May 1985 — Vol 7 No 5

Overview

David Morganstein continues as President (election prep in progress; Warrick takes over Aug 1985). ★ "63 Genealogical Data Bases" (Leon H. Raesly, p37) — Pi's first sustained genealogy-computing piece, presaging the Genealogy SIG (formal column in 1997-11 — V19 N06). "Family Roots: A Review" (Marilyn Black, p37) — paired genealogy software review. "Z-80 for the Littlest Apple" (Lawrence A. Husick, p40) — Husick on adapting the Z-80 Softcard for the Apple //c (the "littlest" Apple). "Jazz vs. Symphony" (Donald W. Kornreich, p58) — Lotus Jazz (Mac integrated suite, just released) vs Symphony (Lotus's flagship). "Fattening Your Mac" (David Morganstein, p59) — Mac 512K upgrade economics. "Programmers Sub-SIG" (Jonathan E. Hardis, p59) — Hardis launches the Programmers Sub-SIG (technical Mac developer subgroup). "Digging Into Logo - Part 1" (Cyril Fefer, p30) — Fefer's serialized Logo column begins. "An Accelerated Apple" (George M. Vitak, p16) — accelerator card review. "Comment on 'Dazzle Draw'" (Milton R. Goldsamt, p14) — Goldsamt on Dazzle Draw (a major Apple //e graphics package by Broderbund). "The WAP 'Print Shop' Library" (Gary E. Hayman, p14) — Pi's library of Print Shop graphics. "Concertware: Music Creation" (John W. Gardner, p48) — early Mac music software. "MacWord: A Second Choice" (Bonnie L. Walker, p49). "ReadySetGo: A Review" (Jim Graham, p52) — early Mac desktop publishing app (precursor to PageMaker). "MacNovice: MacLingo" (Ralph J. Begleiter, p46). "Inside Macintosh" (Jonathan E. Hardis, p62). "Sider Gets a Lot of Press" (David Morganstein, p19). "Getting the Yr from Thunderclock" (Duncan Langford, p20). "Data Acquisition for the Mac" (Lynn R. Trusal, p55) — Trusal extends into scientific computing.

Table of contents (selected)

Highlights

Genealogy comes to Pi

Raesly's "63 Genealogical Data Bases" + Black's "Family Roots" review establish genealogy as a recurring Pi topic. The formal Genealogy SIG launches a dozen years later (1997-11 — V19 N06); the seeds are here in 1985.

Z-80 for the Apple //c — Lawrence Husick

The Apple //c's lack of expansion slots was a real constraint. Husick documents adapting the Z-80 Softcard (originally a slot-card) to the //c — Pi-style hardware tinkering at its best.

Jazz vs Symphony — Donald W. Kornreich

Lotus had two integrated suites: Symphony (DOS) and Jazz (Mac). Both were trying to clone the AppleWorks "all in one" formula. Kornreich's comparison is one of the earliest published.

Programmers Sub-SIG — Jonathan E. Hardis

Hardis (later VP-SIGs and a major Pi voice) launches the technical Mac developer sub-group.

Entities

People: David Morganstein, Leon H. Raesly, Marilyn Black, Lawrence Husick, Donald W. Kornreich, Jonathan E. Hardis, Lynn R. Trusal, Ralph J. Begleiter, Bruce F. Field, Ian M. Thal, Arsen Darnay, Milton R. Goldsamt, Gary E. Hayman, George M. Vitak, Dave Harvey, J. Tom DeMay Jr., Duncan Langford, Cyril Fefer, Ronald Wartow, Bernie Benson, Ted Gaugler, George Sall, Jorge P. Osterling, Charlene Ryan, Rudolph H. de Jong, Ed Lang, John W. Gardner, Bonnie L. Walker, Jim Graham, Lloyd Swift, Paul Moore, Steven Pearce, Vincent M. Disandro, Bob Velke Topics: Genealogy at Pi, Mac Music Software, Programmers Sub-SIG, Mac vs Lotus, Apple IIc Z-80 References: Family Roots, Lotus Jazz, Lotus Symphony, Concertware, Dazzle Draw, ReadySetGo, Sider Hard Disk, Apple //c

Connections to other issues

• Genealogy thread continues through later 1980s; formal Genealogy SIG 1997-11 — V19 N06
• Apple IIc Z-80 piece complements 1985-02 — V07 N02 "Why I Bought an Apple //e" / "Apple //c Book" coverage
• ReadySetGo review presages Pi's PageMaker coverage (when PageMaker launched July 1985)
• Jonathan Hardis Programmers Sub-SIG launches — Hardis becomes major Pi Mac voice