Cover of the April 1986 issue of Byte
I'm not sure exactly when Byte peaked in terms of page count but at nearly 500 pages, this issue from April 1986 has to be among the largest. Contents form this issue includes:
Features
- Ciarcia's circuit Cellar: Computer On Guard! - An amusing tale of security taken a bit too far.
- Programming Project: A Simple Windowing System, Part 2: Implementation - The second and final part of a programming project implementing a windowing system. This part includes pseudocode and code samples.
- Build The Emulo-8 - This project guides you through building a device that will let you develop EPROM programs in RAM.
- Making UNIX Secure - A guide to securing UNIX against known methods of attack.
- Data Design - A guide to designing data files.
- Programming Insight: DRAGON - A FORTH program to recursively draw a dragon curve on the Macintosh.
Table of Contents from the April 1986 issue of Byte
Theme: Number Crunching
- A Micro-Based Supercomputer - An article about a distributed computer system being build at Columbia University that is made with microcomputer like nodes and special math coprocessing chips.
- Computer Approximations - Techniques for quickly and accurately approximating mathematical functions.
- The Inversion of Large Matrices - A solution for inverting matrices on a computer.
- The Runge-Kutta Methods - Approximating ordinary differential equations.
- The ATOMCC Toolbox - Using the Taylor series to solve ordinary differential equations.
Reviews
- The Panasonic Exec Partner - A "transportable" computer featuring a gas-plasma display and built-in thermal transfer printer. Specs include a 4.77/7.16 MHz 8086-2 CPU, 256K RAM, and two 360K floppy drives for $2595 or $3795 with optional 10-megabyte hard drive.
- KAMAS - An outline processor and programming language for Z80 based CP/M computers.
- Professional Debug Facility and Advanced Fullscreen Debug - Two DOS based debuggers.
- MicroTSP - A PC conversion of a mainframe program used for time series statistical regression.
- PCTeX and MicroTeX - Two typesetting programs for DOS.
Table of Contents from the April 1986 issue of Byte (continued)
Kernel
- Computing at Chaos Manor: Jerry's Best of 1985 Awards - Some items in the awards list include Excel, FTL Modula-2, the Kaypro 286i, the Hardcard, the OmniTel 1200-Baud Internal Modem, Ancient Art of War, and Wizardry. Also mentioned are the Amiga, Atari ST, and more.
- BYTE U.K.: Xenophilia - Apricot announces the XEN, their answer to IBM's 286 based AT. While it shipped with Windows it was not 100% PC compatible and required a BIOS emulator which ran more slowly to run a lot of PC software.
- According to Webster: Clearing the Backlog - A look at a variety of software products including TML Pascal, Max C, M-Disk, Soft Spool, MichTron Utilities, Mudpies, Flip Side, Mirage, DEGAS, and Deluxe Paint.
- Applications Only: A Couple of Winners - A look at two software packages including Mirror (a Crosstalk XVI clone) and Framework II.
- Microbytes - New version of Visi On on the way; UNIX V port coming to 80286/80386 based computers; Modula-2 for the Apple II; Turbo Pascal for the Mac; and more.
- Letters - Letters from readers about visual copyrights, robots, ZBasic benchmarks, conferencing systems, and more.
- What's New - A brief look at new products including Apollo's Domain Series 3000 Personal Workstation, CD-ROM based encyclopedias, PCBoard Designer for the Atari ST, Harvard Presentation Graphics, MacMovies animation system for the Macintosh, Drafix I CAD software for the PC, Synthestra MIDI sequencer and controller for the Apple II, and more.
- Ask BYTE - Questions answered about EERPROMs, light sabers, home control systems and occupancy detection, and more.
- Book Reviews - Reviews of The FFT: Fundamentals and Concepts, Designing Digital Filters, Macintosh Revealed Volume Two: Programming With the Toolbox, and Exploring The Pick Operating System.
Back cover of the April 1986 issue of Byte
...and much more!
Check out some of my other recent posts:
Vintage Photos - Lot 4 (093-096)
https://ecency.com/photography/@darth-azrael/vintage-photos-lot-4-093
Byte (January 1980)
https://ecency.com/retrocomputing/@darth-azrael/byte-january-1980
Vintage Photos - Lot 4 (089-092)
https://ecency.com/photography/@darth-azrael/vintage-photos-lot-4-089
Digital Archaeology: Dell Inspiron 531s
https://ecency.com/retrocomputing/@darth-azrael/digital-archaeology-dell-inspiron-531s
Vintage Photos - Lot 4 (085-088)
https://ecency.com/photography/@darth-azrael/vintage-photos-lot-4-085
Compute!'s Gazette (April 1988)
https://ecency.com/retrocomputing/@darth-azrael/compute-s-gazette-april-1988
Check out my other Social Media haunts (though most content is links to stuff I posted on Hive or re-posts of stuff originally posted on Hive):
Wordpress: https://www.megalextoria.com/wordpress
Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/darth-azrael
Blogger: https://megalextoria.blogspot.com/
Odyssee: https://odysee.com/@Megalextoria:b
Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/c-2385054
Daily Motion: https://www.dailymotion.com/Megalextoria
Books I am reading or have recently read:
You Like It Darker by Stephen King.
The Altar Path by Joseph Lisiewski.
Red Star Falling by Steve Berry.
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