Remember Family Computing? This was a magazine that was essentially the complete opposite of Byte. Published by Scholastic (publishers of educational materials), Family Computing was geared to inexperienced computer users, families and children.
In the 80s, we had a few issues of Family Computing because my Dad would pretty much buy anything even slightly Atari-related in Bookland back then1.
I also have a small collection of Family Computing today that I picked up on eBay a while ago: January 1985, February 1985, May 1985, June 1985, July 1985, November 1985 and January 1986.
The magazine covered all the popular home computers in the US at the time, including Atari, Commodore, TI, Apple, IBM, Timex/Sinclair and Radio Shack. They even included the Coleco Adam for a while when it looked like it might become a thing (spoiler: it did not).
Each issue would have mostly articles, but there was always at least one simple program of the month, usually written and BASIC and converted to multiple home computers.
The February 1985 issue has an interview with Jack Tramiel (Jack is Back) talking about his purchase of Atari and the upcoming computers (XE and ST) that were going to be introduced at CES in January 1985.
Remember magazines had long lead times, so even though the interview appeared in the February 1985 issue, it was probably done in November 1984.
One interesting question from that interview:
Family Computing: What does the name Atari mean to you, in terms of image?
Tramiel: Atari, to me, is the company that stared the whole boom in computers. It was the most successful company, which got in with the product [the Atari 2600 video game machine] to 20 million homes. Nobody else has done that. I believe that the world’s youth has a love affair with the name. Atari’s a household name all over the world, from Brazil to Mozambique. One of the strongest assets I both from Warner was the name Atari.
Also in February 1985 Family Computing started including K-Power, a mini-magazine for kids. Look at the covers above to see examples of the simpler content of Family Computing. I particular like the “Yankee Dave Williams Takes on Computers” article. You wouldn’t find that in Byte!
The November 1985 issue had a preview of the Amiga and also had the Atari ST on the cover.
The Amiga review was written by John Jainschigg, who later went on to work for Atari Explorer and Atari Explorer Online.
Winter Fireplace
In the January 1985 issue of Family Computing the program of the month is called “Winter Programs” and is a cheery Fireplace program with BASIC versions for Coleco Adam, Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, Commodore VIC-20, IBM PC, TI 99/4a, Timex/Sinclair and TRS-80.
That’s a lot of versions! Of course, I typed in the Atari version, which was about a single column in length.
The Atari version uses Graphics 1, which consists of double-wide (and colored) characters for a screen size of 20 columns by 24 rows.
The character set is redefined for the various parts of the fireplace, such as the picture frame and mantel, the flames and the bricks.
Here is an animated GIF of the fireplace that you can play on your big screen TV to help give your room some retro ambiance!
Fireplace BASIC source code:
You can copy/paste this into Atari BASIC in an emulator to try running it yourself.
1 REM FIREPLACE
2 REM FAMILY COMPUTING, JAN 1985
9 REM --RESERVE MEMORY FOR NEW CHARACTER SET--
10 S=(PEEK(106)-4)*256
20 POKE 106,S/256
30 GRAPHICS 1+16
39 REM --TRANSFER CHARACTERS IN "HOME SWEET HOME"--
40 FOR X=1 TO 7
50 READ CH
60 FOR Y=CH*8 TO CH*8+7
70 POKE S+Y,PEEK(57344+Y)
80 NEXT Y
90 NEXT X
99 REM --REDEFINE CHARACTERS !, ", #, AND $--
100 FOR X=8 TO 39
110 READ A
120 POKE S+X,A
130 NEXT X
139 REM --RESET CHARACTER SET POINTER--
140 POKE 756,S/256
149 REM --SET COLOR REGISTERS--
150 POKE 708,156
160 POKE 709,20
170 POKE 710,56
180 POKE 711,252
189 REM --DRAW FIREPLACE SCENE--
190 FOR X=1 TO 15
200 READ KO,A,B,C,D
210 COLOR KO
220 FOR RO=A TO B
230 FOR CO=C TO D
240 PLOT CO,RO
250 NEXT CO
260 NEXT RO
270 NEXT X
280 POSITION 7,3:PRINT #6;"HOME"
290 POSITION 8,4:PRINT #6;"SWEET"
300 POSITION 9,5:PRINT #6;"HOME"
309 REM --SET LOCATION AND LENGTH OF GLAME--
310 CO=INT(RND(1)*6)+7
320 RO=INT(RND(1)*(CO-3-(CO>10)*(2*CO-20)))
329 REM --COLOR AND DRAW THE FLAME--
330 FOR X=21 TO 21-RO STEP -1
340 COLOR 129+32*(RND(0)>0.5)+INT(RND(0)*2)
350 PLOT CO,X
360 NEXT X
369 REM --COLOR AND DRAW CANDLE FLAMES--
370 COLOR 129+32*(RND(0)>0.5)+INT(RND(0)*2)
380 PLOT 4,6
390 COLOR 129+32*(RND(0)>0.5)+INT(RND(0)*2)
400 PLOT 15,6
409 REM --ROTATE COLOR REGISTERS FOR FLICKER EFFECT--
410 T=PEEK(710)
420 POKE 710,PEEK(711)
430 POKE 711,T
440 GOTO 310
999 REM --DATA FOR CHARACTERS IN "HOME SWEET HOME"--
1000 DATA 37,40,45,47,51,52,55
1999 REM --DATA FOR REDEFINED CHARACTERS--
2000 DATA 32,48,112,120,120,120,56,16
2010 DATA 4,12,14,30,30,30,28,8
2020 DATA 255,255,255,255,255,255,255,255
2030 DATA 255,1,125,69,85,93,65,127
2999 REM --DRAWING DATA--
3000 DATA 4,10,11,2,17,3,12,13,3,16
3010 DATA 3,14,23,3,4,3,14,23,15,16
3020 DATA 3,22,22,7,12,4,1,7,6,6
3030 DATA 4,1,7,13,13,4,1,1,7,12
3040 DATA 4,7,7,7,12,35,7,9,4,4
3050 DATA 35,7,9,15,15
3060 DATA 3,21,21,6,13,32,21,21,7,12
3070 DATA 3,23,23,8,11,32,23,23,9,10
TIL that Bookland became Books-A-Million.
We had a subscription and I remember typing in the fireplace program on my 1200XL! Thanks for reminding me of that!
Family Computing was the first computer magazine I ever bought from Waldenbooks. I had a Coleco Adam and typed in every program they offered. Also Apple II basic was so close, I got those to work somewhat too when Adam versions weren't offered. This helped me choose the career I've been in for over 30 years now professionally. Thanks for the trip down memory lane. Those were such great times!