Practical Computing - March 1981, Volume 4, Issue 3

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Publication Date : March 1981

Publication Contents :

Page Item
6 Tandy TRS-80 [Advert]
Double-page advert.
8 Commodore Pet [Advert]
Double-page advert.
10 Sharp MZ-80 Computer System [Advert]
20 'Tuscan' from Transam [Advert]
35 Hewlett-Packard HP-85 [Advert]
41 Editorial [Article]
Peter Laurie
Program or device?
42 Feedback [Article]
User's letters.
45 Butel Athena [Advert]
46 New Minister may give micros welcome boost [News Item]
Computing should receive a much higher priority in Government plans for industry with the appointment of Kenneth Baker as Industry Minister responsible for information technology.
46 Interface for Sharp [News Item]
An interface unit for the Sharp MZ-80K desk-top computer is now available from Mektronic.
46 Enterprising sixth formers who started a software company [News Item]
Sixth formers from the Portway School, Bristol, have formed a company, Software Six, under the national Young Enterprise scheme.
47 Superbrain extra power [News Item]
More disc storage for the Superbrain microcomputer is now available, increasing it to 1.5 megabytes.
47 Maintenance service [News Item]
A maintenance servicing and repair scheme, called the Micro Clinic, which offers full "health insurance" for microcomputers has been introduced by the Micro Computer Centre.
47 Administrative dog's-body for vets in form of Verifac system [News Item]
Vets are the latest professional group to be offered the benefits of microcomputers with the release of Verifac by B & I systems, a package to store animal records.
47 InPet RS232 port widens range of printers used with Pet [News Item]
An RS232 port for the Pet has been developed by Imperus Computer Systems, enabling it to use a wide range of printers which have the RS232 communications mode.
47 Guarantee of two years [News Item]
A two-year guarantee on microcomputer sales is something of an innovation in an industry which has traditionally relied on 90 days' warranty.
49 Computing for the unemployed [News Item]
A £12,000 scholarship scheme to encourage the unemployed to take vocational courses in computing has been announced by the Belair Education Centre.
49 Human speech digital store [News Item]
A high-speed printer for the new Commodore Pet 8000 series offers the standard ASCII 96 character set at speeds of 160-character per second.
49 Venture-capital plan in jeopardy after NEB management changes. [News Item]
A scheme to bring US technology and marketing experience to underdeveloped UK areas may be threatened by the state of flux within the National Enterprise Board (NEB).
49 Vector Graphic now has high-resolution board [News Item]
A high-resolution S-100 bus graphics board for the Vector Graphic microcomputer has been released by the UK distributor Almarc Data Systems.
50 Keyboard sounder for ZX-80 removes data-entry problem [News Item]
A keyboard sounder for the Sinclair ZX-80 microcomputer has been developed which provides a short audible bleep whenever a valid keyboard entry is made.
50 Catching the MBasic bug [News Item]
There is a bug in the Microsoft MBasic compiler, versions L-80 3.37 and earlier, which crashes the data areas.
50 High-speed Pet printer [News Item]
The Speech Processor Set, a speech-processing system which can store human speech in digital form has been introduced by National Semiconductor.
50 Medical package which will take pressure off overworked nurses [News Item]
Intensive care units in hospitals may soon be turning to the Commodore Pet to help them keep track of the fluid levels in ailing patients. The Medicom package, Fluid Monitor, is designed to help nurses measure the levels of blood, urine crystalloids and colloids.
50 Software copyright again subject of inconclusive legal action [News Item]
The issue of software copyright had another legal airing at the end of last year when ACT Microsoft combined forces with two US companies to try and stop David Bolton of St Albans, Hertfordshire, from marketing a disc which, they alleged in court, infringed the copyright of their best-selling VisiCalc financial modelling program.
50 U.S. Wordcheck is latest spelling-correction package [News Item]
The third spelling corrector program to be developed in 12 months has just been announced by Microcomputer Industries of the US.
51 Oscar [Advert]
55 Microsystems 81 preview [News Item]
Preview of Microsystems 81, a conference being held at the Wembley Conference Centre from March 11-13.
56 Rair Black Box 3/20 has stylish 10Mbyte Winchester [Review]
Nick Horgan
Nick Horgan tests the 3/20 and outlines the Winchester technology used in the new Black Box.
58 Tandymail follows your instructions to the letter [Review]
Ken Smith
The TRS-80 mailing-list program meets reviewer Ken Smith.
61 Four CP/M-based packages which spell document efficiency [Article]
Larry Press
Survey of the four most popular word-processing packages - Auto Scribe, Electric Pencil, Magic Wand and WordStar.
66 Vast option range in complex Wordcraft [Article]
Mike McDonald
Mike McDonald studies Wordcraft 80 on the Pet 8000.
71 Powerful Sorcerer plug-in stops just short of pure magic [Article]
Dennis Jarrett
Dennis Jarrett assesses the word-processing module on the Exidy Sorcerer.
75 Daisywheel Diablo 630 fares well in all printer tests [Review]
Chris Bidmead
Review of the Diablo 630 printer.
78 Datasouth DS-180 v. Anadex DP-9500 [Review]
Peter Laurie
Printer comparisons.
79 Correspondence quality from inexpensive 737 [Review]
Review of the Centronics 737 with RS232 interface.
80 Is it worth leasing a micro? [Article]
Duncan Scot
We look at the pros and cons of leasing.
85 Timeslip [Article]
John Abbatt
Fiction.
87 Comart Communicator [Advert]
88 Sinclair ZX80 - Britain's best selling personal computer [Advert]
Double-page, colour advert.
90 Acorn Atom [Advert]
91 Prolog can link diverse subjects with logic and fun [Article]
Richard Ennals
Education: Richard Ennals reports on the progress made by the Prolog computer language project.
93 How much interest should you pay? [Article]
Charles Norrie
Credit calculation: Discover how much interest you should be paying with Charles Norrie's Basic program.
94 Burglars [Type-In Listing]
Stewart Peppiatt
A game by Stewart Peppiatt for enthusiasts of breaking and entering.
98 Photographic lab's problems focus on packaged software [Article]
Cathy Lane
Success snatched from adversity in this tale of a photographic laboratory's computerisation.
100 How reverse Polish notation can turn micro into calculator [Article]
Ian Taylor
Ian Taylor shows you how to turn your micro into an easy-to-use calculator.
104 Basing your expectations on firm mathematical ground [Article]
Owen Bishop
The Binomial Test explained by Owen Bishop.
106 Burst of speed which wins you extra processing time [Article]
David Peckett
David Peckett examines some of the most useful Z-80 instructions which increase the speed of standard operations on masses of data.
111 Z-80 Zodiac [Article]
For all users of systems based on the Z-80 chip.
113 ZX-80 Line-up [Article]
Page dedicated to the ZX-80.
114 Tandy Forum [Article]
Devoted to the TRS-80 - news and user's tips, queries and comments.
116 Altos Computer Systems - ACS8000 [Advert]
Colour advert.
117 Centronics 730 [Advert]
Colour advert.
118 Black Box III Microcomputer Solutions [Advert]
119 6502 Special [Article]
The 6502 Special is dedicated to the exchange of information between 6502 users.
123 Pet Corner [Article]
News and user's tips, queries and comments.
125 Apple Pie [Article]
Ideas, hints and comments for Apple users.
126 Micromouse [Article]
Page dedicated to anything that moves.
127 Book Reviews [Review]
'Introduction to microcomputer programming' by Peter C Sanderson, 'Basic made easy' by Don Cassel and Richard Swanson, 'A bit of Basic' by Thomas A Dwyer and Margot Critchfield
129 User Groups [Article]
Region-by-region list of micro clubs in Britain.
132 Buyers' Guide - Printers and VDUs [Article]
153 Son of Hexadecimal Kid [Article]
Richard Forsyth
Fiction. Page 6 - page feed.


ISSN Number : 0141-5433

Creator : IPC Electrical Electronic Press

This exhibit has a reference ID of CH5509. Please quote this reference ID in any communication with the Centre for Computing History.
 

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