|
The Automatic Proofreader
The Automatic Proofreader is a series of checksum utilities published by COMPUTE! Publications for its ''COMPUTE!'' and '' COMPUTE!'s Gazette'' magazines and various books. These programs allow home computer users to detect errors when entering BASIC type-in programs. They display a checksum for each line which can be compared against the one printed in the magazine; if they are the same then the line was typed correctly. The program was initially published for use with the Commodore 64 and VIC-20 in 1983.,although no program listings used the Proofreader until it was later made available for the Atari 8-bit computers, Apple II, IBM PC, and PCjr the following year. Commodore versions The Automatic Proofreader was first introduced in October 1983 for the Commodore 64 and VIC-20. This first version had separate versions for the VIC and 64; the following month, they were combined into a single listing designed to work on both systems. This version of the Proofreader would display a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Checksum
A checksum is a small-sized block of data derived from another block of digital data for the purpose of detecting errors that may have been introduced during its transmission or storage. By themselves, checksums are often used to verify data integrity but are not relied upon to verify data authenticity. The procedure which generates this checksum is called a checksum function or checksum algorithm. Depending on its design goals, a good checksum algorithm usually outputs a significantly different value, even for small changes made to the input. This is especially true of cryptographic hash functions, which may be used to detect many data corruption errors and verify overall data integrity; if the computed checksum for the current data input matches the stored value of a previously computed checksum, there is a very high probability the data has not been accidentally altered or corrupted. Checksum functions are related to hash functions, fingerprints, randomization functio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Datassette
file:Commodore-Datasette-C2N-Mk1-Front.jpg, The third, most common version of the 1530 C2N Datassette The Commodore 1530 (C2N) Datasette, later also Datassette (a portmanteau of ''data'' and ''cassette''), is Commodore International, Commodore's dedicated magnetic-tape data storage device. Using Cassette tape#data, compact cassettes as the storage medium, it provides inexpensive storage to Commodore's 8-bit computers, including the Commodore PET, PET, VIC-20, and Commodore 64. A physically similar model, Commodore 1531, was made for the Commodore 16 and Commodore Plus/4, Plus/4 series computers. Features The Datasette is probably the most sophisticated tape-storage method of any microcomputer. Typical cassette tape, compact cassette interfaces of the late 1970s use a small controller in the computer to convert digital data to and from analog audio tones. The interface connects to the cassette deck using normal audio cables like RCA connector, RCA jacks or phone connector (audio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atari 8-bit Computer Software
Many games, utilities, and educational programs were available for Atari 8-bit computers. Atari, Inc. was primarily the publisher following the launch of the Atari 400/800 in 1979, then increasingly by third parties. Atari also distributed "user written" software through the Atari Program Exchange from 1981 to 1984. After APX folded, many titles were picked up by Antic Software. Programming languages Assembly language Atari, Inc. published two assemblers. The Atari Assembler Editor cartridge is a friendlier, integrated development environment using line numbers for editing source code similar to Atari BASIC. The professionally targeted Atari Macro Assembler shipped at a higher price on a copy protected disk without editor or debugger. Third-party assemblers include SynAssembler from Synapse Software and MAE (Macro Assembler Editor) from Eastern House. Optimized Systems Software published an enhanced disk-based assembler mimicking the structure of Atari's Assembler Editor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apple II Software
An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are cultivated worldwide. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, ''Malus sieversii'', is still found. Apples have been grown for thousands of years in Eurasia before they were introduced to North America by European colonists. Apples have cultural significance in many mythologies (including Norse and Greek) and religions (such as Christianity in Europe). Apples grown from seeds tend to be very different from those of their parents, and the resultant fruit frequently lacks desired characteristics. For commercial purposes, including botanical evaluation, apple cultivars are propagated by clonal grafting onto rootstocks. Apple trees grown without rootstocks tend to be larger and much slower to fruit after planting. Rootstocks are used to control the speed of growth and the s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Disk Magazine
A disk magazine, colloquially known as a diskmag or diskzine, is a magazine that is distributed in electronic form to be read using computers. These had some popularity in the 1980s and 1990s as periodicals distributed on floppy disk, hence their name. The rise of the Internet in the late 1990s caused them to be superseded almost entirely by online publications, which are sometimes still called "diskmags" despite the lack of physical disks. Defining characteristics A unique and defining characteristic about a diskmag in contrast to a typical ASCII "zine" or "t-file" (or even "g-file") is that a diskmag usually comes housed as an executable program file that will only run on a specific hardware platform. A diskmag tends to have an aesthetically appealing and custom graphical user interface (or even interfaces), background music and other features that take advantage of the hardware platform the diskmag was coded for. Diskmags have been written for many platforms, ranging f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Random-access Memory
Random-access memory (RAM; ) is a form of Computer memory, electronic computer memory that can be read and changed in any order, typically used to store working Data (computing), data and machine code. A random-access memory device allows data items to be read (computer), read or written in almost the same amount of time irrespective of the physical location of data inside the memory, in contrast with other direct-access data storage media (such as hard disks and Magnetic tape data storage, magnetic tape), where the time required to read and write data items varies significantly depending on their physical locations on the recording medium, due to mechanical limitations such as media rotation speeds and arm movement. In today's technology, random-access memory takes the form of integrated circuit (IC) chips with MOSFET, MOS (metal–oxide–semiconductor) Memory cell (computing), memory cells. RAM is normally associated with Volatile memory, volatile types of memory where s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Commodore 128
The Commodore 128, also known as the C128, is the last 8-bit home computer that was commercially released by Commodore Business Machines (CBM). Introduced in January 1985 at the CES in Las Vegas, it appeared three years after its predecessor, the Commodore 64, the bestselling computer of the 1980s. Approximately 2.5 million C128s were sold during its four-year production run. The C128 is a significantly expanded successor to the C64, with nearly full compatibility. It is housed in a redesigned case with an improved keyboard including a numeric keypad and function keys. Memory was enlarged to 128 KB of RAM in two 64 KB banks. A separate graphics chip provided 80-column color video output in addition to the original C64 modes. It also included a Zilog Z80 CPU which allows the C128 to run CP/M, as an alternative to the usual Commodore BASIC environment. The huge CP/M software library, coupled with the C64's software library, gave the C128 one of the broadest ranges ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Commodore Plus/4
The Commodore Plus/4 is a home computer released by Commodore International in 1984. It was part of the Commodore 264 series, which also included the Commodore 16 and Commodore 116 models. The Plus/4 was marketed as "the productivity computer with software built in," featuring a four-application ROM-resident office suite that included a word processor, spreadsheet, database, and graphing software. Internally, the Plus/4 shared the same basic architecture as the Commodore 16 and 116, allowing it to use software and peripherals designed for these models. However, it was incompatible with the Commodore 64's extensive software library and some of its hardware. The Plus/4 was intended to expand the home computer market by targeting users interested in serious applications rather than gaming. The Plus/4 featured a compact plastic casing with a fully-fledged keyboard, although the cursor and function keys were made of rubber. It had an advanced BASIC version 3.5, which made its software ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Commodore 16
The Commodore 16 is a home computer made by Commodore International with a 6502-compatible 7501 or 8501 CPU, released in 1984 and intended to be an entry-level computer to replace the VIC-20. A cost-reduced version, the Commodore 116, was mostly sold in Europe. The C16 and C116 belong to the same family as the higher-end Plus/4 and are internally very similar to it (albeit with less RAM – 16 KB rather than 64 KB – and lacking the Plus/4's user port and Three-Plus-One software). Software is generally compatible among all three provided it can fit within the C16's smaller RAM and does not utilize the user port on the Plus/4. While the C16 was a failure on the US market, it enjoyed some success in certain European countries and Mexico. Intention The C16 was intended to compete with other sub-$100 computers from Timex Corporation, Mattel, and Texas Instruments (TI). Timex's and Mattel's computers were less expensive than the VIC-20, and although the VIC-20 off ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
8-bit
In computer architecture, 8-bit integers or other data units are those that are 8 bits wide (1 octet). Also, 8-bit central processing unit (CPU) and arithmetic logic unit (ALU) architectures are those that are based on registers or data buses of that size. Memory addresses (and thus address buses) for 8-bit CPUs are generally larger than 8-bit, usually 16-bit. 8-bit microcomputers are microcomputers that use 8-bit microprocessors. The term '8-bit' is also applied to the character sets that could be used on computers with 8-bit bytes, the best known being various forms of extended ASCII, including the ISO/IEC 8859 series of national character sets especially Latin 1 for English and Western European languages. The IBM System/360 introduced byte-addressable memory with 8-bit bytes, as opposed to bit-addressable or decimal digit-addressable or word-addressable memory, although its general-purpose registers were 32 bits wide, and addresses were contained in the lower 24 bits ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whitespace Character
A whitespace character is a character data element that represents white space when text is rendered for display by a computer. For example, a ''space'' character (, ASCII 32) represents blank space such as a word divider in a Western script. A printable character results in output when rendered, but a whitespace character does not. Instead, whitespace characters define the layout of text to a limited degree, interrupting the normal sequence of rendering characters next to each other. The output of subsequent characters is typically shifted to the right (or to the left for right-to-left script) or to the start of the next line. The effect of multiple sequential whitespace characters is cumulative such that the next printable character is rendered at a location based on the accumulated effect of preceding whitespace characters. The origin of the term ''whitespace'' is rooted in the common practice of rendering text on white paper. Normally, a whitespace character is ''not' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
