[editor : Carl T. Helmers Jr.] [publisher : Wayne Green] [art : Nancy Estle, Neal Kandel, Peri Mahoney, Bob Sawyer] #Magazine
#Magazine
The subscriber or purchaser of this magazine agrees to the following software conditions ... not to resell this magazine for less than 50% of the cover price ... not to give the magazine away at any time in the future... or to lend it ... or rent it or in any other way permit anyone to become privy to the material published within these pages. Purchaser agrees to display this copy of BYTE to as many computer addictees as possible, but to limit their perusal to the cover and table of contents pages. This agreement holds not only for casual acquaintances, but also for personal friends, blood relatives, and even wives.
[author : Wayne Green] #Edito
Extract : « Aggravated shock. How else can I describe my state of mind after innocently turning my newly acquired Altair 8800 around, looking for places to plug in Teletypes and television typewriters.
After forty years of turning around electronic equipment to plug things in, this time there was nothing there except the line cord. Nothing! Not even a lousy phone jack. [...] »
[author : Carl Helmers] #Edito
Extract : « If there is one facet of the small computer field which is its most exciting, that is probably its rapid change and evolution unfolding before all us users of the technology. The fact that a magazine such as BYTE can even exist (let alone get its enthusiastic reception) is evidence of the considerable changes which have occurred in the home computer field over the past year or two. Any attempt such as this to characterize the current "state of the art" is doomed to rapid obsolescence. Be that as it may, I won't let that determe from characte rizing the field as I see it now. [...] »
TABLE OF CONTENTS
[theme : Hardware] [author : Lancaster] #Electronic #HowItWorks
Extract : « Don Lancaster provides us with this discussion of some of the read/write memory techniques which are available to experimenters using readily available parts. In this background tutorial, Don discusses memory techniques from the simple gate flip flop to the bus-oriented RAM system using static memory circuits. For more detailed looks at the designs of circuits using some of the techniques in this article, readers should turn to Don's book, The TTL Cookbook, available from Howard W. Sams, Indianapolis IN. The material in this article is abstracted from Chapter 3 of Don's forthcoming TV Typewriter Cookbook, also to be published by Sams. [...] »
[theme : Principles of Operation] [author : Wadsworth] #HowItWorks #Computer
Extract : « Did you just get hooked? Has the first reaction of bewilderment and perplexity set in as you begin to explore the ins and outs of computing? Nat Wadsworth of SCELBI Computer Consulting - makers of an Intel 8008 based packaged microcomputer system - provides us with this article on fundamentals of computer operation. The article is written with the Intel 8008 in mind as an example of a typical computer, but the principles involved apply to nearly any microcomputer you can find on the market. The material of this article is taken from the first chapter of author Wadsworth's SCELBI-8H/B User's Manual, one of the best documentation support packages among the various kit manufacturers. [...] »
[theme : Applications] [author : Gipe] #Networks
Extract : « Time-sharing by radio ? Radio packet switching networks? Program exchange meeting grounds in the high frequency bands? Computer controlled ham radio stations? Read on ... Mike Gipe provides us with this article on the synthesis of amateur radio and computer hobby activities into a combination which is more fun than the simple sum of parts. While there are no bureaucratic restrictions on home microcomputer systems, there are some federal regulations you must comply with in order to become a ham. For many computer hobbyists, the two-hobby combination would be well worth considering - despite the required ham license exam. Mike provides several references to more detailed information for those individuals who want to check out amateur radio. [...] »
[theme : Chip Designs] [author : Fylstra] #Microprocessor #HowItWorks #Glossary
Extract : « Would you believe - another microprocessor? You bet. The calculator firm, MOS Technology of Norristown, Pennsylvania, has just recently announced a new microprocessor which combines plug in compatibility with the Motorola 6800 and a new instruction set to come out with yet another option for microprocessor users - but at a price of $20 in single quantities. Here comes the under $200 processor kit? Not quite yet, but maybe within a year or two. (It's already to the point where the sheet metal and transformer iron of a home computer often cost more than all the silicon products which make it work . .. this new low on CPU prices just compounds the problem.) It may be three to six months before you see one of these new MCS6501 processors designed into a kit, so Dan Fylstra in his article covers quite a few details of the Motorola 6800 by way of comparison with "Son of Motorola." [...] »
[theme : Software] [author : Wier] #Algorithm #ArtificialIntelligence
Extract : « What is intelligence? Pushing aside the philosophical and psychological questions for the moment, I can offer an operational definition of intelligence in programs: An "intelligent" program is one which was designed with a range of possible circumstances in mind, rules defining successful and unsuccessful responses to such circumstances, memory of the history of past responses and relevant circumstances, and an algorithm for using such past history information when similar circumstances occur again. Robert Wier has provided an example of a simple game application which illustrates this definition of intelligence in programs. Does it sound too deterministic for you? Hardly - the response is in some sense inherent in the program and its context. But, just as in natural life, the order and degree of the various inputs to the AI program cannot be predicted in advance with any great certainty. Just as each individual person is unique, each individual run of a good AI program will tend to differ - AI programs, like people, are good for lots of surprises. [...]
For those with systems running the BASIC language, a BASIC version of this program called HEX is found on page 122 of the third printing of 101 Basic Computer Games, available for $7.50 + 50¢ postage from Digital Equipment Corp., Software Distribution Center, Maynard MA 01754. »
[theme : Hardware] [author : Carl Helmers] #Electronic #Interface
Extract : « One way to connect an extra output port for a teletype or other peripheral to your CPU is to make the interface simulate a memory address during the writing operations. This method is the one which is used for both the input and output functions in computers such as the PDP-ll of DEC, or the Motorola 6800 microcomputer. The method can even be used to overlap a usable main memory address since the CPU could care less whether or not the addressed port is connected in addition to the proper main memory location! The same method can even be used on computers such as the Altair 8800 which split the CPU bus into two parts and thus complicate the interface picture. [...] »
[theme : Software] [author : Nico] #Assembly #Programming
Extract : « Monitor 8 is a program which was written by people at the now defunct Microsystems International semiconductor operation. The program was published in the MF8008 Applications Manual, 1974 Edition, Bulletin 80007, by Microsystems International, Ltd., Box 3529 Station C, Ottawa, Canada, K1Y 4J1. I'm working at the problem of getting permission to reproduce the copyrighted materials in sections C (User's Guide) and D (Software Listing) for the benefit of the 8008 hackers in BYTE's readership. Monitor 8 is a "systems program" designed to make life easier for you by performing various little "utility" functions like editing octal data in memory, loading and dumping to cassette tape, copying data from place to place in memory, translating machine codes to mnemonics, setting and clearing break points, etc. The people who have the applications manual of MI and use Monitor 8 are usually enthusiastic about it... witness the following set of comments sent in by Willard I. Nico concerning use and extensions of the program as it was printed in the original manual. [...] »
[theme : Hardware] [author : Peter Helmers] #Electronic #Programming
Extract : « Volatile or non-volatile? That is the question. Should your software be set in logical concrete, or should it be input from a mass storage device such as audio tape every time you start up the system? For certain small and frequently used utility software routines, dedicating a portion of your computer's memory address space to PROM is a useful technique. Peter Helmers supplies this article on a means to overcome the most difficult hurdle of the technique - programming the PROMs themselves. The prime candidates for PROM memory are routines to extend your microcomputer's limited instruction set in software, and that fundamental utility program - the bootstrap loader. For example, on the next home brew computer I'll wrap up, I have in mind a 63-byte ROM loader program which will be blown into two 8223 ROMs using this programmer. Then when I push "load" to restart the system I'll automatically go to a loop which reads in the "real" software off an audio tape cassette, then branches to the entry point of the software on completion of the load. Some of the microcomputer kit manufacturers have begun to deliver system software in ROMs using the larger mask programmable and UV-erasable PROMs. Even if you build a kit rather than a home brew system design, you may find this programmer useful when adding extra subroutines to the existing software to customize your computer. [...] »
#Book
Extract : « What To Do After You Hit Return, or PCC's First Book of Computer Games. Available from People's Computer Company, PO Box 310, Menlo Park CA 94025 [...]
Microcomputer Design, by Donald P. Martin, Martin Research Ltd., 7825 S. Halsted St., Chicago IL 60608, »
#Association
Comment : Includes a letter from William H. Gates (Bill Gates) President, Micro-Soft, Albuquerque NM
