
to
me
or
the
more
it.I
name,
I
could
,
ure
uae
ODfl
rettnl
releuee
weren't be.d,
right now.
Mydetikll buriedin
nothing'a been
heard from
that clippinp,
I've ,otabouta
dozen
0o1':ia'hei
e
:~;~
1
Firebird'
,
filver
label
budget
:
n~~n
~n~ !~A~
games.
ea.let
a
nd diat ribut
ion.
it
tickling
1ta
belly.
The
a
uction
or
the
Z80
ri4hta
Ari.A
ian't doing anything
ta
For
the
1,160
(they
counted
waa
carried
out
by
Ma
JJac:q
Microa
which reprHenta
Elite
new
eithe
r.
Import.I:
of
on
400)
computer uperta
Broderbund
and
Electronic
galhtttdinTokyolut.we,ek
for
1
Arteeoft.warehavebeen
a
round
the
International
Conference
a:nd 8;Nrebi~
for
10me
time,
and
Arioluoft.'a on
Ftft.h-Oeneratio n
Computer
catalogue
i.a
hardly
impreuive
.
Syatema, it'•
just
tantaliai.ngly
~o':e~be:,
wa nted lheright
to
publi1h the
Mott
of the game,
may
well
beyonatheircurftntreach
.
But
have been
chart
t.op
pen
in the
their arma are growing lon~r
guaranteed chart
toppe
r.
US, but how long
ago?
There'•
every day
.
~;~::rt:t:..wJ.!~t!:!':
led
IAC
=t·:~:c1~~l.!~op~~
wuh-out
due
to
low qua
lity,
cal~t:;r~tY. t..eff;
IOftwaretoru.nthem
.
The
tint
~
rr:
t!
t:
:::-:::::1.~~
t
l~t~
.
type,
a PSI {Peraonal Sequen·
tial lnferenoe
)
machine, ia
a
1uper
per90n.al
computer
.
How
181:f!
~ea.;!!:o~Rd~~~r!~ctio:
Set,
but who
plays th
at
now?
Then
there
's
Lode
Runner,
which
it
to
old
that
Soft.ware
Project,,
h.u
converted
it for
the
8
short ~an
ai
nce Japan
initi·
ated
i
ta
lnatitut.e for New Gen-
erabo
n
Computer
Technology
(ICOT),
a
project
that wu
~~~J~~y
ite~J!!~
~~
:::;r:!'.ifn
o!1ea~
~
;!11\;,
1
;:
:
Zn~:1~e:
~
procn,m.minc
and
opera
t
ing
1ystem)
and
written In
Pro
loe,
conaiat.l
0(90,000
lines of
rode,
it ha.a80Mbofmemoryin266
K
RAM chii:-
and
then,
are
plan1
to market it within
three
yean.
Amona:it. other
capabilitiet
i1
a
chemical
anal11
i1
tha
t
ta.ket
20 houn
on
current
ha rdware
but can
be
handled in
80me-
1
~~n~::
·u~ca
l~
takea
to
hit
the
•pace
bar aft.er
typing
a
word.
The othe
r
computer,
a re-
lational
databue
machine cal-
l~e;
::.~
=:~
rour~nera t
iona one
ind
u.a
really wants
to
break
try
1be
first
genera
t
ion c:o
mpu-
vacuum
tube.
(or
logic
into the
IOftware
mark
et
it'll
ter
u.led
havetodoa
lotbe
t
t.erthan
bring operallon
and
came
into being
ine
lderl
yim
portedAm
erica
ns. in
1947.
For any
who
can
~.:~~~~:~~~}·t~~
---------l
~;
~
~r;i
~d
et
8:r\
!
:~
~ei!a~
!::1~~~:
:!n~
1
~0~:e::.pi::~
the
computer~
the
tent.-
ence 'the
man
ate
the
car'
u
aomething
virtua
lly
imsx-i
·
ble,
buedonitl
underst.andi n.
g
~:~;oe~::~~~it:
than
two1ente.ncetw
a.adi.Kua-
eed.
w~:1~
ot:1:~a~n
cue
the
nezt atep,
10me
four
f-------
----
~
=j~u~E~i
!
~~
=ndt
r~~:::.D,+:t
a
ner
1967,
uaed
intqnt.ed
circuita (IC). Fourth pnera-
1
rn~:~naci;:rt.s
currently coming mto the mar
·
t11::
~ai:w:-!!:;:;~ngo(logi~
tvTh
1
)~
!!s~r.1i;U::i:;:~
3.~
=~:fn~==
ri:
which date from
the
ear
ly
iO.,
Muy
people argue t.hat all
lheae oomputen reaJly repre-
tent a aingle genera
t
ion since
eeee.ntially they proceaia
in·
format
iontheu.meway.~one
at.ep
at a
time
,
Ezperw
alao
argue
that
apart
from
increatN
in apeed a
nd
other minor
im·
.......
......
..,.,,, u......c
_...~.GOl,tlllll
...
ICCltM
..
........
_
,..
....,
,-
.....
icN
.........
..
.
..,..,.,.
,..._~
...
....-
"""'
.. .
,.....
......
........
.
IICIIOUSE
-
AI .... IIC....,..c..
n.. .......... ..... _
,Ml .........
.....
..........
11.WtW.wlll ..
NWAIU-.
•art,.._.wWdi
.....
"'7Mdl
ralftiN .............
...,...,t,...wl
PCN
DOCEMBF.RIJ984
(f
••
...... _
...
Mlll ...
a1UN1
....
ztft
!
........
..
....
I
framework
for
a tru
ly
new
generation
o{
computers.
At
it.a
most.
buic
level,
that
mean,
a
complete change
or
archi·
lecture,
new language..
and
other
radical
changea.
Inatead
:r~~~
~bT
:rJh!.,~
b~~
er:':tr::av:
•r:~~ca.1;:
t.hem,therespon.NitlOmew
ha
t
,imlla.r
to
F.dmund H1
llary'a-
tomewha
t.
becaute
in efl'ect
what they aay
im:'BecaUN
u
ol
now,
1uth computera aren't
there
.'
..._,,,_,,,,
~~e~
tkh:~ters
Tha
t
',
why
the
1,000
or
'°
1te1»
to
the
paralle l
inference
machine,
or
Artificia
l
Jnt.elli-
a:enee.
And
that
machine. I
hope,
will lit me
down
in
a
quiet
comer
and
carefully and pa
,
tie
ntly
uplaln
lo
me
euctly
what
it
ii
tha
t
it
doea,
becaUM
ttrange
u
it.
may
..e
m
the
~';u~~aoi::·~r:~:
~=
':!;
t~·~ju:_
i:!:fr:.
:°r!~~J!"(~ff!:i,
~~),
haven't really
given much

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