HP-28 series

The HP-28C and HP-28S were two graphing calculators produced by Hewlett-Packard from 1986 to 1992.
The HP-28C was the first handheld calculator capable of solving equations symbolically.
They were replaced by the HP 48 series of calculators, which grew from the menu-driven RPL programming language interface first introduced in these HP-28 series.
History.
Two models were produced, the HP-28C came first in 1987 with 2 kilobytes of usable RAM, and was the first handheld calculator with a Computer Algebra System. A year later, the more common HP-28S was released with 32 KB of RAM and a directory system for filing variables, functions, and programs. The HP-28C used a Saturn processor running at 640 kHz whereas the HP-28S used a custom chip containing an improved Saturn processor core codenamed Lewis and running at 1 MHz.
The HP-28C was the last HP model introduced with the suffix "C" in its model designation – a practice which HP had started with the HP-25C back in 1976. The "C" had distinguished those models as having continuous memory. However, by 1988 that capability had become so common on calculators that it was no longer a feature of distinction, as it was an assumed characteristic of all serious scientific and business calculators. So beginning with the HP-28S, HP-17B, HP-19B, and HP-27S, the feature suffix "C" was replaced with a class suffix which was more meaningful in the market: "S" for Scientific, "B" for Business, and later (in 1993) "G" for Graphic.
Design.
Clamshell.
The HP-28 calculators shared a flip-open ("clamshell") case. On the left side of the flip, there is an alphabetic keyboard (in alphabetic order). On the right was a typical scientific keyboard layout.
LCD display.
The display was a 137×32 LCD dot matrix, usually displaying four lines of information (3 stack/command lines, plus one softkey label line).
Lack of computer interface.
Among the drawbacks of the HP-28 was the lack of a computer interface. This meant that stored information could only be entered through the keypad and not backed up.
Weak battery cover.
This model (and the HP-19 series that used the same clamshell design and internals) had one design problem that affected many units: the springs inside the unit that made contact with its three N-sized batteries made a considerably strong force, and the notches on the case in which the lid edges slid were too thin and shallow. Even if the case itself was sturdy enough, those notches were under extreme pressure, most especially while the user was opening or closing the lid (such as during the replacement of the batteries). As the lid edges were made of a harder metal, the plastic notches in the case were prone to cracking or breaking, even in carefully kept devices. Surviving examples of the earlier versions of this calculator frequently have rubber bands around or tape over the cover to hold it in place (including the image attached to this article). This defect was later remedied on the HP-19BII, by putting the battery cover underneath the chassis.


HB-F9P

The HB-F9P was a Sony MSX2-computer, launched in 1985. The abbreviation HB stands for Hit Bit.
The HB-F9P was unusual in the sense that it did not come with a built in floppy disk drive, instead it had a built in software suite "Memovision" that would run automatically unless a program cartridge was inserted in the cartridge slot or the GRAPH key was pressed during booting. Memovision could store data on the special HBI-55 (battery backed RAM) "data cartridge" that Sony originally had developed, for their HB-55 and HB-75 MSX1 computers. These systems contained a simple built in program called the "Personal Databank". Memovision was a continuation of the same idea, but much extended, as it contained stuff like a (birthday) calendar with alarm system, a "family databank" (a combination of a text editor and database) a built in calculator and a timer and time calculator, all rendered in pseudo 3D style.
Variants.
Of the "HB-F9" there were many different localized variants produced:


Battle Trek

Battle Trek is a video game written by Gilman Louie for the TRS-80 published by Voyager Software in 1981. An Atari 8-bit family version followed in 1982.
Gameplay.
"Battle Trek" is a game in which the player is commander of the starship USS Ranger.
Reception.
Hosea Battles, Jr. reviewed the game for "Computer Gaming World", and stated that "The game is quite exciting. I was constantly torn between redistributing power and firing weapons."


P8000

The P8000 is a microcomputer system developed in 1987 by the VEB Elektro-Apparate-Werke Berlin-Treptow „Friedrich Ebert“ (EAW) in the German Democratic Republic (DDR, East Germany). It consisted of an 8-bit and a 16-bit microprocessor and a Winchester disk controller. It was intended as a universal programming and development system for multi-user/multi-task applications. The initial list price of the P8000 was 172,125 East German marks (around 860,000–1.7 million DM).
There was also a budget version with only an 8-bit microprocessor.
The 8-bit microcomputer.
The 8-bit version of P8000 was completely contained on a single 4-layer printed circuit board. The processor, with a clock frequency of 4 MHz, was based on the U880 microprocessor (near clone of Zilog Z80) and peripheral circuits along with the U8272 floppy-disk controller. Direct memory access was accomplished by U858 DMA controller chip..
The system featured a main memory of 64 KB dynamic RAM, an 8 K EPROM, and a 2 KB static RAM for boot code, system test routines and the system monitor. This extra memory could be moved or turned off in 4-KB-stages in the 64 K address space.
The 8-bit machine had four serial ports, designated tty0 to tty3. These interfaces could operate either as V.24 or IFSS ("Interface sternförmig seriell"–20 mA current loop) signals. In addition the computer had a parallel port which allowed the connection of an EPROM burner. Another internal 32-bit parallel interface was used for the coupling the 8-bit to a 16-bit microcomputer card. Data exchange was via two built-in 5.25" floppy drives. Two additional 5.25" or 8" floppy drives could be connected externally.
The 16-bit microcomputer.
The 16-bit version of P8000 was divided into two functional units: the 16-bit processor card and up to four plug-in memory cards with sizes of 256 KB or 1 MB. The 16-bit processor was contained on a 6-layer PC board. The processor operated at a clock frequency of 4 MHz and was based on the U8001 (Zilog Z8001 clone) 16-bit microprocessor . Three U8010 memory management units (MMUs) augmented with special control logic handled the dynamic memory segment allocation and protected against unauthorized access. In addition the computer had 16 KB EPROM memory and 2 KB static RAM For the system Monitor and self-test routines. The peripheral circuitry was built around the U880 family. Dedicated control logic ensured the coordination with the U8001.
The 16-bit machine had four serial ports, designated tty4 to tty7. The interfaces handled both V.24 and IFSS signals. The 8-bit processor was connected to the 16-bit processor via an internal 32-bit parallel interface. Connection to the external Winchester disk was accomplished by another parallel port.
Winchester disk controller.
The Winchester-Disk controller (WDC) is an intelligent disk controller and was located in a separate unit, the Winchester disk enclosure. This unit contains the Winchester disk controller and up to two hard drives.
The WDC was based on the U880 microprocessor. An 8 KB EPROM stored the firmware. A 6 KB static RAM served as a buffer between the host computer to the disk . The WDC communicated with the host over an eight-bit-wide parallel interface in conjunction with additional control logic. The interface handled transmission of data blocks plus the command and acknowledgment information.
The system could support up to two identical drives using an ST-506 interface. The initial drive parameters were stored in the firmware, however with firmware version 4.2 it was possible, to use any MFM disk. From version 4.2 up the first sector of the disk stored the disk parameters in addition to bad sector information,
The terminal.
The P8000 terminal served as the input and output device of the P8000. It consisted of a green screen, a keyboard and a controller. The terminal could operate as an ADM-31 or VT100. It could switch between two character sets, which were stored in separate EPROMs. The interface operated in either V.24 or IFSS mode. The controller was based on a U884 and the graphics controller on o KR580WG75 (Intel 8275) chip. It used a piezoelectric speaker to issue audible alerts.
P8000 Compact.
Developed in 1989, the P8000 Compact was an enhanced version of the P8000. In this system the Winchester disk controller and hard drive were contained within in the housing of the host computer, eliminating the extra cabinet. In contrast to the P8000, the P8000 Compact was a 16-bit system with a battery-backed real-time clock standard. Optionally the P8000 Compact was also available with a third CPU, the U80601 (Intel 80286 clone). The P8000 Compact was the last computer developed by EAW.
Operating Systems.
The following operating systems were available for the P8000:


Pico (text editor)

Pico (Pine composer) is a text editor for Unix and Unix-based computer systems. It is integrated with the Pine e-mail client, which was designed by the Office of Computing and Communications at the University of Washington.
From the Pine FAQ: "Pine's message composition editor is also available as a separate stand-alone program, called PICO. PICO is a very simple and easy-to-use text editor offering paragraph justification, cut/paste, and a spelling checker...".
Pico does not support working with several files simultaneously and cannot perform a find and replace across multiple files. It also cannot copy partial text from one file to another (though it is possible to read text into the editor from a whole file in its working directory). Pico does support search and replace operations.
By comparison, some popular Unix text editors such as vi and Emacs provide a wider range of features than Pico; including regular expression search and replace, and working with multiple files at the same time. By comparison, Pico's simplicity makes it suitable for beginners.
A clone of Pico called nano, which is part of the GNU Project, was developed because Pico's earlier license had unclear redistribution terms. Newer versions of Pico as part of Alpine are released under the Apache License.
Basic commands and navigation.
Pico features a number of commands for editing. Arrow keys move the cursor a character at the time in the direction of the movement. Inserting a character is done by pressing the corresponding character key in the keyboard, while giving commands (such as save, spell check, justify, search, etc.) is done using a control key.
The command is used to spell check. The speller is defined from the command line using the -s option. When a person writes files in different languages, the speller can be set to be a script that interacts with the user to select the language to be checked.
The command is used to left justify text. Text is flowed in each line of a paragraph up to a limit set with the -r option in the command line. If no limit is given in the command line, then a default value of 72 characters per line is used. This limit is used to wrap lines during composition, as well as to justify text. The command justifies the text in the paragraph that the cursor is placed on. The command is used to justify the full file. In case that justification is not done correctly, or by mistake, it can be undone by pressing the command immediately after justification has been done.
The command is used to search for text. Search is done case insensitively, The search and replace command is not available by default, but must be enabled through the -b option in the command line.
Moving inside the editor can be done using the keyboard by using the arrow keys. Keys such as , or , scroll the text up or down (towards the beginning or end of the file, respectively). The commands , and move the cursor to the beginning or end of the file respectively, while the commands and move the cursor to the beginning and the end of the line that the cursor is located on.
Command-line options.
The following command line options allow users to configure Pico before editing a file. This information can be obtained by starting Pico with the -h command. When Pico is invoked from Pine or Alpine some of the options below can be configured from their Setup Configuration Screen by either enabling a specific feature, or configuring a variable. Below is indicated the way to configure Pico from the command line, as well as how to configure it from Alpine. Possible starting arguments for the Pico editor are:
"All arguments may be followed by a file name to edit."
The options -dcs, -kcs and -syscs are not available in the Windows version of Pico. However, the Windows version of Pico also has four options (-cnf, -cnb, -crf, -crb) that are not available in unix versions of Pico; each option is defined as follows: -cnf for Color for Normal Foreground, -cnb for Color for Normal Background, -crf for Color for Reverse Foreground and -crf for Color for Reverse Background. Their possible values are black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, and white or a 3 digit number, such as 009, 064, or 137.


The Micro User

The Micro User (titled BBC Micro User in the first three issues) was a British specialist magazine catering to users of the BBC Microcomputer series, Acorn Electron, Acorn Archimedes and, to a limited extent, the Cambridge Z88. It had a comprehensive mix of reviews of games, application software, and the latest Acorn computers; type-in programs (duplicated on a "cover disk" which was available separately), a correspondence page offering help with computer problems, and approachable technical articles on programming and the BBC Micro's internals.
The magazine hosted the long-running "Body Building" series by Mike Cook, in which each article introduced a small electronics project that could be built and connected to one of the BBC Micro's I/O ports. The project could be ordered in kit form or fully assembled, or the reader could source the parts and design as the articles contained a circuit diagram.
There were regular columns on adventure gaming from two successive contributors under the pseudonyms "Alice through the VDU" and "The Mad Hatter". They reviewed the latest adventure releases for Acorn computers, offered hints to some games and scattered mathematical and logical puzzles in their articles. Another regular columnist, using the pen-name of "Hac-Man" (in reference to "Pac-Man") set out cheats and compatibility fixes for popular arcade-style games, in the form of pokes or short type-in programs.
Watford Electronics and Technomatic were prominent advertisers, taking out multi-page spreads in every issue in the mid 1980s. From October 1983 the magazine carried the first four issues of "Electron User" as a pull-out; this then split off into an independent publication.
Acorn Computing.
With the October 1992 issue, the magazine was renamed "Acorn Computing".


Moon Patrol

 is a side-scrolling arcade shooter game developed and released by Irem in 1982. It was licensed to Williams for distribution in North America. "Moon Patrol" is often credited with the introduction of parallax scrolling in side-scrolling games. Taito's "Jungle King", a side-scroller released the same month as "Moon Patrol", also uses parallax scrolling.
Gameplay.
The player takes the role of a Luna City police officer assigned to Sector Nine, the home of the "toughest thugs in the galaxy". The player controls a Moon buggy that travels over the Moon's surface, viewed from the side as it moves toward the right. Craters, mines, and other obstacles on the ground must be shot or jumped over. Two types of flying UFOs attack from above and must be shot down. One of the flying enemies has a weapon which creates a crater when it hits the ground.
Gameplay is within a number of courses, and each is divided into 26 checkpoints, named after the letters of the English alphabet. Of these, the five major checkpoints—"E", "J", "O", "T" and, "Z"—denote a new "stage" with a new background and theme; for example, the third stage starting at J introduces mines. The top portion of the screen shows a timeline-style map of the course, with the five major checkpoints clearly marked. Above the map is an indicator of the current checkpoint, the time spent in the stage, and three indicator lights: the top light indicates upcoming enemy aerial attacks, the middle one indicates an upcoming minefield, and the bottom one indicates enemies approaching from behind.
At the end of a stage, that time spent is compared to the average, and bonus points are awarded accordingly, at 1,000 plus 100 per second bettered; completing an entire course gives an additional 5,000 points plus 100 per second bettered. There are two unique courses: the "Beginner Course" and the "Champion Course". The Champion Course "loops" forever, and each loop is numbered for convenience, up to three.
Extra lives are given at 10,000 points, and per 20,000 scored up to 50,000; thereafter, no more lives are given. Game ends upon the last patrol car destroyed. The game can be continued, but points scored from one game do not carry over. 999,990 points is the maximum high score that can be achieved; players can exceed this score, if they do, it "turns over".
Ports.
Atari, Inc. released "Moon Patrol" for the Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari ST, Commodore 64, VIC-20, IBM PC (as a self-booting disk), and Texas Instruments TI-99/4A. The versions for non-Atari systems were published under the Atarisoft label. The MSX conversion was published by Irem.
Reception.
"Moon Patrol" was among the five top-grossing arcade games on the monthly "RePlay" charts by January 1983.
"Moon Patrol" received a Certificate of Merit in the category of "1984 Best Science Fiction/ Fantasy Video Game" at the 5th annual Arkie Awards. "Arcade Express" reviewed the arcade version in January 1983 and scored it 8 out of 10.
Scott Mace of "InfoWorld" stated that "Moon Patrol" for the Commodore 64 was his favorite Atarisoft game, making good use of the computer's sound. "Computer Games" magazine called the Commodore 64 conversion a "very good" shoot 'em up and the "thinking man's killing game" while noting it has a continue feature like "Vanguard". They later gave the home computer conversions a B- rating.
Legacy.
"Moon Patrol" was included in the retro compilations "Arcade Hits: Moon Patrol & Spy Hunter" for Game Boy Color and "Midway Presents Arcade's Greatest Hits: The Midway Collection 2" for Dreamcast, PlayStation, and Microsoft Windows. In 2006 Bandai released an enhanced version as "Moon Patrol EX" for cell phones. On March 22, 2018, "Moon Patrol" was released for the Nintendo Switch by Hamster as part of the "Arcade Archives" series. A version was announced in 2018 for the Intellivision Amico.
Clones.
A bootleg version called "Moon Ranger" was released in the arcades the same year as "Moon Patrol".
Home clones include "Desert Patrol" for the TRS-80 Color Computer (1983),
"Gas Hog" for the Atari 2600 (1983),
"Lunar Rover Patrol" for the Dragon 32 (1983),
"Moon Buggy" for the Commodore 64 (1983),
"Moon Alert" for the ZX Spectrum (1984),
"Luna Rover" for the ZX Spectrum (1985),
"Moon Control" for the Amstrad CPC (1985),
"Moonrider" for MSX (1986),
and "Overlander" for the Amiga (1993). "Battle Through Time" (1984) for the Commodore 64 re-themed the gameplay to be about major wars of the 20th century.
Open-source clones named "moon-buggy" and "ASCII Patrol" run in Unix-like terminals.


Stand-alone shell

Stand-alone shell (codice_1) is a Unix shell designed for use in recovering from certain types of system failures and errors.
The built-in commands of sash have all libraries linked statically, so unlike most shells on Linux, the standard UNIX commands do not rely on external libraries. For example, the copy command (cp) requires libc.so and ld-linux.so when built from GNU Core Utilities on Linux. If any of these libraries get corrupted, the coreutils cp command would not work; however, in sash, the built-in command, cp, would be unaffected.
In earlier times, most critical commands (including shells) in /sbin or even /bin were statically linked for this purpose, whereas in /usr/sbin and /usr/bin you would find the more feature-rich versions that were dynamically linked. This is not common anymore and as such, statically linked shells with built-in commands have become more important.
Sash has the following built-in commands:
The Sash shell has also been ported to work with Androidin a terminal-interface.
sash-plus-patches.
"sash-plus-patches" is a collection of patches for sash. The key features are the codice_32, codice_33, and codice_19 commands. However, these functions are available in newer versions of sash. These functions provide interfaces to the respective Linux system calls. They are especially useful when sash is used in an initial ramdisk ("initrd") environment. In addition, simple shell variable expansion support has been added; e.g., the variable "$(VAR)" is replaced by the content of the environment variable "VAR".
Some Linux distributions, such as Debian and Slackware (via SlackBuilds.org), have this available.


Ziproxy

Ziproxy is a forwarding, non-caching, compressing, HTTP proxy server targeted for traffic optimization.
The ziproxy software is regarded as lightweight in terms of memory and processing power consumption.
This software works by recompressing pictures (such as JPEG, GIF, PNG, JPEG 2000), gzipping text and HTML/JS/CSS data optimization. Additionally it offers latency reduction by preemptive name resolution.
Further functionalities of compression are supplied by means of optimization of code, named "HTMLopt", "CSSopt" and "JSopt" (HTML/CSS/JS) which are analogous with Minification (programming).
Currently there are ports being maintained by third parties for Debian, Gentoo Linux, FreeBSD, and OpenBSD.


SeaBIOS

SeaBIOS is an open-source implementation of a 16-bit x86 BIOS, serving as a freely available firmware for x86 systems. Aiming for compatibility, it supports standard BIOS features and calling interfaces that are implemented by a typical proprietary x86 BIOS. SeaBIOS can either run on bare hardware as a coreboot payload, or can be used directly in emulators such as QEMU and Bochs.
Initially, SeaBIOS was based on the open-source BIOS implementation included with the Bochs emulator. The project was created with intentions to allow native usage on x86 hardware, and to be based on an improved and more easily extendable internal source code implementation.
Features.
Features supported by SeaBIOS include the following:
SeaBIOS's boot device selection menu can be accessed by pressing during the boot process.
Uses.
SeaBIOS can run natively on x86 hardware, in which case it is loaded by coreboot as a payload; it runs on 386 and later processors, and requires a minimum of 1 MB of RAM. Compiled SeaBIOS images can be flashed into supported motherboards using flashrom. SeaBIOS also runs inside an emulator; it is the default BIOS for the QEMU and KVM virtualization environments, and can be used with the Bochs emulator. It is also included in some Chromebooks, although it is not used by the Chrome OS.
Development.
Most of the SeaBIOS source code is written in C, with its build system relying on the standard GNU toolchain. SeaBIOS has been tested with various bootloaders and operating systems, including GNU GRUB, LILO, SYSLINUX, Microsoft Windows, Linux, FreeDOS, FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD.


Run-Time Abstraction Services

Run-Time Abstraction Services (RTAS) is run-time firmware that provides abstraction to the operating systems running on IBM System i and IBM System p computers.
It contrasts with Open Firmware, in that the latter is usually used only during boot, while RTAS is used during run-time.


WWWOFFLE

WWWOFFLE is a proxy server and web caching software, allowing dial-up or broadband users to cache data for offline use. It can handle HTTP, FTP, and finger protocol, and operates on IPv4 and IPv6. Version builds are Unix-based: ports are available for Linux, and Win32 support is provided via Cygwin.


Nikon E3s


COSMAC ELF

The COSMAC Elf was an RCA 1802 microprocessor-based computer described in a series of construction articles in "Popular Electronics" magazine in 1976 and 1977. Through the back pages of electronics magazines, both Netronics and Quest Electronics offered low-priced, enhanced kits that were based on this design. The system was a very early single-board personal computer. It was operated without built-in ROMs and programs were entered directly with help of the CPU integrated DMA using 8 toggle switches and an Input push button.
It featured two hexadecimal LED displays for byte data value output and a set of 8 toggle switches for input. (a hexadecimal keypad was an optional extension) The base configuration had 256 bytes of RAM, but expansion projects could raise that to a power of two-based memory store, with an upper limit of 64K address space.
The original Elf design used a crystal with a frequency in the range of 1 to 2 MHz with the 1802's built in oscillator circuit.
A simple circuit used the DMA feature of the 1802 to permit entry of programs and data into RAM through the toggle switches. Entering a byte via the toggle switches and pressing the "input" button would enter a byte into RAM and display it on the pair of hex LEDs, then advance the DMA counter to the next location. A "memory protect" switch could be used to disable memory alteration. If an error was made in program entry, it could be corrected by turning on memory protect, turning off load mode (thus resetting the program counter to zero), turning on load mode, and pressing "input" to advance to the address of the incorrect data. After turning off memory protect, the correct value could be entered.
The fourth article of the series presented modifications to use a companion RCA 1861 “Pixie” video generator IC (CDP1861). The Pixie required a 1.76 MHz clock, and since that was an uncommon crystal frequency, usually a readily available 3.579545 MHz colorburst crystal was instead used in a separate oscillator circuit with a divide-by-two circuit to drive the clock inputs of both the microprocessor and Pixie. The resulting 1.7897725 MHz clock was close enough for the hardware to work. Monochrome video output (with timing roughly approximating NTSC standard) could be generated using DMA operations interleaved with carefully arranged 1802 opcodes as instructions in software. The maximum resolution of the 1861 was 64h by 128v rectangular pixels. By changing the placement of instructions in the video display control and interrupt routines, pixel rows could be repeated to obtain lower resolutions, allowing the video display to be used with 256 bytes of RAM (64×32 square pixels).
A one-bit output from the microprocessor, the Q line, could be driven by software to produce sounds through an attached speaker, to save programs in RAM to a cassette recorder, and for serial I/O output. Branch instructions in the 1802 instruction set could read the state of the EF1 through EF4 single bit value input lines, which were used to read the 'I' keypad (input) momentary pushbutton (typically EF4), programs from the cassette recorder through interface circuitry, serial I/O input, and input from peripherals such as a light pen. There are also seven 8-bit I/O ports available for decoding and interfacing.
Microcomputers.
The original Elf computers were essentially home-built versions of the RCA Microkit, Microtutor I and Microtutor II, which were RCA's demonstration boards for their CDP1801 2-chip predecessor and single-chip CDP1802 microprocessors.
Enhanced kits such as the Netronics Elf II and Quest Super Elf added built-in features such as keypads for data entry, serial I/O, cassette interface, and the CDP1861 "Pixie" video chip. RCA later introduced their own similarly expanded version as the COSMAC VIP.
In August 2006, Nuts and Volts magazine, along with Spare Time Gizmos, released a project to build the "Cosmac Elf 2000," based on the original Elf, with some newer and easier to find components and enhanced features, modules, and functionality, including the STG1861 Pixie Graphics Replacement board that is functionally equivalent to the now-rare RCA CDP1861 integrated circuit.
The Membership Card is a modern, simple COSMAC Elf-like remake for retrocomputing hobbyists that is designed to fit in an Altoids tin.
Various other hobbyist systems can be found on the Internet, including hardware emulators using FPGA and modern microcontrollers.
Software.
A series of newsletters and small booklets offered by Netronics and Quest contained 1802 machine language and CHIP-8 programs, along with schematics for expanding the Elf and adding peripherals, including a light pen. Other, similar information and hobbyist software projects can be found on the Internet. The only published book about the 1802 is Tom Swan's "Programmer’s Guide to the 1802" (1981), which has been made available as a PDF after being out of print for many years.
Tiny BASIC, a version of BASIC offered by Tom Pittman, could be used to write small BASIC programs on the Elf that could display through the Pixie low-resolution monochrome graphics display or TV-Typewriter hardware. Pittman also wrote a small booklet about the 1802 titled "A Short Course In Programming", which he has allowed to be published and made available online free of charge.
Mike Riley has written an editor, assembler, BASIC and FORTH interpreters, a BIOS, and the Elf/OS disk operating system that will run on expanded Elf systems, including the COSMAC Elf 2000.
Other languages available are noted at the RCA 1802 Wikipedia entry, including interpreters, compilers and assemblers.
Game cartridges for the RCA Studio II contain Chip-8 games, which can run on other 1802 systems. File dumps of these games can be found on the Internet.
References.
Construction Articles


Nikon E2NS


GR8BIT

GR8BIT is an educational 8-bit computer hardware and software platform, upon which users can experiment with computer electronics in a simpler computer architecture compared to modern mainstream electronics. It was created by Eugeny Brychkov and licensed by the MSX Licensing Corporation.
History.
AGE Labs announced in 2011 the launch of a MSX kit called GR8BIT - the do-it-yourself computer for learning purposes, which was licensed by the MSX Licensing Corporation. The kit is priced at $499 and includes all necessary components to assemble a working MSX2 compatible computer, except for an ATX chassis, power supply, floppy drive, hard disk, PS/2 keyboard and monitor. It also comes with assembly and operational manuals and a supplement compiled from vendor and community support.


Zeus Web Server

Zeus Web Server is a discontinued proprietary web server for Unix and Unix-like platforms (including Solaris, FreeBSD, HP-UX and Linux). It was developed by Zeus Technology, a software company located in Cambridge, England. The original authors and company founders are University of Cambridge graduates Damian Reeves and Adam Twiss.
Support for AIX, Tru64, and Mac OS X was dropped on 10 June 2008. No new ZWS releases have been made since January 2010, and the company no longer offers a similar server solution. In July 2011, the company was acquired by Riverbed Technology, who ended support for ZWS on November 30, 2014.
Zeus was designed to be a high-performance web server and was commonly used by hardware vendors submitting SPECweb99 benchmarks for their hardware. The SPECweb99 benchmark was retired in 2005 and replaced by SPECweb2005. While some SPECweb2005 submissions were made using Zeus, by 2008 it was no longer among the top performers.
In addition to static content serving, Zeus supported dynamic content via CGI, FastCGI, Apache JServ, ISAPI, NSAPI, mod_perl, SSI and Zeus Distributed Authentication and Content (ZDAC), a proprietary FastCGI-like protocol. While Zeus mainly competed with other commercial web servers such as Oracle iPlanet Web Server, it also included a high degree of compatibility with Apache HTTP Server (including .htaccess support and a URL rewriting system comparable to Apache's mod_rewrite), with the expectation that Apache users would migrate to Zeus as their server load increased. NSAPI and ISAPI were added to ease migrations from Microsoft IIS and Sun Java System Web Server.


History (command)

In computing, various shells maintain a record of the commands issued by the user during the current session. The codice_1 command works with the command history list. When the command is issued with no options, it prints the history list. Users can supply options and arguments to the command to manipulate the display of the history list and its entries. The operation of the history command can also be influenced by a shell's environment variables. For example, an environment variable can be set to control the number of commands to retain in the list.
History.
In early versions of Unix the history command was a separate program. However, most shells have long included the history command as a shell built-in, so the separate program is no longer in common use.
Implementations.
The command is available in various Unix shells, as well as in PowerShell, ReactOS, and KolibriOS.
It is also included as external command in PTS-DOS where it keeps a resident part, sometimes in conventional memory.
Since most current history commands are shell built-ins, details depend on the choice of shell.
bash.
The codice_1 command has the following syntax in bash:
 history [-c] [-d offset] [n]
 history -awrn [filename]
 history -ps arg [arg...]
tcsh.
The codice_1 command has the following syntax in tcsh:
 history [-hTr] [n]
 history -S|-L|-M [filename] (+)
 history -c (+)
The first form prints the history event list. If n is given only the n most recent events are printed or saved. With -h, the history list is printed without leading numbers. If -T is specified, timestamps are printed also in comment form. (This can be used to produce files suitable for loading with 'history -L' or 'source -h'.) With -r, the order of printing is most recent first rather than oldest first.
With -S, the second form saves the history list to filename. If the first word of the savehist shell variable is set to a number, at most that many lines are saved. If the second word of savehist is set to `merge', the history list is merged with the existing history file instead of replacing it (if there is one) and sorted by time stamp. (+) Merging is intended for an environment like the X Window System with several shells in simultaneous use. Currently it succeeds only when the shells quit nicely one after another.
With -L, the shell appends filename, which is presumably a history list saved by the -S option or the savehist mechanism, to the history list. -M is like -L, but the contents of filename are merged into the history list and sorted by timestamp. In either case, histfile is used if filename is not given and ~/.history is used if histfile is unset. `history -L' is exactly like 'source -h' except that it does not require a filename.
Note that login shells do the equivalent of `history -L' on startup and, if savehist is set, `history -S' before exiting. Because only ~/.tcshrc is normally sourced before ~/.history, histfile should be set in ~/.tcshrc rather than ~/.login.
If histlit is set, the first and second forms print and save the literal (unexpanded) form of the history list.
The last form clears the history list.
PowerShell.
In PowerShell, "history" is a predefined command alias for the codice_4 cmdlet. In addition, PowerShell includes the codice_5, codice_6, codice_4, and codice_8 cmdlets. The codice_9 cmdlets serve the same purpose as the Unix-like codice_1 command.
 Get-History [[-Id] <Int64[]>] [[-Count] <Int32>] [<CommonParameters>]
 Add-History [[-InputObject] <PSObject[]>] [-Passthru] [<CommonParameters>]
 Clear-History [[-Id] <Int32[]>] [[-Count] <Int32>] [-Newest] [-Confirm] [-WhatIf] [<CommonParameters>]
 Clear-History [[-Count] <Int32>] [-CommandLine <String[]>] [-Newest] [-Confirm] [-WhatIf] [<CommonParameters>]
 Invoke-History [[-Id] <String>] [-Confirm] [-WhatIf] [<CommonParameters>]
ReactOS Command Prompt.
The codice_1 command of the [[ReactOS]] [[Command Prompt]] currently only supports printing the history list.
Further reading.
[[Category:Unix software]]
[[Category:Windows administration]]


Modula-2

Modula-2 is a structured, procedural programming language developed between 1977 and 1985 by Niklaus Wirth at ETH Zurich. It was created as the language for the operating system and application software of the Lilith personal workstation. It was later used for programming outside the context of the Lilith.
Wirth viewed Modula-2 as a successor to his earlier programming languages Pascal and Modula. The main concepts are:
The language design was influenced by the Mesa language and the Xerox Alto, both from Xerox PARC, that Wirth saw during his 1976 sabbatical year there. The computer magazine "Byte" devoted the August 1984 issue to the language and its surrounding environment.
Modula-2 was followed by Modula-3, and later by the Oberon series of languages.
Description.
Modula-2 is a general purpose procedural language, sufficiently flexible to do systems programming, but with much broader application. In particular, it was designed to support separate compiling and data abstracting in a straightforward way. Much of the syntax is based on Wirth's earlier and better-known language, Pascal. Modula-2 was designed to be broadly similar to Pascal, with some elements and syntactic ambiguities removed and the important addition of a "module" concept, and direct language support for multiprogramming.
The language allows use of one-pass compilers. Such a compiler by Gutknecht and Wirth was about four times faster than earlier multi-pass compilers.
Here is an example of the source code for the "Hello world" program:
MODULE Hello;
FROM STextIO IMPORT WriteString;
BEGIN
 WriteString("Hello World!");
END Hello.
A Modula-2 "module" may be used to encapsulate a set of related subprograms and data structures, and restrict their visibility from other parts of the program. The module design implemented the data abstraction feature of Modula-2 in a very clean way. Modula-2 programs are composed of modules, each of which is made up of two parts: a "definition module", the interface portion, which contains only those parts of the subsystem that are "exported" (visible to other modules), and an "implementation module", which contains the working code that is internal to the module.
The language has strict scope control. The scope of a module can be considered as an impenetrable wall: Except for standard identifiers, no object from the outside is visible inside a module unless explicitly imported; no internal module object is visible from the outside unless explicitly exported.
Suppose module M1 exports objects a, b, c, and P by enumerating its identifiers in an explicit export list
 DEFINITION MODULE M1;
 EXPORT QUALIFIED a, b, c, P;
Then the objects a, b,c, and P from module M1 become now known outside module M1 as M1.a, M1.b, M1.c, and M1.P. They are exported in a "qualified" manner to the outside (assumed module M1 is global). The exporting module's name, i.e. M1, is used as a qualifier followed by the object's name.
Suppose module M2 contains the following IMPORT declaration
 MODULE M2;
 IMPORT M1;
Then this means that the objects exported by module M1 to the outside of its enclosing program can now be used inside module M2. They are referenced in a "qualified" manner, thusly: M1.a, M1.b, M1.c, and M1.P. Example:
 ...
 M1.a := 0;
 M1.c := M1.P(M1.a + M1.b);
Qualified export avoids name clashes: For example, if another module M3 would also export an object called P, then we can still distinguish the two objects, since M1.P differs from M3.P. Thanks to the qualified export it does not matter that both objects are called P inside their exporting modules M1 and M3.
An alternative method exists, which is in wide use by Modula-2 programmers. Suppose module M4 is formulated as this:
 MODULE M4;
 FROM M1 IMPORT a, b, c, P;
Then this means that objects exported by module M1 to the outside can again be used inside module M4, but now by mere references to the exported identifiers in an "unqualified" manner, thusly: a, b, c, and P. Example:
 ...
 a := 0;
 c := P(a + b);
This method of unqualifying import allows use of variables and other objects outside their exporting module in exactly the same simple, i.e. "unqualified", manner as inside the exporting module. The walls surrounding all modules have now become irrelevant for all those objects for which this has been explicitly allowed. Of course unqualifying import is only usable if there are no name clashes.
These export and import rules may seem unnecessarily restrictive and verbose. But they do not only safeguard objects against unwanted access, but also have the pleasant side-effect of providing automatic cross-referencing of the definition of every identifier in a program: if the identifier is qualified by a module name, then the definition comes from that module. Otherwise if it occurs unqualified, simply search backwards, and you will either encounter a declaration of that identifier, or its occurrence in an IMPORT statement which names the module it comes from. This property becomes very useful when trying to understand large programs containing many modules.
The language provides for (limited) single-processor concurrency (monitors, coroutines and explicit transfer of control) and for hardware access (absolute addresses, bit manipulation, and interrupts). It uses a nominal type system.
Dialects.
There are two major dialects of Modula-2. The first is "PIM", named for the book "Programming in Modula-2" by Niklaus Wirth. There were three major editions of PIM: the second, third (corrected), and fourth. Each describes slight variants of the language. The second major dialect is "ISO", named for the standardization effort by the International Organization for Standardization. Here are a few of the differences among them.
Supersets.
There are several supersets of Modula-2 with language extensions for specific application domains:
Derivatives.
There are several derivative languages that resemble Modula-2 very closely but are new languages in their own right. Most are different languages with different purposes and with strengths and weaknesses of their own:
Many other current programming languages have adopted features of Modula-2.
Language elements.
Reserved words.
PIM [2,3,4] defines 40 reserved words:
Built-in identifiers.
PIM [3,4] defines 29 built-in identifiers:
Embedded system use.
Modula-2 is used to program many embedded systems.
Cambridge Modula-2.
Cambridge Modula-2 by Cambridge Microprocessor Systems is based on a subset of PIM4 with language extensions for embedded development. The compiler runs on DOS and it generates code for Motorola 68000 series (M68k) based embedded microcontrollers running a MINOS operating system.
Mod51.
Mod51 by Mandeno Granville Electronics is based on ISO Modula-2 with language extensions for embedded development following IEC1131, an industry standard for programmable logic controllers (PLC) closely related to Modula-2. The Mod51 compiler generates standalone code for 80C51 based microcontrollers.
Modula-GM.
Delco Electronics, then a subsidiary of GM Hughes Electronics, developed a version of Modula-2 for embedded control systems starting in 1985. Delco named it Modula-GM. It was the first high-level programming language used to replace machine code (language) for embedded systems in Delco's "engine control units" (ECUs). This was significant because Delco was producing over 28,000 ECUs per day in 1988 for GM. This was then the world's largest producer of ECUs. The first experimental use of Modula-GM in an embedded controller was in the 1985 Antilock Braking System Controller which was based on the Motorola 68xxx microprocessor, and in 1993 Gen-4 ECU used by the Champ Car World Series Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) and Indy Racing League (IRL) teams. The first production use of Modula-GM was its use in GM trucks starting with the 1990 model year "vehicle control module" (VCM) used to manage GM Powertrain's Vortec engines. Modula-GM was also used on all ECUs for GM's 90° Buick V6 engine family 3800 Series II used in the 1997-2005 model year Buick Park Avenue. The Modula-GM compilers and associated software management tools were sourced by Delco from Intermetrics.
Modula-2 was selected as the basis for Delco's high level language because of its many strengths over other alternative language choices in 1986. After Delco Electronics was spun off from GM (with other component divisions) to form Delphi Automotive Systems in 1995, global sourcing required that a non-proprietary high-level software language be used. ECU embedded software now developed at Delphi is compiled with commercial compilers for the language C.
Russian radionavigation satellites.
The satellites of the Russian radionavigation-satellite service framework GLONASS, similar to the United States Global Positioning System (GPS), are programmed in Modula-2.
Compilers.
Turbo Modula-2.
Turbo Modula-2 was a compiler and an integrated development environment for MS-DOS developed, but not published, by Borland. Jensen and Partners, which included Borland cofounder Niels Jensen, bought the unreleased codebase and turned it into TopSpeed Modula-2. It was eventually sold to Clarion, now owned by SoftVelocity, which still offers the Modula-2 compiler as part of its Clarion product line.
A Zilog Z80 CP/M version of Turbo Modula-2 was briefly marketed by Echelon under license from Borland. A companion release for Hitachi HD64180 was sold by Micromint as a development tool for their SB-180 single-board computer.
IBM Modula-2.
IBM had a Modula-2 compiler for internal use which ran on both OS/2 and AIX, and had first class support in IBM's E2 editor. IBM Modula-2 was used for parts of the OS/400 "Vertical Licensed Internal Code" (effectively the kernel of OS/400). This code was replaced with C++ when OS/400 was ported to the IBM RS64 processor family. A Motorola 68000 backend also existed, which may have been used in embedded systems products.
Operating systems.
Modula-2 is used to program some operating systems (OSs). The Modula-2 module structure and support are used directly in two related OSs.
The OS named "Medos-2", for the Lilith workstation, was developed at ETH Zurich, by Svend Erik Knudsen with advice from Wirth. It is a single user, object-oriented operating system built from Modula-2 modules.
The OS named "Excelsior", for the Kronos workstation, was developed by the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union, Siberian branch, Novosibirsk Computing Center, Modular Asynchronous Developable Systems (MARS) project, Kronos Research Group (KRG). It is a single user system based on Modula-2 modules.


Surface Studio

The Surface Studio is an all-in-one PC, designed and produced by Microsoft as part of its Surface series of Windows-based personal computing devices. It was announced at the Windows 10 Devices Event on October 26, 2016, with pre-orders beginning that day.
The first desktop computer to be manufactured entirely by Microsoft, the Surface Studio uses the Windows 10 operating system with the Anniversary Update preinstalled. However, it is optimized for the Windows 10 Creators Update, which was released on April 11, 2017. The product, starting at $2,999, is aimed primarily at people in creative professions such as graphic artists and designers.
Two years later, in October 2018, Microsoft announced its successor, the Surface Studio 2.
Features.
Hardware.
The Surface Studio has a 28-inch 4.5K "PixelSense" display with 4500 x 3000 pixels, equivalent to 192 dpi. The screen, the thinnest ever built for an all-in-one PC at 12.5 millimetres thick, is capable of being used in both the DCI-P3 and sRGB color spaces, and features a unique hinge design that allows it be tilted to a flat position, in a manner similar to the Wacom Cintiq. The bezel of the display contains a 5.0 megapixel camera and a Windows Hello-compatible backlit infrared camera.
The CPU is located in the base. Its compact design contains a 6th generation (codename "Skylake") Intel Core i5 or Core i7 processor and either a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M or GeForce GTX 980M graphics processor (both dependent on configuration). The system can be configured with up to 32 GB of DDR4 RAM and a 2 terabyte hard drive. It also features four USB 3.0 ports, a Mini DisplayPort, an SDXC card reader and a headset connection.
Unlike many desktop PCs, the Surface Studio supports Microsoft's Modern Standby (formerly known as InstantGo) specification, enabling background tasks to operate while the computer is sleeping. A firmware update was released in April 2017 that enabled Cortana to be summoned via a "Hey, Cortana" voice command from sleep, provided the Studio is running the Creators Update.
Accessories.
Microsoft specially designed its Surface Mouse and Surface Keyboard to work with the Surface Studio. It is also compatible with the Surface Pen and a newly created accessory, the Surface Dial. The latter consists of a round disk that can be placed on the display and rotated to perform various actions, such as scrolling, zooming, adjusting the volume, among others, with precision. Developers can utilize its APIs to integrate its functionality into their own products.
Reception.
The Surface Studio received generally positive reviews from technology critics. Many praised the large high resolution display, with Tom Warren of The Verge calling it "truly one of the best desktop monitors I’ve ever used". There was also praise for the design and build quality. Criticisms included the high entry price of the device, the all rear-facing I/O ports and the use of last generation Intel CPUs and Nvidia GPUs.


Nikon D3000

The Nikon D3000 is a 10.2-megapixel DX format DSLR Nikon F-mount camera announced by Nikon on 30 July 2009. It replaces the D40 as Nikon's entry level DSLR. It features a 3.0-inch 230,000-dot resolution LCD monitor, CCD sensor with ISO 100–1600 (3200 with Boost) and 3D tracking Multi-CAM1000 11-point AF system which makes it quite similar to the Nikon D200 in these main parts. Initially priced with $599 MSRP, actual prices are much lower.
The D3000 was superseded by the D3100 on August 19, 2010. The D3000 is the final Nikon DSLR to use a CCD sensor.
Features.
Like the Nikon D40, D40x, D60 and D5000, the D3000 has no in-body autofocus motor, and fully automatic autofocus requires a lens with an integrated autofocus-motor. With any other lenses the camera's electronic rangefinder can be used to manually adjust focus.
Can mount unmodified A-lenses (also called Non-AI, Pre-AI or F-type) with support of the electronic rangefinder and without metering.
Reception.
Reviews of Nikon D3000 have been generally positive, noting that the image quality of the D3000 is comparable to more expensive 10 megapixel cameras, while recognizing certain weaknesses such as the lack of live view and HD movie capabilities or movie capabilities in general.
Image noise compared to the Canon EOS 1000D / Rebel XS and Sony a230 was rated best in terms of remaining details by Cameralabs.


Your Sinclair

Your Sinclair, or "YS" as it was commonly abbreviated, was a commercially published and printed British computer magazine for the Sinclair range of computers, mainly the ZX Spectrum. It was in circulation between 1984 and 1993.
History.
The magazine was launched in January 1984 as Your Spectrum by Sportscene Specialist Press, (Sportscene would later be renamed to Dennis Publishing in April 1987).
Initially, it was published bimonthly, changing to monthly in June 1984. With the January 1986 issue, the title was relaunched as "Your Sinclair", with the intention of expanding coverage of the QL into the main magazine (previously, "QL User" had been a pull-out section within the magazine), and any future computers produced by Sinclair. However, the magazine remained focused almost entirely on the ZX Spectrum games scene.
In 1990, the magazine was sold to Bath-based Future plc, and the April 1990 issue was the first to be published by the new company. That issue's news section contained a feature on the change in publishers, which jokingly suggested that Future had intended to buy a Sinclair C5 and had ended up buying the magazine by mistake.
Publishing of the magazine ended in September 1993, after the commercial life of the Spectrum ended and the magazine had shrunk to fewer than forty pages per issue. A 94th issue, a retrospective on the magazine, was published in 2004 and given away free with "Retro Gamer" magazine. It featured interviews with some of the writers and reviewers from across the magazine's history, a four-page memoir written by former staff writer Phil South, and several new reviews and tips, keeping the style of the original magazine throughout.
The magazine introduced a unique writing style, inspired by launch editor Roger Munford and expanded upon by subsequent editors and writers. Influences can be found in titles ranging from "Private Eye" to "Viz". Towards the end of the magazine's life, and particularly under the editorship of Jonathan Nash, the style was further influenced by magazines "YS" had itself inspired, in particular "Amiga Power" and fanzine "The Thing Monthly".
The original 1986 Your Sinclair team included Kevin Cox (editor), Teresa "T'zer" Maughan (deputy editor), Sara Biggs (production editor), Pete Shaw (editorial assistant), and Phil "Snouty" South (writer). Marcus Berkmann joined as staff writer in early 1987 when Maughan took over as editor. Freelance writers of the time included John Minson (writing under various pseudonyms, including Sue Denham, Gwyn Hughes and Rachael Smith), Mike Gerrard, Max Phillips, Tony Worrall and David McCandless. The final 1993 team consisted of just two permanent staff members: Jonathan Nash (editor) and Andy Ounsted (art editor). Steve Anderson, Rich Pelley, Tim Kemp, Simon Cooke, Dave Golder and Simon Forrester were among those working on a freelance basis.
Content.
YS's content varied widely, occasionally ignoring the subject of computers entirely. As the Spectrum scene diminished and there was less software to review, this happened more frequently. The tone of the magazine was inspired by teenage magazines such as Smash Hits and Just Seventeen. In 1992, under the editorship of Andy Hutchinson, several 'lifestyle' type sections were introduced. These included "Haylp!", an agony aunt column, and "The World" (later retitled "Flip!"), which contained reviews of films and books. This section included "The Killer Kolumn From Outer Space", dedicated to science fiction news, rumours and reviews. It was written by Dave Golder, who went on to be the second editor of the successful "SFX". Writing in the 100th issue of that publication, Golder cited his earlier work on "YS" and described "SFX" as "like hundreds of Killer Kolumns stapled together". Flip! was discontinued, but the Killer Kolumn was kept on until the penultimate issue in 1993. A similar page to Flip!/The World had existed in 1987–88 called "Street Life", but this had also contained Spectrum game charts.
Pssst/Frontlines.
The news section was originally called "Frontlines" and dealt with Sinclair news and rumours. It also regularly contained mock celebrity interviews (such as the "At The Bus Stop With..." series) and trivial charts, as well as features about the writers themselves.
Subsections of Pssst and Frontlines included "T'zers", a column which contained rumours about possible forthcoming releases for the Spectrum and, later on, the SAM Coupé. It was named after and originally written by Teresa Maughan, but the column remained after she left the magazine, as it was felt 'T'zers' was an appropriate title since it contained 'teasers' for future games. "Rock Around The Clock", which first appeared in 1991, was a small column dedicated to looking at a particular back issue, as well as news and current affairs from the same time.
Perhaps one of the odder sections of "Pssst" was the "Peculiar Pets Corner". Editor Matt Bielby originally intended this to be a showcase for "YS" readers' exotic pets such as snakes, pigs, monkeys or spiders, but these "pets" also included such things as a purple fruit gum and a tuba.
When an editor or member of the writing staff left, the magazine would often concoct fanciful stories surrounding their leaving. Matt Bielby was carted off to the funny farm after declaring himself to be God, Andy Ide became a Green Party ambassador, and Andy Hutchinson left to design a skate park at Alton Towers. In actuality, the majority of ex-"YS" staff went on to work for other magazines, such as "Amiga Power".
Reviews.
"Your Sinclair"s reviewing system varied throughout the magazine's life. During the "Your Spectrum" era, game reviews were confined to the "Spectrum Soft" section, later called "Joystick Jury". Games were reviewed by a panel of reviewers and given a mark out of 10. In practice this was a score out of 9, since no game ever received a perfect 10, on the rationale that a better game could come along at a later date. After the name change to Joystick Jury, games were judged by each individual reviewer to be either a 'hit' or a 'miss' (in the manner of television show "Juke Box Jury", after which it was named). The hit and miss system was abandoned with Issue 19, and with the transition to "Your Sinclair", the review section was renamed "Screen Shots". In Screen Shots, games were still rated out of ten, but they were also given separate ratings for graphics, playability, value for money and addictiveness. They were also now reviewed by individual writers, rather than a panel.
In 1988, Joystick Jury was superseded by Joystick Jugglers, and the familiar cartoons of reviewers were introduced. Screen Shots was removed as a self-contained section in 1989, and reviews began to appear throughout the magazine, generally with the bigger games being reviewed towards the front. Budget games had their own section, "Bargain Basement" (later replaced with "Replay" when it was felt that original budget games should be reviewed alongside full price games). The magazine also began using a rating out of 100, rather than ten, when reviewing games. However, this was referred to as a 'degree scale' rather than a percentage scale, with a graphic of a thermometer representing the rating; the higher the rating, the "hotter" the game. Reviewer Jon Pillar embraced both extremes of the review scale, giving "Count Duckula 2" a mere 9˚ and "Mercenary" 99˚. The final change in review style came in late 1992 when the various ratings for addictiveness, graphics, and so forth were replaced by a summary of the game's good and bad points, with an overall mark (now as a percentage) below that.
Games which were scored at more than 90˚/90%, or 9/10 before the degree scale was introduced, were awarded "YS" coveted "Megagame" status, though this was undermined slightly when Duncan MacDonald gave it to his own deliberately bad Sinclair BASIC creation, "Advanced Lawnmower Simulator", in a moment of surreal humour. Reader games were also reviewed for a while in the "Crap Games Corner", many being inspired by "Advanced Lawnmower Simulator" or being just as deliberately bad. Good reader games sometimes ended up on the covertape.
YS reviewers were often 'interviewed' in a column at first called "Joystick Jury" (the same as the reviews section in "Your Spectrum"), then "Joystick Jugglers", and finally (when there were fewer games to review and they wanted to introduce the team as a whole, including design staff) "The Shed Crew", a reference to the recurring joke that after the move to Future Publishing, their office was now a garden shed. The Jugglers were depicted with caricatures mostly drawn by Nick Davies, although some writers (such as Jon Pillar/Jonathan Nash) drew their own and art editor Andy Ounsted drew most of the latter reviewers. The Juggler caricatures took on something of a life of their own, and in 1990, a game, "YS Capers", was given away with the magazine in which you had to shoot the "YS" crew, depicted in their cartoon forms.
Tipshop.
Originally, the tips section of the magazine was called "Hack Free Zone", to distinguish it from "Hacking Away", which was dedicated to type-in POKEs. Both sections were written by Phil South under the pseudonym of Hex Loader. The sections were merged in 1987 to become the "Tipshop".
It contained all tips, cheats and complete solutions sent in by readers, and spawned its own book, the "YS Tipshop Tiptionary". "Dr. Berkmann's Clinic" (renamed "The YS Clinic With Dr. Hugo Z Hackenbush" after Marcus Berkmann left to go freelance), originally set up to provide help for the game "Head Over Heels", allowed readers to provide solutions to each other's gaming problems, more often than not solved by Richard Swann. "Practical Pokes", hosted mainly by Jon North, was the successor to Hacking Away, and contained both type-in and Multiface POKEs. The Tipshop was hosted variously by Phil South, David McCandless, Jonathan Davies and Linda Barker.
Technical sections.
While "YS" is often thought of as primarily a games magazine, throughout its life it hosted a variety of technical columns, mainly dedicated to programming technique.
"Program Pitstop", first hosted by David McCandless, then Jonathan Davies and finally Craig Broadbent, contained type-in programs and was one of the last columns of its kind, a remnant of an era when computer magazines would dedicate entire sections to BASIC program listings. Most of the programs were in Sinclair BASIC, although some were in hexadecimal machine code, for which a special interpreter, the Hex Loader, was written. It replaced the pull-out section "Program Power"; the main difference was that Program Pitstop mainly included listings for utility programs and demos (for example, a level editor for games such as Atari's "Gauntlet"), while Program Power also included games. Program Pitstop also featured contributions from well known programmers, such as the Rainbow Processor by Dominic Robinson, which allowed the Spectrum to display more than two colours per character.
"Spec Tec" (Adam Waring) and its descendant "Spec Tec Jr" (Simon Cooke) were home to readers' technical queries. The introduction to these columns were typically written in the style of a Philip Marlowe monologue, occasionally including ongoing plots.
Other technical columns included "Rage Hard", an occasional page which brought news of peripherals and other enhancements for the Spectrum; "Steve's Programming Laundrette", in which Steve Anderson took the reader step-by-step through producing a BASIC game; and Simon Hindle's "Dial Hard", which helped you connect a Spectrum to the Internet.
Before the magazine's relaunch as "Your Sinclair" in 1986, "Your Spectrum" contained a plethora of technical articles, including guides on programming in machine code and Forth, and information on how to upgrade the basic Spectrum set-up to incorporate better sound and more memory.
Letters.
From the magazine's inception, letters were answered mainly by the magazine's editor. The letters page contained several subsections, which varied through the magazines' lifetime, but included:
The Star Letter was awarded three full-price Spectrum games. When asked what qualities a star letter possessed, editor Linda Barker answered "A star letter is one that makes the entire Shed crew rock with mirth, or touches their hearts," although other editors had their own criteria for the type of letter they awarded Star Letter status to.
Like many later computer magazines (such as "Zero" and "Amiga Power") "Your Sinclair" created a sense of community with its readers through the letters page, and many readers wrote in regularly, becoming almost part of the team themselves. Indeed, several letter writers went on to write for "YS" in a freelance capacity, including Leigh Loveday and Rich Pelley. Along with Jonathan Davies, Pelley had formerly written for the fanzine "Spectacular", and both became regular contributors for the magazine between 1988 and 1993. After "YS" closed, Davies went on to become editor of "Sega Zone", "Amiga Power" and "PC Gamer", while Pelley regularly wrote articles for a number of magazines.
Cover tape.
By October 1988, the magazine had committed itself to including a cover tape every month. Content typically included an older full game, and a specially-made single-level demo of a new, high-profile game such as Cybernoid II or Power Drift. Other content included game soundtracks and user-submitted demos. In December 1988, the magazine became the first to include two tapes.
Official Top 100 games.
Between the months of October 1991 and January 1992, contributor Stuart Campbell compiled his list of the Top 100 ZX Spectrum games of all time. In the months leading up to the final issue, readers were invited to vote on their ten favourite games, which was then compiled into a 'readers choice' top 100, which was published in the final issue alongside Stuart Campbell's list. In the 2004 special issue, presented by "Retro Gamer", there was a follow-up top 50 listing, chosen by the journalists from that magazine.
YS2.
As reduced advertising and lack of material to review caused "YS" page numbers to drop, "YS" introduced "YS2", which was incorporated on the cover tape, and contained a teletext-like viewer program and a collection of some fifty or so 'extra' pages of content largely written by then editor Jonathan Nash and regular contributor Steve Anderson. It contained, amongst other things, short stories, surrealist and absurdist humour, and "Private Eye"-style news satire. Not long before the magazine folded, plans were being made to improve the interface and increase the number of pages.
The code for "YS2" had been taken (supposedly without permission) from adventure game company Delta 4's similar "Sceptical" program. The writers often jokingly referred to a possible lawsuit against them, and wrote as an acknowledgement "The Sceptical driver is copyright Delta 4, who are really nice and hardly ever sue". No lawsuit materialised—YS and Delta 4 had a good working relationship, the magazine having featured several of their games on the covertape in the past.
In 1999, a webzine, "YS3", was launched by comp.sys.sinclair newsgroup regulars Nathan Cross and Jon Hyde, and managed to recreate something of the original magazine's style and humour. It ran irregularly until 2002 before going on an extended hiatus. It has since returned in blog form.


Atari MMU

Atari MMU is a custom memory management unit chip for the Atari 8-bit computers. It enables access to the hardware registers on ANTIC, GTIA, POKEY and 6520 PIA. The later XL/XE MMU (C061618) also selects OS ROM, Atari BASIC ROM, self-test ROM and LEDs in the 1200XL. On the 128K 130XE the EMMU chip handles similar functionality.
The user cannot directly manipulate the Atari MMU, but selects the various ROMS and memory via the memory-mapped hardware register known as PORTB (5401710 or D30116). Atari changed PORTB from an input port on the 400/800 machines to an output port on the XL/XE machines, leaving two joystick ports instead of four on the XL/XE machines.
By setting and clearing specific bits in PORTB, the user can access either the ROMs or memory locations. No synchronization is required as the OS handles the access.
The bit assignments for PORTB on the XL/XE machines are:
Note: The 1200XL does not have BASIC built-in.


List of disk magazines

This article contains a list of magazines distributed on cassette, floppy disk, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM — collectively referred to as "disk magazines" (or "diskmags").


IBM 8000

The IBM 8000 series was a proposed transistor-based successor to the IBM 7000 series. Important engineers on the project included Fred Brooks and Gerry Blaauw. The project plan for the 8000 series was presented by Fred Brooks in January, 1961. Despite some technical successes, the project became a political football, amid IBM's search for a unified product line. The project was canceled in 1961 by Bob Evans, supplanted by the successful System/360 series.
The 8000 project may have seen the first use of the term "architecture" in relation to computers.
Problems.
Pugh cites a number of reasons for the cancellation of the 8000 line.
8000 components.
Unlike System/360 which offered a series of processors with a common architecture, the 8000 was designed with a single main processor to which external components could be added to increase performance.
The components identified were:
8103.
The 8103 was proposed as a low-end processor "to relieve the larger systems of the series from the tasks associated with input-output processing." The 8103 was to have featured a 4 K or 8 K 8 μs magnetic-core memory, organized as 16 bit words of two eight bit bytes. The system could also share 2 μs core memory with larger processors. Memory was organized into segments — segment size is unspecified in the proposal. The 8103 was to be multiprogrammed to support its mission as an input/output or front end processor. It appears that task switching was to be automatic under hardware control.
8104.
The proposed specifications for the 8104 appear similar to the 8103. It featured a full complement of instructions for fixed and floating point arithmetic and storage-to-storage character operations. All instructions were 32 bits in length. The 8104 supported direct addressing, indirect addressing, and indexed addressing with 255 index registers.
8106.
The 8106 was to have been the principal processor in the 8000 line, designed to bracket the performance of the IBM 7090 system. The 8106 used a 64 bit word in one or more storage units of 4 K, 8 K, or 16 K words of core memory with an access time of 2 μs. Some of the storage units were supposed to be able to have been shared with other processors in the product line. Instructions could be one, two, or three 32-bit halfwords in length, allowing one, two, or three address instructions respectively. The system used nonpaged virtual memory, addressing blocks of 256 words through an address translation table.
8108.
The 8108 was an "attachment to the 8106 machine" designed to greatly improve the performance of floating-point arithmetic. For example, the 8106 was to have performed a twelve digit floating-point multiply in 280 μs. The 8108 reduced this to 24 μs.
8112.
The 8112 was also a high speed floating point processor. Unlike the 8108 the 8112 had its own "instruction-fetching, indexing, and instruction sequencing mechanisms." The 8112 would have been a complete "slave" processor to the 8106, depending on the 8106 only for input/output.


Linux on embedded systems

Operating systems based on the Linux kernel are used in embedded systems such as consumer electronics (i.e. set-top boxes, smart TVs, personal video recorders (PVRs), in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), networking equipment (such as routers, switches, wireless access points (WAPs) or wireless routers), machine control, industrial automation, navigation equipment, spacecraft flight software, and medical instruments in general).
Because of their versatility, operating systems based on the Linux kernel can be also found in mobile devices that are actually touchscreen-based embedded devices, such as smartphones and tablets, together with personal digital assistants (PDAs) and portable media players that also include a touchscreen. This is a challenge for most learners because their computer experience is mainly based on GUI (Graphical user interface) based interaction with the machine and high-level programming on the one hand and low-level programming of small microcontrollers on the other hand while the concept of command line interfaces is widely unknown.
History.
The Linux kernel has been ported to a variety of CPUs which are not only primarily used as the processor of a desktop or server computer, but also ARC, ARM, AVR32, ETRAX CRIS, FR-V, H8300, IP7000, m68k, MIPS, mn10300, PowerPC, SuperH, and Xtensa processors. Linux is also used as an alternative to using a proprietary operating system and its associated toolchain.
Variants.
The Embeddable Linux Kernel Subset is a Linux distribution that fits on a floppy disk for outdated or low resource hardware.
Devices coverage.
Due to its low cost (freely available source code) and ease of customization, Linux has been shipped in many consumer devices. Devices covering PDAs (like the Sharp Zaurus family), TomTom GPS navigation devices, residential gateways like the Linksys WRT54G series or smartphones such as the Motorola exz series, Openmoko handsets, devices running Sailfish OS developed by Jolla like Jolla C and Intex Aqua Fish and the Nokia N900 and Nokia N9.
Android, a Linux-kernel-based operating system acquired and extended by Google and introduced in 2008, has become a highly competitive platform for smartphones and tablets. In July 2012, Android's smartphone market share in the United States was at 52%, reaching 82% worldwide in Q2 2015.
Communities.
With the availability of consumer embedded devices, communities of users and developers were formed around these devices: replacement or enhancements of the Linux distribution shipped on the device has often been made possible thanks to availability of the source code and to the communities surrounding the devices. Due to the high number of devices, standardized build systems have appeared, including Yocto, OpenEmbedded, Buildroot, OpenWrt, and LTIB.
Platform usage.
The advantages of embedded Linux over proprietary embedded operating systems include multiple suppliers for software, development and support; no royalties or licensing fees; a stable kernel; the ability to read, modify and redistribute the source code. The technical disadvantages include a comparatively large memory footprint (kernel and root filesystem); complexities of user mode and kernel mode memory access, and a complex device drivers framework.
Limitations.
Not every embedded Linux distribution is required to or meets real-time requirements. This is particular relevant for safety critical applications and systems.


Ahoy!

Ahoy! was a computer magazine published between January 1984 and January 1989 in the US, focusing on all Commodore color computers, but especially the Commodore 64 and Amiga.
History.
The first issue of "Ahoy!" was published in January 1984. The magazine was published monthly by Ion International and was headquartered in New York City. It published many games in BASIC and machine language, occasionally also printing assembly language source code. "Ahoy!" published a checksumming program called "Flankspeed" for entering machine language listings.
"Ahoy!'s AmigaUser" was a related but separate publication dedicated to the Amiga. It was spun off from a series of columns in "Ahoy!" with the same title, and the first two issues were published instead of the parent magazine in May and August 1988.


DDP-24

The DDP-24 (1963) was a 24-bit computer designed and built by the Computer Control Company, aka 3C, located in Framingham, Massachusetts. In 1966 the company was sold to Honeywell who continued the DDP line into the 1970s.
Hardware.
The DDP-24 was completely transistorized and used magnetic core memory to store data and program instructions. It had a sign magnitude code to represent positive or negative numbers and used binary logic. The DDP-24 used a single address command format and single operation with index and indirect addressing flags.
Market acceptance.
The DDP-24 found use in Space and flight simulators of the mid-1960s and other real-time scientific data processing applications.
Peter B. Denes, a researcher at Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc., installed a DDP-224 system around 1965 for use in speech research. It and a DDP-24 were used by Max Mathews, considered by many to be the founding father of computer music, to develop his GROOVE music system, as related by Professor Barry Vercoe in a 1999 MIT Media Lab interview. When asked to describe the first MIT experimental music studio, Prof. Vercoe replied, "We began that work when I first arrived in 1971. The first studio we had was in the basement of Building 26, where we had a computer given to MIT by Max Mathews-the Honeywell DDP-24. Max initially developed his GROOVE system on this machine and was kind enough to give it to MIT when I joined the faculty." The 3C DDP-24 used modules or cards called S-Pac's. These S-Pac cards could be Flip-Flops, NAND gates, Bit Registers etc. and were housed in a DDP-24 S-Bloc card rack. An early raster-scan graphics display was developed for the computer system.


Sirius Joyport

The Sirius Joyport is a game controller adapter for the Apple II computer designed by Keithen Hayenga and Steve Woita (who were employed by Apple at the time) and then licensed for manufacture and distribution in 1981 by Sirius Software.
The device was meant to address a limitation in the built-in game control offered by the Apple II, by allowing either four Apple-compatible paddles or two Atari-style joysticks (but not both types at once) to be read by the computer simultaneously. The built-in game port on the Apple II, II+, IIe, and IIgs supports four analog paddles or two analog sticks, but only 3 buttons.
With the Joyport, a game can support twice as many players as with a standard Apple game port, but game designers had to specifically modify their code to take input from the Atari side of the Joyport. Many of them did so, and this modification is what is often seen listed in Apple II game configuration screens as the "Atari Joyport" option.
The recommended Atari joysticks are switch-driven (i.e. digital), instead of the usual smoother-action analog sticks available for the Apple II. Since the Apple II hardware makes no distinction between two paddles or a single analog joystick plugged into the same jack, it is also been possible to connect and read two fully analog joysticks with the Joyport via the paddle jacks, but few (if any) two-joystick games supports this, and Sirius did not suggest it. Why not is unclear, but there may be a noticeable speed advantage when driving two digital rather than analog joysticks on the limited hardware of the time.
Physical characteristics and packaging.
The Joyport is a white plastic brick about the size of a paperback novel that connects to the standard internal Apple II gameport and breaks it out into two Atari joystick ports and two Apple ports. A switch in the center controls whether to activate the paddles or the joysticks. Another switch optionally disables either the left- or right-side jacks.
Bundled with the Joyport is "Computer Foosball", which was written specifically by Hayenga for up to four players at once on the Apple II. Also included are BASIC and Pascal source code listings of sample programs making use of the Joyport, indicating the hobbyist influence in the market at the time it was released.
Story of its invention.
The impetus for the invention of the Joyport came from well-known game designer Bill Budge, who Woita met at Apple and who had been thinking about a way to port games that required manipulation of two joysticks to the Apple II ("Crazy Climber" was mentioned specifically.). Woita agreed to work on a solution involving Atari controllers, and since at the time Hayenga was already working at Apple on a way to connect four paddles at once, the two hardware engineers began to cooperate on a single device, which was later christened the "Joyport".
Both Woita and Hayenga were hired by Atari, where Woita designed the games "Quadrun" (1983), "Asterix" (1984), and "TAZ" (1984), for the Atari 2600, and Hayenga specialised in the Atari 5200, with the game "RealSports Baseball" (1983) and a port of "Tempest".


Resorcerer

Resorcerer is a resource editing program by Mathemaesthetics for the Macintosh operating systems. The most recent release was in 2001, when separate versions of Resorcerer 2.4.1 were released for Classic Mac OS and Carbon. Developed more recently than the traditional ResEdit, it supports far more resource types. Although no longer updated, it is still available for purchase.


Synapse Software

Synapse Software Corporation (marketed as SynSoft in the UK) was an American video game development and publishing company founded in 1981. They initially focused on the Atari 8-bit family, then later developed for the Commodore 64 and other systems. Synapse was founded by Ihor Wolosenko and Ken Grant. The company was purchased by Broderbund in late 1984, and the Synapse label retired in 1985.
Synapse is primarily known for a series of highly regarded action games such as "Fort Apocalypse", "Blue Max", "The Pharaoh's Curse", and "Shamus", including some unusual games not based on established concepts, like "Necromancer" and "Alley Cat". The company also sold databases and a 6502 assembler, as well as a series of productivity applications which led to its downfall.
Action games.
Synapse's first releases were for the Atari 8-bit computers, starting in 1981. Some of their early games were based on elements of contemporary arcade games. "Protector" (1981) uses elements of "Defender", and "Dodge Racer" (1981) is a clone of Sega's "Head On". "Chicken" (1982) has the same basic concept as "Kaboom!" for the Atari 2600, which itself is similar to the arcade game "Avalanche".
"Nautilus" (1982) features a split-screen so two players can play at once. In one-player mode the user controls a submarine, the "Nautilus", in the lower screen while the computer controls a destroyer, the "Colossus", in the upper screen. Similar to Atari's Combat, in two-player mode another player takes control of the destroyer. The same basic system was later re-used in other games, including "Shadow World".
"Survivor" (1982) supports up to four simultaneous players, a side effect of the Atari 400 and Atari 800 having four joystick ports. Each player commands a different part of a single spaceship. In single-player mode it operates like the ship in "Asteroids", while in two player mode one drives and the other fires in any direction.
In an interview with "Antic", Wolosenko agreed that 1982's "Shamus" was the beginning of Synapse's reputation for quality products. Other high quality, better advertised games followed in 1982-3. These include "Necromancer", "Rainbow Walker", "Blue Max", "Fort Apocalypse", "Alley Cat", and "The Pharaoh's Curse". It was during this period that the company branched out and started supporting other systems, especially the Commodore 64, which became a major platform. Many of Synapse's games made their way to the UK as part of the initial wave of U.S. Gold-distributed imports (under the "Synsoft" imprint). Some were also converted to run on the more popular UK home computers, such as the Sinclair ZX Spectrum.
Synapse was an early developer for the unsuccessful graphics-accelerated Mindset PC project and created the first-person game "Vyper" (1984).
Ports and re-releases.
Synapse developed an official port of the arcade game "Zaxxon" for the Commodore 64. The Atari port was from Datasoft. Synapse also published "Encounter!" in 1983, which was originally released in the UK by Novagen Software without the exclamation mark in the name.
Utilities and productivity software.
Although it is for their success with arcade-style games that they are primarily remembered, Synapse started out selling database software for the Atari 8-bit computers. In 1982 Synapse released "SynAssembler", a 6502 development system which was much faster than Atari's offerings at the time. "SynAssembler" is a port of the S-C Assembler II Version 4.0 from the Apple II. The port was done by Steve Hales, who also wrote a number of games for Synapse.
Synapse was developing a series of home productivity and financial applications: "SynFile+" (written in Forth by Steve Ahlstrom and Dan Moore of The 4th Works), "SynCalc", "SynChron", "SynComm", "SynStock", and "SynTrend".
Interactive fiction.
Some time before their demise, Synapse had started work on interactive fiction games (or as they called them, "Electronic Novels"). The games were all based on a parser called "BTZ" ("Better Than Zork"), written by William Mataga and Steve Hales. Seven games were written using the system but only four released, the best-known being the critically acclaimed "Mindwheel".
Downfall.
By early 1984 Synapse was the largest third-party provider of Atari 8-bit software, but 65% of its sales came from the Commodore market. The company ran into financial difficulty. According to Steve Hales they had taken a calculated risk in developing the series of productivity applications and had entered into a collaboration with Atari, Inc. When Jack Tramiel purchased Atari's consumer division from Warner Communications, he refused to pay for the 40,000 units of software that had been shipped.
Thrown into a cash crisis, Synapse was purchased by Broderbund Software in late 1984. Although the intention had been to keep Synapse going, the market had changed, and they were unable to make money from the
electronic novels. Approximately one year after the takeover, Broderbund closed Synapse down.
Software published by Synapse.
Games separated by a slash were sold together as "Double Plays," with one being a bonus game on the other side of the disk. "Rainbow Walker" was initially sold by itself, and the second game added later.
Showcase Software.
At the 1983 Consumer Electronics Show, Synapse announced it would publish games for the VIC-20. These were a mix of original titles and ports and were sold under the name Showcase Software. Only some of the announced games were released.


Atari ST User

Atari ST User was a British computer magazine aimed at users of the Atari ST range. It started life as a pull-out section in "Atari User" magazine. From March 1986 onwards it became a magazine in its own right, outliving its parent by a number of years. It was published by Europress in London.
Although "ST User" did review games and carry demos, far more of the magazine was concerned with 'serious' issues such as hardware, programming, and music than its rivals "ST Action" and "ST Format".
The Cover Disk that was supplied with issue 59, cover dated January 1991 had a boot sector computer virus which infected the memory of the Atari ST and was written to other disks that were not write-protected. Issue 60 had a free games cover disk as an apology, and was supplied with a virus killer. Source is http://www.atarimania.com/mags/hi_res/atari-st-user-issue-059_5.jpg
Towards the end of its print run, "ST User" merged with the game-oriented magazine "ST Action", and publication finally ceased in November 1994, leaving "ST Format" as the only surviving Atari ST publication that was still widely available.


Psychic World

 is an action platform video game. Originally released in Japan for the MSX2 as in 1988, it was later released as "Psychic World" on the Sega Master System and Sega Game Gear worldwide in 1991.
Gameplay.
"Psychic World" is a platform game wherein the player's character Lucía runs from one stage to the other using her "ESP Booster" to blast monstrous enemies while obtaining item power-ups through them or by jumping on various ledges and platforms. The Booster has a gauge of how often certain items and abilities can be used, but that, as with her health, can be replenished by power-ups. All her weapons are upgradeable by merely picking up the same item for that particular weapon and new weapons are obtained through mini-bosses and end-level bosses. The player has to use Lucia's psionic weapons strategically in levels using different elements to their advantage (in the ice stage, rocks being doused by falling water can be frozen and used as a stable platform for Lucía to jump on by blasting the rock with the ice shot, while the sonic wave weapon can destroy certain foreground objects blocking her path).
Plot.
Taking place at a remote laboratory in the year 19XX, a three-staff research team consisting of Dr. Knavik and his assistants the TWIN sisters Cecile and Lucia is studying the exploration and usage of ESP. One day while Lucia was getting ready for work, an explosion burst from the lab. By the time Lucia got there, Dr. Knavik was all right, but Cecile had disappeared. Dr. Knavik explains that part of his experiments involved running tests on a variety of monsters, but eventually the subjects rebelled and took Cecile with them. As Lucia follows the monster's track, Dr. Knavik gives her the ESP Booster, a device he created that will enable the user to wield psychic powers.
Reception.
"Psychic World" for the Master System was given mixed but mostly positive reviews 70% by "RAZE", and 69% by "Video Games". The Game Gear version received a score of 83% from "Joystick".


Daewoo CPC-300


The Human Adventure (video game)

The Human Adventure is a game written by William F. Denman, Jr. and published by Med Systems Software in 1980 for the TRS-80 and Apple II. It follows miniaturized scientists injected into a person's bloodstream. The game is controlled via single-word commands.
Reception.
Russ Williams reviewed "The Human Adventure" in "The Space Gamer" No. 47. Williams commented that "This is basically a nifty little game based on a popular SF theme. It has the added advantage of being educational. I learned more about human anatomy from this game than I did in my biology class!"


ICL 2903


Amiga User International

Amiga User International (or AUI) was a monthly computer magazine published in its later years by AUI Limited, it was the first dedicated Amiga magazine in Europe and in comparison to other Amiga magazines, AUI had a more serious perspective. One of the main features of AUI was the "AUI SuperDisks", which implemented multiple file systems and advanced compression techniques to hold far more data than a standard magazine cover disk.
History.
The magazine was first published in November 1986 as an insert to "Commodore Computing International". In January 1988 it became an independent magazine. The last issue of "Amiga User International" appeared in May 1997. A total of 127 issues was published.
"Amiga User International" was published by different companies during its existence. The magazine was started by Croftward Limited and published by the company until October 1990. Then Maxwell Specialist Magazines published it from November 1990 to 1992. Headway, Home & Law was the publisher between 1992 and 1994. From 1994 to its demise in 1997 the magazine was published by AUI Limited.


Tunnels of Doom

Tunnels of Doom is a role-playing video game programmed by Kevin Kenney for the Texas Instruments TI-99/4A home computer and published by Texas Instruments on December 31, 1982. It was available in two formats: cartridge with accompanying disk and cartridge with cassette.
Based loosely on the tabletop role-playing game "Dungeons & Dragons", it is a dungeon crawl in which players control the fates of 1–4 characters as they navigate a maze of tunnels. Texas Instruments used the game in its marketing, citing it as entertainment software involving "strategy and logic".
Gameplay.
The game has four character classes: hero, fighter, rogue, and wizard. In a single character game, only "hero" is used.
Upon encountering an enemy, the game transitions to a separate, graphical, overhead battle screen, where a tactical turn-based combat system is used that allows for movement and positioning. It's possible to listen at doors for sounds of monsters, which can be negotiated with in combat as well.
Legacy.
In 2008, Howard Kistler of DreamCodex developed a revised version of the game with the permission of Kevin Kenney.