BYTE Magazine - back in the day!
mindrobots
Posts: 6,506
Hey kids!! Come feast your eyes on how many of your respected elders learned about new computer trends!
I'm wondering if David Betz, Leon Heller, Gordon McComb or any of our other esteemed forum members have any articles buried in these gems???
BYTE Vol 1, Issue 1, September 1975
I don't remember having issue #1 - I'll need to cruise through the archives and see if there's a cover that jumps out at me as my "first" - you should never forget your first BYTE, right??
(On looking at the archive covers, from issue #10 onward looks like where I started. Things start to look unfamiliar starting with issue #10...shortly after they came out with their "Guide to the IBM Personal Computer"...meh, just another PC magazine after that!
Have fun as you go back to a kindler, gentler era in micro-computing......maybe there are even thing to learn/re-learn that you can use today!
I'm wondering if David Betz, Leon Heller, Gordon McComb or any of our other esteemed forum members have any articles buried in these gems???
BYTE Vol 1, Issue 1, September 1975
I don't remember having issue #1 - I'll need to cruise through the archives and see if there's a cover that jumps out at me as my "first" - you should never forget your first BYTE, right??
(On looking at the archive covers, from issue #10 onward looks like where I started. Things start to look unfamiliar starting with issue #10...shortly after they came out with their "Guide to the IBM Personal Computer"...meh, just another PC magazine after that!
Have fun as you go back to a kindler, gentler era in micro-computing......maybe there are even thing to learn/re-learn that you can use today!
Comments
https://archive.org/details/computermagazines
Among those collected on archive.org that I contributed to include Compute, Creative Computing, 80 Micro, Kilobaud/Microcomputing (good 'ol Wayne Green) and I think the odd Computer Shopper here and there. By '84 I was writing primarily for a buyer's guide magazine that's been long gone, Macworld, and a few others. It would be cool if more of these magazines had issues scanned. They're fun to look at.
I still have a copy of the "Best of byte Vol1" kicking around.
A great magazine.
There's also an ad from tri-tek with a rather buxom "AMPL'ANNY' skating figure that may have inclined you to go buy that VMP1 N-channel MOSFET in a TO-3 package that could switch one amp in 5ns for only $9.75 (in '75 dollars ~= $50)!!! In those days computers could do ANYTHING, you were only limited by your imagination, and of course software, and of course memory etc etc.
I thought I read last year that he was taking it back somehow!
I have MANY issues stashed away in wooden crates somewhere - not sure how many years! I was an avid fan!!
I have that same one. Made it through 8 moves.
Personal Computer World (PCW) was another great magazine, I bought it from the first issue (1978) and kept it up until they, too, changed to just an application review magazine. Then I stopped my subscription. Unfortunately I at some point dumped all my PCW copies due to space problems (again with a couple of the non-interesting late ones left). And PCW was never scanned, unlike Byte and other American magazines. But all is not lost: I said I had dumped all my PCW issues, but just before I left for Japan I found a whole stack of old ones, so apparently I didn't dump *everything*.
Wow, I actually remember many of those covers...weird.
It was difficult in the early days to regularly buy Byte from the newsagency. Then I was able to get the local newsagency to reserve me a copy before it was possible to subscribe with a reasonable shipping price and timeliness. Sadly all my copies, plus other mags like Dr Dobbs etc were put in the recycle bins when we moved in 2001.
How many remember the April Fools joke of the Printergrated Circuit ? Not sure which mag ran this.
At the same time as all this was happening, I had my own mini/mainframe in my airconditioned garage. I really should dig out those old photos - seriously, the mini was the length of my garage!
I think that was Electronics Australia or perhaps it was Electronics Today (International) that had printed the page with new technology ink that could create an integrated circuit on paper!!!! WOW! So totally impressive, you just wanted to get the battery and meter out to check it. Wait a minute......what's the date again?.........
I had a friend who showed me the old IBM360 mainframe system he bought from a bank for $500 back in the early 80's. He had it parked under his high-set house, ALL of under his house!!!! Looked great though. The problem was paying to get the electrical supply upgraded enough to power the thing assuming all the units were able to be reconnected. Then there would be the problem with the missus when the power bill arrived........
Had to power each disc drive up separately as the initial surge was 30A @ 240Vac. Each disc drive was 10MB (removable 6 x 19" platters), the size of a washing machine, and cost $16,000 new. How things have changed!
OMG that's hysterical. It's a wonder we ever got computers in space. The pendulum has swung the other way now. These days I worry about losing a 64 GB micro SD card. Oops, get another one for $5.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Class-10-64GB-Micro-SD-SDHC-TF-Memory-Card-w-SD-Adapter-For-Smart-Phones-Tablet-/262372376157
That's probably why you would "lose" them....64GB Class 10 for $5 one off.....that can't possibly be a real 64GB memory, can it? (and I'm used to really good prices on memory too)
Today's problem is that ~22nm and finer are not guaranteed to last > 10 years because the metal layer track widths are too fine to remain stable for longer. Apparently the metal is so fine it flows over time as if it is a liquid.
Best not to plan space missions, satellites, planes, etc for >10 years using the latest technology. Bet there are a lot that don't know this and will get caught.
Voyager 1 & 2 are nearly 40 years, plus the build time of ??? years.
One of the Mars Rovers is over 12 years on Mars, plus trip to get there and build time.
New Horizons is about 10 years (the Pluto mission).
Space Station ??? years.
Hubble Telescope ??? years.
And incidentally we've only had integrated circuits onboard any space craft since the Apollo missions, and possibly late Gemini. And then highly specialized. Look up rad hard in the methods of making sure they work up there.
Here's why:
With a blowtorch and pliers.
I wonder if that would still work for SMT chips
Regarding the System/360... it was a sad day when they tore apart (literally) the model 50 I learned on... for the gold in the connectors. I could have bought one of the circuit modules for $5 but being a poor student, I passed.
Thank you, that explains most of it.
Enjoy!
Mike
If they had seen any Hollywood action movies the Martians would know they could just hack all the sensors with dummy data and mission impossible control would be none the wiser.
Besides, that was funny several years earlier.
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Incidentally erco why are all of your robots at Gordon's place watching TV?
Thanks for that link, finally got every one of them using a phone and limited 3G. Paged through every one from beginning to end, It was a great look back in time, the birth of home computing and just how it evolved. Byte news stand price started out @ $1.50 US and ended up in these files @ $3.99 per copy. Byte count started out @ around 60mb and the later edition's were around 300mb, most of that increase was advertisement. Not to interesting after 86 and the migration to IBM and compatables.