Computer Shopper (February 1988) | Ecency

_{Cover of the February 1988 issue of Computer Shopper.}

Computer Shopper was, without a doubt, the largest computer magazine that ever existed. These things were frequently the size of a telephone book. The February 1988 issue is fairly modest at only little only 500 pages. While known primarily has the best shopper's guide for computer parts before the Internet came along and took that role, it had lots of great articles and other content as well. This issue includes:

Articles

Speeding Along At 9600 Baud - The technology behind 9600bps modems as well as a look at some of the firts 9600bps modems including the Real-Vadic 9600 VP Modem, Multi-tech Modem 696E, US Robotics Courier HST, and V Series Hayes Smartmodem 9600.

Counterpoint: Sure...9600 Baud Is Great! (But Who Really Needs It?) - 9600bps modems were nice but they could be well over $1000. At the time, most online activity was text based and files were relatively small so 2400bps (at 1/4 the cost or less) was good enough for most people with 9600bps being a luxury...at least until prices came down.

IBM PS/2 VGA - A New Era In Graphics? - IBM's PS/2 and microchannel architecture were ultimately a market failure but the PS/2 did introduce VGA which would become the de-facto video standard for years to come.

Editorial - A look at the importance of Hypercard based software on the Macintosh.

IBM-MS DOS

Tapping The Power Of The '386 - The 386 was Intel's latest CPU at the time. It was really the first to be able to run a reasonable version of Windows and ultimately support multimedia.

Telecommunications With OPUS 8 - A telecommunications tutorial using a terminal/telecommunications program called OPUS 8 on the PC.

Galaxy, Down And Dirty Shareware Word Processor - A basic word processor for the PC that can be used for free.

dBase III Utilities IV Advanced Communications Library - Enabling telecommunications within dBase III.

Inside Concurrent DOS 386 - Part IV in a series on Concurrent DOS. This was a version of DOS by Digital Research that allowed you to run multiple DOS programs at the same time.

Microsoft Ships Excel For PC - Microsoft ships Excel for Windows. It would become the dominant spreadsheet program...and it still is.

DoublePerfect: MousePerfect And WordPerfect - At the time, WordPerfect did not have mouse support but you could be a $25 program that added mouse support.

Round-up Of Lotus Utilities - Part 9 of a series. There were tons of what were essentially plug-ins for Lotus by various companies that extended the functionality of Lotus.

Dataflex - Applications Development Database - A database management system available for a variety of computers and operating systems.

Amstrad Introduces New Line Of Personal Portable Computers - The Amstrad PPC 640 featured an 8 MHz 8086 CPU, 640x200 pixel LCD display, 640K RAM, one or two 3.5" 720K disk drives, and a 2400bps modem for around $1000.

Dac Easy Word II: $50 Buys A Lot Of Word Processing Power - A look at this budget word processor. More well known packages were much more expensive.

_{Table of Contents from the February 1988 issue of Computer Shopper.}

Macintosh

Hyperspectives - An examination of Hypercard.

MacUniverse - A report from this Macintosh only computer show.

Alternate Reality - The City - A review of the Mac version of this classic adventure game.

Inner Drive 40/SE Adds Internal Hard Disk To Macintosh SE - A new internal 40 MB hard drive for the Macintosh SE for $999.

Apple

Mini-Graphics Language - A 10 command language build on top of Apple BASIC for creating graphics.

Exec Files In Applesoft BASIC - A guide to using Exec files within Apple BASIC. Exec files in this context are text files meant to be acted on by BASIC.

Amiga

The Amazing Amiga 2000 - A Hands-On Review - The Amiga 2000 was the most open version of the machine, designed for expansion with tons of slots. There was even an IBM bridge card for PC compatibility and as I recall, the Amiga had the ability to run as both machines simultaneously.

FACC II - Speeding Up Disk Operations On The Amiga - Software designed for speeding up floppy disk access.

Atari ST

Hacking The ST - A look at the Mark Williams C compiler and Mark Williams MicroEMACS.

Atari ST News And Comment - A look at new product announcements including a CD-ROM drive, Atari PC-2 PC clone, and more.

MSDOS For Your Atari ST - A look at a PC emulation program called PC-Ditto.

WordPerfect 4.1 For The Atari ST - WordPerfect was available for a variety of platforms including this version for the Atari ST.

Atari ST Outlook - Future operating systems and software for the ST.

IDRIS: Multi-Tasking Software For ST And Mega Lines - A Unix like OS for the ST that can run Unix software.

_{Random Ad}

Computer Starter

Computer Communications - A Primer - A newbies guide to using a modem.

Your BASIC Backpack - Solving basic problems in BASIC.

The Power of PC/MSDOS Batch Files - Using batch files to automate many functions of your PC and to perform other tasks.

Ask Dr. John - Questions answered about adding a 3.5" drive to an XT clone.

Computer Books

Steve Jobs - The Journey Is The Reward - A biography of Steve Jobs up to a point after he had left Apple but before he came back.

Commodore

C128 80-Columnn Magic - Some tips for using the Commodore 128's 80-column mode.

Blackflashing And Bakerizing - How to get deep black color out of older laser printers.

Ashton-Tate Graphics Service And Master Graphics Express - A service that allows users of Chart-Master, Diagram-Master, Sign-Master, and Presentation Pack to order color slides, overhead transparencies and prints.

Atari

Applying The Atari - Reader feedback and questions about reading trackball inputs, a program that converts English input to a decimal number, and more.

Texas Instruments

TI Forum - A report from the annual Chicago TI Fair, a fix for LEGENDS adventure program, a new program to transfer files to/from the PC, and more.