January 1985 — Vol 7 No 1

Overview

Volume 7 debuts. David Morganstein continues as President (final stretch — Warrick takes over Aug 1985). "The 512K Mac - The Real Benefits" (Steve Hunt, p40) — Hunt's deep-dive on what the Fat Mac upgrade actually buys. "1001 Binary Tales: Mac Innards 3" (Raymond Hobbs, p42) — Hobbs's third Mac internals installment. "Programming the 65C802/816" (Lawrence Husick, p34) — Husick on the CMOS 65C816 (the chip that would power the upcoming Apple IIGS). "Calendar Program" (Tom Warrick, p22) and "The WAP ABBS" (Tom Warrick, p24) — Warrick continues writing about Pi's BBS infrastructure. "My Mac and My VAX" (Bob Wilson, p46) + "Love at First Byte" (Rana Pennington, p45) + "Using MacTEP for VAX/VMS Comm" (Kenneth Nellis, p47) — Mac-to-VAX interop cluster. "Dollars and $ense: A Review" (Kevin Nealon, p51) — personal finance software. "Be Careful in 'The Print Shop'" (Bob Trexler, p28). "Did Ja? Did Ja Call?" (Leon H. Raesly, p9) — Raesly's hotline-volunteers piece. "MicronEye: A Review" (Steve Crandall, p44) — early digital-camera review (MicronEye was a primitive video-camera-to-Apple input device). "LISA SIG News" + "Desktop Calendar for the LISA" (John F. Day, pp 38-39). "'Inside Mac': Author Responds" (Raymond Hobbs, p52) — Hobbs replies to feedback on his Inside Macintosh coverage.

Table of contents (selected)

Highlights

512K Fat Mac one year on — Steve Hunt

The Fat Mac upgrade announced fall 1984 finally has enough field experience for Hunt to write "the real benefits": large clipboards, more concurrent applications, multiple documents open, less swapping to the single floppy.

65C816 introduced — Lawrence Husick

Husick covers the CMOS 65C802/816 — the 16-bit successor to the 6502 — eight months before Apple unveiled the Apple IIGS (Sep 1986) which used this chip. Husick is doing some prescient sport coverage.

Mac↔VAX interop

Pi members were heavily federal/defense-contractor — many had VAX accounts at work. The three-article cluster on Mac-to-VAX comms reflects that population.

Entities

People: David Morganstein, Steve Hunt, Raymond Hobbs, Lawrence Husick, Tom Warrick, Bob Wilson, Rana Pennington, Kenneth Nellis, Steve Crandall, John F. Day, Kevin Nealon, Robert C. Platt (no longer Page from Stack — that's now Dana J. Schwartz), Dana J. Schwartz, Bruce F. Field, Peter Combes, Judy Rein, Charlene Ryan, Leon H. Raesly, J. Tom DeMay Jr., Bob Velke, Bob Trexler, Cyril Fefer, Peter Trinder, Caird E. Rexroad Jr. Topics: Fat Mac 512K, Mac VAX Interop, 65C816 Architecture, Mac Internals, Pi BBS Coverage References: Macintosh 512K, MicronEye, Dollars and $ense, Print Shop, VAX VMS

Connections to other issues

• Volume 7 debut after the Mac-launch year
• 65C816 coverage anticipates the Sep 1986 Apple IIGS launch covered in 1986-10 — V08 N10
• Hobbs Mac Innards 3 continues from 1984-11 — V06 N11 Pt 2
• "Page from the Stack" column transitions from Robert C. Platt to Dana J. Schwartz (visible from 1984-11 — V06 N11)