Byte (September 1987)




Cover of the September 1987 issue of Byte


Byte was a bit more technical than most mainstream computer magazines of the time. It really was more for hobbyists than just users. The September 1987 issue includes:

Features

  • A Programmer's Introduction to OS/2 - A guide to writing applications in OS/2. OS/2 was a more advanced OS than DOS but it never really caught on in a mainstream way. I remember really wanting OS/2 when version 2.1 was out. It's promise of running DOS and Win 3.1 apps simultaneiously (in addition to OS/2 apps of course) really appealed to me. Unfortunately, it didn't work right with the video card in my 486/DX2-66. It was a frustrating experience.
  • The New Generation: A Closer Look - Bencharking the 80386 and the 68020.

  • Ciarcia's Circuit Cellar: Build the Circuit Cellar AT Computer, Part 1: AT Basics - Designing a 286 based PC on a card.

  • Programming Project: Crafting Reusable Software in Modula-2 - Building reusable program libraries with careful design in Modula-2.

  • Programming Insight: Teaching Old Screens New Tricks - Creating fancy screen displays in your own programs on the IBM PC. Keep in mind we are talking about text based displays for the most part.

  • Constructing an Associative Memory - Creating a simple nonlinear neural network that runs on your PC.

  • Karmarkar's Alorithm - A description of a method for solving large linear programming problems.




  • Table of Contents from of the September 1987 issue of Byte


    Theme: Printer Technologies

    • Color Printing - A look at the color printing technologies of the time. For the most part, they are basically the same as what we have today though really only ink jet and laser have survived in mainstream use.

    • Vector-to-Raster Alogorithms - Methods for converting what is on the screen to the printer.

    • Page Printers - They are really talking about laser printers here. The problem at the time was that they were very expensive (and still are relatively speaking though not nearly so much so) and they weren't high enough resolution to desktop publishing (300 dpi at the time).

    • Print Quality - A look at the various factors that influence print quality and how to objectively measure it.

    • Engineering Close-Ups: Taming the Hot Heads - With increased print speeds comes increased print head temperatures. A look at how this problem is being resolved.

    • Matrix-Line Printing - An alternative to serial character printing that uses an 8-inch wide bank of print hammers that has to move only 1/3 of an inch to print an entire line.

    • Color Thermal-Transfer Printing - The challenges of getting good qualitng color thermal-transfer printing.

    • Designing a High-Speed Page Printer Controller - The printer controller was often the bottleneck when it came to print speed for laser printers. A look at how to design faster interafaces.

    • Strip-Buffer vs. Full-Page Bit-Map Imaging - Page printers basically use full page bitmap images. However, as resolution goes up, so does memory usage. Strip-buffer technology was a more memory friendly alternative.




    Table of Contents from the September 1987 issue of Byte (continued)


    Reviews

    • The Kaypro 386 - Kaypro's entry into the 386 market. This machine incudes at 16 MHz 386 CPU, 51k RAM on board with an optional 2-megabyte expansion board that can be expanded to 16 megabytes, a 1.2 MB 5.25" flopp drive, hard drive options ranging from 40 megabytes to 330 megabytes, and more. A model with no hard drive and 512K RAM would set you back $4495.

    • Mail-Order Performance - A look at two 286 based PCs including the Proteus Technology's Proteus 286GT and PC Design's GV-286.

    • The NEC Multispeed - A look at this NEC laptop that includes the NEC V30 CPU that can operate at 4.77 and 9.54 MHz, 640K RAM, and a 720K 3.5" disk drive for $2195.

    • The Micro Clipper Graphics Subsystem - A high-end graphics card for CAD systems for $3295.

    • PC-MOS/386 - A DOS compatible multitasking and multiuser OS for 386 based PCs. I'm continually surprised by how many of these sorts of multitasking DOS systems were around.

    • Actor 1.0 - Smalltalk was the best known object oriented programming language at the time. Actor was meant to be a simpler alternative.

    • ALS Prolog - A review of this Prolog compiler and a comparison with Turbo Prolog 1.1.

    • Benchmarking dBASE III Compilers - A look at three dBASE III compilers including Clipper, Quicksilver 1.1, and FoxBASE + 2.00.

    • DESQview 2.00 - DESQview is a multitasking system that would let you run multiple DOS programs in different Windows. I remember this being popular among BBS operators in the early 1990s. You could always tell when the Sysop was on doing other things because the BBS would slow down a bit.

    Kernel

    • Computing at Chaos Manor: In the Chips - A look at various products including Chessmaster 2000, the DSI-785 68020 Coprocessor Board, Eureka: The Solver from Borland, Faery Tale Adventure, the Kaypro 386, pc-ditto, SpeedStor, and VOPT.

    • Applications Only: Potpourri - A look at new software including MemoryMate, Mirror II, Tracker, Oyster, Guide, and The Comic Strip Factory.

    Departments

    • Editorial: Mere Conservatism - or Fear, Undertainty, and Doubt? - Why people chose the IBM PC AT over other machines such as the Compaq 386 and IBM PS/2 Model 80 among others as the best general-purpose microcomputer.

    • Letters and Review Feedback - Letters from readers about Lyrix word processor, the C-terp C interpreter, desktop publishing, and more.

    • Microbytes - Problems in the U.S. semiconductor industry; a look at Apple's Cray Simulation Engine used for UI design; MacBrain neural computing software for the Mac Plus/SE/II; and more.

    • What's New - Hypercard and MultiFinder bundled with 1-megabyte Macs; PaintJet color printers from HP; OS/286 and OS/286 protected mode operating systems; System V/386 for the 80386; Rodine 450 RX 45 megabyte hard drive for the Macintosh SE/II; Z80 CP/M card from MicroSolutions for the IBM PC; Data General's Model 2T laptop; and more.

    • Ask BYTE - Questions answered about optimizing hard drives in the IBM PC, measuring earthquakes with computers, and more.

    • Book Reviews - Reviews of CD ROM 2: Optical Publishing, 68000 Assembly Language: Techniques for Building Programs, and Software Components with Ada: Structures, Tools and Subsystems.




    Back cover of the September 1987 issue of Byte


    ...and more!


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    Byte (December 1976)
    https://ecency.com/retrocomputing/@darth-azrael/byte-december-1976



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