COMPUTER ANSWERS ONLINE - INDEX TO TOPICS
Computer Answers was the help column in Personal Computer World magazine.
The early columns were edited by Sheridan Morley, and do not appear
here though I'd be happy to add those, with the permission of their
author, if I can get them in machine-readable form.
These columns come from the heyday of multi-format microcomputing in
the mid 1980s, when Simon N Goodwin answered the letters from readers
which magazine staff passed on (and was encouraged to chip in with
answers which were generally useful though not explicitly submitted).
These texts come from the original Video Genie floppy disks on which
the columns were written (via Sinclair QL, Amiga and Linux conversion
software) and include all the answers contributed each month - some
were carried over by the magazine sub-editors, for reasons of space,
or edited in minor ways, so this text may not exactly match that
printed in the corresponding cover-month. All but one column has
been recovered - the text of the October 1986 column has been lost
and will be re-instated from the printed version if someone OCRs
it for us. Volunteers welcome - original magazine copy on request.
The main misunderstanding between readers and the magazine, other
than the assumption that we'd answer questions not printed in the
magazine (no chance for a freelance on a fixed-fee of £140 for two
pages of copy a month, regardless of incoming post volume) concerned
vague but common questions which could be summarised as 'what should
I buy?' Such questions were normally binned, because the answers were
rarely generally applicable to other readers and it was most unlikely
that the person asking gave enough information for a sensible specific
answer to be compiled. Besides, such questions were addressed directly
by other parts of the magazine, such as reviews, benchtests and adverts.
Like any 'agony' column, this is only superficially one of personal
replies. It serves several purposes - to alert the magazine to the new
interests and problems of readers - to share answers likely to be of
general applicability - and to encourage readers to learn more about
other systems which they might never own but might yet need or wish
to interact with. Thus it served hundreds of thousands of readers,
rather than just the hundred-odd whose questions were answered directly.
Simon stopped writing Computer Answers in 1987 when new Editor Derek Cohen switched
the focus of the magazine from multi-format home computing for amateur enthusiasts
to business computing on IBM compatible systems, though Simon continued to
contribute reviews of non-IBM innovations later. Computer Answers continued for a
few months with various contributors, but soon vanished. The magazine itself
lasted into the 21st century, but had little in common (other than Guy Kewney's
once brilliant but increasingly and disappointingly ghost-written news reports)
with the pioneering original which was the best - and best-selling - micro
magazine of the late 70s and 1980s. RIP PCW.
Please click here for the previous menu or on the
following links for corresponding sections of the magazine.
COMPUTER ANSWERS JANUARY 1985
CATCH 64
SMALL LOGO OR LISP
MONITORING SHOCKS
MUSICAL MICROS
LEGAL ADVENTURES
'PLUGGING' THE GENERATION GAP
RELATIVELY EASY
COMPUTER ANSWERS FEBRUARY 1985
PREHISTORIC PROCESSING?
SCREEN DAMAGE
BBC MICRO UPDATE
TAKING THE QUANTUM PLUNGE
DEATH OF A ZX 81
DECODING ORIC DISKS
JUGGLING WITH DAISYWHEELS
MAGIC WAND WAIVED...
DRAGON KEY MYSTERY
SYMBOL OF CHANGE
COMPUTER ANSWERS MARCH 1985
CONNECTION CONVENTIONS
MIXING YOUR OWN PAINT
EXPERT IN TROUBLE
MORE ACE SPACE
TRANSLATION FRUSTRATION
COMMODORE ASSEMBLERS
COMPUTER ANSWERS APRIL 1985
GRAPHICS AND TEXT
EKING OUT AN APRICOT
FINANCIAL EXCHANGE
BBC DISK DILEMMA
AGE OF AQUARIUS?
IT'S NOT WHAT YOU'VE GOT...
COMPUTER ANSWERS MAY 1985
CROSSING YOUR CHANNELS
MATHEMATICAL MACHINATIONS
IN SEARCH OF QL PASCAL
PERIPHERAL PROLIPHERATION
ARRAYS AND MACHINE CODE
COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE
OVER THE COUNTER
COMPUTER ANSWERS JUNE 1985
TRANSATLANTIC POWER STRUGGLE
COMPUTERS FOR ARABS
HOW TO GET HACKING
ATARI COLOUR COMBINATIONS
MENAGE A TROIS
COBOL ON A MICRO
BBC PRINTER PROBLEMS
COMPUTER ANSWERS JULY 1985
GETTING STARTED
CHARACTER STUDY
A SLOW PROCESS
TWO FACED PRINTER REQUIRED
OPERATING SYSTEMS EXPLAINED
COMPUTER ANSWERS AUGUST 1985
INSURANCE AND MAINTENANCE
STRUCTURED BASIC
WOT PRICE EDUCATION?
A DISPLAY OF PRECISION
DRAGON PORT
COMPUTER ANSWERS SEPTEMBER 1985
TANDY AND APRICOT COBOL
A CLEARER VIEW
THE ART OF
PROGRAMMING SLOWLY...
ATARI ENQUIRIES
LINKA FRANCA?
THE 5.25 INCH ELECTRON
SPELLING OUT INSTRUCTIONS TO YOUR SPECTRUM
ZIL0G Z800 REVISITED
COMPUTER ANSWERS OCTOBER 1985
MUSIC AND THE MICRO
AMSTRAD 'MERGE' BUG
THE BLINKING APRICOT CURSOR
A SHARP LOOKOUT
EXTRA COLUMNS ON SCREEN
UPGRADING YOUR ROMS
REALLY RANDOM NUMBERS
COMPUTER ANSWERS NOVEMBER 1985
PERFEC PITCH
BEEFING UP THE BEEB
THE RIGHT CONNECTION - 1
THE RIGHT CONNECTION - 2
COMPUTER TUTORS
THE END OF THE LINE
AMSTRAD LITERATURE
HIDDEN PROBLEMS
HAS TANSOFT FOLDED?
COMPUTER ANSWERS DECEMBER 1985
COMPUTER DATING FOR COMPUTER SOFTWARE
UNIX, 'C' AND ALTOS POLLING PROBLEMS
APRICOT ANSWERS
LIES, DAMNED LIES AND BENCHTESTS
IBM ASSEMBLER
LIGHTING UP THE TORCH
THE SHARP END
COMPUTER ANSWERS JANUARY 1986
WORDSTAR AND THE JUKI
LOSING TOUCH...
ATARI ESOTERICA
MICRO CLUB LIST
THE SERIAL SERIAL
COMPUTER ANSWERS FEBRUARY 1986
FREE MAC SOFTWARE
AMSTRAD COLOUR
COMMODORE CONNECTIONS
TANDY DISK PROBLEMS
ADVANCE/RETARD
POCKET COMPUTING
68000 WORKSHOP MANUALS
COMPUTER ANSWERS MARCH 1986
TRUNDLE TROUBLE
SHARP MZ-700
SOFTWARE
ATOMIC DECAY
A SKETCHY ANSWER
TRACING THE BUG
RADIO CONTROLLED APPLE
FORTRAN FOR ENGINEERS
COMPUTER ANSWERS APRIL 1986
NEW ANSWERS
SOFTWARE REVIEWS
AMSTRAD W-P
MEMORY EXPANSION
ATARI XL WORD PROCESSING
QL NEWS
ORIC AND AMSTRAD
APRICOT VIDEO
TEXAS D-I-Y
FEEDBACK
COMPUTER ANSWERS MAY 1986
COLLECTOR'S CORNER
MIND YOUR LANGUAGE
DAISYWHEEL PRINTER INFO
QL DISPLAY GLITCHES
THE BROTHER & THE BEEB
CP/M QUERIES
FEEDBACK:
FURTHER ADVANCES
GLOBE
SHARP PRACTICE
COMPUTER ANSWERS JUNE 1986
MAKING A DATE
PROGRAM MISSING
NOT SO PERFECT?
PROGRAM FAIL?
MEDICAL MICRO SOFTWARE
COMPUTER ANSWERS JULY 1986
FLOATING POINT PITFALLS
QL ICONS
DISK COMPATABILITY
SHARP RS-232
HOMEPAK HOPES
SPECTRUM BUS
CONNECTIONS
ATOMIC FUSION
COMPUTER ANSWERS AUGUST 1986
VIEWDATA EN FRANCAIS
COMPUTER CHESS
GENIAL GENIES
ORIC PRINT
NETWORKS
ATARI ST BASIC
MUPPETS & MODEMS
FEEDBACK:
GLOBAL AID
FAT JOYCE
ANDROMEDA
FORMATTER
COMPUTER ANSWERS SEPTEMBER 1986
THE ORIC'S INARDS
SUPERBASIC AND THE BROTHER EP44
COLOUR BY NUMBERS
PRINTER INTERFACING
ELECTRON PLUS 1
AMSTRAD CONNECTIONS
QL CAD
COMPUTER ANSWERS OCTOBER 1986
LOST COLUMN
COMPUTER ANSWERS NOVEMBER 1986
TRANSFER TRAUMAS
INSURING YOUR MICRO
MULTI-USER
MICRO TERMINAL
LYNX LINKUP
FEEDBACK:
COMPUTER ANSWERS DECEMBER 1986
THE 64K QUESTIONS
MONITORS AND UPGRADES
QL TAPE INTERFACE
SOAP STORY
UPGRADING THE 6128 KEYBOARD
ATARI MAGAZINES
WORDSTAR CONFIGURATION
COMPUTER ANSWERS JANUARY 1987
BBC MICRO VERSIONS
MUSIC PROCESSORS
QL EDITING
PCW 8256 KEYS
CRYPTIC COSTOPOULOS
COMMODORE 128 TEXT
FEEDBACK
COMPUTER ANSWERS FEBRUARY 1987
APRICOT INFO
SPECTRUM ROM BUG
COMPUTER FRAUD
CP/M ON THE PC
COMPUTER ANSWERS MARCH-MAY 1987
AMSTRAD PC BASIC
AT LAST THE ITV MICRO!
MT80+ MEMORY
TERMINAL EMULATION
FAULT FINDING BY NUMBERS
FILE SIZE GRANULARITY
MONITOR SHAKES
SIDEKICK HICKUP
D-I-Y MATHS FUNCTIONS
BATCH OF PROBLEMS
DIRECTING ERRORS
DOUSED PHOENIX
Copy for March to May issues was scrambled in editorial changes, and
has been recovered en bloc. It includes some good work, not all of
which has previously been published - Simon.
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