_{Cover of the May 1985 issue of Byte}

How many people have even seen a 600 page magazine? Magazines are much more uncommon than they used to be and I don't think any exist these days of this size. But in 1985, that's how big Byte was. Just spending 5 seconds per page flipping through this behemoth would still take you most of an hour. The March 1985 issue includes:

Features

• Ciarcia's Circuit Cellar: Build the Touch-Tone Interactive Message System - A design for a touch-tone messaging system ultimately designed to be part of an integrated home-control and voice-messaging system.


• Factfinder - A text-oriented database for the to Macintosh.


• Arithmetic on Your PC - Using strings and arrays to perform various operations on a 200 digit number.


• Build a Serial Card - Save $85 by building your own serial card using this design instead of buying one.

_{Table of Contents from the May 1985 issue of Byte}

Themes

• Build Your Dream Editor - A look at customizable editors for the PC including VEDIT, PMATE, P-Edit, and BRIEF.


• The Commodore 64 80-Column Terminal - Details for building an interface for the Commodore 64 that lets it operate as an 80 column terminal. Normally, the Commodore 64 can only display 40 columns. Incidentally, in the early 1990s I used a shareware terminal program called NovaTerm for calling BBSes that did this in software. Probably not as high quality as a hardware solution but it was acceptable.


• The Kit Solution - A look at the 80186 based Slicer single board kit computer. It includes 256K of RAM and could also be purchased as a complete system.


• Public-Domain Gems - A look at recent public domain software for the PC and Mac. Some titles include PC-Talk III (terminal software for the PC), RBBS-PC (BBS for the PC), Fido (including FidoNet), PC-File (database), PC-Write (word processor), Core War (game), MVP Forth (programming language), and more.

Reviews

• The Altos 586 with the XENIX Development System - This machine, starting at $8990, includes a terminal, 10 MHz Intel 8086, the Xenix operating system, a double-sided quad-density floppy drive, and 512K of RAM, a 20 MB hard drive and more.


• The NEC APC III - A computer design for businesses that features an 8-MHz 8086, high-res color graphics (640 x 400), a 5.25" floppy drive, and 256K of RAM. However, it only has limited PC compatibility.


• Atari 800XL - This was probably my favorite version of the Atari 8-bit computer (though I still prefer the Commodore 64).


• Dazzle Draw - A paint program for the Apple IIC/IIe that allows you to paint with 16 colors.

_{Table of Contents from the May 1985 issue of Byte (continued)}

Kernel

• Computing At Chaos Manor: On The Road: Hackercon and COMDEX - Discussion and reviews of various products including Animation Toolkit, CD ROM, CineMAC Upgrade Kit, DB Master, Fast Finder, Hyperdrive, Macintosh, MacVision, Mite, Pascal MT+ Professional BASIC, Smartline Smartboard, Wizardry, Wordstar 2000, and Write Once.


• BYTE West Coast: Up to Date - A look inside the Hacker's Conference (probably not what you are thinking) plus a first look at GEM.


• BYTE U.K.: Multitasking FORTH - With FORTH, multitasking systems can be built even on small machines such as the Commodore 64 and Sinclair ZX81.


• BYTE Japan: A Sampler - A look at Turbo Pascal, Megabit RAMs, UNIX, PC-UX, the PC-9801F3, the NEC APC III, the IBM JX, and Wordstar 2000.


• Editorial: Another World: The 68000 - A variety of upcoming 68000 computers offer alternatives to the IBM PC and its clones. These included the Commodore Amiga and Atari ST among others.


• Microbytes - MSX computers shown at CES (though none were for sale), wrist computers in Japan, new Braille printer from Visualtek, and more.


• Letters - Letters from readers with topics such as Revelation from Cosmos, fractals, Unix Vs. XENIX, adding a PC hard drive, and more.

_{Back cover of the May 1985 issue of Byte}

Read more: https://www.megalextoria.com/wordpress/index.php/2025/02/04/byte-may-1985/

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Books I am reading or have recently read:

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777 by Rick Atkinson
Total Power by Vince Flynn

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