NEWSLETTER Homebrew Computer Volume 3 — Issue 4 June-July 1978

Forth Interest Group

The first formal meeting of the Forth Interestlanguage which is readily extendable by the user. It Group was held May 27 in Hayward. The meetingis multi-level in that it includes a compiler, mnemon­ started at 10:00 a.m. and continued until 5:00 p.m. ic assembler, interpreter, and operating system. A group of about 45 people turned out for the day­ long meeting. Basic concepts of Forth were discussed Announcements of future activities are made at by the group under the leadership of Bill Ragsdale.the Homebrew Computer Club meetings. To be placed on the mailing list for future mailings write Preliminary plans were made for future meetings and to: Forth Interest Group, 787 Old County Road, the publication of a quarterly newsletter. San Carlos, CA 94070. □ Forth is a high level stack oriented computer

PCNET NewsDave Caulkins

The Bay Area Community Bulletin Board System (CBBS) is now operating. A complete discussion of CBBS's is in the April-May 1978 issue of the Home­ brew Computer Club Newsletter.

Homebrew Computer Club To use the Bay Area CBBS, telephone (408) 246-2805 (Sunnyvale, California number) with any 1978 Meeting Schedule 110 or 300 baud Bell 013A type modem equipped 7:00 pm - 10:30 pm terminal or computer. As soon as the connection is Date Location made send several carriage returns; after this the system is self teaching. July 12 Fairchild Auditorium August 9 SLAC Auditorium The system has been operating since June 15 in August 30 Fairchild Auditorium the evenings and since July 4 twenty-four hours a September 13 SLAC Auditorium day, seven days a week. The CBBS still needs some October 11 SLAC Auditorium modem level tweaking. Some people using acousti­ cally coupled modems may find it does not respond November 8 SLAC Auditorium to user transmitted characters as well as it should. The PCNET group hopes to resolve these minor Additional meetings at other locations may be problems in the near future. held. Watch the NEWSLETTER for announce­ ments. A ll dates are subject to change or cancel­ Use of the CBBS is open to anyone with the lation. If a change does occur, advance notice proper equipment. You are invited to use the system will be published in the NEWSLETTER if time and review the message file. You may leave messages permits. if you desire. Messages have already been logged from as far away as Boston. □

1 Letters To The Editor

Dear HCC, 1802. I have worked at the Computer Store of San I desire to implement a BASIC on my machine. Francisco and am really into computers. I should like $100 U.S. (+ duty) is a b it steep. In addition I would to join the club. However I live in San Francisco and modify it to fit my configuration. I was wondering ifdo not have any transportation. I was thinking, you or someone else has a listing from U.S. that there I must be other club members in S. F. Would can copy or borrow at a more reasonable price. anyone want to give me a ride? It would be nice to be a part of the club. I have a trade perhaps for it: I have written a conversational assembler/editor for the PACE (I am Karl Mosgofian a programmer by profession so it is of good quality). 1362 16th Avenue It exists on 2Vi K wds. It has a cassette (or paper San Francisco, CA 94122 tape) mass storage & auxiliary printer (driven by (415) 824-1866 1 CRT). It is modeled after IBM/MTS editor in its ease of use and clarity. The commands are: Insert,Is there a newsletter reader who is able to help Delete, Replace, Move, Copy, Renumber (fractionalKarl? -EDITOR line numbers with spaces in), Tab set, Alter (strings all or one & range), and Assemble, as well as Read and Write. Dear HCC, The system uses packing so deletions and inser­ I receive your newsletter on a regular basis, and tions are speedy. It uses line ranges or single lineit is always a pleasure to read it. It reminds me of the or present line. It uses parameters (i.e., verify, all,good times when I was at Stanford. Then, when I needed some info, it was easy to call for help or to lower case, no line space, no source, no object, etc.). It uses both bytes in a word and drives UARTSattend one of your meetings. connected to an address. It includes error checking Here, of course, things are not as easy. I am and comments and does not crash so long as inputtherefore is pleased to inform your European readers through editor. (It includes editing of line (i.e.,that my company, PULSION, is available for any backspace to correct line entered) while beinghelp they might request about S-100 systems. entered. Basically, we will offer to the European market T. Balabanov a complete system based on the Equinox mainframe 3065 West 13th Avenue and Thinker Toys products. But we will offer all the Vancouver B. C. help we can for other equipment. V6K 2V1 Canada We have decided to offer a complete system be­ cause most of the potential for sales is in the small business area, but we want to help the hobbyists too, and our system w ill also be available in k it form. Dear HCC, Louis Lempereur I called and talked to you on May 4th. Maybe PULSION S.P.R.L. you remember me. My name is Karl Mosgofian. I am 13 Avenue Mahiels 15 years old and own a small computer based on the B-4020 LIEGE (Belgium)

Robert Reiling Editor-in-Chief The NEWSLETTER is published regularly by the B rent S a c k...... Graphics Homebrew Computer Club. P.O. Box 626, Mountain View, CA 94042

2 S100 To Pet Board-New Product

HUH Electronics has announced the S-100 MPA— The Stand-Alone Processor option is an additional an S-100 Bus adapter for the Commodore PET com­$49.95. The S-100 MPA is available at computer puter. This S-100 sized card plugs into the user'sdealers or direct from HUH Electronics. Delivery is mainframe and a cable connects to the PET allowingfrom stock to three weeks. the use of the wide range of peripheral and memory cards available for the S-100 Bus. The S-100 MPA For more detailed specifications, ordering infor­ (Memory and Peripherals Adapter) is unique in thatmation or dealer inquiries, contact: HUH Electronics, it emulates the true S-100 Bus including full DMA, 1429 Maple St., San Mateo, CA 94402, (415) 573- true PSYNC generation, I/O address mirroring, read7359. □ w ait states and much more. In fact, the S-100 MPA meets most of the proposed IEEE Standard for the S-100 Bus.

An important feature of this versatile board is that it can also act as a stand-alone 6502 CPU board for the S-100 Bus. It is the only 6502-based processor board to be tru ly S-100 Bus compatible. A simple option kit is all that is required.

The S-100 MPA is available in k it form for $199.95 or fu lly assembled and tested for $279.95.

3 Benchmark CampaignGreg Dolkas

Here are the results of my benchmark campaign. The Second West Coast Computer Faire was the perfect testing ground for a benchmark. No where else can you find so many different computers assem­ bled and running (and mobbed by people). I decided to try a simple benchmark; one that could by typed in quickly, but still do a bit of crunching. The follow­ ing six line program was chosen because of its length, the relative time it took to run, and the fact that I had used it as a benchmark before on various other machines. Their times are included here to the accu­ racy of my memory. Some of the times were sub­ mitted by other Homebrew members. I] WM

10 FOR 1=1000001 TO 1000003 STEP 2 Several interesting observations can be made from 20 FOR D=3 TO SQR(I) STEP 2 some of the timings. The Northstar system was tested 30 IF l/D=lNT(I/D) THEN 60 with and without the hardware floating point proces­ 40 NEXT D sor, and w ith both single and double precision float­ 50 PRINT I ing point software. The added hardware makes a 60 NEXT I significant (factor of 3) difference in performance, and would probably be worth the extra cost if a lot of crunching is to be done with the machine. Those who like the accuracy of double precision arithmetic should notice also the price paid for it (factor of 2 The program finds the first prime number over over1 single). It seems what we need is a double preci­ sion F.P. board. million by trial and error. A test number is divided by all o f the odd numbers up to the square root of the number. If none of them divides evenly, the num­ ber is a prime. This requires a BASIC with 6-7 digit It should be noted that Big Brother (IBM) has a accuracy and enough smarts to do FOR-NEXT loops,bit of catching up to do. Their fastest model 5100 take square roots, etc. Some machines tested did not(the 5110) can barely keep up w ith the Radio Shack meet these requirements. The answer, by the way, TRS-80, is which sells for quite a bit less. 1000003. Some machines print this as IE6 due to the way their print routines work, but if you print 1-1E6 at line 50 they will display the "3". The Alpha Micro w ith its compiled BASIC comes out on top, of the "hom e" computer systems, that is. Of course, this timing was done in single user mode. Most of these times are via wristwatch, so they A t the Faire it was running four users, tw o of which could be o ff by a second or so. If anyone has an APLwere doing random seeks on a Trident 50 megabyte version of the benchmark it would be interesting drive,to and chalked up an un-impressive 30 or so try it on the IBM 5100 machines. As you can see, the seconds of execution. By contrast, the Interdata sys­ times cover a very wide range. The FORTRAN ver­tem (running Advanced Information Design's release sions, of course, can't be directly compared w ith the3.4 timesharing system) in a similar situation took BASIC timings, but they are interesting. (The 7600 only 5 seconds. The AID system, by the way, is an timing could only be done by putting the benchmarkinterpreted BASIC. in a loop for 100 times and then dividing the time by 100. The clock only ticked every 4ms.)

4 The results:

Machine Time Comments

PET 2001 6.5 Sec. TRS-80 11.5 Sec. Level II BASIC IBM 5100 23 Sec. IBM 5110 12 Sec. TDL 8K / 2mhz Z-80 9 Sec. Imsai chassis North Star 6.5 Sec. 8 digit hardware F.P. North Star 21 Sec. 8 digit, no hardware F.P. North Star 41.5 Sec. 14 digit, no hardware F.P. Alpha Micro 3.88 Sec. compiled BASIC HP-67 58 Sec. CDC 7600 1.3 ms (!) compiled fortran CDC 6400 64 ms compiled fortran Interdata 7/16 HSALU & A.I.D. BASIC software 2.3 Sec. Minicomputer with hardware F.P. HP 9100A approx. 23 Sec. desk top “ calculator" IBM 1620 II approx. 40 Sec. compiled fortran (compile time about the same) DEC PDP 8 approx. 1.5 Min. TSS/8, load unknown IBM 360/67 approx. .12 Sec. compile WATFIV

Machines that wouldn't run the test: Radio Shack's TRS-80 level I wasn't smart enough. Apple II had integer BASIC.

In all fairness, it should be said that speed is notspeed is the only characteristic of a system that can the only measure of a system. A machine that is a be measured in numbers. The others w ill have to be pain to use may not be worth purchasing, even if measured it by the user. □ is ten times as fast as the others. Unfortunately, John Craig Moves To Creative ComputingRobert Reiimg

John Craig has recently left the position ofuseful material for the readers of Creative Computing. editor of Kilobaud to assume new duties as editor Hisof goal is to meet the needs of the computer users Creative Computing. John has been editor of Kilo­in the schools, in small business, and in the home. baud since it started. You may recall the first issue I expect John will be looking for articles that of January 1977. would interest the readers of Creative Computing. Creative Computing circulation has been growingWrite him at RFD Box 100 D, Lompoc CA 93436 or rapidly from 20,000 in 1976 to over 60,000 in 1978. telephone (805) 735-1023. The publisher states that 95 per cent of Creative Also, Creative Computing is starting a software Computing readers use computers in school, at work,distribution plan soon. It w ill be called simply Crea­ or at home. tive Computing Software. □ John plans to provide practical articles with

Southern CA Swap MeetRobert Reiiing

The annual John Craig Swap Meet was held on Sellers numbered approximately 45 and included July 1, 1978 in Santa Barbara, California, and hassome major suppliers as well as individuals. On hand been declared a success by both sellers and buyers.were Jade, Meca, Kathryn Atwood Enterprises, and The crowd started to assemble before 9:00 a.m., theBase 2, to mention a few. Sellers reported brisk official starting hour, and a good crowd was still onaction at the tables. hand at closing time in the late afternoon. Many old John is expected to organize another meet next friends met and discussed the current state of person­year which will be an event to mark on your calendar. al computers. Of course, the bargains and goodiesDetails will be reported in the Newsletter as they were among the top items of conversation. become available. □

Two New Printer Interfaces AnnouncedNews Release

Two new printer interfaces for the Sol ComputerCorporation, 7100 Johnson Industrial Drive, have been announced by Processor Technology Cor­Pleasanton CA 94566. (415) 829-2600. poration. Both increase the hard copy capability of Diablo and Hytype are TMs of the Xerox Corpor­ the Sol Computer. ation. □ Sol Hytype I mounts inside any Diablo Series 1200 Printer connecting it directly to the back of the Sol. Similarly, the Sol Hytype II Printer Interface works with the Diablo Series 1200 Printer. The instal­ lation package includes the fu lly assembled, tested and burned-in printed circuit board, software, all cables and mounting hardware. No m odification to the Sol is necessary. No holes need be drilled in the printer. The printer can be restored to its original condition if required. Hytype driver software is included on CUTS cassette along w ith a source listing. The user may modify the driver software to suit a particular application. Suggested retail price for both the Hytype I and Hytype II is $150. Delivery is stock to 30 days. For more information, see your Sol dealer, or if more convenient, address Processor Technology

6 Bulletin Board

Club Library — Gordon French, club IF YOU HAVE INPUT to the NEWS­ GET THE NEWSLETTER! A nyon e in ­ librarian, has lots of interesting material L E T T E R , send it in and it will be terested in computers as a hobby may and is able to loan it to anyone with published as quickly as possible. The receive the NEWSLETTER by sending a definite need, but . . . please adhere editors cannot promise that everything a request to the Homebrew Computer to the following: sent will be published. All manuscripts Club NEWSLETTER, P.O. Box 626, Limit your telephone calls to the MUST be typed (double spaced) and Mountain View, CA 94042. The hours of 7 pm to 9 pm weekdays only. carefully proofed. All listings and NEWSLETTER is distributed monthly This is important. Gordon's phone diagrams must be as easy to read as at club meetings and is also mailed to number is (415) 325-4209 in Menlo possible. individuals who are unable to attend Park. Be specific with your request and the meetings. Gordon can probably help you — he TH E N EW SLETTER is made possible cannot randomly review the contents by y o u r donations. Please remember of the library for you. that we must pay for labels, postage, FOR SALE - TERMINET GE 300 & No reproductions will be made of production and printing. Donations 1400. See w o rk in g at Call C om puter, any materials. can be given to Ray Boaz or Bob Reil- 964-5331. All materials loaned must be re­ ing at the club meetings or sent to P.O. turned so they are available for others Box 626, Mt. View, CA 94042. to use in the fu tu re . I AM SURE THAT MANY OF YOUR SELLING MY ENTIRE ELECTRON­ readers will be happy to know that we ICS HOBBY. Moving to Germany for are forming a COSMAC-1802 USER'S several years. Items include: FOR SALE—ZlLOG DEVELOPMENT GROUP. Membership is FREE, and is a reworked Altair main frame SYSTEM Model 30, with two floppys, open to ALL 1802 users, including 3 S-100 4K RAM Boards 16K and in-circuit emulation, make Basic ELF, ELF-2, Super-ELF, VIP, 1 16 x 64 ALPHA-NUMERICS Board offer. Also have a number of new DEC UC-1800, etc. We will correspond, 1 15 MHZ monitor & keyboard writer keyboards with parallel interface exchange ideas and software, and (m ounted) for $50 each. Contact Jim Felich or possibly publish a newsletter. Write 1 2 + 2 + S Input/Output Jeff Shaw at TRIAD (415)328-0101. to: Patrick Kelly, P O Box 7162, 1 Erased 2Kx8 E-PROM TMS 2716 Los Angeles CA 90022. 1 2708 E-PROM 1 Small Oscilloscope LARGE C-MOS STOCK WORKSHOPS: An expanded and new FOR SALE — Group Buy— Shugart SOME LSI too series of four 3-day lecture/laboratory 8" Disc Drives. Call 408-268-2470, TTL & LINEAR I.C.'s workshops on microcomputer data San Jose. Reference Books, Data Catalogs, acquisition, instrumentation and mea­ Byte Magazine and others. surement systems are being given by % watt resistors/capacitors/LED's/Pots the authors of the popular Bugbooks. JOB OPENING - TECHNICAL WRI­ /switches/AII prime Course dates are August 21 thru Sept. TER for data sheets and technical ‘ AND ALL MUST GO 2, 1978. For more information, con­ articles. Prefer someone actively in­ *BY THE PIECE OR TAKE ALL tact Dr. Linda Leffel, Center for Con­ volved with Sol or other small compu­ ‘ PRICE DOES NOT MATTER tinuing Education, Virginia Polytech­ ter. Knowledge of both hardware and There is much more than I have nic Institute and State University, software. Additional duties in our listed. Please call: Eric, (415) 587- Blacksburg, VA 24061. (303) 951- Marketing Department will include 8749, nights, or 392-2500, ext. 5241. copy editing for ACCESS, partici­ 363, days. pation in trade shows, and develop­ ment of user manuals. Job can be FOR SALE IN EUROPE: Cherry Key­ designed around your interests and CONTRACT PROGRAMMING in board w ith upper and low er cases, abilities. Excellent salary. Contact BASIC — Call Computer 964-5331, ask Sanyo 1409 110 volt monitor, Proces­ Elizabeth Fairchild at (415) 829-2600. fo r A lex. sor Technology V D M board. Please PROCESSOR TECHNOLOGY COR­ contact Louis Lempereur, 13 Avenue PORATION, 7100 Johnson Industrial Mahiels, B-4020, Liege (Belgium). Drive, Pleasanton CA 94566. FOR SALE — PolyMorphic Systems CPU, Vectorgraphic memory, with keyboard, cassette interface and video FOR SALE — SEALS 8K memory CROMEMCO USERS GROUP. This (converted TV). Telephone Bob Pisani $170.408-227-5636. group is being started for anyone using (415) 843-5600 Berkeley, or (415) Cromemco computers or products. 658-0900 Oakland. Anyone interested or having ideas or FLOPPY DRIVE & 16K RAM. New suggestions for this group, please send "Discus I" 8" Shugart drive system & your name, address, phone number and For Sale: B Y TE Magazines. Aug. 1977 S-100 controller by Thinker Toys — any comments to Dave Dameron, 402 through May 1978. 50 cents each, $885. Also 16K STATIC, 450ns S-100 E. O 'K eefe Street, A p t. 27, E. Palo buyer pays postage. Gordon Wilson, memory — $290. Phone George Markle Alto, CA 94303, or call (415) 321- 107 South Mary Avenue, No. 107, 969-4969. 5998, evenings. Sunnyvale CA 94086. In This Issue

Forth Interest Group...... I . .. .1... i ... i ____ t....' 1 PCNET News Dave Caulkins ...... I . . . I. .. .1 . . . i ___ Í . . . . 1 HCC M eeting S chedule...... 1... jj¡... I.... f I 1 Letters To The E d ito...... r j... 1... f. .. _..... 2 Benchmark Campaign Greg Dolkas...... | ... 1. SA is. >. 4 John Craig Moves To Creative Com puting Robert Reiling...... I .. . 1 ...... i>. 6^ Southern CA Swap Meet Report " ~ Two New Printer Interfaces AnnouncedNews Release...... I ... .1.. .1...... 6 Bulletin Board...... I ... Í... \ ¿q 49

Stanford Linear Accelerator Center Auditorium Sherman Fairchild Medical Center Aliditorjum

' rif ' / / STANFORD i LINEAR J [ACCELERATOR CEflTERJ

Center for Advanced Study the Behavioral Scienc

FREEWAY

SHARON HEIGHTS Where and When

Club Meetings

AMA

Center for Advanced Study the Behavioral Sc C CAMPUS DRIV

SHARON HEIGHTS

Lagunita BO o .et hi ».«.*•»+

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MENLO

Homebrew Computer Club NEWSLETTER

P.O. Box 626, M ountain View, CA 94042 first; class i.rh.

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