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from BASIC. Anyway, Dale Rupert and
Morton Kevelson's articles on programming
and hardware respectively continue to be the
main attraction of Ahoy!. Mort digs into R.J.
Brachman's Serial Box and Xctec's Printer
Enhancer in the November issue. In the
December issue Ahoy! got all worked up
editorially over the fact that INFO once again
rated them above the other Commodore
magazines (Product RoundUp, issue #12), and
consequently said some nice stuff about us. (I
wonder how they'll promote it if they ever slip
to Number Two?) The January 1987 issue has
more good reviews from Morton and a tutorial
on the C128's M/L monitor by Rupert.
Dr. Timothy Leary's column debuted in the
October issue of The Guide. (We've thought
about having Dear Abby write one for INFO
along more or less the same lines...) Probably
the strangest single issue of any personal
computer magazine ever is the November issue
of The Guide. It's subtitled SEX &
COMPUTERS: A Special Report. Included are
reviews of Leather Goddesses of Photos, Strip
Poker, and InlraCourse, a discussion of sex
online, and even a look at how computing
interferes with one's sex life. It's a fun issue,
with plenty of junior high sniggers and giggles
along the way.
The November/December Amiga World has a
look at color printers that verifies what we've
found out in our own tests: color printers
generally still do a pretty lousy job of color
printing. If you want to check it out for
yourself, they printed some nice examples.
This issue also features the AmigaWorld
Software Buyer's Guide, a listing of 370-odd
products for the Amiga. The Jan/Feb '87 issue
marks Amiga World's first all-Amiga-gcncratcd
cover. It features a digitized shot of David
Letterman and a magazine logo and titles all
done on the Amiga. It's about time! Inside is
an article on Caligari, an incredible animation
system, a Hardware Buyer's Guide, and bits on
BOBs, menus, and what's new in version 1.2 of
the operating system. Amiga World is
definitely getting meatier.
We've finally gotten in the last couple of
issues of Amazing Computing and they look
pretty good, to say the least. There arc lots of
fair reviews, tutorials in Forth, C, and BASIC,
and articles on BOBs, fonts, menus, and other
goodies in issues #7 and #8. It's still being
produced on a Macintosh, of all things, but a
worthwhile publication nonetheless.
Moving to the more generic computer
publications, Byte continues its excellent
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coverage of 16/32-bit computing in the October
issue with a feature on Amiga sound, as well as
their long-awaited official review of the Amiga
1000. (They liked it.) Also in that issue is a
preview of the Apple IIGS, about which they
were not so enthusiastic. The November issue
contains their (positive) review of the Macintosh
Plus, an interesting look at computing in the
Soviet Union, and an insightful analysis of
Manx Aztec C and Lattice C for the Amiga by
Charlie Heath. December's issue is on graphics,
and includes an article on Mandelbrots on the
Amiga, complete with C listing, and Bruce
Webster talks about some Amiga products.
The October Computer Shopper contains an
article in praise of the Ziploc sandwich bag and
its usefulness to computcrists. The November
issue has an article by Sheldon Leeman entitled
The Myth of ST Superiority, in which he
logically and point-by-point counters the
allegations of Atari enthusiasts about the ST
and the Amiga. It is "must" reading for any
Commodore enthusiast. I understand the
article grew out of an online argument on
GEnie between Sheldon and Atari's Neil
Harris, and that some notes about that conflict
are archived somewhere in the Amiga RT on
GEnie.
There is one totally non-Commodore related
publication that is of interest to Commodore
enthusiasts only because of who is responsible
for it. As we mentioned last issue, Atari has
hired David Ahl and Elizabeth Deal, the former
editors of Creative Computing magazine, to
produce Atari Explorer, their house magazine.
We picked up the first issue (Scpt/Oct) and it
looks good. The editorial content is solid and
responsible, and the production is attractive
and slick. David Ahl's cool, intelligent,
editorial voice seems to be the only rational
voice emanating from Atari corporate
headquarters. If Atari were to shut up and let
Ahl and staff speak for them, Atari would be
a much more credible opponent for
Commodore. Fortunately, with the Tramiels at
Atari's helm that is not likely to happen.
That's it for this time. Don't forget the
required reading, too: The Midnite Software
Gazette for everybody into Commodores,
Computer Language for programmers, COMAL
Today for COMAL enthusiasts, The Transactor
for Commodore techies, Ami Project for Amiga
programmers, and Seventeen if you're a girl in
junior high.