Nothing says computers in the 1970's like a maths equation, and with this second issue of PCW, published in April 1978, one way to escape the drudgery of maths was to use a computer - in this case, a Commodore PET. It was early days for the micro, but if you were sufficient of heel, you too could have joined in the fun. And since we're delving back 47 years here, I have relied upon the Bank of England inflation calculator to provide a rough guide to what those far off prices are like today, placed in brackets after the original prices. Please keep in mind that perceived value is something else entirely, as is the actual cost of living - just as Switch 2 games at £75 might be, inflation-wise, similar value than cart games of the early 1990's, seventy five quid is still seventy five quid, and times have most definitely changed. With that noted, on with the magazine.
The publisher's letter on page two grabs your attention immediately, with the heartening news of expected sales of the debut issue hitting 25,000, and some 3,000 subscribers. As will become apparent, just because there were not that many micros in the UK (for sale or actually sold), that didn't mean there wasn't keen interest in computers. Small acorns and all that...
The letters page has the first doozy of the issue, and it's that age-old complaint regarding US and UK pricing - the PET being £695 (£3,700), whereas the US price equated to £305 (£1,600). The author concedes taxes, country specific alterations and logistical costs, but still questions the difference. He also queries Tandy's possible pricing, which turned out to be similarly "high", but hey, individual markets and "reasons" - it certainly didn't matter whether the US had more disposable household income or not - and that was a very general assumption.
One does, however, love the response to the question as to why the US edition of PCW was not $1, so there you go.
Note, also, the rather tetchy letter from Keith of Intel regarding Guy Kewney's issue one piece on the brief history of the computer. And that final paragraph - be told!
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| Contents page. |
The first article of entitled "Power to the People", and given 47 years of technological advancement and capitalism, it's rather quaint but also quite prophetic in some instances - flat panel displays and networking, anyone. OK, not huge leaps of faith but an interesting feature nonetheless.
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| The keypad was the usual "high quality" item... |
The Might Micromite casts its gaze on the Science of Cambridge MK14 computer kit - well, single board computer, a highly useful and very affordable opening into the world of computing, as the above ad states, at only £39.95 plus £3.20 VAT and postage (or £43.55 (£230) in the order form! - just state the total cost, you planks, marketing be damned!). The author confides that he is sure it will do very well, and if you know your history, Science of Cambridge was previously called Sinclair Instrument Ltd, before evolving into Sinclair Computers and thence Sinclair Research. As for the article, it covers the basics of what the board offers, and what you can do with it.
Since this was the very early days of the micro, the kit option was often the most affordable, and "The Compleat Kit Builder" feature gives you all the info about the kit you needed to get started. And it was a lot, to be honest. The approach is about right even for the newbie. Oh, and points for cuteness using the archaic spelling for a then-modern tech.
More user information is on hand with "Yes, but what does the little beast do?" Not a guide to youth-based chimney cleaning from the 1900's (because it should be), but an illustrative guide as to what a microprocessor actually does. Again, aimed at the beginners to the hobby, it should be remembered that at this point, the average person's exposure to computers would have been as a huge box with lots of lights, spinning tapes, and either the offer of light comedy or end of humanity levels of threat. I jest, but this was the kind of article that was needed for the prospective audience. You might have an interest, but in those days, the practical aspects of form and function were important in garnering understanding for end users.
BASIC - The First Steps is another introductory guide and yes, gentle reader, we have "HELLO" as the first program. It warms the cockles of me 'eart, it does, and the instructions on the use of specific keys highlights just how alien using a computer would have been to some new users - telling people that pressing the "delete" key once removed the last character typed, pressing it twice removed the last two, may seem positively ridiculous now, but given that if you had used a "keyboard" back then, it would likely have been a manual typewriter, these basics were much needed.
Speaking of which, "Typing Without Tears" aimed to give readers a helpful hand in how to improve their typing skills via two routines, since the primary way of interacting with a computer would remain the keyboard for years to come (and still is for most uses). Given how bad some keyboards on early micros would be (IBM PC Jnr, any Sinclair product - I will die on that hill - Jupiter, Oric, Atari 400, and yes, the machine of the day as far as this issue of PCW goes, the Commodore PET), one can only look back in amazement and wonder what the actual fuck was going on in the heads of the manufacturers. It's the one accepted method of input. Don't make it shit! Mind you, I could say the same for operating systems in the 21st Century. Looking at you, Microsoft. ESPECIALLY YOU!!!
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| Wise words, indeed! |
Harry Harrison (yes, he of the Stainless Steel Rat) is up next with a look at the Sperry K3 sight, a mechanical analogue computer in use during the Second World War. Point being, don't ignore mechanical computing from the very early days of computing itself.
Next is an article by Guy Kewney, whose association with PCW would span many, many more years. It's a comment piece and targets the nature of the personal computer business regarding profits and sales. With a mix of anecdotes and observations, it's an intriguing look at the market as was, and signs off with the lovely observation that the high cost companies are not rip-off merchants(!), merely cautious. Over-cautious in the author's mind, and they don't yet really believe that the man-in-the-street wants to spend £300 on a computer. "They'll learn". And look what happened... by the end of 1980, the ZX80 was yours for under a ton (£420 - sweet), and Acorn's Atom for £175 (£740), both assembled. They were spoiling us by then.
What follows is best described as an infomercial. It's an article about Commodore's approach to computing, aka the Commodore PET, it's history, what it could do, and what possibilities awaited. So what, you may think? Well, it was written by Kit Spencer of Commodore UK, but hear me out. I can totally understand why this feature exists. It's a justification as to why a home micro exists and why you might want to buy one over say a MK14 or similar single board computer. Whether you could afford it was a big question, but it was one of the less expensive than most competitors. It's an informative piece and more than justifies its place in this issue.
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| The good lady looks as impressed with him as she is with the PET's keyboard* |
Martin Collis brings us his experience in bringing a small business system into action in a software house. After choosing an SWTP 6800 from Computer Workshop (more on them in a moment), they spec'd a 4K single interface system, added a further 12K of RAM, a second interface and a cassette controller. The reasons were price, the greater popularity of the Motorola 6800 over the Intel 8080, and the fact that there were (and then still were) plans to manufacture the kit in Britain - this would continue to be a "thing" for years to come, but times would change. The kits arrived about ten weeks later, and it took two of them about two weeks to assemble and solder the beast together. And we complain about the time taken for Windows to update. Actually, yes, we still should, if you are still using Windows. Whatever benefits Win 11 seems to have, I still consider it a dumpster fire of an OS.
After what seemed to be a dodgy power supply that actually turned out to be duff memory involving several trips to CW, the guys were almost ready to rock and roll. Except an 8K board and the cassette interface were still en-route - and this after nearly four months had passed since ordering them... Throwing caution (and fiscal propriety) to the winds, they cancelled the cassette interface and ordered a twin mini-floppy set up that happened to be in stock. We'll get to prices shortly.
Software wise, they ended up with version 0.9 of the BASIC when they expected version 2. Still, they got some games running on it (it's always about the games!), and were awaiting the new BASIC version as they'd found some bugs in 0.9. In summary, they found the hardware robust and reliable (albeit not liking a cold room), though the SWTP system software was iffy, and that Computer Workshop's hardware support was excellent - their software support less so. Once the new OS was ready, they would be able to start developing bespoke programs for their needs.
The cost, you may ask? The processor, twin disk drives, and 24K of RAM set them back £1,700 (£9,150). Adding a VDU (that's visual display unit, or monitor for you kids out there) and 30 character per second printer would cost a further £1,500 (£8,000), for a grand total of £3,200 (£17,150). When created, they expected the cost of their software to add £800 (£4,300) to the package, and if you needed "full size" floppy drives, that would add a further £900 (£4,800) on top.
A similar case study, this time for a ready built system, focuses on Computech, a company that was founded in 1966 as a recruitment agency and as a developer of software for accounting machines and visible record computers. The recruitment side took off, the other, less so, but in this piece that "should be of interest to the hobbyist", (weren't they all hobbyists back then?), the focus was acquiring a computing solution with a hardware cost not exceeding £10,000 (£53,800). Their choice, as you can see, remained handily within their budget. They ended up developing in-house programs, and had at the time of this article, computerised three of their four agencies for a total outlay of about £20,000 (£107,600), and this after they had considered a mini-computer in the form of a PDP-11. As the article notes, the hardware was purchased in November 1976, first live running was April 1977, and within six months of that, things were going great.
I mentioned Computer Workshop before, and on page 42, we have an interview with John Burnett and Gordon Ashbee of the aforementioned retailer. There's some interesting snippets here, such as a discussion on what the "hobby market" actually was - and a wonderful observation about the difference between the US and UK markets - the former had a higher level of disposable income and different tax rules, so an amateur was truly an amateur, whereas in the UK, they considered people who bought a computer as wanting a return on that investment. That and the US user would have quite the high end set up, whereas a genuine UK amateur would stick to a low cost, barebones system. There's also commentary on the future of computers in education (it's coming), and that they have grown to the point where they can't provide a truly personal service to customers anymore - a shame but also testament to the growth of their business.
The PET 2001 review begins with an overall impression (very well constructed and with some nice features), but the reviewer also states that they only had a day with the machine whereas a week would have been preferable. As a review, it gets rather technical, but the last paragraph is a one for the times, leaving a number of questions hanging. Yes, you can easily form an impression, but what happens when you expansion and support? "These are questions worth asking and worth getting answers to" - so provide them please. It's a review, after all. Sadly, no answers are forthcoming, but the reviewer did not like the keyboard. So, do you buy one? I have no idea, and neither did the reviewer. I can't help feel that if the Spencer article and this review were combined, it would have been more helpful to the casual reader, but would have also completely torpedoed the idea of editorial independence. Oh well.
A second review tackles the Research Machines 380Z, a box I am vaguely familiar with as Tanfield Comprehensive had a single example in one of its Archimedes A3000 suites. The review is more fun than the PET one, as the author here shows a fine line in criticism and humour - the reminder for readers to ensure all of their plugs are correctly fused is a quaint throwback to times when they still showed children how to accomplish such tasks, something that still happened in the early 1990's. Build quality came in for some criticism, with the choice of cabling and lack of shock protection causing some concern, but the software offering was highly praised. The author notes that his criticisms are mostly personal, and that if you could only afford a barebones system for £400 (£2,150), then you'd be well served, and of course the expansion options would be great for schools and businesses. A few quirks, but the reviewer was sorry to see the review unit go.
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| Teaching children about maths and ultra small print. |
Two programs take up the following four pages, one a pseudorandom number generator, the other a scrambling program, before we get to a piece on teaching packages for the classroom. All three include listings for those with 20:20 vision.
A comment piece of data processing and analysis NOT happening in the NHS posits some rather good arguments as to the use of computing in medical care to deliver better patient care and outcomes. If that sounds familiar, that probably because that mantra has been repeated often of the intervening forty seven years, and this work comes from a time when you didn't have huge corporations trying to earn billions from multi-year contracts for systems that never seen to deliver on their promise. What? Me, political, pshaw! And don't get me started on data hoovering and monetisation... All I will say is that the author makes some good points, a lot has been achieved since then, but the ever-lasting presence of late stage capitalism in healthcare is royally fucking things up.
On safer ground is the section dedicated to the Amateur Computer Club View, and the gloriously understated opinion that the £695 (£3,700) of the 8K PET is "a bit much for the average amateur." Who would have thunk it? And in a situation that would be repeated countless times over the next several years, orders for X machine have not been received. In this instance, it's the rather more affordable NASCOM-1, which famously was expected to need 200 sales to make a profit, 400 would have been great, and they sold the latter amount in the first two weeks. Mind you, considering the absolute cluster that was 8-bit micro production in general between 1980 and 1985, this was just a sign of things to come.
A feature on the small system approach to program editing may be of interest to some - I'm an SQA bod, so whilst I can generally understand RPG in the context of financial programs, writing and editing it is another thing entirely. Hell, I can still forget the odd semi-colon on an ACS command every now and again. Anyhoo...
We have a multi-page deep dive on the E78 Europa Bus for those of a hardware mind, before the Products page, featuring the KIM-1 microcomputer system card, yours for £185 (£1,000). They were quite popular for a time, so a suitable option if the MK14 didn't appeal.
That's it for editorial, so what about the ads? Considering the era, there are more than you'd think, but at the same time, we were still bound by the aesthetic of the period.
We have Xitan Systems on page 2 offering a range of Z80 systems from the likes of Cromemco, North Star and Dynabyte, and from only £1,539 ex VAT (£8,300). These names would hang around for a few years, until the slow move away from the Z80 and the "joy" that was CP/M that would define a business machine. In time, PC-DOS/MS-DOS would replace CP/M as the OS of choice, mostly due to the ubiquity of the IBM PC and its kinda/sorta compatibles. True compatibility would take a little while longer to arrive, but for fans of DR's aging OS, at least Amstrad had consumer's backs by using CP/M on its PCW range until 1994.
Comart were another distributor of the above manufacturers, and use Xitan as a local supplier.
The Newbear Computing Store would sell you all the bits and pieces you'd likely need, including a vast array of TTL IC's (integrated circuits), literally for pennies, although something like a 2.5MHz Z80 was a more substantial £15.50 ex VAT (£85-ish).
For books and magazines, L.P. Enterprises has you sorted, and quite the range to US publications. Check out the magazines in the right hand column - even in the beginning of times, there were choices galore for periodicals.
Compelec Electronics wishes you entry to the Altair Age, and a range of systems that could be expanded with floppy drives and even a ten megabyte disc system, for a price obviously. The System 9V as shown for £6,781 to £7,026 (£36,500 to £37,800) hasn't any specifications listed, but one presumes it was a serious amount of kit for the time.
Lastly, a final mention of the Computer Workshop, whose ad is straight to the point with a list of machines, in both kit and assembled form, with prices excluding VAT and carriage.
Regular readers will know that I can be quite waspish when it comes to the magazines of yesteryear, but in this instance, I feel that approach would have been (mostly) unwarranted. This was at the dawn of personal computing, and the focus was still very much on small businesses and the amateur who could afford such frippery. Yet within a couple of years, there were moves to more readily available machines, and sure, the ZX80 was a kickstart the home owner needed, but it was by no means the only option, and you paid for what you got. Mass market offerings would take yet another year or two, and by that I mean games. You may disagree, but whatever "serious" reasons that may have existed for buying a home micro, the creation of a games industry didn't happen because Father wanted to track stocks, or Mother was busy balancing the home economics budget. And yes, those stereotypes lasted for a lot longer than many of the micros that followed these early efforts.
As for our next sojourn to the periodicals of the past, I have not yet decided, although I feel the mid-1980's calling. We shall see.
* The temptation for a Geordie themed caption was high but I controlled the urge, pet.
