_{Cover of the July 1984 issue of Byte}

Throughout much of the 1980s, Byte was really the magazine to have if you were into computers. It covered pretty much everything and was an excellent resource, especially before the PC dominated everything. The July 1984 issue includes:

Features

• Symphony: A Full-Orchestra Version of Lotus 1-2-3 - A preview of the new integrated software package from Lotus centered around the Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet application.


• Ciarcia's Circuit Cellar: A Musical Telephone Bell - A guide to customizing the ring of your telephone...it wasn't as easy as just changing your ringtone.


• The West Coast Faire - A report from the West Coast Computer Faire including a Modula-2 panel, Turbo Pascal, and more.

_{Table of Contents from the July 1984 issue of Byte}

Theme: Video

• Electronic Encyclopedias - Today when you hear "electronic encyclopedia" you probably think of Wikipedia. However, in the early 1980s, the idea was to combine computers with "interactive video" - think laserdiscs.


• Televisions as Monitors - It was already common to use a TV as a monitor for some computers such as the Atari and Commodore 64. This article talks about current technologies as well as future technologies such as LCD.


• Computer Control of a Video Recorder - A project for controlling VCRs with varactor tuners with a TRS-80 (or any sound-generating computer).

Reviews

• The Sage II and Sage IV Computers - A series of computers that included up to 1 MB of RAM, 40 megabyte hard drive and floppy drive, based on the Motorola MC68000 chip.


• The Compaq Plus - A follow-up to the original Compaq portable that was basically identical except for the inclusion of a 10 MB hard drive.


• Xenix for the IBM PC XT - An add-on card for the IBM PC XT that includes an 68000 processor and an additional 256K of RAM for running Microsoft's Xenix OS.


• Turbo Pascal - A review of Borland's original Pascal compiler. I used a later version in high school.

_{Table of Contents from the July 1984 issue of Byte (continued)}

Kernal

• Computing at Chaos Manor: The AT&T Computers - A discussion of various products including the AT&T 382/300 Computer, CompuPro 8/16 System, Disk Maker I, Enchanter and Sorcerer from Infocom, the Macintosh, RAM Disks for the Z400 and Z-100, the Sage II and Sage IV computers, and more.


• BYTE West Coast Trends in Telecommunications - A look at online search software (software designed to search online databases) such as In-Search and Dialog and new, faster modems up to 9600bps such as the Gamma Technology FAXT-96 for $1995.


• BYTE Japan Start-Up - A look at Seiko's wrist computer, Tokyo's Akihabara district, and more.


• Mathematical Recreations: Invariance - Card tricks with numbers.


• Editorial: Patronizing the Naive User - How computer companies mistrust their users.

_{Back cover of the July 1984 issue of Byte}

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The Altar Path by Joseph Lisiewski.
Red Star Falling by Steve Berry.
A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians by H.G. Parry

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