Cover of the January 19th, 1985 issue of Personal Computer News
Personal Computer News was a weekly computer magazine that was published in the U.K. As far as I know, we didn't really have anything like this in the U.S. I remember some weekly publications for computers but they were business oriented.
The January 19th, 1985 issue includes:
Output
- Spectrum Toolkit - A type-in set of programming tools for the Spectrum. They help you renumber, delete lines, delete REMs (comments), create line 0 REM, and more.
- QL Magic - A type-in set of machine language tools that enhance QDOS on the Spectrum QL.
- 64 Sprites - A type-in sprite handling program for the Commodore 64.
Hardware
- Canon's Contender - A review of the Canon V-20 which was Canon's first implementation of an MSX standard computer.
Peripherals
- Spectrum Teletex - An adapter for the Spectrum that is essentially a digital modem that allows access to a specific service (Teletext).
- Acorn ROM Routines - Two expansion options for the BBC that allows additional ROMs to be added including the Sideways ROM cartridge system and ROM box.
Table of Contents from the January 19th, 1985 issue of Personal Computer News
Software
- The Beeb Makes Music - Review of The Music System for the BBC. This software consists of five modules including a synthesizer, editor, printer, linker, and keyboard.
- IBM Writes... - A review of Samna Word III, a word processor for the IBM PC.
Regulars
- Monitor - Atari announces XE line of 8-bit computers and the Atari ST; Commodore shows Commodore 128 and Commodore LCD; Commodore 64 and Spectrum top the sales charts for Christmas; and more.
- PCNCharts - Top 20 games overall, top 10 Spectrum games, top 10 Commodore 64 games, plus top computers. Ghostbusters was at the top of all three software charts.
- Random Access - Letters from readers about the MSX, Doomdark, the Independent Sinclair User Group, the Sanyo MBC, and more.
- Routine Enquiries - Questions answered about choosing between the BBC and Enterprise computers, using a typewriter as a printer, increasing the number of characters displayed on the Dragon 32, and more.
- Microwaves - Various tips and tricks for your computer including a machine code routine for blinking the cursor on the Atari 8-bit, creating random access files of less than 16k on the BBC, a program to warn you when you are entering lower case letters on the BBC, and more.
Back cover of the January 19th, 1985 issue of Personal Computer News
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