
Byte Magazine Smalltalk-80 Issue  - t1m
https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1981-08
======
rayiner
Byte Magazine was awesome. So much more technical and in-depth than what
computer magazines offer today. One of the most interesting issues I ever read
was an early 1990's issue that I found several years later (but before we had
internet outside of AOL's walled garden). It had two major stories: new
operating systems and new processors. It covered OS/2, how the new NT micro-
kernel could host different personalities like Windows and POSIX, OSF/Mach and
this object-oriented OS called Taligent that never took off. It also covered
Alpha and PowerPC and talked about how RISC would take over from x86.

Ironically, it all came to pass in a slightly different way than they
imagined. Now, everyone is running a Mach-based UNIX on RISC hardware, except
instead of a workstation it's your iPhone.

~~~
salgernon
For me, byte stopped being as interesting the late 80s, after Robert Tinney
stopped doing their cover artwork and their stories almost always lead with
"HOT NEW 386 FROM COMPAQ". There were a few gems after that, but those Robert
Tinney covers were wonderful (and I've since bought a few prints from him.)

~~~
rayiner
Well I was a small child in the late 1980's, so I can't say I'm familiar with
that era. In retrospect, though, I do feel like I've missed out on the golden
age of computing, at least when it comes to the stuff that interests me (CPUs,
operating systems, programming languages).

------
salgernon
I'm so torn. I've got BYTEs from 1976 through the early 80s and I love
flipping through them - there's just nothing like having a paper copy to find
things you didn't even know you were looking for. But the space they take up
is getting too valuable... And now archive.org has all those magazines
digitized... Its hard to prioritize the classic books and magazines vs other
non-essential life detritus.

~~~
cgh
I hear you, I have a bunch of old Transactor magazines from the '80s (hardcore
Commodore programming magazine) that I'd like to give to a deserving home.

On the non-programming front, I have a ton of old issues of Climbing magazine
from the '90s that are completely awesome but I have no one to give them to.

I guess I could place a "giving away for free" ad on Craigslist but it would
be cool to have a more dedicated site for this kind of thing.

~~~
sebastianconcpt
At Cognopolis there is the Holoteca, a collection of collections. They have
many tecas with lots of stuff, from one of the largest comics collections to
bugs and shells and thousands of dictionaries (and many other stuff)

I can connect you with them

Have a look [http://tedxavcataratas.com/2013/12/26/cognopolis-
consciousne...](http://tedxavcataratas.com/2013/12/26/cognopolis-
consciousness-and-the-disbelief-principle-waldo-vieira-at-tedxavcataratas-2/)

------
Erwin
Page 53 has an ad from Paul Lutus (lutusp @ HN occasionally) for TransForth:
[https://archive.org/stream/byte-
magazine-1981-08/1981_08_BYT...](https://archive.org/stream/byte-
magazine-1981-08/1981_08_BYTE_06-08_Smalltalk#page/n53/mode/2up)

------
Mithrandir
I found this amusing "complaint" to Byte in this same issue
([https://archive.org/stream/byte-
magazine-1981-08/1981_08_BYT...](https://archive.org/stream/byte-
magazine-1981-08/1981_08_BYTE_06-08_Smalltalk#page/n31/mode/1up)):

    
    
      April's Foolers
    
      The hasty printing of data concerning 
      our Black-Hole Diode is not only an inva- 
      sion of our corporate security, but is not 
      in the national interest. (See the April 
      1981 BYTE, page 363.) 
    

[[https://archive.org/stream/byte-
magazine-1981-04/1981_04_BYT...](https://archive.org/stream/byte-
magazine-1981-04/1981_04_BYTE_06-04_Future_Computers#page/n362/mode/1up)]

    
    
      Our device, which is covered by US 
      patents and is classified by the National 
      Security Council as "Top Secret," should 
      not be pandered about in a general-circu- 
      lation magazine for all to see, especially 
      when those not friendly to our nation may 
      learn details of this device. 
    
      Furthermore, how BYTE learned of the 
      existence of our device is unknown to us, 
      but be advised that stricter security has 
      been imposed to forestall any further 
      lapses. 
    
      Be also advised that the company BYTE 
      lists as being responsible for creating the 
      Black-Hole Device, Spatial Regression 
      Ltd, will shortly receive summons from 
      our legal department. 
    
      Any repetition or further disregard for 
      national security regarding this device or 
      its uses in particle-beam research will 
      bring about swift and final action. 
    
      J.W. Kelty
      Chief Executive Officer 
      Code-7 Electronics 
      POB 1505 
      Modesto CA 95353
    

And Byte's response:

    
    
      Each year, the BYTE staff enjoys slip- 
      ping a few joke items into the April issue 
      for our readers to find; some are subtle, 
      some are outrageous. Response to this 
      year's foolishness was greater than in any 
      year past. In case you missed it, look for
    
      "Lost Dutchman's Bug" (photo), 
      page 302 
      "Black-Hole Diode" (new product), 
      page 363 
      "Noise-Emitting Diode" (new product), 
      page 364 
      "Slightly Used Cray-1" (unclassified ad),
      page 414 
    
      So you see, there's no need for "swift 
      and final action" (gulp!) — we were just 
      kidding! By the way, where should we 
      return the sample device that was in- 
      cluded with your letter? . . . CPF

~~~
zem
"noise-emitting diode" is one of those jokes that is so simple and so
brilliant you wish you'd thought of it first

~~~
coldtea
? What's the joke in this? Besides diodes not emitting noise, that is.

~~~
zem
it's a play on "light-emitting diode", retaining the same superficial form but
generating an absurd image in the process. in the context of coming up with
titles for an april fool article, it's brilliant.

------
agumonkey
Nice complement to the Self release thread here
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7047953](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7047953)

~~~
t1m
Agreed. Reading the Self thread kind of got the nostalgia going for the
Smalltalk. I was quite surprised to see how thorough archive.org has become.

I went through a rather large Smalltalk phase in the first half of the
nineties, and was kindly lent a copy of the 1981 magazine by a fellow hacker
(and archivist!) for a few months before reluctantly returning it sometime in
1991. I loved how the journos went through great lengths describing what
"cut/copy/paste" was. It's almost travel writing.

------
analog31
For me, that's not the Smalltalk-80 issue, but the Z8-BASIC issue. My mom was
studying computer science, and subscribed to Byte. I was interested in math,
electronics, and programming at the time. I was in high school and had taken a
course in BASIC. Ciarcia's Circuit Cellar was transformative for me.

------
jorgem
I remember this issue vividly. I was 14. :)

I couldn't grok what smalltalk was. :(

~~~
gonzo
I was 20. I faired no better.

------
ghc
Page 196:

An add for "The Last One", a system that claims to write your programs for you
in a bug-free fashion by asking you questions in plain English. "Coming
soon..."

I wonder at the context behind this. The idea that computers could even
remotely be capable of this seems crazy now, let alone in the '80s. But maybe
it wasn't as high level as I'm thinking....

------
gonzo
I read this, on paper, in 1981.

I was lost, but at least understood that I was trying to read something
important. Something well beyond Fortran, Basic and Pascal.

------
rbanffy
Odd trivia: in the mid-80's I worked as a programmer writing educational
software for Apple IIs. While digging through the college library for old
magazines (they had a mostly complete run of BYTE) I came across the Cream
font (page 106) and decided to use it on one of our programs.

So, that font was displayed on Apple II's all over Brazil.

------
pan69
Love to read it but I can't because it's stuck in some gimmick. Why is
Archive.org doing this?

~~~
mzs
On the left there should be a box 'view this book' with a number of download
options.

------
dded
Is the "Microsoft" in the ad on p 111 _the_ Microsoft? I don't recognize that
logo. The address on the ad is Bellevue, WA.

~~~
pjmorris
They've changed logos a number of times... and moved from Bellevue to Redmond
in ~1985 (and from Albuquerque to Bellevue in 1979). - recollected from
'Gates', Stephen Manes.

------
jrobbins
I have that issue, it's my favorite!

------
aldanor
2000 and beyond: self-replicating robots terraform the cosmos.

(page 49)

OK.

