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Vol.3 n°1 january 1978

Foreground

p.37 ADD MORE ZING TO THE COCKTAIL

[theme Hardware] [author Ciarcia]

p.58 A FLOPPY DISK INTERFACE

[theme Hardware] [author Allen]

p.94 THE WATERLOO RF MODULATOR

[theme Hacks] [author Banks]

p.161 MOUNTING A PAPER TAPE READER

[theme Hardware] [author Bryant]

Background

p.11 THE BRAINS OF MEN AND MACHINES: Biological Models for Robotics

[theme Robotics] [author Kent]

p.27 THE IRS AND THE COMPUTER ENTREPRENEUR

[theme Taxes and Business] [author Hughes]

p.84 THE MOTOROLA 6800 INSTRUCTION SET

[theme Software] [author Jessop]

p.86 A USER'S REACTION TO THE SOL-10 COMPUTER

[theme Product Review] [author Bumpous]

p.108 THE SECOND WORLD COMPUTER CHESS CHAMPIONSHIPS

[theme Perfect Information Games] [author Jennings]

p.122 STRUCTURED PROGRAMMING WITH WARNIER-ORR DIAGRAMS: Part 2

[theme Software] [author Higgins]

p.144 SIMULATION OF MOTION : Model Rockets and Other Flying Objects

[theme Modelling] [author Smith]

p.150 A NOVICE'S EYE ON COMPUTER ARITHMETIC

[theme Numbers] [author Ledder]

p.162 NOTES ON BRINGING UP A MICROCOMPUTER

[theme Hardware] [author Libes]

Nucleus

p.4 In This BYTE

p.6 What Is This Phenomenon Personal Computing?

p.36 Letters

p.120 BYTE's Bits

p.136, 160 Book Reviews

p.139 Clubs, Newsletters

p.165 Technical Forum: A Note on Advances in Technology

p.168 What's New?

p.190 Classified Ads

p.192 BOMB

p.192 Reader Service

In this BYTE

The compleat robotics experimenter must have a thorough background in biological models of behavior and control, as noted in November's editorial. With this issue, Ernest W Kent begins the first installment of a four part series with The Brains of Men and Machines, Part 1: Biological Models for Robotics. Dr Kent has provided readers with a thoroughly understandable introduction to a number of concepts essential to an understanding of the human brain and its simulation in robotic mechanisms. (Page 11)

Can the experimenter who runs a small computer business deduct the price of additional memory for the computer? What kind of tax records should the small business keep? If you've been thinking of opening your own small computer business, read Elizabeth M Hughes' The IRS and the Computer Entrepreneur for the answers to these and many more tax questions. (Page 27)

Last month, Steve Ciarcia described an inexpensive 8 channel digital voltmeter driven by a microcomputer. Read Add More Zing to the Cocktail in this month's Ciarcia's Circuit Cellar and find out how to add multiple ranges, AC and DC input capability and overvoltage protection to the basic circuit. (Page 37)

When designing a floppy disk interface, the experimenter is faced with the continuous battle of hardware versus software tradeoffs. David M Allen's A Floppy Disk Interface balances the two extremes and shows you how to get a floppy disk system up and running. (Page 58)

Paul M Jessop explores the functional organization of The Motorola 6800 Instruction Set showing Two Programming Points of View. (Page 84)

Robert Bumpous provides A User's Reaction to the SOL-l0 Computer in this issue. Learn a bit more about the Processor Technology computer's design and assembly procedures in Robert's article. (Page 86)

In what is probably the world's simplest such design, Walter Banks describes a neat hack, The Waterloo RF Modulator, used to convey digitally generated video information from a computer to a standard television set. (Page 94)

On a battlefield for (intellectual) titans, the forces of black versus white met recently in Toronto. Who won? It was the artificial intelligence experimenters, who demonstrated their nonartificial intelligence in constructing the programs entered in the Second World Computer Chess Championships, held last August during the IFIPS show. 16 programs met in logical conflict, with CHESS 4.6 conquering all to win the current title. Turn to Peter Jennings' article for a summary of the action. (Page 108)

In Structured Programming with Warnier-Orr Diagrams, Part 2: Coding the Program, David A Higgins uses the program design completed in part 1 and demonstrates how to efficiently turn a diagram into a working BASIC program. (Page 122)

Continuing the discussion of motion calculated with a personal com· puter, Stephen Smith's article Simulation of Motion: Model Rockets and Other Flying Objects turns to the need for simulating angular degrees of freedom and components of force along different di rections. (Page 144)

Are you uncertain as to how basic arithmetic operations such as multiplication and division are performed on your computer? If so, Wayne H Ledder's article A Novice's Eye on Computer Arithmetic may help you out. (Page 150)

Using the RAECO paper tape reader requ ires a mounting. See Jack Bryant's article on Mounting a Paper Tape Reader to see how this unit can be install ed in an SwTPC 6800's cabinet. (Page 161)

Building a homebrew system based on one of the many microprocessor chips available today is an interesting challenge. In Notes on Bringing up a Microcomputer, Sol Libes provides some general background information on the process of wiring and checking out a microcomputer based system. (Page 162)

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Vol.3 n°2 february 1978

Foreground

p.6 A PENNY PINCHING ADDRESS STATE ANALYZER

[theme Hardware] [author Ciarcia]

p.35 TAKING THE FIRST STEP

[theme Hardware] [author Bober]

p.42 SIMULATION OF MOTION: Extended Objects, Applications for Boating

[theme Software] [author Smith]

p.52 ADD A $3 LIGHT PEN VIDEO DISPLAY

[theme Hardware] [author Webster-Young]

p.62 SWEETS FOR KIM

[theme Software] [author Fylstra]

p.114 A MINIFLOPPY INTERFACE

[theme Mass Storage Subsystems] [author Allen]

Background

p.14 CIE NET : Part 1, The Beginnings

[theme Personal Computing Networks] [author Wilber]

p.25 SOME MUSINGS ON BOOLEAN ALGEBRA

[theme Tutorial] [author Bunce-Schwartz]

p.80 PERSONAL COMPUTERS IN A COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK

[theme Systems] [author Steinwedel]

p.84 THE BRAINS OF MEN & MACHINES: How the Brain Controls Outputs

[theme Robotics] [author Kent]

p.162 PROGRAMMING ENTOMOLOGY

[theme Software] [author McGath]

p.168 A SIMPLE DIGITAL FILTER

[theme Hardware] [author Grappel]

Nucleus

p.4 In This BYTE

p.5 About the Cover

p.19 Complete ASCII

p.20 Letters

p.30 Languages Forum : The Case for a "Compiler Interpreter", APL Character Representations

p.60 Letter from the Publisher

p.93 BYTE's Bugs

p.126 Ask BYTE

p.127 BYTE's Bits

p.129 Clubs, Newsletters

p.134 Languages Forum: Comments on APL Character Generators, Baking Baker

p.159 Languages Forum: Reactions to Previous Comments

p.167 Technical Forum: Measuring Program Size

p.172 Technical Forum : Some Plotting Comments, A Standard for Writing Standards

p.178 New York Notes

p.182,200 What's New?

p.206 Classifieq Ads

p.208 BOMB

p.208 Reader Service

In this BYTE

With good reason, many computers these days have no front panel for low level data entry and display. But sometimes a real time pattern "signature" of an exec uting program can be useful. This month, Steve Ciarcia shows how to build A Penny Pinching Address State Analyzer which can be used with an X-Y oscilloscope to monitor the address bus of your computer in real time. If you build this state ana lyzer, you'll see a unique pattern corresponding to each "steady state" loop of an executing program.

When is a personal computer more than a personal computer? When it is plugged into a network of personal computers for purposes of message transfer via phone lines, sharing of programs, and perhaps even execution of multiple player logical games. In this issue, Mike Wilber begins a three part series of articles on the concept of CIE Net: A Design for a Network of Community Information Exchanges. Page 14

Are you looking for a driver for your model railroad's roundhouse turntable? Perhaps you need some motive power for a robot. For generation of controlled rotary motion, stepper motors as described in Robert E Bober's article Taking the First Step are essential. He provides readers with valuable background information on these fascinating mechanical outputs for personal computers. Page 35

When is a boat like a raft of bottles? When it is conceptually chopped into many individual buoyancy elements for the purpose of simulating its performance on a choppy water surface? In this issue Stephen P Smith continues his series of articles on the simulation of motion in personal computers with a discussion of motion of extended objects in Simulation of Motion, Part 4: Extended Objects, Applications for Boating. Turn to Stephen's article for more details and a BASIC program which simulates rolling or pitching motions of an arbitrary boat hull cross section. Page 42

Interactive editing is enhanced when a light pen can be used to zero in on a text location . See how to Add a $3 Light Pen to Your Video Display using the combination of hardware and software techniques provided by John Webster and John Young in this issue. Page 52

If you own a KIM-1 computer, here's an answer to the perpetual problem of entering and debugging large programs. Dan Fylstra's article SWEETS for KIM shows you how to add a mini text editor and assembler that fits in the KIM's 1 K bytes of programmable memory and still leaves room for your programs. Page 62

In past BYTEs Mike Wilber and Dave Fylstra have suggested the concept of a "Community Information Exchange." Read Jeff's Personal Computers in a Distributed Communications Network for a discussion of some of the technological (and political) aspects of such a concept, which is well within reach of our present personal computing hardware and software. Page 80

Last month, we began Ernest W Kent's series of articles on The Brains of Men and Machines. The discussion continues this month with the next installment, How the Brain Controls Output. Aspiring robotics hackers will find this to be an invaluable background input on the information systems found in nature, which can serve as a source for ideas on new information systems designed by humans. Page 84

The minifloppy has arrived, as many readers probably know, and its popularity is increasing with time. If you'd like to take advantage of its low cost, then read David Allen's Minifloppy Interface and try your hand at adding a minifloppy to your system. Page 114

Entomology is the study of bugs. Gary McGath provides some introductory insight into various species of programming bugs, and some general design guidelines to prevent their occurrence in his background article on Programming Entomology. Page 162

Have you ever needed to experiment with a circuit and ended up rewiring it again and again? Wouldn't it be nice to have a program that simulated the circuit and could be easily modified to change the parameters? Read Robert Grappel's A Simple Digital Filter and find out all about filter simulation on your own computer. Page 168

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Vol.3 n°3 march 1978

Foreground

p.84 PROGRAM YOUR NEXT EROM IN BASIC

[theme Memory] [author Ciarcia]

p.178 INTERFACING THE SYKES OEM FLOPPY DISK KIT TO A COMPUTER

[theme Hardware] [author Hughes]

p.185 GET ON AT THE RIGHT ADDRESS

[theme Hardware] [author Holman]

Background

p.8 A TWO COMPUTER MUSIC SYSTEM

[theme Music Hardware] [author Critchfield-Dwyer-Lederer]

p.18 AN APPLE TO BYTE

[theme Product Description] [author Helmers]

p.56 THE MICROCOMPUTER AND THE PIPE ORGAN

[theme Music Software] [author Raskin]

p.74 THE BRAINS OF MEN AND MACHINES: How the Brain Analyzes Output

[theme Robotics] [author Kent]

p.114 USER'S REPORT: THE PET 2001

[theme Product Description] [author Fylstra]

p.152 CIE NET: A DESIGN FOR A NETWORK

[theme Personal Computing Networks] [author Wilber]

p.166 MICROCHESS 1.5 VERSUS DARK HORSE

[theme Chess] [author Jennings]

p.168 TAKE A COURSE IN MICROPROGRAMMING

[theme Course Description] [author Millan]

p.174 CONTROLLING THE REAL WORLD

[theme Applications] [author Olson]

p.186 THE INTELLIGENT MEMORY BLOCK

[theme System Design] [author Castleman]

Nucleus

p.4 In This BYTE

p.6 Don't Ignore the High End... or My Search for Manuscript Editing Paradise

p.6 Some Enticing Advance Words

p.14 Letters

p.27, 151 BYTE's Bits

p.46 BYTE's Bugs

p.110 Book Reviews

p.148 Technical Forum: The Altair (S-100) Bus Forum : PCC 77

p.170 Programming Quickies

p.172 Clubs, Newsletters

p.194, 204, 214 What's New?

p.222 Classified Ads

p.224 BOMB

p.224 Reader Service

In this BYTE

About the Cover ...

This month, Robert Tinney has created an oil painting on the theme of "Organs of Computers." Two articles in this issue concern the prospect of using a personal computer system for the editing and playing of music using pipe organs under electronic control, a prospect which is emphasized by the typical small system in place of the organist. A grand pipe organ facade and red carpet emphasize the regal nature of this king of instruments - with its new servant the small computer.

The Soloworks lab at the University of Pittsburgh has been conducting experiments with computers for some time. One of their areas of interest is computer music. Jeffrey Lederer, Tom Dwyer and Margot Critchfield of that organization describe their experiments with pipe organs and a new high level music language called MUSIC in A Two Computer Music System. Page 8

The Apple II is one of several examples of fully assembled "appliance" computers available coast to coast off the shelf in computer stores. Read An Apple to Byte for a user's reations to this product, and an example of a simple "color sketchpad" application implemented on the Apple II. Page 18

If you don't know your Rauschepfeife from your Holtzregal, perhaps The Microcomputer and the Pipe Organ by Jef Raskin can help. The article introduces readers to pipe organ technology and gives valuable advice to the enterprising experimenter who wants to experiment with programmed passacaglias on a Grossemischung. Page 56

The study of biological neural computers is an important input to thought and design of robotic systems. This issue contains Ernest W Kent's third article in a series on The Brains of Men and Machines. This installment, How the Brain Analyzes Input, gives essential background information on the organization and operation of sensory processing in the nervous systems of mammals such as man. Page 74

Would you like to do your own EROM programming, but don't know how to begin? Read Steve Ciarcia's Program Your Next EROM in BASIC. You'll find an inexpensive circuit for programming and erasing these useful devices. Page 84

We have seen advance publicity and claims about the PET 2001 by Commodore for some time now. In this issue, Dan Fylstra reports on the realities of The PET 2001 which arrived at his door October 11 1977. Page 114

In part 2 of his 3 part series on CIE Net: A Design for a Network of Community Information Exchanges, Mike Wilber presents the detailed protocols designed for various types of messages between users and between intelligent nodes of the network itself. Page 152

Readers of the January 1978 BYTE may recall Dark Horse, one of the computer program contenders for the World Computer Chess Championship. This month, Peter Jennings' Microchess program makes a valiant effort to beat the favorite in Microchess 1.5 versus Dark Horse. Page 166

Have you ever thought you might like to Take a Course in Microprogramming? Richard Mac Millan gives his reactions upon taking such a course from the Wintek Corporation. His information may help you decide if the course you think you might like to take is just what you had in mind. Page 168

A really useful microcomputer should be able to control the environment around it. To do this it must be capable of controlling electronic devices which are not TTL compatible. Hank Olson describes several ways of doing this in Controlling the Real World. Page 174

A mass storage system is essential to the truly usable personal computer. One option for obtaining mass storage is presented in this issue by Phil Hughes' article Interfacing the Sykes OEM Floppy Disk Kit to a Personal Computer. Page 178

With the cost of microprocessors so low, the barriers to a multiprocessor capability go down. Rather than adding a memory region to your system, why not consider the concept of adding a combined memory and microprocessor subsystem. With an appropriate multiport memory region and control logic, Ken R Castleman's The Intelligent Memory Block is a very real possibility for the homebrewer with higher thruput as a goal. Page 186

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Vol.3 n°4 april 1978

Foreground

p.40 OPTIMIZATION: A CASE STUDY

[theme Software Techniques] [author Noyce]

p.90 A COLLEGE MICROCOMPUTER FACILITY

[theme Lab Design] [author Foster-Southern]

p.114 TUNE IN AND TURN ON: A Computerized Wireless AC Control System

[theme Hardware] [author Ciarcia]

p.132 ROBOT SIMULATION ON MICROCOMPUTERS

[theme Robotics] [author Webster]

Background

p.10 THE TDL SYSTEM MONITOR BOARD: A Writer's View

[theme Hardware] [author Rehm]

p.18 AN INTRODUCTION TO TABLES

[theme Programming Techniques] [author Butterfield]

p.28 HOW TO MULTIPLY IN A WET CLIMATE: Use and Basis for a Design

[theme Computation] [author Bryant-Swasdee]

p.49 THE RADIO SHACK TRS-80: An Owner's Report

[theme Review] [author Fylstra]

p.66 THE BRAINS OF MEN AND MACHINES: Part 4

[theme Robotics] [author Kent]

p.126 User's Report: THE SOL-20

[theme Product Description] [author Barbour]

p.168 CIE NET: A Design for a Network of Community Information Exchanges

[theme Personal Computing Networks] [author Wilber]

p.178 SERENDIPITOUS CIRCLES EXPLORED

[theme Graphics] [author Kellerman]

Nucleus

p.4 In This BYTE

p.6 Personal Computing: New Prospects for Art and Science

p.22 Letters

p.46 Hand Assembling M6800 Relative Addresses

p.62 BYTE's Bugs

p.131, 166 BYTE's Bits

p.147 Department of Robotics Hocum

p.148 Programming Quickies

p.149 Languages Forum :

On Consumers' Languages and Human Interfaces

Concerning PASCAL: A Homebrew Compiler Project

p.152 Technical Forum:

Problems of International Television Standards

Tick... Tick... Tick... Booooom

Avoid Self-Modifying Code

p.156 Book Reviews

p.159 Publisher's Note: Concerning Reprints from BYTE

p.160 Clubs, Newsletters

p.188 What's New?

p.206 Classified Ads

p.208 BOMB

p.208 Reader Service

In this BYTE

About the Cover...

This month's cover is the work of Eduardo Kellerman, computed with a simple APL implementation of the "Serendipitous Circles" algorithm with several modifications. The original algorithm was described by authors D John Anderson and William F Galway in an article on page 70 of the August 1977 BYTE. Eduardo's comments upon the modifications to the algorithm form the text of his article Serendipitous Circles Explored, which includes reproduction of 13 original examples he has made. Four of these examples were used as a group to form the cover of this issue. An important point to mention is that many of the intricacies of this form of display can be realized by any personal computer owner who also has point plotting graphics capability; and for those who have color graphics, further variations worthy of experimentation include assigning color values to each point. page 178

The evolution of the TDL system monitor board and its documentation are the subjects of Bradford E Rehm's article, The TDL System Monitor Board: A Writer's View. Also included is a complete description of the various features and applications of the system monitor board. page 10

Tabies can help you to create more efficient programs. In An Introduction to Tables, F James Butterfield describes different types of tables and helps you to decide which kind is best for your specific need. page 18

Number crunching is a subset of the capabilities of the personal computing system. Most microprocessors have limited capabilities built in , capabilities which make programmed higher level arithmetic relatively slow. One way to get around the limitations of programmed arithmetic software for long operations such as multiplication is to implement some specialized hardware. Jack Bryant and Manot Swasdee show How to Multiply in a Wet Climate by adding a MIL spec high speed multiplier to a 6800 processor. This provides a high speed hardware basis for doing floating point arithmetic quickly. page 28

What is the ultimate 8080 (6800, 6502, PDP-8, ...?) multiplication routine? While not promising an answer, William B Noyce provides a direction in which to look for such with his article Optimization: A Case Study. He takes a routine by Christopher Glaeser which appeared in july 1977 BYTE, and proceeds to explore the ways in which the multiplication algorithm can be optim ized with respect to execution time, given the limitations of the 8080 instruction set. page 40

What's inside the Radio Shack TRS-80 computer? Since the warranty is voided if the case seal is broken, Dan Fylstra cannot take you inside, but he can and does give a functional description of what you get with the TRS-80 in his article The Radio Shack TRS-80: An Owner's Report. page 49

With a final installment entitled The Machinery of Emotion and Choice, Ernest W Kent concludes his 4 part series on The Brains of Men and Machines, essential background information for all who would design and implement robotic systems. page 66

One of the computer experimenter's dreams has always been to control lights and appliances around the home by computer, but the thought of installing all the necessary wiring has dampened many spirits. Steve Ciarcia shows you how to get around the problem with a reasonably priced wireless AC control system that lets your computer talk to your house. Read Tune In and Turn On, Part 1: A Computerized Wireless AC Control System . page 114

Colleges are at last recognizing microcomputers as very useful and versatile laboratory tools. At Algonquin College, Bill Foster and Bob Southern have set up A College Microcomputer Facility. As an introduction to the setup of such a lab, this article may help answer some basic questions other college departments might have about the practicality of a microcomputer laboratory. page 90

What's it like to use the Processor Technology SOL terminal computer as a personal system purchased fully assembled and tested? Dennis Barbour, an owner of a SOL-20, reports on his experiences with SOL in his User's Report: The SOL-20. page 126

Experimentation with problems of robotic mechanisms does not necessarily have to begin with the mechanisms them selves. Much of the problem of building a robot and making it work lies in the determination of strategies of movement and searching through the environment that the robot inhabits. John Webster's article Robot Simulation on Microcomputers shows how any personal computer with a video display can be used to implement a simple simulation of a robot confined to a playpen. page 132

In this month's BYTE, Mike Wilber completes his 3 part series outlining CIE Net: A Design for a Network of Community Information Exchanges with a discussion of "other issues," which help fillin the design. page 168

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Vol.3 n°5 may 1978

Foreground

p.16 GRAPHICS IN DEPTH: 3-D Adds a New Dimension to Your Display

[theme Graphics] [author Walters-Harris]

p.22 CONVERT YOUR TV SET TO A VIDEO MONITOR

[theme Hardware] [author Fylstra]

p.49 HIDDEN LINE SUBROUTINES FOR THREE-DIMENSIONAL PLOTTING

[theme Graphics] [author Gottlieb]

p.62 GRAPH: A SYSTEM FOR TELEVISION GRAPHICS: Part 1

[theme Software, Video Graphics] [author Webster-Young]

p.79 A PROGRAMMABLE CHARACTER GENERATOR, Part 1 Hardware

[theme Hardware] [author Weinstein]

p.97 TUNE IN AND TURN ON: An AC Wireless Remote Control System

[theme Hardware] [author Ciarcia]

p.104 HOW TO MULTIPLY IN A WET CLIMATE: Design Details

[theme Computation] [author Bryant-Swasdee]

Background

p.10 THE PHOTOGRAPH IS ALSO A HARD COPY

[theme Video Displays] [author Egbert]

p.24 Product Description: THE MATROX ALT-256 VIDEO BOARD

[theme Graphics] [author Ruple]

p.32 COLOR GRAPHICS ON THE COMPUCOLOR 8051

[theme Graphics] [author Dwyer-Critchfield]

p.92 A LOW COST LIGHT WAND AMPLIFIER

[theme Hardware] [author Moseley]

Nucleus

p.4 In This BYTE

p.8 On the Uses of Snowstorms in Computer Science

p.44 Technical Forum: A Raster Scan Graphics Suggestion

p.46 Languages Forum: UCSD PASCAL: A Machine Independent System

p.60 Programming Quickies: PLOT3D: A Function Plotting Program

p.136 Languages Forum:

Comments on PASCAL, Programming and Small Systems

Comments on APL's Characteristics

Warnier-Orr Diagrams: Some Further Thoughts

p.149 Letters

p.153 BYTE's Bits

p.155 -BYTE's Bugs

p.158, 178 Book Reviews

p.163 Languages Forum:

Standardization of High Level Languages

Grappling with GRAPL Some Choice Comments

p.168 Programming Quickies: Line Combinations

p.174 Clubs, Newsletters

p.180 What's New?

p.206 Unclassified Ads

p.208 BOMB

p.208 Reader Service

In this BYTE

About the Cover:

The computer experimenter of the future shown on this month's cover is using a computer graphics terminal created by artist Joel N Wilson to make a poin t: computer graphics has come of age. Future scenes such as Joel's painting are not far off, and this month 's issue is largely devoted to the fascinating world of computer graphics.

Taking photographs of your video display is an inexpensive alternative to buying a printer or other hard copy device for your computer. However, it's not always as easy as it sounds. Dr Dwight D Egbert gives some valuable tips on the subject in The Photograph Is Also a Hard Copy. page 70

Real 3-D graphics? It sounds like an impossible concept, even given the magic of minicomputers, but that is just what authors Timothy Walters and William Harris have created. Read Graphics in Depth : 3-D Adds a New Dimension to Your Display and find out how to create images that change perspective as you vary your viewing angle. page 76

What's the difference between an RF monitor and a direct video entry monitor? Find out in Convert Your TV Set to a Video Monitor. Dan Fylstra explains the relative merits of the two approaches to video displays, and gives you some idea of the techniques necessary to implement both methods. page 22

Would you like to try some pseudocolor? How about an 8 level grey scale? High density video graphics is an exciting application of personal computing. There are many video display boards on the market to help you get started . Read about one of them in The Matrox ALT-256 Video Board, by Gary Ruple. page 24

Color· graphics is an exciting branch of personal computing. Ordinary video display programs take on a new luster when converted to color. Authors Thomas A Dwyer and Margot Critchfield discuss the use of Color Graphics on the Compucolor 8051 . page 32

Is there a practical microcomputer PASCAL language system? Ken Bowles, of the Institute for Information Systems at the University of California San Diego, outlines what is perhaps one of the most significant software developments of the past year or so: the UCSD PASCAL system now available for LSI-11, 8080 and Z-80 machines and soon to be available for other major general purpose microcomputer systems. Read Ken's account of UCSD PASCAL : A (Nearly) Machine Independent Software System . page 46

A hidden line subroutine for· your· plotter can make the difference between an average plot and a professional looking one. The algorithms aren't as difficult as you might think . Read Hidden Line Subroutines for Three-Dimensional Plotting by Mark Gottlieb and find out more. page 49

One way to learn more about display systems for television is to read a detailed description of a practical video driver program. John Webster and John Young have done just that in GRAPH: A System for Television Graphics. In part 1 , this month, the authors provide background information and begin a detail discussion of this character editing system used for titling and graphics associated with educational videotape production. page 62

Did you ever wish your video display could handle Greek letters, subscripts, different size fonts, or even APL characters? How about special graphics characters? Find out how to add these and many other characters to your video display system in A Programmable Character Generator by Larry Weinstein. page 79

When designing a light wand and signal processor it is desirable to have as few external variables as possible affecting the output. In A Low Cost Light Wand Amplifier, Robin C Moseley examines some of the variables that must be considered and describes a particular signal processor which is tolerant of many external variables. page 92

Last month Steve Ciarcia described the transmitter section of his AC wireless remote control system . This month read the concluding description of the receiver in Tune In and Turn On, Part 2, and start experimenting with your· own computer controlled wireless appliance and light control system . page 97

This month, Jack Bryant and Manot Swasdee complete their description of How to Multiply in a Wet Climate with the details of multiplier hardware and a program to test the multiplier in comparison with an equivalent software multiplication. page 104

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Vol.3 n°6 june 1978

Foreground

p.14 A PROGRAMMABLE CHARACTER GENERATOR, Part 2: Software

[theme Software] [author Weinstein]

p.28 A PROGRAMMABLE IC TESTER

[theme Test Equipment] [author Thorson]

p.140 MORE MUSIC FOR THE 6502

[theme Software Music] [author O'Haver]

p.142 TALK TO ME: Add a Voice to Your Computer for $35

[theme Speech Synthesis] [author Ciarcia]

p.153 A THEATRICAL LIGHTING GRAPHICS PACKAGE

[theme Video Displays] [author Hemsath-Seawright-Ghent-Garrard]

p.158 GRAPH: A SYSTEM FOR TELEVISION GRAPHICS: Part 2

[theme Software, Video Graphics] [author Webster-Young]

p.166 AUDIO PROCESSING WITH A MICROPROCESSOR

[theme Real Time Applications] [author O'Haver]

Background

p.38 NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING AND SMALL SYSTEMS

[theme Tutorial] [author Tennant]

p.56 GIVE AN EAR TO YOUR COMPUTER: A Speech Recognition Primer

[theme Artificial Intelligence] [author Georgiou]

p.112 THE HP-67 AND HP-97: Hewlett-Packard's Personal Computers

[theme Product Review] [author Pearce]

p.138 NOTES ON TEACHING WITH MICROCOMPUTERS

[theme Education] [author Norton]

p.174 A LOOK AT SHUGART'S NEW FIXED DISK DRIVE

[theme Product Description] [author Morgan]

Nucleus

p.4 In This BYTE

p.6 Memory: The Growth of a Resource

p.11 Letters

p.94 BYTE's Bugs

p.100 BYTE's Bits

p.105 Ask BYTE

p.106 Clubs, Newsletters

p.109 Programming Quickies

p.118 Book Reviews

p.122 Languages Forum

p.128 Technical Forum

p.178 What's New?

p.206 Unclassified Ads

p.208 BOMB

p.208 Reader Service

In this BYTE

About the Cover:

Robert Tinney's cover painting this month was inspired by the article, A Theatrical Lighting Graphics Package by William Hemsath, James Seawright, Emmanuel Ghent and Mimi Garrard. While Cyrano soliloquizes, the technical director in the wings keeps track of the lights with the aid of an ingenious graphics system. For more information see page 153.

Last month, Larry Weinstein described the hardware for a programmable character generator. This month, read A Programmable Character Generator Part 2: Software and find out how to program your own special characters for APL programming, music graphics, and so on. page 14

Many computer experimenters buy surplus integrated circuits and have the sometimes tedious job of testing them to see if they work. Mark Thorson offers an elegant way around this problem with A Programmable IC Tester. For relatively little expense, readers can now construct a black box that will put virtually any TTL integrated circuit through its paces quickly and accurately. page 28

Since the introduction of the computer over 30 years ago, we have been forced to use difficult, archaic, near alien languages in order to communicate our wishes to the machine. The development of a system which understands the human language has been slow in coming. Now, Harry Tennant takes the naturally "speaking" machine out of the realm of science fiction and places it right in the lap of the home experimenter. But don't you need a huge machine to do that sort of thing, you protest? Read Natural Language Processing and Small Systems and discover the answer for yourself. page 38

Speech recognition is a key component of any software and hardware design for interesting systems ranging from mobile robots to the interactive and responsive house. To provide some background information on the complexities of the subject, Bill Georgiou has written an article entitled Give an Ear to Your Computer. page 56

Craig A Pearce reviews two programmable calculators from HewlettPackard in The HP-67 and HP-97: Hewlett-Packard's Personal Computers and describes Pinball Wizard, a simulation game he wrote to show off the two units. page 112

Dr William H Norton discusses the potential impact of using microcomputers on computer curricula in Notes on Teaching with Microcomputers. His own experiences using the KIM-1 microprocessor for one of his own courses at Marycrest College, Davenport IA, illustrate their practicality, ease of use, and positive effect. Just as hand calculators revolutionized many types of instruction, so too will micros eventually be used to enhance computer education. page 138

If you would like your computer to compose music for you, read Tom O'Haver's More Music for the 6502. There you will find a simple way to use the complicated sounding technique of first order stochastic control to create your own software sonatas and FIFO fugues. page 140

Would you like to try your hand at speech synthesis on your computer? Steve Ciarcia shows you how to make use of your programmable memory to store and play back digitized speech in Talk to Me! Add a Voice to Your Computer for $35. page 142

An unusual and creative use of microcomputers and video displays is described in A Theatrical Lighting Graphics Package by William Hemsath, James Seawright, Emmanuel Ghent and Mimi Garrard. The authors' system consists of a simple modification to a Processor Technology VDM-1 video display enabling it to simultaneously display five graphs of theatre lighting intensity versus time. page 153

In part 2 of GRAPH: A System for Television Graphics authors John Webster and John Young complete their discussion of a package for use with videotape studio equipment in educational audio visual contexts. page 158

Does your computer have high fiedelity? We don't mean to imply that it lacks character if it doesn't, but as Tom O'Haver shows in his article on Audio Processing with a Microcomputer it is possible to use the capabilities of a personal computer to do some interesting real time audio processing tasks such as reverberation , phlanging and "fuzz." page 166

The fixed disk may soon become a fixture in personal computing, and the ability to store 30 megabytes of memory on line will have a major effect on the way we look at software. Read A Look at Shugart's New Fixed Disk Drive by Senior Editor Chris Morgan. page 174

► Lire la revue / Get this issue (archive.org)

Vol.3 n°6 july 1978

Foreground

p.12 KIMER: A KIM-1 TIMER

[theme Software] [author Baker]

p.28 THE AXIOM EX800 PRINTER: A User's Report

[theme Product Description] [author Bosen]

p.60 THE Z-80 IN PARALLEL

[theme Hardware] [author Loewer]

p.72 CONTROLLING DC MOTORS

[theme Hardware] [author Walton]

p.98 BUILD A KEYBOARD FUNCTION DECODER

[theme Hardware] [author Ciarcia]

p.152 A HIGH LEVEL LANGUAGE FOR 8 BIT MACHINES

[theme Software] [author Williams-Conley]

p.162 HOW TO GET YOUR TARBELL GOING

[theme Hardware] [author Weinstein]

Background

p.32 TOP-DOWN MODULAR PROGRAMMING

[theme Software] [author Hearn]

p.42 WHO'S AFRAID OF DYNAMIC MEMORIES?

[theme Memory Design Tutorial] [author Hauck]

p.48 ANTIQUE MECHANICAL COMPUTERS, Part 1 Early Automata

[theme History] [author Williams]

p.64 THE FIRST TEN YEARS OF AMATEUR COMPUTING

[theme History] [author Libes]

p.84 A SHORT HISTORY OF COMPUTING

[theme History] [author Reid-Green]

p.124 HOW TO CHOOSE A MICROPROCESSOR

[theme Architecture] [author Frenzel]

Nucleus

p.4 In This BYTE

p.6 Some Thoughts About Modems

p.11 Letters

p.16 The Second West Coast Computer Faire

p.96 Clubs, Newsletters

p.112 Languages Forum: BASIC to Assembly Language Linkage

p.115 Technical Forum:

Fooling with the Stack Pointer

More on Varistors

p.117 Book Reviews

p.118 BYTE's Bits

p.118 BYTE's Bugs

p.119 Programming Quickies: Beating North Star-MITS Incompatibility

p.123 College Sports Report

p.172 Event Queue

p.177 What's New?

p.206 Unclassified Ads

p.208 BOMB

p.208 Reader Service

This month's cover shows Babbage's 1822 difference engine, a device designed to calculate values in mathematical tables. Charles Babbage was one of the earlier pioneers in the field of computational machinery, whose work paved the way for later breakthroughs in computing.

In this BYTE

One way to demonstrate your KIM-1 computer is to use it as a clock. Robert Baker's article KIMER : A KIM-1 Timer shows you how to display hours, minutes and seconds on the computer's LED display. The program can also be used as a timer. page 12

Heat sensitive aluminized paper is the key ingredient in Axiom's unusual EX800 printer. Find out about one user's reactions to this peripheral in The Axiom EX800 Printer: A User's Report by R J Bosen. page 28

Transforming the goal "I want thus and so function" into a program which performs that function is an act of design. Albert D Hearn provides the novice programmer with some background philosophy about design of personalized programs in his article entitled Modular Programming. page 32

Are you afraid of dynamic memories? Let author Lane T Hauck remove some of the mysteries about these devices in Who's Afraid Of Dynamic Memories? The greatest potential of the dynamic memory for the experimenter is its low price; reading the article should prove to be a "refreshing" experience. page 42

Dr James M Williams takes readers on a fascinating tour of early experiments in automata in his article Antique Mechanical Computers, Part 1: Early Automata. Read about Vaucanson's mechanical duck and the other miraculous pre-19th century devices that foreshadowed today's computers. page 48

Today more and more design engineers are introducing parallel processing into computer systems to improve through put rates. With the advent of inexpensive microprocessors, experimenters can now investigate this fascinating area. Find out more by reading Robert Loewer's The Z-80 in Parallel . page 60

When did personal computing really begin? Was it 1974 or 1971 ? The surprising answer is 1966. Sol Libes' The First Ten Years of Amateur Computing traces the growth of this rapidly growing field over the past decade, and gives credit to the true pioneers. page 64

The ability to control DC motors allows you to imagine applications from games to robotics. Robert L Walton describes a simple method of shaft position control in his article, Controlling DC Motors. page 72

Have you ever wondered how this business of computing ever got started? And just what were the major developments and discoveries that made the computer industry what it is today? Well, take A Short History of Computing course by reading the article by Keith S Reid-Green. It provides a perspective on the antecedents of today 's developments in the field of computing. page 84

If you would like to turn your printer or other peripheral on and off from your computer keyboard, Steve Ciarcia describes a simple way to do it with an EROM in Ciarcia's Circuit Cellar: Build a Keyboard Function Decoder. page 98

How do I choose a microprocessor for personal computing? In some respects the problem is analogous to attempting to choose between a V-8 and a V-6 automobile engine of the same horsepower: both make the car go and most users couldn 't care less about the type of engine so long as the car gets them to their desired destinations. Similar considerations apply in the choice of a personal computer product based on the microprocessor it contains. Who cares what microprocessor the product contains, so long as it accomplishes a certain minimum level of function with respect to systems and applications software? Lou Frenzel of the Heath Company gives some thoughts on How to Choose a Microprocessor in an article in this issue. page 724

Thinking of writing your own high level language interpreter for your home computer? If so, Ted Williams' and Steve Conley's article, A High Level Language for 8 Bit Machines, will supply you with an overview of one such implementation. The language that they develop is suitable for use as both an interpreter or a compiler. page 752

If you own a Tarbell cassette interface, read How to Get Your Tarbell Going. Author Larry Weinstein explains how the unit works and gives so me suggestions for improving performance . page 162

► Lire la revue / Get this issue (archive.org)

Vol.3 n°8 august 1978

Foreground

p.50 COMPILATION AND PASCAL ON THE NEW MICROPROCESSORS

[theme Tutorial] [author Forsyth-Howard]

p.78 PASCAL: A Structurally Strong Language

[theme Languages] [author Alpert]

p.143 DESIGNING STRUCTURED PROGRAMS

[theme Programming Techniques] [author Weems]

p.156 LET YOUR FINGERS DO THE TALKING: Add a Noncontact Touch Scanner

[theme Hardware] [author Ciarcia]

Background

p.24 ON BUILDING A LIGHT-SEEKING ROBOT MECHANISM

[theme Robotics Applications] [author Allen-Rossetti]

p.64 THE NUMBER CRUNCHING PROCESSOR

[theme Hardware] [author Nelson]

p.90 PHILADELPHIA'S 179 YEAR OLD ANDROID

[theme History] [author Penniman]

p.96 ANTIQUE MECHANICAL COMPUTERS, Part 2

[theme History] [author Williams]

p.110 IN PRAISE OF PASCAL

[theme Software] [author Mundie]

p.122 PASCAL VERSUS COBOL: Where Pascal Gets Down to Business

[theme Software] [author Bowles]

p.166 JACPOT

[theme Games] [author Hastings]

p.168 PASCAL VERSUS BASIC: An Exercise

[theme Software] [author Schwartz]

Nucleus

p.4 In This BYTE

p.6 A Vision of an Industry

p.10 Letters

p.12 Technical Forum:

A Letter Exchange: Extending S-100 Bus?

And Some Notes by John C McCallum

p.16 About the Cover

p.46 Languages Forum: A Homebrew Pascal Compiler

p.48 Clubs, Newsletters

p.62 BYTE's Bugs

p.89 Consistency - or a Lack Thereof...Notes by C Helmers

p.117 Languages Forum: A Proposed Pascal Compiler

p.118 Event Queue

p.177 What's New?

p.206 Unclassified Ads

p.208 BOMB

p.208 Reader Service

In this BYTE

What are readers' experiences with building actual robotic mechanisms? Stephen A Allen and Anthony J Rossetti's commentary On Building a Light-Seeking Robot Mechanism describes their work in this area on an undergraduate engineering project. An on board computer helps their robot decide what action to take when avoiding obstacles between it and a light source. page 24

Until now microprocessor users had the choice of using either an 8 bit or a 16 bit processor. With the advent of the 6809, Z-8000 and 8086, we now have available a hybrid machine with both 8 and 16 bit capabilities. This may have an effect on how language are written on the processors. Charles H Forsyth and Randall J Howard take a look at this in Compilation and Pascal on the New Microprocessors. page 50

Do you need to perform extensive mathematical calculations, but fret over the time needed to write, debug and use floating point operations and transcendental functions? The new National Semiconductor MM57109 processor will help you with this problem. Turn to The Number Crunching Processor by Peter Nelson for details on how to interface an MM57109 with an 8080 system, and a review of this unique processor. page 64

Pascal is the fastest growing new computer language. Few languages have the support from the typical university computer science department that Pascal has. To find out more about this fascinating language read Steven R Alpert's article, Pascal, a Structurally Strong Language. page 78

A 179 year old android that can draw pictures and write poetry? It may sound like science fiction, but The Franklin Institute's Charles F Penniman reveals all in Philadelphia's 179 Year Old Android. page 90

This month we continue Dr James Williams' 3 part series on Antique Mechanical Computers with Part 2: 18th and 19th Century Mechanical Marvels . Read about Jacquet-Droz's incredible writing and drawing automaton that contains the equivalent of three quarters of a million bits of read only memory and can draw intricate pictures and transcribe poetry. page 96

Using a structured language such as Pascal helps the programmer easily organize the logic of a program. Often, it is not necessary to write a logic diagram for the program. To this end, David Mundie compares a well written Pascal program to a Warnier-Orr logic diagram in his article In Praise of Pascal. page 110

Business applications for personal computers are more and more in evidence these days. Pascal lends itself well to business applications with the addition of some special features described by Ken Bowles in Pascal versus COBOL. page 122

One of the newest developments in software is structured programming. Many features of the technique have been described, but often the actual procedure for constructing a structured program is not mentioned. Chip Weems describes the steps involved in Designing a Structured Program. page 143

Light pens are one way to improve the user-computer interface, but there's an even more direct way: a noncontact scanning digitizer. Simply touch the screen of your video display to enter information! Steve Ciarcia shows you how in Let Your Fingers Do the Talking: Add a Noncontact Touch Scanner to Your Video Display. page 156

If you like to gamble, but don't want to wait for legalized gambling in your state, try JACPOT. Author Edwin Hastings has written a straightforward BASIC simulation of a slot machine. Now you can gamble (for fun only, of course) to your heart's content without depleting your bank account. You can lose everything and then turn around and lose it again! page 166

Pascal is an exciting language that can help you program more efficiently. It was developed in 1969 as an extension of the ALGOL family of languages. Author Allan Schwartz compares Pascal to BASIC, a language familiar to many BYTE readers, in Pascal versus BASIC: An Exercise. page 168

► Lire la revue / Get this issue (archive.org)

Vol.3 n°9 september 1978

Foreground

p.58 A -TINY- PASCAL COMPILER, Part 1: The P-Code Interpreter

[theme Software] [author Chung-Yuen]

p.94 LET YOUR FINGERS DO THE TALKING: Scanner Applications

[theme Software] [author Ciarcia]

p.102 S2L: AN ALTAIR (S-100) TO LSI-11 BUS ADAPTER

[theme Hardware Design] [author Bondy]

p.166 WADUZITDO: How To Write a Language in 256 Words or Less

[theme Languages] [author Kheriaty]

Background

p.22 THE MATHEMATICS OF COMPUTER GRAPHICS

[theme Graphics] [author Posdamer]

p.40 APL AND GRAPHICS

[theme Software] [author Kellerman]

p.68 SOME WORDS ABOUT PROGRAM STRUCTURE

[theme Software] [author Hearn]

p.82 ANTIQUE MECHANICAL COMPUTERS: The Torres Chess Automaton

[theme History] [author Williams]

p.114 MATH IN THE REAL WORLD

[theme Software] [author Boney]

p.156 GRAPHIC MANIPULATIONS USING MATRICES

[theme Graphics] [author Hungerford]

Nucleus

p.4 In This BYTE

p.6 On Entering Our Fourth Year

p.10 The NCC '78 Personal Computer Show

p.17 Letters

p.54 BYTE's Bits

p.54 BYTE's Bugs

p.120 Event Queue

p.123 Programming Quickies: Plugging the KIM-2 Gap

p.124 Clubs and Newsletters Directory

p.145 Book Reviews

p.147 Technical Forum: Making an H9 Understand Lower Case

p.177 What's New?

p.206 Unclassified Ads

p.208 BOMB

p.208 Reader Service

In this BYTE

About the Cover ...

The computer artwork for the cover of this issue of BYTE is the work of Ed Kellerman, whose article appears on page 40. It was done using the facilities of IBM in Endicott NY, with the APL language as the major tool and a Tektronix plotter for producing the black images for the various colors of the line drawing component of the cover.

But we looked at the resulting artwork, and then asked Ed if he would allow us to provide some additional hand coloration by Ellen Shamonsky of our art department. (Ellen is the person responsible for the airbrush work on July 1978's cover, which we forgot to credit in that issue.) Ellen provided the multicolored airbrush background for the present cover, using the artwork supplied by Ed as the guide for positioning the various zones.

A background in vectors and matrices can give you a set of powerful tools for manipulating shapes on a graphics display. Read Jeffrey L Posdamer's The Mathematics of Computer Graphics. You may find that the mathematics is not as difficult as you think. page 22

As other articles in this issue demonstrate, matrix operations are one method of manipulating graphics. The manipulations become simpler when the implementation language is designed to work with matrices. APL is such a language. Eduardo Kellerman gives us a taste of what happens when you mix APL and Graphics. page 40

In this issue Kin-Man Chung and Herbert Yuen start a series of articles detailing the design and construction of A "Tiny" Pascal. Part 1 contains an overall view of the project along with a detailed look at an interpreter for pseudocode which is what the Pascal source program will be compiled into. The Pascal project emphasizes the portability of the language by compiling from Pascal to pseudocode which will then have an individual interpreter for every different machine. page 58

What constitutes a program, and what is the proper way to write one? Proper is a loaded word , but if ease of thought and unambiguity are goals of the effo rt, Some Words About Program Structure by Albert D Hearn will be a good starting point for the novice. page 68

This month we conclude Dr James Williams's three part series on Antique Mechanical Computers with Part 3: The Torres Chess Automaton. Incredible as it may seem, Leonardo Torres built a working chess automaton in 1911. After a discussion about early concepts in the first "thinking" machines, the chess automaton is described in detail in this article. Dr Williams concludes the series with some philosophical speculations about automata. page 82

Steve Ciarcia completes his description of a non-contact scanner by describing the software that will Let Your Fingers Do the Talking. page 94

In an extended Technical Forum discussion, Jonath an Bondy presents a preliminary design for S2L: An Altair (S-100) to LSI-ll Bus Adapter. Here is a starting point for those interested in taking advantage of numerous personal computing peripherals in combination with the 16 bit Digital Equipment Corporation LSI-11 computer. page 102

If you intend to use your computer for arithmetic operations it is necessary to have a floating paint arithmetic package. Joel Boney's article on implementing a binary floating point package will help you implement Math in the Real World if you don't have an appropriate package at your fingertips in a high level language or program library. page 114

A displayed object can be defined within a matrix in a program. Once the object has been so defined it is a simple matter to perform Graphic Manipulations Using Matrices as described by Joel Hungerford. page 756

Are you faced with the prospect of owning a just built computer system bare of all niceties such as BASIC or even assembler? Somehow, it is difficult to impress noncomputer people by adding 1 to 1 to get 10. Larry Kheriaty has an interesting language to solve this problem. For Larry's solution read WADUZITDO: How to Write a Language in 256 Words or Less. page 166

► Lire la revue / Get this issue (archive.org)

Vol.3 n°10 october 1978

Foreground

p.22 NO POWER FOR YOUR INTERFACES?: Build a 5W DC to DC Converter

[theme Hardware] [author Ciarcia]

p.34 A "TINY" PASCAL COMPILER, Part 2: The P-Compiler

[theme Pascal] [author Chung-Yuen]

p.58 TESTING MEMORY IN BASIC

[theme Software] [author Adams]

p.86 FIRST STEPS IN COMPUTER CHESS PROGRAMMING

[theme Software Chess] [author the Spracklens]

p.100 LINEAR CIRCUIT ANALYSIS

[theme Simulation] [author Anderson]

p.122 SOLVING THE EIGHT QUEENS PROBLEM

[theme Software] [author Smith]

p.142 A SIMPLER DIGITAL CASSETTE TAPE INTERFACE

[theme Hardware] [author Burhans]

p.144 SOUPING UP YOUR SwTPC 6800

[theme Hardware] [author Hughes]

p.162 A NOVEL BAR CODE READER

[theme Hardware] [author Farnell]

p.168 A COMPUTER CHESS TUTORIAL

[theme Computer Chess] [author Whaland]

Background

p.12 A MEMORY PATTERN SENSITIVITY TEST

[theme Debugging] [author Kinzer]

p.70 PAM/8: A New Approach to Front Panel Design

[theme Computer Design] [author Letwin]

p.130 ASSEMBLING THE H9 VIDEO TERMINAL

[theme Product Description] [author Steeden]

p.182 CREATING A CHESS PLAYER

[theme Chess Tutorial] [author Frey-Atkin]

Nucleus

p.4 In This BYTE

p.6 On Using a Personal Computer for a Practical Purpose

p.10 Letters

p.54 Book Reviews

p.57, 65 Technical Forum

p.68, 136, 141 Programming Quickies

p.151 BYTE's Bits

p.151 BYTE's Bugs

p.152 Clubs, Newsletters

p.154 Event Queue

p.166 Product Description: Micro-Scan Corp Bar Code Scanner

p.193 What's New?

p.222 Unclassified Ads

p.224 BOMB

p.224 Reader Service

Robert Tinney's painting on the cover this month is a fanciful image of computer chess. A Knight floats above an ancient stone chessboard with the ubiquitous floppy disk beneath. Four articles in this issue are devoted to the art of computer chess, including the first part of a 4 part series by the creators of Chess 4.6, the world championship chess program.

In this BYTE

One cause of seemingly unexplainable program errors may be incorrectly operating memory. A Memory Pattern Sensitivity Test discussed by Don Kinzer will help to determine if your memory is operating correctly. page 12

If you need -12 or +15 V for your latest hardware design, and have only +5 V, what can you do? Read No Power for Your Interfaces? Build a 5 W DC to DC Converter by Steve Ciarcia. Several inexpensive, practical designs are described, to give you everything from - 15 to +15 V from a +5 V source. page 22

In Part 1 of A "Tiny" Pascal Compiler, in the September 1978 BYTE, Kin-Man Chung and Herbert Yuen described the syntax of a Pascal subset and described a hypothetical stack machine, called a p-machlne. This month they describe a compiler that generates codes for the p-machine. page 34

Would you like a fast and easy way to test your new memory board? Author Russell Adams shows you how in Testing Memory in BASIC. A simple program loads the memory locations with alternating 1s and 0s to spot those bad bits. page 58

The H8 computer from Heath features a novel firmware front panel monitor comprised of both hardware and software elements. Gordon Letwin, Heath software designer, describes the design philosophy and the features of the system in PAM/8: A New Approach to Front Panel Design. page 70

The winning program at the Second West Coast Computer Faire's Microcomputer Chess Tournament in March of 1978 was Sargon, written in Z-80 assembler language. Sargon's creators, Dan and Kathe Spracklen, describe the move generating portion of their program in First Steps in Computer Chess Programming. page 86

A com puter allows you to try out a variety of ideas with nothing more than a program to see if they will work. One way to use this potential is to model electrical circuits in software. Leonard H Anderson describes how to perform Linear Circuit Analysis on your computer. page 100

The eight Queens problem is a venerable puzzle in recreational mathematics. Terry Smith describes his thought processes in working out a solution in his article, Solving the Eight Queens Problem. An occasional dose of cleverness is often the key to solving a difficult problem, as Terry demonstrates. page 122

For someone who is looking for a good quality video terminal which is easy to work with and will be user serviceable, the Heathkit H9 is the solution. Terry Steeden describes his pleasant experiences Assembling the H9 Video Terminal and having it work correctly the first time. page 130

Digital recording of computer programs and data is an attractive alternative to standard audio cassette recording techniques because of its reliability. and simplicity. Ralph Burhans describes an updated version of earlier digital recording schemes in A Simpler Digital Cassette Tape Interface.

If you own a SwTPC 6800 computer and want to increase the processor clock speed with a minimum of fuss, read Souping Up Your SwTPC 6800 by Steve A Hughes. The article describes a simple circuit that plugs directly into a socket on the 6800 processor board. Changing the clock speed is then done by simply plugging in a new crystal oscillator. page 144

Last year we ran a contest in which readers were asked to design their own PAPERBYTE^tm bar code readers and submit them to us. One of the winning entries, by Campbell Farnell and Glen Seeds, is described in their article, A Novel Bar Code Reader. page 162

For a short introduction to the world of computer chess, read Norman Whaland's A Computer Chess Tutorial. The basic principles of chess strategy and tactics are covered in discussions of game trees, alpha-beta pruning, minimax strategies and so on. page 168

Creating a Chess Player was written by two people at the forefront of research in computer chess: David Frey, editor of Chess Skill in Man and Machine, and Larry Atkins, coauthor of Chess 4.6, the world champion chess program that recently beat a Grandmaster in a simultaneous exhibition. The article discusses the thinking processes in the chessplayer's mind and how such processes are transformed into a computer program. page 182

► Lire la revue / Get this issue (archive.org)

Vol.3 n°11 november 1978

Foregroud

p.16 AN EXCHANGE EVALUATOR FOR COMPUTER CHESS

[theme Software Chess] [author the Spracklens]

p.48 THE SKY'S THE LIMIT: Ham Radio for Intercomputer Communication

[theme Personal Computing Networks-] [author Kasser]

p.76 I'VF GOT YOU IN MY SCANNER!

[theme Applications] [author Ciarcia]

p.100 DEFINING A LANGUAGE: PL/B

[theme Languages Forum] [author Wilson]

p.112 A CLASSROOM DEMONSTRATION

[theme Control Systems] [author Hill]

p.120 A MULTIUSER DATA NETWORK: Communicating Over VHF Radio

[theme Networking] [author Bruninga]

p.160 A CASSETTE INTERFACE SWITCHING BOX FOR THE TRS-80

[theme Hardware] [author Anderton]

p.162 CREATING A CHESS PLAYER, Part 2: Chess 0.5

[theme Computer Chess Software] [author Frey-Atkin]

p.182 A "TINY" PASCAL COMPILER, Part 3: P-Code to 8080 Conversion

[theme Pascal] [author Chung-Yuen]

Backgroud

p.34 FUNCTIONAL APPROXIMATIONS

[theme Numbers] [author Ruckdeschel]

p.62 DISTRIBUTED NETWORK

[theme Networking] [author Horton]

p.90 COMPUTER ASSISTED INSTRUCTION ON A MICROCOMPUTER

[theme Applications] [author Gerhold]

p.150 HOBBYIST COMPUTERIZED BULLETIN BOARD

[theme Personal Computing Networks] [author Christensen-Suess]

p.158 HEATH MICROPROCESSOR TRAINING SYSTEM

[theme ProductReview] [author Hubin]

Nucleus

p.4 In This BYTE

p.6 On the Virtues of Writing Editors

p.10 Letters

p.66 Programming Quickie: Checkbook Balancer

p.74 Machine Language Puzzler: TIMOUT

p.96 Event Queue

p.132 Book Reviews

p.135 Puzzle: Hextext

p.136 Technical Forum: Transmission of Digital Data

p.140 BYTE's Bits

p.146 BYTE's Bugs

p.148 Clubs, Newsletters

p.193 What's New?

p.230 Unclassified Ads

p.232 BOMB

p.232 Reader Service

About the Cover

This month's cover by artis t Ken Lodding emphasizes the personal computing potential of the OSCAR amateur radio satellites described in Joe Kasser's article on page 48. When Ken isn't doing technology-related art work, he helps design and implement experimental systems for Digital Equipment Corp in Merrimack NH.

In this BYTE

One of the basic building blocks of any computer chess playing program is the exchange evaluator. Authors Dan and Kathe Spracklen describe the exchange evaluator used in their Sargon program in An Exchange Evaluator for Computer Chess. page 16

Taylor series expansions are not necessarily the best polynomial approximations for many functions. Fred R Ruckdeschel describes several minimax and rational polynomial approximations for some common functions in Functional Approximations. A method for creating polynomial approximations for microcomputers using mathematical tables and large system statistical routines is also discussed. page 34

One method of connecting computers into a communications network is by VHF radio stations. To ease some of the physical difficulties encountered with this arrangement, a satellite can be introduced into the system, and then, as Joe Kasser says, The Sky's the Limit for personal computer users. page 48

One theme of this issue is VHF communication among computers to produce a network. There are other types of networks which are available to computer users. One of these uses a Distributed Network, which is described by Glen R Horton. page 62

Ciarcia's Circuit Cellar turns to melodrama this month as Steve and Lloyd are confronted by a mysterious stranger. All ends happily, however, with the aid of a computer controlled stepper motor driven infrared and visible light scanner. Read I've Got You in My Scanner! page 76

One of the more fascinating uses of a computer, teaching courses, is frequently known as computer assisted instruction. George A Gerhol describes one group of people that is actively involved in implementing Computer Assisted Instruction on a Microcomputer. page 90

As part of the never ending struggle for truth, beauty and the ultimate in high level languages, David Wilson provides readers with a Languages Forum proposal, Defining a Language: PL/B, a combination of some of the features of a high level language like BASIC with access to assembly language details when necessary. page 100

Controlling a physical system is a natural for the microprocessor: parameters can often be changed in a matter of seconds in software without any mechanical changes to the system. A simple airflow control system is described in Garnet L Hill's article, A Classroom Demonstration: Controlling a System with a Microcomputer. page 112

The VHF communication network already in existence provides a readily available communication network for the computer experimenter. R E Bruninga describes one system which is up and running in his article A Multiuser Data Network. page 120

A home computer system can be used for communication among many people. This month Ward Christensen and Randy Suess describe their implementation of a Hobbyist Computerized Bulletin Board. page 150

For people who are just being introduced to the world of microprocessors, the first steps can seem confusing. For a description of one device which can aid the introduction read W N Hubin 's review of the Heath Microprocessor Training System. page 158

Craig Anderton's simple circuit described in A Cassette Interface Switching Box for the TRS-80 shows you how to operate the cassette recorder manually and monitor tapes while they are being read in without having to unplug any cables. page 160

This month we continue the series Creating a Chess Player by Peter W Frey and Larry R Atkin with the first half of Chess 0.5, a program written in Pascal by Larry Atkin, who is coauthor with David Slate of the world championship computer chess program, Chess 4.6. page 162

In this issue, Kin-Man Chung and Herbert Yuen conclude their series of articles on A "Tiny" Pascal Compiler with a discussion of a p-code (pseudocode) to 8080 code conversion program and the needed run time routines. page 182

► Lire la revue / Get this issue (archive.org)

Vol.3 n°12 december 1978

Foreground

p.14 FAST FOURIER TRANSFORMS ON YOUR HOME COMPUTER

[theme Software] [author Stanley-Peterson]

p.26 DESIGNING A UNIVERSAL TURING MACHINE: A Software Approach

[theme Software] [author Munnecke]

p.32 BUILD AN OCTAL/HEXADECIMAL OUTPUT DISPLAY

[theme Hardware] [author Ciarcia]

p.94 INTERFACE YOUR COMPUTER TO A PRINTING CALCULATOR

[theme Hardware] [author Astmann]

p.100 ZAPPER: A Computer Driven EROM Programmer

[theme Hardware] [author Gable]

p.128 CLOCKLESS MULTIPLICATION AND DIVISION CIRCUITS

[theme Hardware] [author Weed]

p.140 CREATING A CHESS PLAYER, Part 3: Chess 0.5 (continued)

[theme Computer Chess Software] [author Frey-Atkin]

p.168 PARTITIONED DATA SETS

[theme Tutorial] [author Halsema]

Background

p.45 LIFE WITH YOUR COMPUTER

[theme Applications : Life Games] [author Milliun-Reardon-Smart]

p.54 SOME FACTS OF LIFE

[theme Life] [author Buckingham]

p.68 ONE-DIMENSIONAL LIFE

[theme Life Games] [author Millen]

p.84 CHESS 4.7 VERSUS DAVID LEVY

[theme Computer Chess] [author Douglas]

p.108 AN EASY PROGRAMMING SYSTEM

[theme Software] [author Weisbecker]

p.124 TEACHING WITH A MICROCOMPUTER

[theme Applications] [author Gerhold]

p.186 THE MOTHER CHIP

[theme Fiction] [author Willard]

p.194 FORTRAN AND ITS GENERALIZATIONS

[theme Language Tutorial] [author Maurer]

Nucleus

p.4 In This BYTE

p.6 New Wonders of the Computer Age

p.10 Letters

p.43 Book Reviews

p.76 Programming Quickies: Life

p.92 Nybbles: Z-80 Assembler

p.161, 163 BYTE's Bits, BYTE's Bugs

p.164 Event Queue

p.166 Clubs, Newsletters

p.174 Programming Quickies : Tic-Tac-Toe in BASIC

p.176 Languages Forum

p.184, 202, 208 Technical Forum

p.192 Desk Top Wonders : A Game for the TI-58

p.209 What's New?

p.246 Unclassified Ads

p.248 BOMB, Reader Service

In this BYTE

The advent of the personal computer has made possible the calculation of the fast Fourier transform (FFT) on the small system. Applications of this powerful design tool include speech and music analysis as well as circuit design and development. Read Fast Fourier Transforms on Your Home Computer by William D Stanley and Steven J Peterson. page 14

Quite often a software approach to a problem is easier to implement than a hardware approach to the same problem. Tom Munnecke describes the software used in Designing a Universal Turing Machine and compares it to a comparable hardware approach. page 26

Steve Ciarcia describes a simple but useful addition to your computer in Build an Octal/Hexadecimal Output Display. This circuit can help you to convert from octal to hexadecimal (and vice versa) or give you the status of a byte during program execution. page 32

Our cover theme this month (painted by Robert Tinney) is the game of Life. In Life with Your Computer, Justin Milliun, Judy Reardon and Peter Smart give a starting point for developing your own version of this exciting game. page 45

Researchers probing cellular automata have used Conway's game of Life as a tool in creating a collection of strange and exciting patterns. In David Buckingham's article Some Facts of Life we find a description of discoveries made since the original flurry of activity several years ago. page 54

One-Dimensional Life is an intriguing variant on John Conway's famous game. Out of this restricted format comes a surprising variety of familiar Life figures such as the flip flop and glider. Dr Jonathan K Millen leads us down the Life line in One-Dimensional Life. page 68

The same folks who brought you Chess 4.6 now bring you a new, improved version, Chess 4.7 . Read the story of the epic battle of the mighty computer and the tenacious, clever human chess master in an article by J R Douglas, Chess 4.7 versus David Levy. page 84

In many microcomputer applications it is desirable to have a cheap method for printing numerical data. Robert H Astmann describes a way to interface a Texas lnstruments 5050M printing calculator to an 8080A based computer in Interface Your Computer to a Printing Calculator. page 94

When building a computer system it is frequently advisable to have your most often used basic routines stored in read only memory so that they will always be readily available. To make the best use of read only memory, the experimenter should be able to program his own. G H Gable describes one system for programming read only memory in his article, Zapper: A Computer Driven EROM Programmer. page 100

Are you having trouble affording enough hardware to support a high level language such as BASIC? Are you finding it difficult to program in your machine's assembler language? If your answer to either of those questions is "yes," then what you're looking for is An Easy Programming System. In this article, Joe Weisbecker gives an introduction to hexadecimal interpretive programming, an alternative to high level languages and assemblers alike. page 108

Computer aided instruction is an excellent microcomputer application. To perform this function correctly, it helps to have a programming language designed for the purpose. Prof George A Gerhold describes some of the features such a language should possess in Teaching with a Microcomputer. page 124

If you have a need for multiplication and division circuits and don't want to worry about timing diagrams, read Mike Weed's discussion of some Clockless Multiplication and Division Circuits you can work with. page 128

This month we present the second half of Chess 0.5 in the series Creating a Chess Player by Peter W Frey and Larry R Atkin. The program was written by Larry Atkin, who is coauthor with David Slate of the world championship computer chess program, Chess 4.6. The program is written in Pascal and is readily adaptable to personal computers having Pascal systems such as the UCSD Pascal project software. page 140

To get the most out of your floppy disk units, you should know how to handle the data that will be stored on them efficiently. A I Halsema introduces us to the concept of Partitioned Data Sets and briefly describes a method for implementing them. page 168

What is the world going to be like in twenty years? That's a difficult question to answer, but the chances are that microcomputers will be part of it. Lawrence Willard takes a lighthearted look at one possible future in his story, The Mother Chip. page 186

FORTRAN is one of the antecedents to a number of computer languages. The ever popular BASIC is in some respects a simplification of FORTRAN. A number of later languages build upon the computer science learning experience which was FORTRAN and its compilers in the late 1950s and early 1960s. FORTRAN is even now becoming available in floppy disk based systems at the high end of the personal computing performance range. In this issue, W Douglas Maurer provides readers with an article on FORTRAN and Its Generalizations, good background reading on an important and still much used language. page 194