Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Byte magazine (1984): Benchmarking Unix

archive.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 49 posts

Re: Byte magazine (1984): Benchmarking Unix

#21

Post by emidln »

blakesterz wrote: post #3
rsecora wrote: post #2

Some links inside the article. Byte magazine was plenty of ads, and articles can continue after jumping 300 pages Start: https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1984-08/page/n137/... Continuation: https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1984-08/page/n405/... Results: https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1984-08/page/n411/...

I love looking trough the ads! An Apple II, and a color printer from Apple. Compuserve's CB Simulator. Ads for drives that hold Megbytes of data. So many different peripherals and PC makers. UltraPlan Spreadsheet Calculator. An ad for an Assembler. One for Unix Sys V from AT&T. Modem after modem. Compuserve's CB Simulator sounds like it must've been awesome!

The International Journal of PoC||GTFO [0] includes a lot of old tech ads if you're into that thing. A nice touch alongside the hardcore engineering feats you see in the publication.

[0] https://www.alchemistowl.org/pocorgtfo/

Re: Byte magazine (1984): Benchmarking Unix

#22

Post by therealcamino »

Someone wrote: post #13
magoghm wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ads were not annoying at the time of release. I really enjoyed reading those ads and finding out about products specs and prices, remember that we didn’t have the Web back then and Byte magazine was my main source of information about what was available.

Indeed. Complaining about the ads in Byte would have been like complaining about the ads in the yellow pages. Byte almost was reverse Playboy: you almost didn’t read it for the articles.

Even more true for Computer Shopper! At its peak it was probably an inch thick every month, and 99% ads. But in pre-Internet days, very useful.

Re: Byte magazine (1984): Benchmarking Unix

#23

Post by icedchai »

blakesterz wrote: post #3
rsecora wrote: post #2

Some links inside the article. Byte magazine was plenty of ads, and articles can continue after jumping 300 pages Start: https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1984-08/page/n137/... Continuation: https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1984-08/page/n405/... Results: https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1984-08/page/n411/...

I love looking trough the ads! An Apple II, and a color printer from Apple. Compuserve's CB Simulator. Ads for drives that hold Megbytes of data. So many different peripherals and PC makers. UltraPlan Spreadsheet Calculator. An ad for an Assembler. One for Unix Sys V from AT&T. Modem after modem. Compuserve's CB Simulator sounds like it must've been awesome!

I remember using the CB Simulator when I was a young teen back in the 80's! That was my first introduction to multi-user stuff. It was cutting edge for the time.

Re: Byte magazine (1984): Benchmarking Unix

#24

Post by icedchai »

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #20
rsecora wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That means the VAX-11/760 (120.000$-160.000$) was 27 times slower for that benchmark. And the PC-XT running PC/IX was 260x slower.

The VAX was also the size of a wardrobe. Interesting to see that it was still leading the pack, more or less, even though it was a 1977 design compared to the smaller and cheaper micros from the 80s - including the Lisa, which clearly was not a fast computer.

VAX 11/780's were large machines. By the mid 80's you could get a MicroVAX which weren't quite as powerful, but much smaller. In the late 80's, I knew a guy who had one at home.

Re: Byte magazine (1984): Benchmarking Unix

#27

Post by lakkal »

icedchai wrote: post #23
blakesterz wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love looking trough the ads! An Apple II, and a color printer from Apple. Compuserve's CB Simulator. Ads for drives that hold Megbytes of data. So many different peripherals and PC makers. UltraPlan Spreadsheet Calculator. An ad for an Assembler. One for Unix Sys V from AT&T. Modem after modem. Compuserve's CB Simulator sounds like it must've been awesome!

I remember using the CB Simulator when I was a young teen back in the 80's! That was my first introduction to multi-user stuff. It was cutting edge for the time.

Same here, and it really sharpened my typing skill.

Re: Byte magazine (1984): Benchmarking Unix

#28

Post by C1sc0cat »

Someone wrote: post #13
magoghm wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ads were not annoying at the time of release. I really enjoyed reading those ads and finding out about products specs and prices, remember that we didn’t have the Web back then and Byte magazine was my main source of information about what was available.

Indeed. Complaining about the ads in Byte would have been like complaining about the ads in the yellow pages. Byte almost was reverse Playboy: you almost didn’t read it for the articles.

Really! the articles where the main point - just whish I had had the nerve to use the $25 diy modem Steve Garcia for one project instead of paying £300 for an answer and £600 for an answer originate.

Re: Byte magazine (1984): Benchmarking Unix

#29

Post by C1sc0cat »

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #20
rsecora wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That means the VAX-11/760 (120.000$-160.000$) was 27 times slower for that benchmark. And the PC-XT running PC/IX was 260x slower.

The VAX was also the size of a wardrobe. Interesting to see that it was still leading the pack, more or less, even though it was a 1977 design compared to the smaller and cheaper micros from the 80s - including the Lisa, which clearly was not a fast computer.

Several wardrobes :-)

Re: Byte magazine (1984): Benchmarking Unix

#30

Post by dan_hawkins »

siffland wrote: post #7
blakesterz wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love looking trough the ads! An Apple II, and a color printer from Apple. Compuserve's CB Simulator. Ads for drives that hold Megbytes of data. So many different peripherals and PC makers. UltraPlan Spreadsheet Calculator. An ad for an Assembler. One for Unix Sys V from AT&T. Modem after modem. Compuserve's CB Simulator sounds like it must've been awesome!

From the beginning of Byte magazine until about 1984 are really fun to read. The ads were probably annoying at the time of release, but not they are fun and interesting to read. I like the 1983 issue with imaging where they are talking about movie effects for "Tron" and "Revenge of the Jedi". I wished they would of had more UNIX in the issues, however it was usually unaffordable. But a fun look, at least for me, to t…

"Revenge of the Jedi" - you mean "Return of the Jedi" right? :D Although "Revenge of the Jedi" would be awesome!
Post reply on HN