[editor : Christopher Morgan] [publisher : Virginia Londoner, Gordon R Williamson, John E Hayes] #Magazine
#Abstract
This month's cover photograph by Ed Crabtree highlights three examples of a new phenomenon in the personal computer field: the HHC (hand-held computer). Shown are (from top to bottom): the Panasonic HHC; the Quasar HHC; and the Radio Shack HHC. All three units are discussed in this issue. Other articles this month describe two other miniature computers: the Sinclair ZX80 and the Hewlett-Packard HP-41C.
Elsewhere in this issue, Steve Ciarcia describes electromagnetic interference; we describe some of the exciting capabilities of Atari graphics; and we review an intriguing new Japanese computer: the NEC 8001; plus a new regular section of hardware and software reviews.
[author : Chris Morgan] #Edito
Extract : « There's a new trend in personal computing today — the HHC (hand-held computer). For years computer aficionados have dreamed of a computer small enough to fit in one's pocket, yet powerful enough to do the sorts of jobs that full-size microcomputers do today.
Amazingly enough, the dream is coming true. There are now no less than four models (the Radio Shack/Sharp, the Panasonic/Quasar, the Hewlett- Packard HP-41C, and the Sinclair ZX80) that fall roughly into the ultra-small computer category. One might quibble with calling the HP-41C a "computer" rather than a programmable calculator, but it has all the necessary elements to qualify: memory, processor, I/O (input/output), and a full line of peripherals. Each of these computers is discussed in this issue.
Among the new crop of HHCs, the Panasonic /Quasar (reviewed on page 34) is perhaps the most impressive in terms of engineering innovations; it sports some features that many full-size personal computers don't have, such as the ability to run for long periods from battery power alone — an impressive achievement when you realize that the unit uses, not a CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) processor, but a standard 6502! It also has such niceties as user-definable keys, a built-in real-time clock, uninterruptible storage of user programs, and the ability to produce color images on a color television (with the addition of an optional interface unit). [...] »
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Learning to use the Atari display list can help to unleash the full power of Atari's custom LSI video integrated Circuits.
[author : Chris Crawford and Lane Winner] #Graphics #Listing #BASIC
Extract : « The Atari 400 and 800 are second-generation personal computers. In addition to the normal memory and processor integrated circuits, they contain three special- purpose LSI (large-scale integrated) circuits which make them capable of many feats of computing legerdemain. Most of this power, however, lies brooding beneath many layers of "human engineering." The beginning programmer working in BASIC is paternalistically protected from the complexities and power of the beast within. The more experienced programmer seeking cybernetic high adventure must first defeat the friendliness engineered into the machine to unleash its throbbing brute power. Without help, this can be most difficult. We will act as native guides for one region of this complex machine: the display list. We will show you how to generate flashy displays by creating you own display list and redefining the character set. [...] »
This full-function computer fits in your hand and weighs 14 ounces.
[author : Gregg Williams and Rick Meyer] #ComputerPortable #Review
Extract : « Arthur C Clarke talked about them in his futuristic novel Imperial Earth. Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven talked about them in The Mote in God's Eye. The subject is hand-held computers that can run programs, remind you of upcoming appointments, and serve as portable intermediaries between you and large, immobile, mainframe computers. Are they still science fiction? No, the hand-held computer is here — and for less than the price of some color televisions.
The HHC (hand-held computer) is a device about the size of a standard paperback book with two inches added to its longest dimension (see photo 1). Its weight is under a pound, yet it has the capabilities (when extended with portable peripherals) to do anything that existing personal computers do. The device, developed jointly by the Japanese corporation Matsushita (pronounced matSOOSH-ta) and Friends Amis of San Francisco, is being marketed in America by Panasonic and Quasar. Photographs in this article show both the Quasar and the Panasonic versions. [...] »
Interfering electrical noise must be dealt with according to its mode of transmission.
[author : Steve Ciarcia] #Electronic
Extract : « You may have noticed that certain household appliances such as a microwave oven or tools such as a power saw affect television reception when they are running. This television interference, or TVI, is caused by the electromagnetic energy which is radiated when these electrical devices are in use. The general term used to describe such noise is EMI (electromagnetic interference).
EMI emanates from both natural and artificial sources. Natural terrestrial EMI sources include lightning discharges, precipitation, and storms. Man-made EMI can come from electrical-power systems, rotating electrical machinery, gaseous-discharge systems, and electronic equipment such as radar, computers, and television transmitters. Natural EMI is usually beyond man's control, and attempts to reduce it must be centered on the susceptible equipment. Man-made EMI, on the other hand, can be suppressed at the source — this is the most satisfactory way to eliminate interference. [...] »
This popular Japanese personal computer may soon be sold in the United States.
[author : Michael Keith and C P Kocher] #ComputerDesktop #Review
Extract : « One of the products attracting a lot of attention at the 1980 NCC (National Computer Conference) in Anaheim, California was the PC-8001 personal computer produced by NEC (Nippon Electric Company). Because this well-made little machine has been selling briskly in Japan, NEC was trying to gauge consumer reactions to the PC-8001 that would aid them in deciding whether or not to sell it in the US.
This article is based on our evaluation of a PC-8001 that some colleagues purchased in Japan. When we first received it, we were bewildered because all the instructions and documentation were in Japanese (with only the BASIC commands in English). After several months of poking, playing, and progamming, some syllabie-by-syllable transliterations of the katakana (a Japanese syllabary) instruction manual, and a few puzzled visits to Hiro, a Japanese-American co-worker, we believe that we have a good understanding of the PC-8001's most important features, its strong points, and its limitations. [...] »
Bar code provides a cheap, easily reproduced, mass-storage medium that encourages the publication of software.
[author : Thomas McNeal] #Encoding #Listing #HP #BASIC
Extract : « The HP-41C is Hewlett-Packard's newest entry in the hand-held programmable calculator race. The main feature that distinguishes it from Hewlett-Packard's earlier calculators is its modular design, which allows the HP-41C to be extended by a line of peripheral devices. Up to four peripherals can be plugged into the calculator, and these include a magnetic card reader, a thermal printer, memory modules to increase the amount of memory available to the user, and "application pacs" that contain software for particular applications in read-only-memory module form. In addition, Hewlett-Packard has introduced the 82153A Optical Reader (also called a Wand), which is capable of reading bar codes that contain HP-41C programs, data, or function definitions.
This article describes the HP-41C bar-code format and includes a BASIC program that converts an HP-41C program into a series of bar-code rows that can be printed using a high-quality printer with incremental spacing. »
This driver software allows your printer to transcribe the high-resolution graphics of the Apple II personal computer.
[author : Phil Roybal] #Software #Algorithm #Graphics
Extract : « A picture is worth a thousand words. And it was the capability of representing information in pictures that initially attracted me to the Apple II computer.
But images on a screen can be too personal an experience. Often no one else sees them. It would be great if there were a way to transcribe these images so that others could also appreciate them. There is a way to do it, and this article tells how. [...] »
Part 3 concludes this series with a description of Micrographs powerful software and instruction-set usage.
[author : E Grady Booch] #Listing #Assembly #Algorithm #Graphics
Extract : « Some background on interactive computer-graphics systems was presented in Part 1. In Part 2, a description was given of the hardware for a low-cost color-graphics display processor, called Micrograph, which interfaces to a microcomputer as an intelligent peripheral device. In this, the third and final part, you will become familiar with the software for Micrograph, which implements the display-processor instruction set introduced in Part 1, and be given instructions for operating the system. [...] »
Knowing the differences between the six most popular BASICs is essential.
[author : Teri Li] #BASIC #Overview
Extract : « Many articles have been written about the various new personal computers now on the market, including the Atari 400 and 800 and the Texas Instruments (TI) 99/4, but few have tried to compare these newer units against the most popular computers.
Because of this, I have decided to do a comparison of the four most popular computers (Apple II, Commodore PET, Exidy Sorcerer, and the Radio Shack TRS-80 Model I) against the TI 99/4 and the Atari 400 and 800. (The BASIC is the same for both the Atari 400 and 800.) To make this as fair as possible, I have compared only the computers that come with versions of BASIC supplied with the machines in ROM (read-only memory) at the time of purchase, without extended hardware (such as disk drives). [...] »
[author : John C McCallum] #ComputerDesktop #Review #Book
Extract : « The new ZX80 microcomputer from Sinclair Research Ltd is a remarkable device. Although first announced to the North American public in February, 1980, the microcomputer did not become available until the fall. During the wait, the price has dropped from the expected $245 to just under $200. Because of this, the ZX80 is being widely advertised as the first personal computer for under $200.
The ZX80, shown in photo 1, is a new design from Clive Sinclair, a well-known British electronics innovator. Sinclair is best known for his previous products: a miniature television, low-cost calculator and digital watch kits, and miniature stereo components. All of his products have stressed small size, low cost, and highquality operation — usually at the expense of packaging. The same is true of the ZX80. [...]
The ZX80 might be summarized as a high-performance, very low-cost, portable personal computer system. It is best used for home or school use in learning the concepts of programming. When the memory-expansion and floating-point-BASIC modules become available (see the "New Sinclair Modules" text box), it will also be good for low-cost mathematical, scientific, and engineering applications. If you are looking for your own home computer, the ZX80 is a good starting point. »
[author : Brian P Hayes] #ComputerPortable #Review
Extract : « Calculator vs Computer
The computer and the programmable calculator seem to be following paths of convergent evolution. As the one is made smaller while the other gains in capability, the line of demarcation between them becomes more and more arbitrary. For now at least, the programmable calculator remains a distinct and lesser species, but it shares many of the attributes of the computer. Moreover, the shared attributes are chiefly the ones that make the computer an interesting machine. Both devices offer an intimate acquaintance with the powers and pleasures of algorithms. Both exhibit an enigmatic unpredictability: the response of the machine to any given stimulus is wholly deterministic, yet the behavior of a large program can be full of surprises, often to the frustration of the programmer.
The HP-41C, which was introduced by the HewlettPackard Company about a year ago, is among the programmable calculators that lie closest to the computer borderline. It comes close enough for the jargon of computers to be useful in describing it. At the Corvallis Division of Hewlett-Packard, where the HP-41C is made, they refer to the calculator itself as the "mainframe" and to its accessory devices as the "peripherals." The calculator comes equipped with four input/output (I/O) ports, through which the various elements of the system are interconnected. Because the peripherals do some data processing internally, the system might even be said to have "distributed intelligence."
When compared with a computer, most programmable calculators have a rich instruction set, but they are deficient in memory capacity and in facilities for communication with the user. A calculator comes with such amenities as trigonometric, logarithmic, and statistical functions built in; with a computer, even floating-point arithmetic must usually be constructed out of software. On the other hand, no calculator has the memory needed to store large tables or other data structures. And it is the communication problem that most seriously limits the utility of the calculator. A display that can represent only the 10 digits, a decimal point, and a minus sign does not have much range of expression. Even for problems that have entirely numerical results, such a display is not always adequate, since without labeling of any kind it is easy to become confused about what a number means. [...] »
[author : John Martellaro] #GameConsoleHandheld #Review
Extract : « [...] Sargon 6 isn't available yet, but Sargon 2.5 is. It is a game module and holder slightly larger than a hardback book, but the real guts are no larger than a pocket calculator. This is the MGS (Modular Game System) from Chafitz; as of this writing, it is the strongest chessplaying microcomputer you can buy.
You may already be familiar with the Sargon 1 and Sargon 2.0 computer programs written by Dan and Kathe Spracklen. These are available on cassette or floppy disk (from Hayden Books) for the Apple II and TRS-80 computers. But now Chafitz is marketing Sargon 2.5 as a plug-in ROM (read-only memory) module that fits into the MGS. Presumably, when Sargon 3 and other versions are available, you can remove the old ROM and plug in the new one. Not only does this protect the firmware, but allows new games (such as checkers and backgammon) to be run on the same system.
The technical specifications of the MGS-Sargon 2.5 combination are many and impressive. The system is rather complete: a benefit of Chafitz's previous experience with its chess machine, Boris. [...] »
[author : Tom Harmon] #OrdinateurKit #OrdinateurBureau #Review
Extract : « The SwTPC 6809 microcomputer system can be purchased in kit form (as the 69/K) for $495 or assembled and tested (the 69/A) for $595. Since I wanted to add sockets for all the integrated circuits, I chose the kit. (The assembled version doesn't use sockets.)
The 69/K and 69/A systems both include the MP-09 processor board, one MP-8M 8 K-byte programmable memory board, the MP-S2 RS-232C serial-interface card, and the MP-B3 motherboard with eight 50-pin slots and eight 30-pin slots. The case and power supply are also included. [...] »
#Book
The Art of Electronics. Horowitz and Hill. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1980. 17.7 by 25.1 cm (7 1/4 by 10 1/4 inches), 716 pages, hardcover, ISBN 0-521-23151-5, $24.95.
Computer Programming in the BASIC Language. Neal Golden. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich Inc, 1981. 15.3 by 22.6 cm (6 1/4 by 9 1/4 inches), 312 pages, hardcover, ISBN 0-15-359090-4, $7.50.
Computer Security, A Management Audit Approach. Norman L Enger and Paul W Howerton. New York: AMACOM, 1980. 15.3 by 22.6 cm (6 1/4 by 9 1/4 inches), 264 pages, hardcover, ISBN 0-8144-5582-4, $21.95.
Data Base: Structured Techniques for Design, Performance, and Management. S Atre. Somerset NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 1980. 15.3 by 22.6 cm (6 1/4 by 9 1/4 inches), 442 pages, hardcover, ISBN 0-471-05267-1, $27.95.
Electrical Wiring Handbook. Edward L Safford. Blue Ridge Summit PA: Tab Books Inc, 1980. 12.5 by 20.2 cm (5 1/8 by 8 1/4 inches), 432 pages, softcover, ISBN 0-8306-1245-9, $8.95; hardcover, ISBN 0-8306-9932-5, $15.95.
Handbook of Microprocessor Applications. John A Kuecken. Blue Ridge Summit PA: Tab Books Inc, 1980. 12.5 by 20.2 cm (5 1/8 by 8 1/4 inches), 308 pages, softcover, ISBN 0-8306-1203-3, $8.95; hardcover, ISBN 0-8306-9935-X, $14.95.
Pascal. David L Heiserman. Blue Ridge Summit PA: Tab Books Inc, 1980. 12.5 by 20.2 cm (5 1/8 by 8 1/4 inches), 350 pages, softcover, ISBN 0-8306-1205-X, $9.95; hardcover, ISBN 0-8306-9934-1, $15.95.
Principles of Firmware Engineering in Microprogram Control. Michael Andrews. Potomac MD: Computer Press Inc, 1980. 15.3 by 22.6 cm (6 1/4 by 9 1/4 inches), 347 pages, hardcover, ISBN 0-914894-63-3, $21.95.
Programming in BASIC for Personal Computers. David L Heiserman. Englewood Cliffs NJ: PrenticeHall Inc, 1981. 15.3 by 22.6 cm (6 1/4 by 9 1/4 inches), 333 pages, softcover, ISBN 0-13-730739-X, $7.95; hardcover, ISBN 0-13-730747-0, $17.95.
A Reference Guide to Practical Electronics. Robert G Krieger Sr. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company Inc, 1981. 13.1 by 20 cm (5 3/8 by 8 inches), 212 pages, softcover, ISBN 0-07-0345492-8, $7.50.
6502 Software Design. Leo J Scanlon. Indianapolis IN: Howard W Sams Company Inc, 1980. 13.1 by 20.8 cm (5 3/8 by 8 1/2 inches), 270 pages, softcover, ISBN 0-672-21656-6, $10.50.
Z8000 Assembly Language Programming. Leventhal, Osborne, Collins. Berkeley CA: Osborne/McGraw-Hill, 1980. 15.9 by 22.6 cm (6 1/2 by 9 1/4 inches), 604 pages; softcover, ISBN 0-931988-36-5, $19.99.
#Book
Extract : « How To Program Your Programmable Calculator by Dr Stephen L Snover and Dr Mark A Spikell, Prentice-Hall Inc, Englewood Cliffs NJ, 1979, 27) pages, softcover, $7.95
Structured Pascal by Jean-Paul Tremblay, Richard B Bunt, and Lyle M Ospeth, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Hightstown NJ, 1980, $10.95 »