from the August 1984 issue of Australian Micro Computerworld magazine

Franklin Computer, maker of Apple-compatible computers, has filed for reorganisation under Chapter 11 of the US Federal Bankruptcy Code.

In a prepared statement, Franklin president, Morton David said the company was experiencing falling sales and a “strain in financial resources’. To date, the company has about $US33.9 million in assets and $US22.8 million in liabilities, a spokesperson said.

The company owes significant sums to at least 20 unsecured creditors. Under Chapter 11, acompany is protected from its creditors while it reorganises, which usually takes several years. “We will spare no effort to turn Franklin around,” David said.

An Optimistic Approach to Software Piracy

By Charles Bowen and J. Stewart Schneider

from the January/February 1983 issue of TODAY magazine

Fellow man.

It’s the kind of faith that, if contagious, could spawn a whole new kind of marketing in the microcomputer community.

At a time when major software houses are spending tens of thousands of dollars in what some say is a futile effort to protect their programs against pirates, a man named Andrew Fluegelman gives his programs away.

Charles David Tandy: 1918-1978

from the June 1979 issue of Electronics Australia

Charles David Tandy, founder of the huge Radio Shack and Tandy chain of electronic stores, died recently at the age of 60. Just before his death, he had seen his Company’s annual turnover nudge the billion dollar mark — no mean accomplishment for someone who, as a child, had experienced the rigours of the great depression.

from the April 1977 issue of Interface Age magazine

by Adam Osborne

The first small signs of a long predicted shake out are beginning to appear among microprocessor manufacturers. The first two casualties are the Elecronic Arrays EA9002 and possibly the Rockwell PPS-8.

The EA9002 simply took too long to develop. The smallest EA9002 system has three chips: The EA9002 CPU with read/write memory, external read only memory and I/O ports. In mid-1976 that still stood a chance of making it; but now, for simple applications, the EA9002 has to compete with the one-chip F8 from Fairchild and Mostek— and the 8048 from Intel. In more complex applications the EA9002 must compete with the two-chip 8085 system from Intel and the two-chip 6500 system from MOS Technology. Mark the EA9002 as the first stillborn 8-bit microprocessor.

from the May 1977 issue of Interface Age magazine

by Adam Osborne

Now that the Intel 8085 and 8048 are here, IMSAI is going for these two products; IMSAI is not planning to offer a Z-80 CPU card. I wonder why the Z-80 and the Intel products have to be mutually exclusive?

I have had a chance to examine the 8085 and the 8048— and I believe some intriguing user patterns are likely to emerge.

Sun and NeXT throw open the doors to industry-standard object-oriented computing

from the February 1994 issue of NeXTWorld magazine

by Lee Sherman

NEXTSTEP running on millions of desktops with scalable performance that makes it the environment of choice for everything from low-end workstations to high-performance servers.

It once seemed impossible.

But the stunning announcement in November that found longtime competitors NeXT and Sun agreeing to combine forces in an attempt to push NEXTSTEP as the standard operating and development environment for object-oriented client-server systems has dramatically increased NEXTSTEP’S chances of becoming entrenched in the enterprise, long before Taligent or Microsoft can even field a product.

by David Morgenstern

from the February 1997 issue of Australian MacUser magazine

Apple this year hopes to put an extra shine on its Macintosh product lines with Halo, a strategy that will aim models at specific market segments. Sources said the company will offer several high-performance configurations with limited availability.

The Halo systems will reportedly offer the highest-­speed single or multiple processors available and will provide unique features via bundled PCI cards. The models may also feature high-style enclosures.

from the July 15, 1985 issue of ComputerWorld magazine

by Mitch Betts

The Internal Revenue Service is taking steps to ensure that this year’s computer fiascoes, which delayed the processing of tax returns for several weeks, will not happen again next year.

According to IRS Commissioner Roscoe L. Egger, the IRS plans to acquire additional computer capacity at IRS service centers, provide additional training for programmers and conduct a complete review of computer operations.

from the July 1978 issue of Byte magazine

by Lou Frenzel - Heath Company - Benton Harbor Ml 49022

All personal and hobby computers are microprocessor based. That is, they use a single processor integrated circuit chip. One of the most important decisions you will ever make in purchasing a personal computer is choosing the type of microprocessor. The semiconductor manufacturers have provided computer designers with a wide range of microprocessing units having varying degrees of power and sophistication. As a result, there are at least a half dozen different processors available in hobby computers. This wide variety of products makes your choice somewhat flexible, or at least it seems that way. In reality, having so many processor styles to choose from, your decision becomes much tougher. If you are a beginner, it may be particularly difficult to make an intelligent choice. The purpose of this article is to provide you with some guidelines in making this important decision. The emphasis is on how to choose the best microprocessor for you when purchasing a personal computer.

from the May 1982 issue of Practical Computing magazine

The mainframe manufacturers are finding that microcomputers - so recently derided as mere toys - are making inroads into their hitherto safe preserves. Clare Gooding examines their contrasting styles, and ponders on how the giant mainframe builders will fare among the quick-witted bandits of the micro world.

Time was when anyone working with computers had a hard time at social gatherings. If you were foolish enough to admit it, the reaction was either “Oh that’s all too technical for me, don’t know anything about it”, or worse, an inundation of stories about payroll computer errors and gas bills for £0.00. Nowadays a more likely reaction is, “We’ve got one of those at work, amazing little machine, we do everything on it”.