#analog computing

[krjpalmer]

ANALOG Computing May 1987

The musical content in this issue included a program to imitate the sound of a Japanese shakuhachi bamboo pipe, inspired by the soundtrack from The Karate Kid, and a review of the Roland TR-707 rhythm composer. The "hard disk primer" led off with the warning that they were "psychologically addictive" and included a later warning that they shouldn't be switched on multiple times in one day, given how much torque was needed to bring them up to operating speed. A news item mentioned Electronic Arts intended to purchase "rights to the brand" of the Atari software firm Batteries Included, which had been "plagued in its final days by piracy."

[krjpalmer]

ANALOG Computing April 1987

Dialing into a BBS (or even a big commercial service) received another introduction in this issue. Arthur Leyenberger's "The End User" column described some unusual products before reminding everyone just what month it was.

[krjpalmer]

ANALOG Computing March 1987

Clayton Walnum's editorial in this issue considered how "amazement" over computers entering the entertainment industry had become misplaced amid the rise of video arcades and computers in business alike, but was willing to hope current sophistication was restoring respect to "the so-called game machines." The look inside Infocom may have had a somewhat prescient title.

[krjpalmer]

ANALOG Computing February 1987

At its sixth anniversary, ANALOG Computing looked back to where it all began (which involved a meeting at a Star Trek convention and an Atari dealership just outside Worcester, Massachusetts). Most of the editorial was taken up with a congratulatory letter from the Canadian software company Batteries Included. Plenty of technical articles and a few type-in games filled out the issue.

[krjpalmer]

ANALOG Computing January 1987

This issue's editorial explained that ST-Log would be moving into its own magazine, "the first monthly for 16-bit Atari owners from the people you know you can trust." Among graphics articles for the 8-bit Atari computers (and a piece asking "Do you need 16 bits?", although after insisting you didn't have to worry about "no more 8-bit software" given how good it had become, the author did talk up the ST), the remaining Atari ST coverage inside included a small note at the end of "The End User" column that David Small's "MacCartridge" would be available for sale, if now under the name "Magic Sac."

[krjpalmer]

ANALOG Computing December 1986

Along with gift guides for the 8-bit Atari computers and the ST, this issue's editorial looked ahead to an Atari stock offering and the "Status report" looked ahead to an "80-column box" to be attached to older Atari computers and some form of ST successor, whether it would be the "EST" or the previously mentioned TT.

[krjpalmer]

ANALOG Computing November 1986

The "Atari status report" in this issue was split into an "8-bit section" and an ST section; the first mentioned Atari was beginning to advertise on television again and becoming more comfortable with calling its low-end computers "game machines," while the second promised "the TTs are coming" ("Thirty-two/Thirty-two" befitting the Motorola 68020 as opposed to "Sixteen/Thirty-two," an altogether accurate description of the 68000's external and internal architecture) and a "blitter" chip for the ST. Game reviews included one for Infocom and Brian Moriarty's opus Trinity, which concluded "despite its serious overtones, Trinity is a blast."

[krjpalmer]

ANALOG Computing October 1986

With the 8-bit Atari family tree drawn out on its cover, this issue interviewed Atari's product manager of the XE line (who did say a bit about the ST as well). Lee H. Pappas' editorial insisted ANALOG was sticking with the earlier Ataris even as people complained about the "Paperweight" program and interpreted covers as having 8-bit Ataris "being hacked apart, dissolving, or shrinking into oblivion." An article discussed how to make the best use of computer paint programs, using the graphic adapted from Star Trek on the ST-log cover to show what could be done with palette changes.