PC Magazine was one of the most popular PC magazines around from the early to mid 1980s through the early 2000s. Along with PC World, you could find it at pretty much every bookstore and newsstand as well as most other places that sold magazines. The May 29, 1984 issue includes:

Cover Stories

• Inside the PC Portable - A detailed look at IBM's new portable. This was a suitcase sized luggable that had to be plugged in similar to the Compaq Portable which beat it to market, not to be confused with later laptops. It does have an amber screen which I like better than the green screen of the Compaq.


• IBM Joins the Suitcase Set - More about the IBM portable and the marketing decisions that went into produce a competitor to Compaq's luggable vs. focusing on more portable options.

Features

• All the President's PC's - An article on EOPNET, a network of IBM PC XTs and supporting hardware (such as a couple IBM 3083 mainframes) in the Whitehouse used to keep Presidential aids up to date.


• The MLA Learns a New Language - How the Modern Language Association is using computers.


• PC's and Social Scientists: The Chemistry is Right - While mainframes had long been used in social sciences, the personal computer was starting to shake things up.


• The PC Goes to Bat - How Dave Johnson, the manager at the time of the New York Metz, was using a PC-XT and dBASE II to create computer-aided batting lineups.


• Farm Workers Get a PC of the Action - How the PC was being used in two new educational programs designed to help migrant and seasonal farm workers.


• Live Free with UNIX - Instead of assuming hardware time was expensive and programmer time was cheap, UNIX assumes the opposite is true. A short history and description of the UNIX operating system.


• Understanding UNIX - An introduction to the world of UNIX and a brief tutorial.


• Taking the Cue from UNIX - A look at the QNX operating system for the IBM PC.


• A UNIX to be Proud of - A look at the XENIX operating system, Microsoft's version of UNIX.

Columns

• On the Road: Writing in Transit - A look at some options for travelling with a computer. Truly portable computers were not yet particularly common nor were they cheap. A couple of machines looked at here include the Anderson-Jacobson Passport, Compaq Portable, and Radio Shack Model 100.


• Author, Author - A look at the state of computer aided instruction and courseware development systems.


• Building a Medical Database: A Case History - Using DataEase, a menu driven database management system, to build a medical database.


• Developing an Electronic Survey - Using a PC to collect data and analyze survey results.

Departments

• PC News - A new color monitor for the PCjr, new 32-bit UNIX machine from AT&T, DisplayWrite 1 & 2, and more.


• Fact of Fiction? - Clearing up the facts about UNIX.


• The Hidden Costs of Software - The advantages and disadvantages of writing your own software vs. purchasing a commercial package.


• Letters to PC - Letters from readers on poor documentation, copying software, the TI Professional Computer, a PC energy management system, and much more.


• Shells: A New Face for DOS? - A look at the demand for Shells, software that wraps the operating system in an easier to use interface driven by menus.


• The Future State of the Art: Computer Sight - A look at ways we will have to give computers sight in the future.

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