| 5 |
Editorial [Article]
Jack Schofield Goodbye to Information Technology Year, and all that.
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| 7 |
Feedback [Article]
Proving the unprovable, and other correspondence, love letters and advice from readers.
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| 10 |
Sinclair ZX Spectrum [Advert]
Double-page, colour advert.
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| 17 |
Compec '82 Report [News Item]
A brief round-up of some of the new products shown at the industry's premier show at Olympia.
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| 18 |
VIC-20 - Let Commodore expand your horizons [Advert]
Double-page, colour advert.
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| 21 |
HP announces first 'desk-top mainframe' [News Item]
Hewlett-Packard has announced further developments of its NMOS-III integrated circuit technology, which allows circuit densities 70 times greater than the NMOS-II. It has allowed them to build a package of five "superchips" which combine in a 32-bit machine to bring mainframe power to the single-user desk-top computer. The new range is the HP-9000 Series.
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| 21 |
Apple memory [News Item]
Bubble memories could be back in fashion soon. Xcalibur has announced a 128K Bubble Memory Module for the Apple II. it is called, imaginatively, XBUBI and costs under £500.
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| 21 |
Touchy input [News Item]
Your VDU could have a sense of feel if you fitted an unpatterned glass faceplate over it. The faceplate from Interaction Systems senses impedance changes, so if you touch the screen it returns the x, y co-ordinates of the point in eight-bit numerics, 0 to 225. It would allow you to, for example, dial phone numbers by touching a picture of a phone dial on the screen, or write complex programs that do not require keyboard input.
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| 21 |
Football crazy [News Item]
Football pools prediction programs require data to work on, and the more the better, but keying it all in takes a lot of time and effort. Alternatively it can be purchased from Selec Software. The database is the scores and dates of all the English Football League results from 1977 to 1982.
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| 21 |
Eagle's new 16-bit micro [News Item]
The World launch of Eagle's new 16-bit micro took place at Compec. The Eagle 1600 is a stylish-looking micro built round the Intel 8086 CPU, and runs MS-DOS or CP/M-86.
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| 23 |
Rival top-end database managers [News Item]
Dbase II is the top-selling full-feature database package for eight-bit CP/M systems, with possibly 20,000 copies sold worldwide. Now its creator Ashton-Tate has produced a 16-bit version which will run on the IBM PC, other CP/M-86 machines and the ACT Sirius. |
| 26 |
ORIC-1 - The Computer Challenge [Advert]
Double-page, colour advert.
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| 29 |
The designer's tale [News Item]
Bill Bennett Ian Sinclair believes good design helps to sell computers, it is not just the specification. But then, Ian Sinclair is a designer.
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| 66 |
Fortune 32:16 [Review]
Una Sheehan Una Sheehan checks out a 16/32-bit micro with Unix and top-quality word processing at a microcomputer price.
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| 71 |
Jupiter Ace [Review]
Bill Bennett A world first - the first machine that speaks Forth as its native language, the Ace has educational potential.
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| 73 |
The BBC Microcomputer System Model B [Advert]
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| 76 |
HX-20 - A totally portable computer that runs on its own power supply for use anywhere [Advert]
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| 77 |
Multitech MPF-II [Review]
Ian Stobie From Taiwan comes a low-cost micro that, from an Applesoft point of view, bears a strong resemblance to the Apple II.
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| 78 |
Walters 2000 [Review]
Chris Bidmead Chris Bidmead tests a British-made dot-matrix printer which rivals daisywheel printers for quality.
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| 82 |
Thorn EMI - The world's greatest TV games [Advert]
Double-page, colour advert.
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| 86 |
Programming for a purpose [Type-In Listing]
Arnold Maughan In the second part of this three-part series Arnold Maughan takes a name and address program as an example.
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| 89 |
Zenith Z-120 - the 16-bit Micro with 8-bit compatibility and colour graphics [Advert]
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| 93 |
Snap - Survey Analysis [Review]
Phil Cole Phil Cole takes a look at a CP/M package for handling questionnaires and market-research applications.
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| 99 |
The Portable Micro [Article]
Ian Stobie Ian Stobie explains what a portable micro is, and just why you ought to think about buying one.
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| 101 |
What's available? [Article]
What is available - a guide to the nine portable micros now available, their strengths and their weaknesses. Guide looks at the Hewlett-Packard HP-75C, Sharp PC-1500, Sord M-23P, Husky, NewBrain, Epson HX-20, Zita, Osborne 1, and Scorpion.
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| 106 |
Stock answers from a Husky [Article]
Della Bradshaw Della Bradshaw tracks down a Husky that's taking stock of the situation in the alcoholic beverages business.
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| 108 |
Interview - Adam Osborne [Interview]
Ian Stobie Ex-British computer guru and father of the portable business micro talks to Ian Stobie about industry trends.
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| 112 |
Diamonds Are For... [Article]
Brian Williams Fiction. Brian Williams returns with a macabre story about an unusual sort of computer-related crime.
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| 114 |
School Admin: let a micro take the strain [Article]
T.A. Forber Let the micro take the strain of keeping track of all that data. T.A. Forber presents an adaptable Apple program.
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| 120 |
Sinclair Spectrum analogue/digital interface [Article]
Lyndsay Robinson Lyndsay Robinson shows you how to build an analogue/digital converter for the Sinclair Spectrum.
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| 131 |
Random Access - Forth Thoughts [Article]
Boris Allan Boris Allan wonders if Forth really is a structured language.
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| 134 |
Apple Games [Review]
Jack Schofield Now you can play Scrabble with your Apple, or Choplifter, or go Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
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| 136 |
Disassembler for BBC Micro [Type-In Listing]
John Leach John Leach's routine in BBC Basic enables you to read code from memory in comprehensible form. Or you could adapt it for another 6502-based machine.
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| 141 |
Open File [Article]
More software and programming tips for Sinclair, Apple, Atari, Tandy, BBC and Commodore micros.
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| 173 |
Book Reviews: The Spectrum overlap [Review]
Bill Bennett For a new micro the Sinclair Spectrum has already attracted a lot of authors, Bill Bennett reports on their efforts. Books include:
'Programming your ZX Spectrum' by Tim Hartnell and Dilwyn Jones,
'Easy Programming for the ZX Spectrum' by Ian Stewart and Robin Jones,
'Computer Puzzles for Spectrum and ZX-81' by Ian Stewart and Robin Jones,
'Cambridge Colour Collection 20 Programs for the ZX Spectrum' by Richard Francis Altwasser,
'Over the Spectrum' from Melbourne House,
'The Spectrum Handbook' by Tim Langdell,
'The ZX Spectrum and how to get the most from it' by Ian Sinclair,
'The Spectrum Programmer' by S.M. Gee, and
'The Spectrum Book of Games' by Mike James, S.M. Gee and Kay Ewbank. |
| 177 |
Puzzle - Derby Day 1991 [Article]
Sort out the punters and riders and frazzle your brain.
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| 179 |
Annual Index, Volume 5 [Article]
Nigel Martin Your essential guide to the last 12 months of Practical Computing prepared on a micro by Nigel Martin.
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| 185 |
Peter Laurie's "Last Word" [Article]
Peter Laurie Hic, hic, hurrah, could be an overdose of Christmas spirit, but instead it's real insight into what the micro buyer needs.
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