RetroMagazine 08 Eng

Més que un Magazine TABLE OF CONTENTS

◊ The Karnak MFP810 Calculator Pag. 3

"Més que un club" (more than a club) is the slogan proudly
◊ SEGA SATURN - a fantastic but Pag. 4
displayed by Barcelona FC in the stands of its football stadium. misunderstood platform!
With equal pride we can say that RetroMagazine World is more ◊ Commodore 264 Series Pag. 6
than just a magazine reserved for a group of enthusiasts. ◊ OLIVETTI, when Italy was Silicon Valley Pag. 10
◊ Olivetti PC128S Pag. 15
With all our initiatives (the site, "Press Play Again", etc.) and the
◊ RetroLiPS project Pag. 19
presence on the most frequented social networks, it proves to be
a community full of life. ◊ Nobility of a humble flowchart Pag. 20
◊ Introduction to Commodore C128 Pag. 26
The Editorial Board has recently seen an increase in the number graphics - part 2
of collaborators, starting with Mike "The biker" Novarina, ◊ Turbo Rascal SE - A complete cross- Pag. 30
Alessandro Albano and continuing with Francesco Coppola, platform framework for 8/16-bit
Beppe Rinella, Christian Miglio (humbly apologizing if we have development
forgotten someone else worthy of being remembered). ◊ ATARI - The origin of the myth Pag. 34
In particular, the young Francesco Coppola will take care of the ◊ Another World: a scary and magnificent Pag. 36
journey
Atari world, while Beppe Rinella will enrich the articles of games
by leaving the patterns of the usual review. ◊ Road Hunter - TI99/4A Pag. 40
◊ Wizard of Wor - Commodore 64 Pag. 42
RetroMagazine World is appreciated because it is made by
◊ F-1 Spirit: the way to Formula-1 (MSX) Pag. 44
putting heart and soul (or "spirit" as Steve Jobs said).
◊ Turbo Sprint (Amiga AGA) Pag. 48
Other projects are underway, because, just as in football, teams ◊ Saint Senya - Il mito [game preview] Pag. 50
must renew themselves and impose increasingly challenging and (PC/Android)
stimulating goals in order to stay on the wave. ◊ Phantom Gear (Sega MD) Pag. 51
As RMW is an all-round project with many collaborators, it would
◊ Earthbound (SNES) Pag. 52
be a shame to keep it confined to the magazine alone.
◊ Battle Axe (PC/NG) Pag. 54
So welcome the RetroLiPS Project of which you will find a ◊ Sokko Seitokai: Sonic Council (Saturn) Pag. 56
detailed explanation within this same issue and especially the
◊ Spearhead (C64) Pag. 58
official YouTube channel of RMW:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF3lvc_FYyU1lfPMfIFHXMg ◊ Mutants from the Deep (MSX) Pag. 59
◊ Jump Out (C64) Pag. 60
The YouTube channel, born from Nith's intuition, is gradually ◊ Light Force (C64) Pag. 62
enriching itself with interesting video reviews and could, in the
◊ You may play, but then you ought to Pag. 63
long run, become another vehicle of fundamental content for our break everything!
group!

At the time we are writing, we are also working behind the

People involved in preparing this issue of
scenes for another 2 or 3 goals.
RetroMagazine World (in no particular order):
But we will only reveal them later, so as not to spoil the taste of
slowly savouring the pleasure of waiting! • Alberto Apostolo • Leonardo Miliani
• Gianluca Girelli • Beppe Rinella
RetroMagazine World, "More than a magazine"!
• Proteus075/C. Concari • Christian Miglio
• Carlo N. Del Mar Pirazzini • Ermanno Betori
Alberto Apostolo and Francesco Fiorentini
• Daniele Brahimi • Roberto Del Mar Pirazzini
• Mic the Biker Novarina • The Masked Editor Jr.
• Francesco Fiorentini • David La Monaca
• Takahiro Yoshioka
• Cover by:
• Flavio Soldani Flavio Soldani
• Francesco Coppola
Page 2 of 63 RETROMAGAZINE WORLD-ENGLISH YEAR 2 - ISSUE 8

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A bit of rarity
(rummaging here and there)
The Karnak MFP810 Calculator

by Alberto Apostolo
Some time ago, I received an old
Karnak MFP810 (Multi-Function
Printing Calculator) table
calculator as a gift as shown in
Figure 1.
Karnak SpA was a company in the
Republic of San Marino that
produced office equipment until
the cessation of activities in July
2015 (news appeared on the
website www.sanmarinortv.sm on
15 July 2015).
The calculator has a small printer
for plain paper (works with an Ink
Roller model IR-40T, Figure 2) and
incorporates a clock with date in
American format mm-dd-yyyy and
time in hh-mm-ss format.
The power supply consists of a 6V
and 200mA AC/DC transformer.
Alternatively, you can charge four
1.5V LR6/AA/AM3 stylus batteries
Fig. 1: Karnak MFP810.
into a slot at the bottom of the
calculator. Since I did not find documentation
The clock is powered by a 3V about the Karnak MFP810, I have
CR2032 battery, which is accessed attached in the Bibliography
from another slot that is always specifications and user manuals of
located at the bottom of the the Aurora PR710.
calculator (the lid of this slot is
locked with a very small philips
screw). The calculator allows the
four operations with 12 digits,
conversions between units of
measurement and different
commercial calculations (it does
not have the square root).
Later I discovered that the MFP810
was nothing more than a clone of
the Aurora PR710 calculator
(Figure 3). Fig. 2: Ink Roller IR-40T. Fig. 3: Aurora PR710.
Bibliography
[Aur20a] (2020-09-17) retrieved from https://aurora-europe.co.uk/spec_pr710.html
[Aur20b] (2020-09-17) retrieved from https://www.aurora-europe.co.uk/pdf/PR710.pdf
[Aur20c] (2020-09-17) retrieved from https://aurora-europe.co.uk/ib/pr710_uk.pdf
[Aur20d] (2020-09-17) retrieved from https://aurora-europe.co.uk/pdf/setting_time_date_pr.pdf
RETROMAGAZINE WORLD-ENGLISH YEAR 2 - ISSUE 8 Page 3 of 63

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SEGA SATURN - a fantastic but misunderstood platform!

by Takahiro Yoshioka
The Sega Saturn was the penultimate console produced
by Sega before leaving the world of hardware to devote
itself exclusively to software production.
A console with a troubled history and its failure, especially
outside the land of the Rising Sun, was due to the crazy
marketing choices made by Sega, who first tried to chase
his rival Nintendo on Megadrive, creating absurd add-
ons and then had to face the entrance of the competitor
of the time (and winner of the battle)... Sony's first
Playstation.
The Saturn was instead a great product, beautiful to see

and with the right credentials to break into the market of
CD-ROM systems, which would have deserved a better
end... In fact, it was withdrawn from production after only
4 years, replaced by Dreamcast. Nevertheless, the new Sega home console had interesting
Sega's machine was the third console produced by the arrows on its bow: its 3D controller is one of the first to
Japanese company, marketed between 1994 and 1998 present an analogue lever, it was extremely well designed
and the first console equipped with the CD-ROM player, and is still one of the most resistant consoles ever produced
a support that at that time had replaced the cartridges In pure Sega style it was predisposed to be expanded
of the 16-bit era. and some of these add-ons actually introduced features
never seen before.
Already since the launch on the market, he suffered from It was equipped with an internal 28kb internet connection
several problems. The Sega fanbase had been betrayed system.
by the abandonment of the 32x and Mega CD, produced
shortly before and poorly supported. The same fanbase PROS AND CONS
which failed to understand its early marketing (surprisingly)
and its very high price for the time (it came out at $400 Good...
in the US). 1 - System equipped with one of the best 2D engines ever
created.
To these inexplicable and absurd marketing choices, 2 – Porting 2D titles is better than the same on Playstation 1.
Saturn also suffered from “structural” limitations. 3 – Among the most interesting Add-ons was an optional
The 3D processor was added in an advanced state of 1/4MD RAM expansion cartridge that gave it greater
development, after it became clear that the Playstation capacity than its competitor Sony. Thanks to this cartridge,
would meet the demands of players by introducing a third arcade games used to work perfectly on the Saturn, while
dimension into the games, second the structure of the the Sony machine was forced to cut frames.
two main processors, while being slightly less powerful 4 – The Multi Tap could support up to 10 players at once.
than the competition, complicated the work of developers, 5 - Some exclusive titles were exceptional and were never
who often preferred to work on other platforms. issued on other consoles even afterwards.
Unfortunately...
1 – Disk access times and uploads were really long, more
than on Playstation.
2 – Little memory dedicated to saving data. There were
external memory cards but they were expensive and very
rare.
3 - The 3D engine could not reach the levels of the
competitor Sony and Nintendo 64, especially with the
titles developed directly for this generation of machines.
4 - Beautiful exclusives, but few! Many third-party
developers preferred to rely on the Sony home system
that impressed the most for its simplicity of development
and lower costs.

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Top 5 on Saturn in our opinion:

Technical Specifications
-CPU: 2 x Hitachi SuperH 2-32 bits @28.63 MHz
-8 KB[20] first-level cache 1 - NiGHTS into Dreams: Not being able to count on
-Total performance in MIPS: 25 MIPS (single CPU) enough 3D power to recreate a credible gaming world,
-Motorola 68EC000 @11.3 MHz (Programmable Sound the Sonic Team opted, in creating Nights into Dreams, for
Generator control sub-processor) a perfect mix of old 2D gaming experience and innovation.
-Overall performance in MIPS: 1.5 MIPS 2 - Guardian Heroes: perhaps the best non-arcade 2D
-Graphics Processing Unit: title ever made for Saturn.
-VDP 1-32 bits @28.63 MHz (this processor handles 3 - Virtua Fighter 2: the first Virtua Fighter is remembered
sprite and polygons) above all for having introduced 3D in THE 1VS1 hard hits,
-VDP 2-32 bit @28.63 MHz (this processor is responsible its porting on Saturn had not been very successful. The
for background processing)
second chapter, on the other hand, was a fluid game that
-Peak graphics rendering of 500,000 monochrome
was perfectly integrated into home console systems.
polygons per second (200,000 with textures and
4 - Panzer Dragon Saga: Released towards the end of
shadows)
-16.7 million colors the console's life, this RPG is perhaps one of the best ever
-Memory: made for the 32-bit era.
-5 Mbyte RAM of non-unified type. 5 - Saturn Bomberman: Up to 10 players on screen at
-1 Mbyte SDRAM the same time… literally devastating. Best Bomberman
-1 Mbyte DRAM ever made.
-1,5 Mbyte VRAM dedicated to video processor
-512 Kbytes RAM dedicated to audio processor
-512 KByte CD-ROM cache
-512 Kbytes BIOS ROM
-Sound:
-Yamaha FH1 22-channel stereo
-Storage media:
-Electronic cartridges.
-CD-ROM
Panzer Dragon Saga
Virtua Fighter 2
Guardian Heroes
Saturn Bomberman NiGHTS into Dreams

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Commodore 264 Series

by Leonardo Miliani
All of us retrocomputer enthusiasts are familiar with the Anyway, let's go back in time for a moment. It was 1983
Commodore brand, a company that literally revolutionized and the VIC-20 sold well, thanks to the fact that, due to
the 8-bit home computer market with record-breaking the price war carried out against the other home computer
machines like the VIC-20, the first computer to overcome manufacturers, it only costed $99. The new C64, despite
the barrier of one million units sold, and the C64, the a selling price of just under $600, was slowly gaining
holder of the still unbeaten record of the best-selling market shares thanks to its excellent technical features.
computer in computer history, with its 25 million units Tramiel, however, saw the “Japanese threat" on the horizon.
(or so) distributed worldwide during its decades-long He feared that mid-range computers would sooner or
commercial life. But Commodore is not only success and later arrive from Japanese soil that would fit between
glory, it is also a company that released bankruptcy VIC-20 and C64, removing that market niche to Commodore.
products, which have absolutely not received public For this reason he gave a mandate to start developing a
approval because of design choices or corporate faults. system that would not only have to replace and improve
This second category includes the machines of the the VIC-20 but that would also must have an equal or
infamous 264 Series (see fig. 1). even lower price, in order to beat the competition of those
computers when they would have come to market. But
Japanese computers, however, never arrived because
Japanese manufacturers, neglecting the not widely used
MSX standard, were mainly dedicated to home gaming
consoles.
However, the development of the new computer continued

and, as mentioned, the fruits of this work were presented
to the press as Commodore 264 and 364 in that January
1984. Everything revolved around a new CPU called 7501,
Fig.1 - Commodore 264 prototype (photo by

Babylon4 - source Mediawiki Commons)
Origins of the series

In January 1984 Jack Tramiel, founder and CEO of the
Commodore, posed for photographers at the Consumer
Electronic Show with two new computers, the Commodore
264 and the Commodore 364 (see photo 2). A couple of
days after that event, Tramiel announced that he was
leaving the company he founded. Rumor has it that some
sources speak of a board of directors held days earlier
when he and Irvine Gould, the company's historic financier,
came to shore decreeing an insurmountable rupture that
led Commodore's founder to other shores. But those
computers are not only children of the business choices
made under Tramiel's direction but also of the commercial Fig.2 - Jack Tramiel unveils the Commodore 264 and
policies of his successors. Unfortunately all unlucky choices. V364 at CES in Las Vegas in 1984 (photo Marty Katz/
baltimorephotographer.com)

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Fig.3 - Commodore Plus/4
derived from the 6510 of the C64 but made with a new mode (such as C64) but the peculiarity of this chip was
production process that allowed it to work at a maximum that it could manage the luminance of the 16 base colours,
frequency almost double that of its predecessor, reaching thus obtaining 121 different colours (because black
up to about 1.8 MHz. On the audio/video sector, the new always remained black). However, the sprites were missing,
line of machines echoed the VIC chip philosophy of the which were responsible, together with the sound, for most
VIC-20, that is, a single integrated chip to manage both of the fortunes of C64. Speaking of sound, the chip had
graphics and sound, called TED (which stands for Text only 2 oscillators and could only generate square waves
Editing Device), a name with which these computers were or white noise, lacking all the sophisticated audio
alternately known due to the fact that they shared the management that the C64 SID was capable of. There were
same chipset. also two models of Commodore 264, named 232 and 216,
with respectively 32 and 16 KB of RAM. They were designed
Models of 264 Series to withhold production costs, but they never left the
Let's look at the computers presented to the ESC in 1984. prototype phase at the time of submission to the ESC.
The Commodore 264 had a smaller case size than the The Commodore 364 was similar to the 264 but presented
VIC-20 and C64, and was equipped with 64 KB of RAM more interesting innovations, first of all the presence in
and 32 KB of ROM. This featured an improved version of memory of professional software and the ability to
the Commodore BASIC updated to version 3.5 and enriched synthesize speech. Aesthetically it had an additional
with many new commands for sound, graphics, disk numerical keypad, a “must” for computers intended for
management and also for minimal support for structured professional use (it favoured the insertion of long sequences
programming. The 264 project envisaged the possibility of numbers) while internally the memory was 64 KB of
of supporting an additional 32 KB of ROM via external RAM, with the 7501 and TED as in the other model. The
cartridges to add programs and features to the system. ROM was instead increased to 48 KB, necessary to contain
The TED had the ability to manage a 40x25 character both the BASIC 3.5 and the software used as an integrated
screen of 8x8 pixels in text mode or 320x200 in graphic speech synthesis module with 250 preloaded words as

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standard (externally expandable vocabulary) and it also

featured a professional software chosen by the user from
several options, including a word processor, a spreadsheet,
a database and more. In their initial plan, Commodore
would then have marketed several models of 364, each
with a different pre-installed program: however, the user
could buy the missing programs and use them after
loading them from disk.
Fig.4 - Commodore 16
Commodore 16, 116 and Plus/4
As said, some models initially presented or planned did the mid-market and place the company in the business
not arrive on the market, but only some of those machines. market with a machine also designed for the office thanks
At the ESC in June, Commodore presented a revised to the offer of pre-installed professional software. Almost
version of the 264, offered for sale under the name of no target was achieved, however, as the market soundly
Commodore Plus/4 (photo 3): compared to the computer failed to welcome these machines, for a number of reasons.
presented in January, it included a single software package The Plus/4 had 64 KB of RAM just like the C64 but, unlike
called “3-Plus-1” produced by Tri-Micro and featuring a that, it also featured a sophisticated system to alternate
database, a spreadsheet, a word processor and a graphics RAM and ROM (i.e. bank switching) spaces, so that at
generation program. In order to get all the programs in power up more than 60,000 bytes were available for
the package into the computer ROM, Commodore had to BASIC programs, whereas only 38,000 were offered by
remove several functions of the package: Tri-Micro later the C64. BASIC 3.5 was also much more advanced than
put on sale a floppy disk called “Plus/Extra” for the users version 2.0 featured in the previous computers: as already
to add what had been removed. Reviews of the time mentioned above, it offered a lot of new commands to
provided negative comments about the integrated suite, facilitate the drafting of complex programs thanks to the
defining the programs as basically useless due to the lack ability to manage graphics and sound without having to
of integrated features. resort to complex sequences of PEEK and POKE as on
previous models. Despite this, however, it did not succeed
At the same time, the Commodore 16, a heavily modified in imposing itself as a gaming machine because TED,
version of prototype 216, was announced and offered for although offering the same resolution as the C64 (320x200
sale. Compared to the original design of the abandoned pixels) but with a much higher number of colours (121
264 series, there was no longer any trace of the planned against 16), did not support sprites. So, if you wanted to
integrated software, not even the “3-Plus-1” package create games, you had to resort to character reprogramming,
included in the Plus/4. But that’s not all. The C16 did not as happened on the VIC-20. The audio section suffered
even share the Plus/4 case and, instead, it resumed the from similar problems: born to be used in a machine
design of the VIC-20 and C64, i.e. the well-known “breadbin” designed for the office, TED’s audio processing functions
shape with a different colour. had been designed to play simple notes. The chip was
not able to handle all the complexities of sound generation
Another model of this unfortunate series, called Commodore and modulation that the C64 SID was capable of. The
116, appeared at the end of the year. Essentially this was Plus/4 could not even establish itself as an office machine
a Commodore 16 but a case similar to that of the Plus/4 because the ROM programs could perhaps be suitable
was employed: unlike the latter, however, it featured a for domestic or limited use but certainly could not stand
keyboard with poor quality rubber keys, which made the comparison with other commercial software of superior
typing very difficult. quality and functionality. The Plus/4 sold a total of 400,000
units, of which just over half in Europe.
Faults and bugs
The 264 series computers were created to respond to a C16 suffered from the same issues. Without the integrated
specific Commodore plan, namely to replace the VIC-20 programs and equipped with only 16 KB of RAM, it was
with a more attractive machine, release computers for put on sale as an "educational machine”, meaning a
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had underestimated. In fact, they knew that the computer

did have lower features than their flagship model, but
they thought that the public would still buy the 264 series
as they had continued to buy the VIC-20 after the launch
of the C64. However, the period and timing of marketing
had not been taken into account in this analysis. When
the 264 series machines were put on the market, the
appearance of 16-bit machines was already beginning,
and the 8-bit computers were collapsing in price. The
C64, which at the time of launch went for 599 dollars,
after 2 years had come to cost less than half. Software
Fig.5 - the little known Commodore 116 incompatibility also weighed on this: apart from the most
trivial programs in BASIC, no specific software for the
learning machine. So it was clear that in Commodore’s
C64 could run on the new machines. And the C64 had a
plans this computer was placed in the low end of the
very rich software collection, given the enormous production
market. Sharing the same chipset as the Plus/4 also
of the developers made in the 2 years of successful sales.
turned out to be a computer not appealing to videogamers
Putting a user to choose between two machines with
due to TED’s graphic and sound limitations. Also, the low
similar costs but one with superior hardware features
numbers in sales did not even facilitate the development
and a considerable supply of programs while the other
of many games and programs by software houses. Despite
technically lower and with few applications available
the identical case to that of the VIC-20 and C64, the C16
meant finding the second on the shelves of stores and
was hardware compatible only with the Plus/4, due to a
distribution warehouses. And that was what the Commodore
whole series of new connectors incompatible with those
leadership had implicitly done.
of the previous models: this meant that not only the most
popular peripherals such as cassettes but also the simplest
Another factor was hardware incompatibility. This had
and most common joysticks already in possession could
also been dictated a little by hardware manufacturers,
not be reused on the new computer but had to be purchased
who were moving the production of connectors towards
from scratch. A specific floppy drive was built, faster than
smaller sockets and plugs, both to reduce production
the one used on previous computers, but in order to use
costs and also to meet the needs of new communication
it, it had to be connected via the expansion port. The port
protocols that needed higher quality materials and better
was also missing to connect a modem, which oddly enough
technology. The adoption of a completely different set of
was present on the VIC-20, the very computer model it
connectors than those adopted by previous computers
was supposed to replace. The C16 was produced in about
forced users who wanted to upgrade from the current
600,000 units, mostly sold in Europe and Mexico as cheap
machines to buy all the peripherals, with a much higher
gaming machines.
economic outlay than the cost of the machine alone if the
standard connectors had been maintained. Probably if
The C116 was even more unlucky. Presented at the end
Commodore management had also evaluated this factor,
of 1984, when the market had already failed both Plus/4
perhaps a larger slice of users would have made the
and C16, only a few tens of thousands of units were sold
transition, being able to store all the accessories already
and almost exclusively in Germany. The keyboard was his
purchased.
real weak point: all the reviews of the time pointed the
finger at the poor quality of the rubber keys and the
In conclusion, the 264 series was a line of potentially
objective difficulty of typing programs.
interesting computers but was heavily penalized by
questionable economic and constructive choices. Basically,
Reasons for a failure
the “could have been but it wasn't" series.
As seen, the failure of these computers was caused by
several factors. On one hand, the objective hardware
inferiority if compared to C64, which Commodore executives

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OLIVETTI, when Italy was Silicon Valley

by Mic The Biker Novarina
Olivetti for me, who has always lived in the province of in Turin FIAT was founded only 10 years ago and had 50
Turin, has always had an incredible charm, the company workers. The newborn Olivetti had 4 totally inexperienced
thanks to which we are here to write and you to read: to children to whom Camillo himself taught the basics of
us young boys this name made us think of science fiction mechanical processing and arithmetic.
that arrived in the real world. Olivetti's story makes us
understand what we were like and what Italy represented Adriano Olivetti
worldwide. And it throws us in the face, like an iron fist, The years passed, in that historical period the times to
a sad reality, where the tenacious and constant work of grow a company were very long: there was no obligation
our elders has been squandered by our "yuppies” and by to produce, even before opening, to pay what you already
a global suicide policy. Our journey begins at the beginning have to pay without having opened yet. In 1932 Adriano
of 1900, with an excerpt from what was the company's Olivetti, son of Camillo, became president of the company.
birth contract: "In 1908, on the 29th of October in the Under his guidance the first futuristic machines for the
city of Ivrea and on the spot of Mr. Camillo Olivetti locatedtimes see the light: in 1940 the first addition machine
in the Ventignano e Crosa region, in front of me Gianotti arrived, while in 1945 the Divisumma 14, released in
Cav. Happy royal notary registered at the Ivrea Board of 1948, was the first writer calculator in the world able to
Notaries, resident there, with the intervention of the perform the four operations. I want to emphasize the
witnesses named below... ". 1908: in the computer field concept of "in the world" in the 1940s: we are talking
it is comparable to the precambrian era. Obviously the about something truly epochal, and these two words will
company was not born immediately with the idea of be recurrent in Olivetti's past history. Divisumma 14 was
producing computers. the first writer with a negative balance to automatically
split. Its operation is very similar to that of today's
The capital was 350,000 lire, Camillo participated with calculators, it differs in terms of multiplication and division.
220,000 lire consisting of the value of some land and an Multiplication is performed by first setting the first factor
industrial building. Once he had procured the necessary from the classic numeric keyboard. The second factor
machinery for the processes that he had in mind, the must be entered with the red keypad starting from the
good Camillo arranged the headquarters of the company. right and returning to the left. When finished, press the
On the roof of the two-storey factory in red bricks was key with the asterisk, and the result is printed. The
posted a billboard bearing the inscription: ENG. C. OLIVETTI peculiarity is that the first factor is printed horizontally,
& C. PRIMA FABBRICA NAZIONALE MACCHINE PER while the second is printed vertically; instead, it is printed
SCRIVERE (Ed. first national typewriter factory). At the in red. The division needs a special procedure. The dividend
time, the city of Ivrea was an urban hotspot in the middle is normally inserted into the machine, after which the
of cultivated fields. The Canavese was a large rural area addition bar is pressed. At this point the divider is inserted,
and Ivrea seemed light years away from Turin. To understand being careful to add many zeros in order to align the total
the magnitude of the undertaking carried out by Mr. of its digits with that of the dividend. Then you pull the
Camillo, let's take the cold numbers and examine them: sphere of division to the right. The result is printed
vertically, and the rest is printed horizontally. Many other
calculators were born from this revolutionary model in
order to always offer products that kept pace with the
growing demands of the market. The one that was probably
most profitable for Olivetti was Divisumma 24. It was
produced in millions of copies and sold at a price equal
to about 10 times the cost of production. The company
had become a giant not only nationally. In 1955 Olivetti
had about 50,000 employees.
Understanding Olivetti's Thought

Adriano Olivetti was a visionary, he had the gift of
anticipating market trends. He believed it was possible
to create a balance between social solidarity and profit.
Fig. 1 - Olivetti's plant in Pozzuoli
The organization of work included an idea of collective
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happiness that generated efficiency. The workers lived

in better conditions than the other large Italian factories.
They received higher wages, there were nurseries and
homes near the factory. The employees themselves
enjoyed conventions and treatments never seen before.
During the breaks they could use libraries, listen to
concerts, follow debates, and there was no clear division
between engineers and workers: this to make sure that
knowledge and skills were available to everyone. To these
entrepreneurial qualities he combined a real taste sought
after for design: he claimed that the factory needed not
only technicians but also people able to enrich the work
with creativity. For the aesthetic part of its products, real
artists such as Ottavio Luzzati, Marcello Nizzoli and Ettore
Sottass were involved.
It is no coincidence that many Olivetti products are

permanently displayed at the renowned MoMa in New
York as an example of Italian design. I shudder at the
thought of how far along his Modus Operandi was. The
same factory in Ivrea was built by the architects Figini
and Pollini in the mid-1930s. Icons of style and class were
the Olivetti stores in New York, Venice, Paris and Buenos
Aires, all made by renowned architects. But probably
Hadrian's summa work was the factory in Pozzuoli.
Designed in the 1950s by Luigi Cosenza, the plant is an
example of architectural integration into the natural
landscape of the Neapolitan coast. At the inauguration Fig. 2 - Inside the Olivetti headquarters in Ivrea
of 1955 Adriano Olivetti stated: "In front of the most
only one alphanumeric character could be written.
singular gulf in the world, this factory has risen, in the
An instruction consisted of 8 characters and was read in
architect's idea, in respect of the beauty of the places
80 microseconds. The computer did not have an operating
and so that beauty was of comfort in the work of every
system, an unknown requirement at the time, and it could
day. The factory was therefore conceived to the measure
be programmed using basic language or machine language.
of man, so that he could find in his orderly workplace an
The computer was made up of compact modules very
instrument of redemption and not a device of suffering".
different from the opponents of the time that looked like
large cabinets high up to the ceiling. Aesthetically it was
During this unstoppable expansion the company achieved
curated by Ettore Sottass, who really thought of everything
an impressive number of worldwide successes. In 1959
in an aesthetic context. For example, the wiring between
Olivetti developed the Elea 9003. It is the first commercial
the different modules, rather than underfloor, took place
transistor computer produced in Italy and one of the first
in elegant overhead ducts, made with specially designed
fully transistorized in the world. The project and development
bar bus: it is, in fact, one of the most important Italian
are carried out by a small group of young researchers led
design products of the twentieth century. In the first year
by Mario Tchou, a young Italian computer engineer of
of marketing he won the Compasso d 'Oro Award and in
Chinese origin. The machine is entirely made with diode-
the following years he joined the permanent collections
transistor logic technology and was equipped with
of the most important museums dedicated to industrial
multitasking capabilities, being able to manage three
design around the world.
programs at the same time. Elea 9003 was marketed in
about 40 copies, one of which is located in the ITIS Enrico
Adriano Olivetti dies
Fermi institute in Arezzo and is perfectly functional as
1960 was a disastrous year for the company. On February
well as used for educational purposes. The computing
27, 1960, Adriano Olivetti, near Aigle, was caught in a
power was about 8-10,000 instructions per second and
sudden cerebral hemorrhage. Since the autopsy was not
was for a few years higher than that of competitors. The
performed, the conspiracy hypotheses were wasted and
computer had a 20000 position ferrite core memory,
these theories became even stronger following the
extending up to 160000 and, in one memory location,
desecretation of CIA documents: it was confirmed that

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the industrialist was investigated by US Intelligence. At

the time of his death, Olivetti boasted a presence in all
the major international markets and Adriano's untimely
disappearance put the company in serious difficulty: he,
and his father before him, had managed so far to hold
the reins of command firmly.
The majority shareholders were all direct descendants

of Camillo, they held 70% of the shares and lacking a
strong figure at the helm were born of internal struggles
among family members: above all the figure of Roberto
Olivetti, Adriano's eldest son. He graduated in 1952 in
business administration from Bocconi University in Milan
and specialized at Harvard University in Business
Administration, becoming CEO in 1962. Roberto takes
the helm of the family business assisted by his cousin. In
1963 the American Underwood Typewriter Company was
acquired: Olivetti officially became an international
Fig. 3 - OLivetti M24
industrial giant. This increase led to a large outlay of
money not balanced by the crisis in which the company stand on top of a desk, while giving you the ability to run
had entered: on the one hand, the advent of some advanced complete programs, like the big computers of the time.
electronic machines made in Japan rendered obsolete All this was made possible by Olivetti's progress in
Italian ones and on the other hand, most Italian banks, electronics. To truly understand the immensity and genius
industries and public administration continued to buy of the project we must remember that the P101 is
American products. A revolution at the top was necessary considered the first programmable commercial "desktop
and this happened when new members entered Olivetti’s computer", which is why it is also defined as the first
share capital. They were Fiat, IMI Bank, Central Bank, Personal Computer in history. The term "personal computer"
Mediobanca (then state-owned as IMI) and Pirelli. should not be understood in the sense stated below, since
computers of the time were conceived in a very different way.
Olivetti, General Electric and Programma 101
In 1964, the position of CEO was transferred to Aurelio The machine was equipped with logic functions, jumps,
Peccei, spurred on by the new investors. It was during registers, internal memory and the ability to save data
this period that Olivetti's Electronic Division was sold to and programs on an external magnetic device. It could
the American General Electric: the new management work on alphanumeric data or only numerical data. Each
focused on the launch of the new Logos 27, an outdated register of the P101 can contain 24 instructions each
calculator based on traditional mechanical technology. consisting of a character and a symbol or a number up
This product was unable to withstand competition with to 22 digits or two numbers up to 11 digits. The programming
the first electronic calculators produced by Japanese language is alphanumeric and symbolic, similar to that
companies, let alone with an electronic product from of the Assembler. The P101 automatically handled the
Olivetti itself. In fact, far from the light of the spotlight, floating point and had complete mathematical functions,
Roberto Olivetti remained in close contact with the group which was not always present in the large computers that
of engineer Pier Giorgio Perotto, who was developing the existed until then. The programs were stored on cards
experimental project of Programma 101. approximately 10 cm wide by 20 cm long, which housed
two magnetic tracks. The code of a program could use
The two new machines were presented at the New York up to 120 instructions stored on one side of the magnetic
fair in 1965. In the grand booth set up for the Logos 27, card: each instruction occupied "1 Byte". Programs
the P101 was relegated to the background, placed in a consisting of more than 120 instructions could also be
back room. As soon as the visitors noticed it, they massively used using both sides of a magnetic card. There was also
entered the room to observe the product. In the following the possibility of using multiple magnetic cards, saving
days the staff of the stand had to improvise an order the temporary data of the program running in the memory
service to regulate the influx of visitors. Many people had registers. In the P101 it was possible to create sub-
been amazed by the characteristics of the machinery: it programs that could be loaded by magnetic card after
was able to perform rather complex operations, for the loading the main program, to modify it or enter other
time being, occupying a small space. The P101 could data. The memory was organized into 10 registers: 3 of
calculation, 2 of memory, 3 of data memory and/or
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Olivetti creates Cosmos

For this reason, between 1973 and 1975 the Cosmos
operating system was developed: written in Assembly
and PL/1, Cosmos anticipated by far what would be the
trends of the following decade, through the use of a
server-client model. It was installed on TC 800 machines,
a very flexible terminal since it was modular, so it was
possible for each company to customize it and customize
its network according to the needs. In April 1975, at the
Hanover trade fair, two new Olivetti personal computers,
the P6040 and the P6060, were presented, always designed
by Perotto. The P6040 was based on an 8080 processor
Fig. 4 - Olivetti Programma 101 and ,unlike the P6060, really it was much smaller and
more convenient. It had a 2.5 inch floppy and a LED display,
program memory and 2 reserved for program storage.
two things virtually never seen before on a computer.
The machine was not equipped with a microprocessor,
Unfortunately, the new shareholders relegated Olivetti
as no computer was built until then. Working memory
and his staff to increasingly marginal positions in decision-
was a magnetostrictive delay line with a capacity of less
making. The results of this choice are beginning to show
than a quarter kilobytes. The electronics were made with
a poor view of the market: marketing in fact did not
transistors in TO-18 package and diodes mounted on
understand the potential of these two new products, so
bakelite headers.
they were not properly supported and had little success,
apart from the European scope in the case of the P6060.
The US market was decided for the launch. Production
But some ace up the sleeve the company still managed
gained considerable momentum when General Electric
to get it. In 1978 Olivetti introduced the ET 101, the
expressed its intention to exit the office market, being
world's first electronic typewriter. His success was
interested only in computers. This prompted many
instantaneous. In the same year a new change took place
designers and engineers, who had remained with their
in the reins of the company: Carlo De Benedetti took over
entire "office" structure in the new company, to return to
the leadership of Olivetti becoming its new reference
Olivetti. The first buyer of P101 was the NBC television
shareholder. In those years, although the name enjoyed
network. He purchased 5 copies to compute the election
worldwide fame, finances were shaky and debt was
results to be provided to his viewers. The sales were so
exaggeratedly high.
successful that at the end of 1966 Underwood, a US
company controlled by Olivetti, asked to be able to
The new manager managed to lay the groundwork for a
manufacture the machines on US soil in order to supply
bright new period, but it was all an illusion. He was able
the offices of the federal administrations of that country.
to expand the production of personal computers and add
Competition was totally out of line. To try not to get cut
additional products that the market required. So here
off, Hewlett-Packard produced a similar device called the
come printers, fax machines, photocopiers and cash
HP 9100A on the idea.
registers. Meanwhile, the Olivetti Advanced Technology
Center (ATC) was founded just two blocks from Apple's
However, having detected the violation of P101's rights,
headquarters in Cupertino. The LSI chips, the first European
the American company had to pay Olivetti royalty fees
Olivetti M20 personal computer, will be designed here.
amounting to $900,000. Curious was the story of filing
But what seemed like a profitable marriage turned out to
the P101 patent. In fact, American laws provide for
be the beginning of the end for Olivetti. Already since the
registration only to people and not to companies. Therefore,
late 1960s, despite the fact that there were unique
it was registered in the name of Mr. Perotto, who later
products in the world, the company accumulated heavy
sold the patent to Olivetti at the symbolic figure of one
losses and the alliances and new partners that seemed
dollar. But, with a healthy dose of humor, he claimed years
to stabilize the situation was just a semblance.
later that "never was a dollar spent better by a company."
In 1967, Roberto became CEO of Olivetti, while Perotto,
Politicization sinks the company
who also became director of Research and Development
The problem has been the exasperating process of
in that year, continued to work on portable computers
politicization. Politicizing means “exchanging favors”: at
for a decade in the wake of the success of his P101. The
some point, in the late 1960s, the objective evaluation
market had accelerated incredibly and soon had to face
of the results was replaced with the ability to do favors
the need to create an operating system for managing
or reciprocate them.
increasingly powerful computers.
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Olivetti had a professional team of a level never seen

before, it was like being in a parallel world: there were
motivated people, human relationships that it was rare
to find elsewhere. But all this disappears at a certain point
and the person responsible for the end is Carlo De Benedetti,
who sits in Olivetti for a lucky shot and exploits it for his
personal benefit. He was not a man of product but of
numbers: on finance he was unrivalled.
He himself paved the way for American conquest in the

computer industry and beyond. By the time Microsoft was
born, the computer had already been invented and so
had Commodore. Then comes IBM with its PC: technologically Fig. 5 - OLivetti Elea 9003
reliable and distributed worldwide. De Benedetti thus
makes a decision: rather than taking his resources and the great green phosphor Hantarex monitor in colour
skills that he did not lack in the company and working in models. There were more possibilities for operating
this direction, he decides not to develop the software for systems: among them was Microsoft's MS-DOS 2.11, with
M20, a technically impeccable computer. He chose to the GW-BASIC and related meticulous manuals. M24
entrust the development of the operating system to an could use the powerful and universal UCSD p-System, a
external company, which would later become Microsoft multi-platform, semi-compiled Californian operating
with the young Bill Gates. system (like Java), which was similar to Unix. Later, M24
was the first personal computer in history to use the
The error was the operating system. In fact, they imposed certified UNIX operating system, specifically the AT&T
a strict decision: the operating system would be closed: Xenix version. At the time it was an excellent machine,
it was Olivetti's point of no return. While the company outperforming only Apple with the Macintosh and
was negotiating acquisitions and mergers, the head and Commodore with the Amiga 1000.
all the management of American Olivetti resigned. So
they sent Mr. Franco Tatò to temporarily fill that position A success as a tombstone
while waiting for a new registered letter to be inserted. It seems a paradox but the success of this machine
But Tatò was one of the last men still produced at work decreed the end of Olivetti as we like to remember it. A
and made a decision that was not understood: for 50,000 sum of enormous managerial mistakes that have in fact
dollars he bought a simulator with an infinite baggage of given the cultural baggage of a generation into the hands
programs and loaded it on top of an M20, which was of the Americans. The Olivetti case should be studied
certainly very slow but finally had programs. today not only to remember its founder but to understand
how the decay of a management has played a decisive
At that time Simone Fubini, also from Turin, designer of role in sinking a reality that could have made Italy the
the Olivetti mainframe, became General Manager. Fubini true Silicon Valley.
starts working and immediately understands the internal
problems. With a small group of designers he had developed Over the following years Olivetti made increasingly varied
an IBM compatible computer, a copy of the IBM PC: they alliances to move towards other entrepreneurial activities
called it M24. They announced it on the market as IBM that in the end could only lead to a result: failure. Piece
compatible using the Microsoft operating system and by piece, letter by letter the name of this Italian dream
with a spectacular boom sold more than 750,000 in a year. has fallen. The dream and everything that a past generation
It was a huge success as a result of partnering with AT&T: has done remains intact: a dream made of "first in the
M24 adopted the powerful Intel 8086, with a clock speed world" products that unfortunately only history will be
of 8 or 10 MHz, a 16-bit data bus, and the ability to able to remember.
increase its performance by decreasing the refresh rate
of memory via software.
Produced since 1983, in one of the typical configurations

it cost about six million Lire as of January 1986. It was
possible to choose the hardware and software configuration,
from 128 KB to 640 KB of RAM, from a two-drive floppy
disk drive or the hard disk. You could also choose from

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Olivetti PC128S
by Proteus075 and Carlo Concari
Scenario: Italy in 1987, imagine you are parents and have built-in floppy disk) it immediately stands out as a serious
at home a brat who attends middle school. For some time machine, certainly not a toy and even supports peripherals
now, thanks to the various media campaigns and TV, you like printer and mouse!
have been harassed to buy him a computer. What are you
doing? By the 1980s, home computers had reached their He was not as long-lived as other 8-bit home computers
peak and a number of brands and models, all largely but sold relatively well in Italy during the late 1980s,
incompatible with each other, succeeded each other on gaining a small but affectionate array of fans. The problem
the market. was that having been produced at the dawn of the 8-bit
era, the PC128S is one of the most advanced machines
The most widespread and cheap was Commodore 64, but of that time.
word was it was old enough and definitely didn't look like
a serious computer for your kids to study with. The To better understand the history of this glorious PC,
Commodore had also recently introduced Amiga that was however, we must take a step back at the beginning of
spoken of very well, but its cost was the equivalent of an that decade and move to England. In the early 1980s the
average monthly salary (monitor excluded). management of the BBC, British public television, realized
that the digital revolution was beginning and decided
There were also IBM PCs, but they were expensive and that the public television service could not be left behind.
widely used in work and industry. The glorious Olivetti at
home has therefore well thought of filling this market gap In 1981 the BBC Computer Literacy Project was born,
by introducing the Olivetti Prodest PC line. whose backbone would be a series of television broadcasts
aimed to disseminate computer science culture to the
general public. However, there was a fundamental ingredient
missing: a standard machine on which studio guests and
people at home could get their hands to develop programs
and simple games. The BBC, therefore, drew up a series
of minimum specifications that the chosen machine would
have to comply with in terms of graphics, sound and
computing capabilities, and launched a sort of public
tender aimed at computer developers.
Several companies responded to the call, but almost none

were able to propose a machine that respected the BBC's
technological specifications, which were quite stringent
Fig. 1 - Olivetti PC128S
Among Prodest, PC128S seems like the ideal compromise.

It is not cheap, but with the green phosphor monitor it
still falls below the psychological amount in Lire with 6
zeros threshold . It has 128kB of RAM and computer and
video writing programs included.
With its eye-catching and bright "two piece" design

(central drive inside the keyboard + power drive with Fig. 2 - BBC Microcomputer System

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Fig. 3 - BBC Master Compact and Olivetti PC128S
at the time. Not even the ambitious Sir Clive Sinclair, a share due to higher costs than their competitors (SINCLAIR
character well above the line, founder of Sinclair Research, and Commodore among all). Risky commercial choices
the manufacturer (among others) of ZX Spectrum. and the failure of the assault on the American market
soon caused serious financial problems. This led Acorn
Among the companies that responded to the BBC call to seek buyers, and on 20 February 1985 Acorn signed
was the semi-known Acorn Computers in Cambridge, an agreement with Olivetti.
which since 1980 had been marketing a home computer
called Acorn Atom. Acorn showed the BBC a prototype In September 1985, Olivetti controlled 79% of Acorn's
of the successor to the Atom, codenamed Proton. Based shares. Thanks to the injection of Italian capital, Acorn
on the MOS 6502 microprocessor and equipped with was able to complete the development of the successor
interfaces for storage on cassettes or 5 1/4" floppy disks, to the BBC Micro, called BBC Master 128, which came out
with a few modifications the computer proposed by Acorn in February 1986 and achieved considerable success in
reached all intents and purposes and exceeded the the United Kingdom, despite the low cost. The Master
specifications dictated. series was soon enriched with other models, including
the Master Compact, a reduced and therefore inexpensive
BBC signed with Acorn the contract for the official supply version of the Master 128. At the same time, Olivetti
of machines for the Computer Literacy Project. That’s the wanted to launch its own line of home computers on the
way BBC Microcomputer was born. Strengthened by BBC Italian market. He chose to market the Master Compact
sponsorship and popularized by television broadcasts by simply changing its name and external livery, leaving
such as "The Computer Programme”, the BBC Micro, or the form and technological content unaltered.
Beeb as it was nicknamed, could only be a success in the
UK. In 1984 it was present in 80% of English schools, an The BBC Master Compact italian version is precisely the
entire generation of English computer scientists and PC128S! While the BBC Master Compact sold few copies
programmers got bones in school in the 80s on Acorn in the UK and proved to be a half-failure, the PC128S was
machines. a success in Italy. It was one of three machines marketed
under the sign Olivetti Prodest, with the unmistakable
It is said, however, that beautiful things do not last, and symbol of the pyramid. The first PC of the Prodest series,
the crunch came in 1985. With the BBC's thrust weakened, released in early 1986, was the Olivetti Prodest PC 128,
Acorn machines were struggling to maintain their market clone of the French Thomson MO6. With a launch price

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of 380,000 lire and a built-in cassette drive, it was aimed

at the low-cost home computer market, and had nothing
to do with the Acorn line, with which it was totally
incompatible. In the same year, the PC128S immediately
followed, which despite the simple addition of an "S" was,
as we have seen, a completely different machine; this did
not fail to create some confusion. The following year PC
1 was released, an IBM compatible PC based on NEC V40
processor with 4-color VGA graphics, aimed at the home
and semi-professional market.
After this historic introduction, we are now at the end of

1986. The PC128S faces the market, and immediately
gets good sales feedback. The standard equipment
Fig. 5 - Thrust
includes the central unit, the power supply unit with a
3.5 "floppy player to which a second reader can be added, physical colors, obtained by combining the presence or
and the Olivetti MM 1200 12-inch green phosphor monitor total absence of each of the three primary colors (red,
or the MC 1400 14-inch colour monitor. green, blue).
While this is not a major problem for abstract visualizations
such as spatial setting games, the impossibility of generating
colors such as orange, pink, or gray, and in general all
the colors obtained with half-tints of one or more of the
primary colors, makes it difficult to visualize more realistic
scenarios or human figures. Cheaper computers like
Commodore 64 didn't suffer from this limitation.
The sound is based on the Texas Instruments SN76489

chip, is monophonic, and includes three music channels
and a white noise generator. The speaker is included in
the central unit/keyboard. The 64 kb ROM includes the
Acorn MOS 5.1 operating system, the ADFS disk storage
system, which can handle 640 kb dual-density floppy
Fig. 4 - Screenshot from the Welcome disk disks with recursive directory tree, and the BBC BASIC.
The standard software included the Welcome Disk, on The latter is considered one of best Basic dialects in the
which two games were placed, several utilities, some market (see RetroMagazine #7).
tutorials, the video writing program View and the spreadsheet
VievSheet, preface the modern MS Excel. In addition to being equipped with floating-point arithmetic
for scientific calculation with an accuracy of 10 decimal
It also included a 230-page paper guide illustrating the places, there are primitive graphics (lines, rectangles,
use of the machine, View and ViewSheet applications, circles...) and, above all, a built-in assembler: within a
operating system commands, and the early basics of BBC program in BASIC you can easily insert Assembler code
BASIC. The PC128S is based on the 65SC12 2MHz with a few commands that can be executed to speed up
processor, an improved version of the MOS 6502 but critical parts of the program. A peculiar feature of the
compatible with its predecessor. The generous 128 kb of PC128S, inherited from its BBC Micro ancestor, is the
RAM and 64 kb ROM make it one of the most powerful 8- presence of a video mode, called MODE 7, based on
bit machines. The graphics, based on custom chips Teletext technology, the same used for displaying
developed by Acorn, can handle up to 20 kb of video information pages on TV such as the Rai Televideo service.
memory. The resolution can be up to 640x256 two-color
pixels, 320x256 four-color pixels, or 160x256 8-color When this mode is activated, the internal circuitry switches
pixels. One of the major limitations, which mainly affects off Acorn graphics chips, leaving the generation of graphics
games, is the possibility of generating only 8 different to the Mullard SAA5050 chip, the same one used in TVs
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Fig. 6 - Olivetti branded software

for the generation of Teletext screens. Teletext mode There is at least one game written specifically for PC128S
allows multicolor block text and primitive graphics to be by an Italian team: it is called Modem's Secret, it is written
displayed using only 1 kb of video memory. entirely in BASIC, and it is a very innovative textual
adventure for the time it was released. The player
Olivetti's catalog of PC128S software includes less than impersonates an investigator who investigates some
a hundred titles, most of which are Olivetti's licensed misdeeds by browsing for clues between databases, BBS
reissues of Acorn's BBC Micro software. and telecommunications networks.
There are application software such as Font Editor or The original Olivetti games for the PC128S are quite
Music System, alternative programming languages to scarce compared to the amount of titles available for
BASIC such as Logo, Pascal or Prolog, single games such more popular machines such as the Commodore 64, the
as Thrust, Ravenskull, Revs (a very accurate driving ZX Spectrum or the Amiga. But why, if there are at least
simulator for the time, written by Geoff Crammond himself 2,000 games officially released for BBC Micro in the UK,
who will later produce Formula One Grand Prix for PC and and if the PC128S is compatible with its predecessor, are
Amiga) or compilation of old games such as the Super there so few games for the PC128S? The problem stems
Arcade series (five compilations of two games each), The from the fact that, although the two machines are very
Superior Collection (two compilations of eight games), similar, the compatibility between the BBC Micro and the
Blue Ribbon (two compilations of five games), or the Play Master Compact/PC128S is not 100%, so most games
It Again Sam series, released until the first half of the 90s. cannot be transferred directly from one machine to another,
but need more or less complex conversions. The differences
mainly concern the handling of calls to the operating
system, the display of non-standard characters, and the
joystick, which in the BBC Micro is analogue type, while
in the PC128S is digital and is based on an Atari-compatible
interface.
If you own or have owned a PC128S and this article has

made you homesick for your old 8-bit friend or if you are
simply curious about this machine, you can contact the
PC128S Italia group by writing an email to:
[email protected]
Fig. 7 - L'avventura Modem's Secret

SOFTWARE
RetroLiPS project
by Francesco Fiorentini
I am very happy to officially announce the creation of an Just old listings?

area dedicated to the RetroLiPS project on the RetroMagazine Is the project reserved only for listings taken from historical
World website. publications? No, the project is open and ready to host
RetroLiPS is the acronym for Retro Listings Preservation all listings, including modern ones, as long as they are
Society, a project dedicated to safeguarding the listings somehow linked to the retro world. So welcome listings
created for 8 and 16 bit machines. for all 8-bit and 16-bit machines (C64, VIC20, MSX,
Spectrum, TI99...) or a bit more niche languages (AMOS
for Amiga, STOS for Atari ST, Forth for Jupiter ACE...).
These programs are probably already available online, it
is true, but without a real archive they are just a drop in
the sea magnum of the internet. Hence the added value
of the RetroLiPS project: a real archive of all the retro code.
We need you... Today more than ever!

As you may have guessed, this is an ambitious project
that will need all the help it can get to the success it deserves.
Currently we have already obtained collaboration from

Francesco Sblendorio and Ermanno Betori.
As far as software is concerned, there are already dozens Francesco has provided US with a series of BASIC listings
and dozens of sites that archive and catalogue the programs for Commodore 64 published in the famous Italian
of the ‘80s and ‘90s, but as far as listings are concerned, magazine Commodore Computer Club.
there is still no serious project dedicated to their Ermanno, on the other hand, provided us with several
preservation. Listings in paper magazines or in books and BASIC lists for the TI99/4A computer taken from several
publications from the 1980s, are destined to remain magazines of the time.
relegated in the scans of these pages if no one types However, typing lists is only part of the work that revolves
them... What we want to do is bring these programmes around RetroLiPS.
back to life and make them available to everyone for fun
and educational purposes. Another fundamental part is the cataloguing and creation
Obviously we will not be typing those listings line by line, of posts within the RetroMagazine World website. Currently
also because it would take a lifetime to do so and we this task is carried out alongside all the other activities
would risk not completing this task. Through OCR (Optical that revolve around the RMW world, so a real manager is
Character Recognition) software, we will try to acquire, missing. If anyone wants to take over this role, please
in the best possible way, the listings from the aforementioned contact us, the retrocomputing community will be eternally
pages. Obviously, the OCR process is a great help, but grateful to you.
unfortunately, the number of errors introduced, due to
the incorrect interpretation of some characters, means In addition, in the long term this project could get its own
that much of the work is still manual. The incorrect space with a dedicated site with lots of databases, a
characters must be corrected, the program must be tested search engine and...
and some codes must be completely rewritten (it’s the
case of the Commodore 64 screen codes...). If anyone would like to help us realize this project, again,
A long and tedious job, but in the end it pays for the effort RMW's doors are as always open and inclusive.
made. Is it worth it? In our opinion, it definitely is!

SOFTWARE
Nobility of a humble flowchart

by Alberto Apostolo
Flowcharts represent an intermediate step between Generally, a flowchart has only one beginning and one
developing an algorithm and drafting a program end. The direction of flow should be interpreted from left
[FP83]. They allow you to graphically represent the to right and from top to bottom.
sequence of operations that make up the algorithm
and are characterized by the expressiveness and ease Nowadays, stencils are no longer used (replaced by
with which they can be translated into programs (after appropriate software) and, to briefly describe a procedure,
choosing the programming language). we resort to a kind of pseudo-coding full of keywords
A flowchart consists of appropriate symbols joined together belonging to the language with which the source code
by oriented segments indicating the sequence of operations will actually be written.
(described within the symbols) and does not contain Personally, I've still seen flowcharts used to describe
declarative instructions. chains of complex batch procedures.
The geometric shape of the symbols is coded according One tool that has supported flowcharts for many years
to ISO 5807:1985 and Figure 1 shows the most frequently is the Unified Modeling Language used in the R.U.P.
used symbols with their meaning. I remember that in (Rational Unified Process) design method. U.M.L. was
School in the 80s of the 20th century, owning a plastic developed in 1996 by Grady Booch, Jim Rambaugh and
stencil to draw flowcharts had become a status-symbol Ivar Jacobson. It consists of an organized collection of
among computer science students (Figure 2). related diagrams consisting of graphical elements with
However, there are no constraints on symbol sizes that strongly defined meaning and textual elements. The latest
are large enough to contain the description of the operation version is version 2.5 of 2015 (www.uml-diagrams.org).
(example in Figure 3).
Fig.1
Fig.2 Fig.3
SOFTWARE
The origins The use of this instrument was later spread by Allan H.
The idea of using symbols and geometric shapes to Mogensen. Art Spinager (Mogensen's pupil) introduced
represent and share human thought dates back to ancient him to the multinational Procter & Gamble while Ben
times (graffiti, hieroglyphics, etc.). Graham made some adjustments when he was a director
More recently (1921), "Process Charts" written by Frank of the Standard Register Corporation [Char11].
and Lillian Gilbreth (Figure 4) was published, with the
purpose of offering a tool to visualize a work process and The BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation, Figure
improve it (Figure 5 shows a part of a diagram and Figure 7, [All16]) can also be considered to belong to the Gilbreth
6 lists the symbols with their meaning [GG21]). family of diagrams.
Fig.4: Frank and Lillian Gilbreth Fig.5
Fig.6

SOFTWARE
The transition from "flow diagram" to "flowchart" in the context of electronic calculation can be found in a 1946
nascent IT report written by Haskell Curry and Willa Wyatt (Figure
The first print showing the use of "flow diagram" in the 8). The report describes a method for calculating reverse
interpolation on ENIAC [Ens16].
However, in a later document Curry reported that the

original idea of drawing a diagram was to be attributed
to John von Neumann and Herman Goldstine. Figure 9
shows an example of the diagrams of Goldstine and von
Fig.7
Fig.8 Fig.9
Frank Bunker Gilbreth was born in Freeport, Maine, United States on July 7, 1868. After finishing high
school, although he had admission to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in his pocket, he decided to
study mechanics in a more practical way and found work as a builder in a construction company. Thanks to
his abilities he quickly made a career, obtaining promotion to superintendent at the age of 27. Looking at the
builders' work, Gilbreth posed the question of how to reduce labor fatigue by reducing the number of
individual movements. Gilbreth's studies of motion optimization were in contrast to F.W. Taylor's studies of
time optimization, and it took mediation by mutual friend Henry Gantt to recognize their complementarity.
During World War I, Gilbreth served as a senior officer in the U.S. Army as an efficiency expert. Following the
death of Taylor (1915) and Gantt (1919), Frank Gilbreth became a prominent figure in the scientific
organization of work but died suddenly of a heart attack on June 14, 1924 in Montelair (New Jersey, United
States) while preparing a conference for the First International Management Congress. His wife Lillian, who
was collaborating in his work, took part in the conference in her place.
Lillian Moller was born in Oakland, California, United States on May 24, 1878. Daughter of an influential
businessman, she graduated in 1903 in English Literature from the University of California at Berkeley with a
thesis on the poet Ben Johnson. After graduation he took a year off where he travelled around Europe and
during that time he met Frank Gilbreth, marrying him in 1904. To help her husband, she later received a PhD
in Psychology from Brown University in Rhode Island. Due to her husband's sudden death in 1924, she had
to take care of the large family alone (12 children, 6 boys and 6 girls). She also had to rebuild her husband's
business network, working as a government consultant because numerous employment contracts had been
cancelled. She served under several Presidents (Hoover, Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy and
Johnson). In the 1960s she was known as the American First Lady of Engineering, continuing to write and
teach. He died in Phoenix, Arizona, United States on July 2, 1972.
Mr. and Mrs. Gilbreth represented a remarkable example of an emotional bond combined with a professional
partnership. You can consider the pioneers of what is now called Ergonomics, the science that studies the
work environment by identifying solutions suitable for the needs of workers and for production at the same
time. In the 1920s they had discovered that the arrangement of the work environment influenced human
effort. Also at that time, they had taken care of the reintegration of war-torn maimed people into work. For
Gilbreths , successful management must be human-centred and not work-centred (and in this there is a
divergence from Taylor's thinking). Some studies by Lillian Gilbreth on motivation and performance have
anticipated the work of psychologists Abraham Maslow and Herbert Simon by decades.

SOFTWARE
Neumann in their treatise "Planning and Coding of Problems Ned Chapin was born on
for an Electronic Computing Instrument” of 1948. By the August 8, 1927 in Port
late 1940s, the use of flow diagrams had been adopted Gamble, Washington,
by the new Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation (soon United States, to M.C.
to become the UNIVAC division of Remington Rand). In Chapin and Rose
1950 Grace Hopper and Betty Holberton introduced what Smallwood, then living in
they called "flow charts" (and then "flowcharts") into different locations
corporate programming courses at the EMCC. between Washington,
Oregon, and California.
After graduating from
The first standardisations
Eureka Senior High
Beginning in the 1950s, several institutions attempted
School in 1945, he
to develop their own graphic standards (e.g., the United Fig.10
attended Stanford
States Air Force and the S.H.A.R.E. Committee). Software University (where he was also a percussionist in the
to create flowcharts existed since 1957 and a language Symphony Orchestra). He earned an MBA from the
(Systems Flowchart Language) had also been created. University of Chicago in 1949. During the Korean War
But the diffusion of the standards took place practically he served in the American Army as an engineer. On
thanks to the sale of plastic templates to draw flowcharts. 12 June 1954 she married a fellow university
In the 1960s a new committee attempted to develop a student, June Roediger, with whom she had two
standard through the Business Equipment Association, daughters: Suzanne and Elaine (who in turn became
the American Standard Association, members from a scientist). After his PhD from the Illinois Institute of
computer suppliers and major users. With a compromise, Technology in 1959, he moved to Menlo Park,
it was published in 1963 as American Standard (later California, where he lived for the rest of his life.
Although he worked for 10 years at Stanford
released by the Association for Computing Machinery).
Research Institute (now SRI International), for most
At the same time, this effort was carried out by the
of his career he was an independent consultant at
International Standard Organization (ISO). In 1965 there
Infosci Inc. At the age of 60, he was a professor and
was a major revision followed by some minors in the years later became an Emeritus Professor of Information
1966 and 1968. The revision that led to the ANSI 1970 Systems at California State University.
version was carried out to align as much as possible with
the ISO version and is the one described by Ned Chapin Ned Chapin was a leader in the field of computer
in "Flowcharting With the ANSI Standard: A science, always in particular in the discipline of
Tutorial" [Cha70]. software maintenance. During 61 years of his career,
he published more than 250 articles and conference
Further proof of the brainstorming that characterized the proceedings. He wrote 8 books including "An
1960s, flowcharts can be considered as a variant of Joseph Introduction to Automatic Computers" of 1955 (the
Novak's concept maps proposed as a tool to highlight, second general book on computers published
commercially) and "Computers: A Systems
within a certain topic, the main concepts and their
Approach" of 1971. He founded and edited "Journal
respective links (Novak's ideas were taken up by Tony
of Software Maintenance and Evolution". He
Buzan with the introduction of mind maps)[Sco19]. The
remained active at work until the end of his life. For
different areas of use of a flowchart have led several example, he was a member of the International
authors to propose a classification of flowchart types. Conference on Software Maintenance and Evolution
in Victoria in October 2014. His hobbies included
Sterneckert classification [Ste03] is based on different reading science fiction novels, listening to jazz vocals
user groups (e.g. managers, system analysts and employees): and looking for mushrooms. He was a supporter of
1) Document flow diagrams, which show the controls on manned Mars missions and was a founding member
a flow of documents through a system, of the Computer History Museum. He died on
2) Data flow diagrams, showing controls on a data flow December 27, 2014. The family asked (instead of
in a system, flowers) donations to the museum [KN75][TA15].
3) System flow chart, showing physical or resource level (see http://www.computerhistory.org/ )
controls,
4) Program flowchart, which shows the controls in a
program within a system.
The weaknesses of a flowchart

A map is not the territory [Sco19], just as photography Fig.11

SOFTWARE
is not the subject taken. Even in flowcharts

there is a simplification through a
"conceptual filter" where the most
important elements are distinguished
from the least important, redundant or
disturbing ones. So producing a flowchart
requires compressing, condensing, and
deleting details. But which and how
many? A wrong choice will render the
flowchart unusable [Ens16]. Donald
Knuth in a 1963 article ("Computer-
Drawn Flowchart") denounced two
opposite extremes: a content-poor
flowchart (Figure 11) and an overly
detailed one (Figure 12).
Another problem regarding flowcharts

Fig.12 is that they can encourage the use of
"GO TO" in programming with "disastrous
effects" in code writing ("spaghetti-
program", Dijkstra). In August 1973,
two newly graduated students (Ben
Shneiderman and Ike Nassi) published
their own symbology that conformed to
the structured programming paradigm
(Figure 13 from [Fil09] with example in
Figure 14). NS diagrams are adjusted
according to DIN 66261-1985-11 and
ISO/IEC 8631:1989. For the sake of
completeness of information, the
existence of additional alternatives such
as Warnier-Orr diagrams, Jackson
diagrams and writing in pseudocode is
mentioned.
Conclusions
Flowcharts were born with the laudable
Fig.13
intent of documenting work processes
in order to improve them and alleviate
A new idea rejected too quickly
Ben Shneiderman and Ike Nassi initially submitted their article to the magazine "Communication of the ACM"
but on October 4, 1972 it was rejected in a bad way with an unsigned letter written on watermarked paper
by Cornell University (a clue fueling suspicion about David Gries, editor at the time for the programming
languages part). They then sent the article to "ACM SIGPLAN Notices" (an informal monthly) which
published it in August 1973.
Meanwhile, some drafts of the article had circulated in academia and publications by others (including Ned
Chapin, "Chapin charts") containing some small variations had appeared. A friend of Shneiderman's was
asking for Chapin to be sued for stealing the idea. Ben Shneiderman feared for years that Chapin's
reputation and frequent seminars would eventually tie his name to the invention. Fortunately over time
"structured flowcharts" became increasingly known as "NS Diagrams".
Still with the words of Shneiderman [Hop19]: "I also hope that the story of the bold rejection of our novel
idea and its eventual international success, is an inspiration for anyone whose new ideas are rejected by
some respected authorities".

SOFTWARE
the fatigue of the most humble workers

(Gilbreth).
Later they were replaced by more modern

and less expensive methods. This paper
ends with a bit of humor, showing in Figure
15 a cartoon by computer text illustrator
Daniel Le Noury, republished by MC
Microcomputer in 1985 [MC85].
Fig.14 Fig.15: Le Noury cartoon from "Computer Crazy" (1984)
Bibliography
[All16] T.Allweyer, "BPMN 2.0: Introduction to the Standard for Business Process Modeling",BoD – Books on Demand, 2016.
[BD09] M.Bullynck, L.De Mol, "Curry’s study of inverse interpolation on the ENIAC", 2009,
https://www.clps.ugent.be/sites/default/files/talk-slides/CHOC_Curry.pdf
[Cha70] N. Chapin, "Flowcharting With the ANSI Standard: A Tutorial",
Computing Surveys, Vol. 2, n. 2, Jun. 1970, pp. 119-146,
http://gr.xjtu.edu.cn/c/document_library/get_file?p_l_id=586332&folderId=583398&name=DLFE-9604.pdf
[Char11] P.M. Charantimath, "Total Quality Management", Pearson Education India, 2011.
[Ens16] N. Ensmenger, "The Multiple Meaning of a Flowchart",
Information & Culture, Vol. 51, n.3, 2016, pp. 321-351,
http://homes.sice.indiana.edu/nensmeng/files/Ensmenger2016.pdf
[Fil09] H.G.Fill, "Visualisation for Semantic Information Systems Business and Economics",
Springer Science & Business Media, 2009.
[FP83] V.Falzone, G.Pompei, "Elaboratori elettronici e loro applicazione", Vol. 1, Calderini, 1983.
[GG21] F.B.Gilbreth L.M.Gilbreth, "Process Charts", The American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 1921,
https://archive.org/details/processcharts00gilb/page/n1/mode/2up
[Hop19] D.Hopkins, "Flowcharts of programming language constructs", consultato il 2019_06_02,
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22329274
[KN75] C.D.Kinsman, C.Nasso, "Contemporary authors: a bio-bibliographical guide to current authors and their works",
Volumi 21-24, Gale Research Co., 1975.
[MC85] AA.VV., MC Microcomputer ,n. 40, Apr. 1985, pag. 20,
https://issuu.com/adpware/docs/mc040
[Rof03] J.T.Roff, "Fondamenti di UML", McGraw-Hill, 2003.
[ISO85] AA.VV., " Information processing – Documentation symbols and conventions for data, program and system flowcharts,
program network charts and system resources charts", ISO 5807:1985.
[SB14] A.Schultz, J.A.Beverly, "Encyclopedia of Public Administration and Public Policy", Infobase Publishing, 2014.
[Sco19] A.Scocco, "Costruire mappe per rappresentare e organizzare il proprio pensiero", Franco Angeli, 2019.
[Ste03] A.B. Sterneckert, "Critical Incident Management", CRC Press, 2003.
[TA15] AA.VV., "Dr. Ned Chapin Computer Science Pioneer",
"The Almanac", vol.30, n.22, pag. 8, 2015_04_02,
https://issuu.com/almanac/docs/2015_02_04.alm.section1
[Wit03] M. Witzel, "Fifty Key Figures in Management", Psychology Press, 2003.

SOFTWARE
Introduction to Commodore C128 graphics - part 2

by Gianluca Girelli
After the introduction to the topic published over a year spectrum into a single signal to the video monitor. The
ago in RMW #21 (Italian version), we resume the topic 8563, on the other hand (the chip for managing the 80
about 8-bit graphics on the Commodore128. As well columns) separates the red, green and blue colors to
known, compared to that of C64, BASIC 7.0 of C128 made separately guide the action of the cathode ray "gun" for
available to the user a whole series of commands that a cleaner, sharper and higher contrast image compared
made the work of graphic composition decidedly slim and to the composite video.
modern.
We have already learned in previous numbers how the
In this paper, after expanding a little bit our knowledge text display works and how to redefine characters, both
of the system and the commands made available by BASIC to have new font sets and to use them as screen graphics
7.0, we will analyze some practical examples taken from (for example within a game). We now begin to analyze in
the book "C128 Programmer's Reference Guide" published detail the management of the graphic scheme through
by Bantam Books. the use of high-level instructions. For the sake of
completeness of information, please note that the C128
In C128 mode, the system has fourteen high-level graphics is also able to operate in split screen mode and manage
commands that make graphics programming easy. You text and bitmap graphics simultaneously.
can draw circles, quadrilaterals, lines, dots, and other
geometric shapes with ten commands like DRAW, BOX, Below is the list of graphic primitives that can be used;
and CIRCLE, plus four commands for sprite management note in particular the GSHAPE and SSHAPE instructions
(we'll look at these commands in a later paper). that allow you to manage images after saving them within
Compared to the work you need when using the C64, you string variables.
don't need to be an experienced machine language
programmer or purchase additional software packages BOX: Draw rectangles on the bitmap screen;
to display complex and visually pleasant graphics: CHAR: Displays the characters on the bitmap screen;
commodore 128'S basic graphics capabilities will take CIRCLE: Draws circles, ellipses and other geometric shapes;
care of this for you. COLOR: Select colors for screen border, foreground,
background, and fonts;
Graphic features of the C128 include: DRAW: Display lines and dots on the bitmap screen;
• Specialized graphics and sprite controls; GRAPHIC: Select a screen display mode (text, bitmap or
• 16 colours; bitmap split-screen);
• 6 display modes, including: GSHAPE: Gets the data from a string variable and places
Standard font mode; it at a specified location on the bit-map screen;
Multicolor font mode; LOCATE: Places the cursor on the bitmap screen at specified
Extended background color mode; coordinates;
Standard bitmap mode; PAINT: Fills an area of the bitmap screen with the specified
Multicolour bitmap mode; color;
Bitmap and font modes combined (split-screen); SCALES: Sets the relative size of the images on the bitmap
• 8 hardware SPRITES; screen;
• Custom programmable characters; SSHAPE: Stores the image of a part of the on the bitmap
• Vertical and horizontal scrolling. screen in a string variable;
WIDTH: Sets the width of the drawn lines.
Your computer can produce two types of video signals:
40-column composite video and 80-column RGBI video. Then let's start doing some experiments with the basic
The composite video signal, channeled through VIC II forms. In this first example, we will draw squares and
(Video Interface Controller - 8564) chip similar to that rotate them downwards to create a fake three-dimensional
used in the Commodore 64, mixes all the colors of the effect.

SOFTWARE
First we will set the colors of our graphics screen - 120 NEXT

background, foreground and border - using COLOR 130 BOX 1,270,140,330,200,210,1:REM DRAW 2ND
instruction. The syntax is as follows: FILLED RED BOX
140 SLEEP 5 :REM DELAY
COLOR source number, color number 150 GRAPHIC 0, l:REM SWITCH TO TEXT MODE
where "source" has the meaning given in the following table: In the second example, however, we will use the DRAW
statement to create a chart on a Cartesian plane.
0 40-column (VIC) background In addition, we will overlay the reference legend with
1 40-column (VIC) foreground CHAR instruction, which allows you to display characters
2 multi-color 1
3 multi-color 2
4 40-column (VIC) border
5 character color (40- or 80-column screen)
6 80-column background color
while "color" corresponds to the following table:
CODE COLOUR CODE COLOUR
1 Black 9 Orange
2 White 10 Brown
3 Red 11 Light Red
4 Cyan 12 Dark Gray
Fig. 1 - Output of the first sample program
5 Purple 13 Medium Gray
6 Green 14 LightGreen on the bit-map screen.
7 Blue 15 Light Blue The syntax of the two statements is as follows:
8 Yellow 16 Light Gray DRAW [source number], [X1, Y1][TO X2, Y2] ...
CHAR [source number],X,Y[,string to print][, color inversion]
Then, after drawing a square and filling it with color, we
will create the "cascade" of squares through a FOR-NEXT Note, as we had already highlighted on RMW21 issue,
loop. The parameters of BOX instruction are as follows where the lines intersect involving the presence of more
(note the "angle" parameter used to rotate the figure): than one colour per single square of 8x8 pixels, the last
BOX [source number], X1, Yl[,X2,Y2][,angle][,fill] colour drawn will "dirty" the previous one.
Below is the code for the first example: 10 COLOR 0.1:COLOR 4.1:COLOR 1.7

20 GRAPHIC 1.1:REM SELECT BMM
10 COLOR 0.1:COLOR 1.6:COLOR 4.1 30 Y = l
20 GRAPHIC 1.1:REM SELECT BMM 40 DO
30 BOX 1,10,10,70,70,90,1:REM DRAW FILLED GREEN BOX 50 DRAW 1.1,Y TO 320, Y:REM DRAW HORIZONTAL LINES
40 FOR I=20 TO 140 STEP 3 60 Y=Y+10
50 BOX 1,I,I,I+60,I+60,I+80: REM DRAW AND ROTATE 70 LOOP WHILE Y<200
BOXES 75 X=l
60 NEXT 80 DO
70 BOX 1,140,140,200,200,220,1: REM DRAW 2ND 90 DRAW 1, X,1 TO X,200: REM DRAW VERTICAL LINES
FILLED GREEN BOX 95 X=X+10
80 COLOR 1.3:REM SWITCH TO RED 97 LOOP WHILE X<320
90 BOX 1,150, 20,210,80,90,1 : REM DRAW FILLED 100 COLOR 1.3:REM SWITCH TO RED
RED BOX 110 DRAW 1,160.0 TO 160,200:REM DRAW X AXIS IN RED
100 FOR I=20 TO 140 STEP 3 120 DRAW 1,0,100 TO 320,100:REM DRAW Y AXIS IN RED
110 BOX 1,I+130,I,I+190,I+60,I+70: REM DRAW AND 130 COLOR 1.6:REM SWITCH TO GREEN
ROTATE RED BOXES 140 DRAW 1,0,199 TO 50,100 TO 90,50 TO 110,30 TO
SOFTWARE
Fig. 2 - Output of the second sample program
150,20 TO 180,30 1 = reverse colour shape;

150 DRAW 1,180.30 TO 220.10 TO 260.80 TO 320.0: 2 = "OR" operation between shape and area;
REM DRAW GROWTH CURVES 3 = "AND" operation between shape and area;
160 CHAR 1,7,2 3,"PROJECTED SALES THROUGH 1990" 4 = "XOR" operation between shape and area.
170 CHAR 1,1,21, "1970 1975 1980 1985 1990"
180 SLEEP 10:GRAPHIC 0, l:REM DELAY AND SWITCH The following code will create the Commodore symbol
TO TEXT MODE (C=) and draw it repeatedly on the screen.
The operation takes place in three steps:
Finally, we see things using SSHAPE (which saves an - in the first a double concentric circle is drawn, from
image within a string variable) and GSHAPE (loads the which a part is then removed to create the "C".
image and displays it at user-defined coordinates) This is done by saving the shape containing the circles
statements. Let's start by examining the syntax: in a variable (A$) and then subjecting it to an "exclusive
SSHAPE variable string, XI, Yl [,X2,Y2] OR" (XOR) operation with another shape (BOX instruction,
where: string variable is the variable in which to save data; line 60);
X1,Y1 are the coordinates of the upper-left corner (0.0 - the second step is to complete the Commodore symbol
to 319,199) where to draw the shape (possibly scaled); with the "flag" and fill the resulting shape with colour;
X2,Y2 coordinates of the opposite angle (X1,Y1). - finally, the complete symbol is saved in a new variable
(B$) and displayed in sequence on the graphic video.
GSHAPE string variable [X,Y][,mode]
where "string variable" contains the shape to be drawn, 10 REM DRAW, SAVE AND GET THE COMMODORE SYMBOL
while "X,Y" are the coordinates of the upper-left corner 20 COLOR 0.1: COLOR 4.1:COLOR 1.7
(0.0 to 319,199) where to draw the shape. In addition, 30 GRAPHIC 1.1:REM SELECT BMM
"mode" has the following meaning: 40 CIRCLE 1,160,100,20,15:REM OUTER CIRCLE
50 CIRCLE 1,160,100,10,9:REM INNER CIRCLE
0 = leave the shape as it is (default); 60 BOX 1,165,85,185,115:REM ISOLATED AREA TO BE
SOFTWARE
Fig. 3 - Output of the third sample program
ERASED 260 LOOP WHILE Y<160
70 SSHAPE A$,166,85,185,115:REM SAVE THE AREA 270 SLEEP 3
INTO A$ 280 LOOPS
80 GSHAPE A$,166,85,4: REM EXCLUSIVE OR THE AREA
THIS (ERASES) TURNS OFF PIXELS So we have come to the end of this tutorial illustrating
90 DRAW 0.165,94 TO 165,106: REM TURN OFF (DRAW the use of some very powerful instructions, such as
IN BKGRND COLOR) PIXELS IN "C=" manipulating images on the bitmap screen using strings.
100 DRAW 1,166,94 TO 166,99 TO 180,99 TO 185,94 On the C128, this method is also an alternative way to
TO 166,94:REM UPPER FLAG create sprites, since you can directly assign the variable
110 DRAW 1,166,106 TO 166,101 TO 180,101 TO that contains the shape created to the memory area that
185,106 TO 166,106: REM LOWER FLAG manages the hardware sprites using the SPRSAV (SPRite
120 PAINT 1,160,110:REM PAINT "C" SAVe) statement.
130 PAINT 1,168.98 :REM UPPER FLAG So goodbye to the next issue with Part 3 of our tutorial
140 SLEEP 5:REM DELAY where we will start experimenting with sprites.
150 SSHAPE B$,137,84,187,116:REM SAVE SHAPE INTO B$
160 DO BIBLIOGRAPHY
170 SCNCLR C128 Programmer's Reference Guide by Commodore
180 Y=10 Business Machines, Inc.
190 OJ Bantam Computer Books, February 1986
200 X=10
210 OJ
220 GSHAPE B$, X,Y:REM GET AND DISPLAY SHAPE
230 X=X+50:REM UPDATE X
240 LOOP WHILE X<280
250 Y=Y+40:REM UPDATE Y

SOFTWARE
Turbo Rascal Syntax Error

A complete cross-platform framework for 8/16-bit development
by David La Monaca
had cross-compilers available, which ran on the first
compatible PCs (XT/AT) and were mainly employed to
reuse or adapt written code for a particular processor
and thus reduce the creation time of a game or its porting
Intro to different platforms. Those who programmed on their
For some time now, here at RMW, we have repeatedly own (even professionally, do you remember the so-called
reported a renewed and growing general interest in bedroom coders?) and had the only hard-earned 8-bit
retrocomputing and retrogaming. The numbers speak for computer, were often armed with paper notebooks, a
themselves. Not only old nostalgic people from their decent assembler, some specific tools for audio and
forties onwards have resumed using 80s/90s consoles graphics and lots of patience and creativity.
and home computers, but also the youngest and millennials
are discovering this world (which is completely new to Today, about 40 years later, the programming tools
them) made of simple but powerful gaming machines. available are such and so many that for those who want
And so the production of new games and software is also to start (or resume) programming 8/16 bit machines
gathering success and reinforced drive also from young there is a lot of choice. Or rather, it is often about looking
programmers and teams as well as veterans. Of course, for the most compact or convenient and fastest solution
software production systems also changed. among all available. Of course you can choose the old-
style way that involves the use of the target machine also
For those who lived the era of the first 8-bit computers, to program and perhaps some more recent tools to
which from the 1980s entered the daily life of boys, promote the rapid development of games, demos, programs.
students and families, it will not be difficult to remember Or you can opt for an intermediate route, setting up a
how you tried to write code. Using assembly language development for a specific platform including several
was basically mandatory when trying to create something coding tools (editor, music composer, graphic designer,
fast (games or demos), while the much slower BASIC assembler and emulator) all connected by a properly
language was enough for some management or short configured toolchain to ensure a convenient and safe
study program. Only software houses of a certain level path to produce executables and accessory files of a
Fig. 1 - Example of a Project for AmstradCPC

SOFTWARE
software project. Finally, you can easily install a realadopted (essentially Pascal) with the possibility of
integrated, multi-platform IDE based on the use of high-integrating parts of code into the assembly to speed up
level languages. For 8-bit and 16-bit machines, for example,
some routines in which execution speed is particularly
you can choose CC65 (a multi-processor compiler that important. The presence of an IDE featuring error messages,
can be easily integrated into modern IDEs such as Visualsyntax highlighting and automatic code completion,
Studio or Eclipse) or 8-bit Unity, an SDK to develop games
greatly facilitates the development and debugging of
using C and obtain executables for many 8-bit machines. programs and subroutines. Numerous sample projects
are provided for each target platform, as well as tutorials
In the same vein, recently appeared a new software within the framework or available on the official website.
framework of excellent workmanship that goes under the Facebook groups or dedicated forums also help simplify
short name Turbo Rascal SE (whose bizarre full name is: the approach to the use of the framework and break down
"Turbo Rascal Syntax error, ";” expected but “BEGIN”). the learning curve.
The author and current chief programmer of the project,
Nicolaas E. Groeneboom, owned a C64 as a boy but had Installation and configuration
never really approached coding until the 90s, after the Downloading and installing the latest version from the
advent of the first x86 PCs. Born in February 2018 with official TRSE project site is as easy as you can imagine.
the help of Michael Andrew Hewitt and a large team of TRSE is compiled every night from the latest available
expert coders, TRSE is a complete collection of tools sources, so the download always contains the latest
(integrated environment, editor, compiler, programming updates. Supported operating systems are the most
language and resource library) made available to popular for PCs (Windows 64-bit, Linux 64-bit and macOS)
programmers to build mainly games and demos for the and the application runs in stand-alone mode.
old 8/16-bit machines.
The only precaution you need to follow as a user is to get
Particular support was provided for the MOS 6502, the emulators for each 8/16-bit platform you want to
Motorola 68000, Z80 and X86 processors. There are develop. After the compilation process, in fact, you can
many supported target machines: 8-bit Commodore (C64, automatically launch the emulator suitable for your current
VIC-20, C16/Plus4, C128, PET), Atari 800, BBC Micro, project and immediately check whether your code is
NES and Gameboy consoles, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad working properly or not. As an example, for Commodore
CPC464, Atari 2600, MSX, Apple II, Mega65, Amiga 500, 8-bit we recommend the use of the well-known VICE
Atari 520ST, 8086AT and many more. The peculiarity of emulator, FS-UAE or Win-UAE for Amiga, Mednafen for
this framework is the use of the programming language Gameboy/NES, Hatari for Atari ST and so on.
Fig. 2 - Code of an Atari ST program

SOFTWARE
bit projects, you will find yourself with a full development

environment that includes a very powerful and full-featured
editor to help you write good code. This code will mostly
follow the syntax of dear old Pascal, the programming
language created by Niklaus Wirth at the Polytechnic of
Zurich in 1970 mainly for educational purposes and then
become for years the reference point of all structured
programming courses (i.e. before the advent of object
programming). The typical structure of a TRSE program
is as follows:
Program ProgramName;
var a, b, c: byte = 0;
Procedure nProc(param:bytes);
var x, y: byte;
begin
// Performs a series of operations
Fig. 3 - Memory map (CTRL+U) end;
Function nCalc(z : integer): integer;
TRSE includes an assembler for 6502, whereas for other
var z1, z2 : integer = 3;
CPU-based systems you can configure suitable assemblers,
var z3: integer = 5;
such as VASM for 68000, NASM for DOS, RGBASM for
begin
Gameboy, Z80-ASM for ZX Spectrum, and so on. Once
// Performs function processing
you configure the settings for emulators and assemblers,
nCalc := z + z1 + z2 + z3
my advice is to start with one of the many projects /
end;
tutorials made available by the framework.
// Main program block
begin
If you're already familiar with Pascal or some other high-
// Performs operations and call userdefined
level programming language, you won't find it hard to
procedures, etc. nProc(4);
understand the basic structure of a program or a game.
// Other instructions
The editor allows you to view and edit some types of files
sum : = nCalc(10);
directly.
end.
Table of file types supported by TRSE

Each program must begin with the keyword "Program”
.RAS Turbo Rascal source file
followed by the program name. Immediately afterwards
.ASM assembly file for MOS6502, DASM syntax
you can start declaring variables, procedures (keyword
.TRU Turbo Rascal Unit files, source files containing
“Procedure”) and functions (keyword “Function”). The
user libraries
main block of any program always runs first and starts
.PAW Disk and Package Files
with the “begin” statement and ends with “end” followed
.FLF Turbo Rascal image file (sprite, charset, Amiga
by a dot. Different types of variables are supported (bytes,
images, C64/VIC-20 bitmaps)
integers, long, pointers, booleans, strings, etc.). You can
.FJO ray tracer source file
also use constants, type modifiers to construct more
complex variables and data structures, arrays and also
In order to compile a .RAS file, just press CTRL+B to build
user-defined types. The flow of a program is decided
the source code or CTRL+R to compile and run the code
based on conditional instructions, cycles, and the use of
in the associated emulator. The CTRL+U command instead
functions and procedures. Memory pointers, records and
generates a complete memory map of the project being
preprocessor commands are also available to the
developed (fig. 3).
programmer. Classes are not yet fully supported while
Units are very useful for building real libraries of user
The basic syntax of the IDE
functions that can be easily reused in various projects.
As mentioned, if you decide to use TRSE for your 8/16-

SOFTWARE
Conclusions
Just take a look at the Showcases section of the official
website or launch the tutorials or sample projects included
in the installation package to realize the potential of this
programming framework. The production of demos, intros,
small and large games for the dearest platforms of the
80s and 90s, with this tool and after a few days of running-
in, becomes really fast and protected from all those
debugging operations that are normally required for pure-
assembly projects. The programming environment is fast
and comfortable. It’s hard to feel the lack of some function Fig. 5 - MørketId
Amstrad CPC PAL demo (Nov 2020)
compared to other more popular IDEs that are often
adapted to write and assemble code for 8/16 bits. of the time. The learning-by-doing approach will be
particularly appreciated by all those who already have
The use of Pascal as a reference and production language programming experience and do not want to start from
may leave some programmers more nostalgic and more scratch. More than 250 sample files and 40 tutorial
attached to traditions a bit puzzled, but it’s relatively projects are included in the framework and they immediately
quick to get used to the syntax and convenience of using offer material to be analyzed and studied to gain confidence
procedures and functions, as well as more complex data in the development environment and become productive
structures of Pascal. The aim of focusing the programmer's in a short time.
attention on the development of an idea and its
implementation in the form of an algorithm is fully achieved.
References
For each target platform, specific libraries are used to - Official web site: https://www.turborascal.com - https://
exploit graphics, sprites, animations, music and sound lemonspawn.com/turbo-rascal-syntax-error-expected-
effects, without giving up, if necessary, the possibility of but-begin/
writing assembly code in order to make the most of the - Showcases: https://lemonspawn.com/gallery_/
custom chip functions of a given machine. In this context, - Official GitHub Repo: https://github.com/leuat/TRSE
a real gem is the implementation of a ray-tracer, able to - List of methods and syntax of the functions related to
create entire graphical animation sequences, often seen the various target systems: https://github.com/leuat/
in the most advanced demos and intros and an advanced TRSE/blob/master/resources/text/syntax.txt
editor to create sprites, backgrounds, fonts and game levels. - CC65 compiler: https://www.cc65.org
- 8-Bit Unity: http://8bit-unity.com
In a nutshell TRSE is a completely free development
environment for games and demos for the old 8/16 bit
systems, written in QT/C++, which has already reached
a certain maturity despite, while I am writing this article,
it has only reached version 0.12.9. The complete suite
includes various tools for designing the main processors
Fig. 4 - Morphine/Offence Fig. 6 - Yo-grl makes a demo

Amiga OCS Demo (Apr 2021) GameBoy Demo (Lug 2020)

RETROHISTORY
ATARI - The origin of the myth

by Francesco Coppola
Meetings in hot tubs, parties organized during the week,
use of drugs and alcohol of various kinds, no work uniform;
this was the most common work scenario within the
"mother" industry of video games in the West: ATARI.
began to create as many cartridges for the console,

working in a "very relaxing" and profitable environment.
In fact, Bushnell did not give weight to his employees'
shifts or to the classic company meetings in suit: only the
An American company created in 1972 that initially final result mattered to him.
distinguished itself for the creation and distribution of In short, ATARI was becoming that mass phenomenon
arcade video games (the so-called coin-op cabinets ), that no one, including Bushnell, expected: the creators
first of all the famous PONG, in which a game of black and of Atari games were crushing American competition
white tennis was simulated, based simply on the interaction thanks to the millions of copies sold in the world of games
of two white bars controlled by one or more players who such as "Yars' Revenge", "Raiders of the Lost Ark",
had to move them vertically along the screen to hit the "Adventure" and many others.
ball and send it back to the sender.
Over the years, however, the arcades around the world

became increasingly crowded and the video players of
the time were tired of carrying coins full of coins and of
"fighting" among other players to grab a gaming station.
It was precisely at this juncture (1977) that Nolan Bushnell,
one of the founders of Atari, had the brilliant idea to design
the first real console for video games: the Atari 2600 VCS.
With only $199, you could relive all those adventures of
the arcade cabins that until then was popular among
children of all ages.
Bushnell had transformed cabinets into "cartridges",
simple plastic casings that, once inserted into the console,
allowed the player to relive thousands of different, fantastic
and surreal worlds. However, in 1982 Atari released disappointing versions
Hundreds of computer engineers and graphic designers of two highly publicized games, Pac-Man and E.T., causing
an accumulation of unsold games and falling prices. In
the same year, Atari also lost a trial against Activision, a
company founded by its poorly paid former employees.
It was a particularly disastrous year for the most famous
home consoles in the world: ATARI was slowly dying.
Many people attribute the video crisis, and Atari in
particular, to Howard Warshaw, one of the best game
makers in the company. This man became famous for
bringing millions of sales to the company but at the same
time, creating the "worst game in the history of video
games", caused irreparable losses at Atari.

RETROHISTORY
Adventure
The game in question is "E.T. the Extra-terrestrial", created
in a very short time and tested very few times, since its Considered by many as the first action-adventure game
release had to coincide with the Christmas period. Obviously
of all time, he immersed the player in fearsome labyrinths
before the official release of the game, Warshaw needed populated by dragons to finally find the cup of victory.
the "authorization" of the creator of E.T., Steven Spielberg
This game also became famous because it was the first
who, after trying the game, approved its release, without to feature an Easter Egg: finding the name of the game's
thinking about what would happen next. producer had become a worldwide challenge. An Easter
Egg that Robinett, creator of the game, inserted to highlight
ATARI 2600 VCS - the console how the video game industry hid its talents, in fear that
The Atari 2600 or Atari VCS (Video Computer System) they would be hired by domestic or overseas competition.
was one of first consoles to use cartridges as a game Kaboom
distribution method: sold around 30 million copies Another very famous game that despite being produced
worldwide, it is considered one of the longest lasting by third parties (Activision) sold millions of copies; you
consoles of all time. had to use the console paddle to capture the bombs (using
The console uses a plastic container that has six levers a basket) dropped by a terrorist positioned at the top of
on the top that respectively indicate: the screen. An immersive game that created a certain
1) Turning on the console addiction.
2) Video signal output Asteroids
3) Difficulty for the left player The player had to control a spaceship and shoot as quickly
4) Difficulty for the right player as possible all the asteroids that were heading towards
5) Game choice the ship itself; a totally innovative game mechanic that
6) Reset the game itself. surpassed the static and now dated Space Invaders.
The first cartridges contained only 2kB ROM memory, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
where the code and music and graphics data of the game Hype superlative for this title which proved to be a real
were saved. flop. Dizzy sales (1.5 million copies) for a game characterized
The console was sold with two CX10 joysticks, two paddles by poor playability and extreme difficulty in understanding
and a game, "Combat". the real purpose of the game.
Another 8 titles were available for purchase, for a total It was the straw that broke the camel’s back already full
of 9 games available at launch, for a modest amount of of mediocre titles; in fact the unsold cartridges of E.T.
$15-35 each. were buried in New Mexico, in Alamogordo, in a landfill
and found only a few years ago at 9 meters underground.
These were just some of the 550 titles that the video
game giant put on the market in less than a decade,
causing a real IT revolution.
CARTRIDGES
Atari cartridges were sold in packs containing
an instruction booklet that told the story of the game For the first time in history, TV, considered by everyone
itself in 6 different languages; among the best sellers who to be a merely passive object, became active and addictive
have sold millions of copies we find: thanks to the Atari 2600 VCS.
Space Invaders
Game that doesn't need introductions. The classic arcade
created in the Land of the Rising Sun caused a shortage
of 200 yen coins in Japan due to the extraordinary sales
boom found inside the arcades.

RETROHISTORY
ANOTHER WORLD: a scary and magnificent journey

by Beppe Rinella
I want to start immediately with a couple of questions: that those who own a similar car have every right to show off.
in 2021 does it make sense to review films like "The A man descends and heads inside a building, enters the
Godfather" or “Raging Bull"? elevator, descends.
And review records like "The Dark Side of the Moon" or It arrives in front of a door, in order to access it inserts a
"London Calling"? numerical sequence through a keypad, only now do we
No, in my humble opinion, it doesn't make any sense. understand that that building is something more than
We are talking about absolute masterpieces, the history the anonymous structure that we saw just before.
of cinema and music. The man enters, is scanned for recognition, from the
Certainly by examining them carefully, with a critical eye computer we learn the first small information: he is a
and putting a certain amount of effort into them, we might professor and yes, that was a Ferrari.
also find some flaws, but that would not change the fact
that they are fundamental and timeless works, for anyone The professor sits down and starts an experiment with a
who loves cinema and music. particle accelerator.
As he quenches your thirst with a drink, the shot moves
Even in the field of video games there are real works of outside, thunder and lightning, in short, the weather does
art, essential games that anyone who loves this medium not promise anything good.
must know.
There are games that mark the year zero, there is a before
and after them.
They are games of such historical significance that a
review is almost an insult.
What I want to talk about (and not review) today is

undoubtedly part of this category, it is that absolute
masterpiece that is Another World, strictly played on my
beloved Friend at the time of its release.
Lightning strikes the lab and gets into the particle
Published in (alas, far away) 1991 by US Gold, born from accelerator while the experiment is underway.
the brilliant mind of the French Éric Chahi and fully A thunderous bang and the professor, along with much
developed by him (with the exception of music and sound of his workstation, are gone.
effects) on and for Amiga for Delphine Software, it took End of story.
about two years of development, once abnormal by the
standards of the time. There are two elements of this intro that struck me, and
In the following years it was converted for any existing still today strike me, more.
platform or almost, I wouldn't be surprised if one day I The first is the graphic and sound appearance.
had to see it spinning inside some appliance. Let's remember again, it was 1991. You've never seen
such a cinematic introduction to a video game before.
So here's the game. The graphic realization was simply stunning, the direction
But not too fast. magnificent, the music created a growing tension that
Yes, because first you have to see the animated presentation, almost led to terror.
a masterpiece in the masterpiece that simply did school. From the first frame we knew something was going to
One of those cases where “skipping” the intro should be happen, we couldn't know what but we knew it wasn't good.
illegal and severely punished. Second element, which will then be present throughout
the game: once the animated sequence is over, how much
The animated sequence begins, we see a Ferrari that do we know about what is happening? Virtually nothing.
stops burning wheels, with the right degree of boorish We don't know who this professor is, we don't know the

RETROHISTORY
that is obvious.
We sympathize with him/her, empathize sometimes, in
short, identify with adventure by playing that role.
In Another World all this reached a level that perhaps
had never been seen before.
Try for a moment to imagine: you are working, in an instant

you are in the water, along with part of your desk, having
to swim for several meters trying not to drown, chased
by huge tentacles.
purpose of this experiment, we don't know where the lab Get out of the water, and it has already gone well, you are
we saw is, and we don't even know when. in a place you have never seen and have no idea what to
We obviously don't know where the professor ended up. do, where to go and above all what the hell happened.
All you can sense is that wherever you are, it's not a
If we thought of this presentation as a trailer of a new hospitable place.
series, or of a film, we would be curious to say the least,
with an expression printed on our faces like "What did I Well, that feeling of distressing bewilderment is what we
just see?" and we would expect nothing more than to be players feel, just like the professor.
able to witness what will happen from then on. Like him, we are not provided with any information, there
This is to say how successful this intro is, to say the least, are no on-screen indicators.
and still works very well today. No energy, no life, no stopwatch measuring time or any
hint of one or more abilities.
The introduction therefore tells us almost nothing, we No arrow pointing us in the right direction, a goal to
have no reference point. achieve, someone to interact with, nothing at all.
Starting the game we will discover that this is how it will
be for the whole adventure and that it will also (perhaps We are so selfless that we can almost feel our clothes still
above all) make it unforgettable. soaking wet on our skin.
We feel completely helpless, we have nothing to at least
The game begins, we find ourselves catapulted, along hint at self-defense with.
with what remains of the aforementioned workstation, We don't know who or what to defend ourselves against,
into the water. but we strongly suspect that we will have to.
Personally, I still remember the first time I played Another All we can do is go right, hoping to find some explanation
World, and I remember perfectly well that I died right away. for what's happening to us.
Yes, because nothing and no one warned me that that We have just started and the engagement is already
was the beginning of the adventure, that at that point it complete.
was I who had to do something, I understood it only after
I died, grabbed by those tentacles of who knows what From now on, any living thing we meet will just want to
huge monster. take us out, or at best imprison us.
So I sensed that, in the course of the game, the number Poisonous soft animals, something like a big cat chasing
of times I would face death would be quite high, and us, huge humanoids who respond with a laser gun to our
indeed it was. peaceful greeting.
Coming out of that kind of pool, the professor takes a

breath and there it is, the essence of the game was evident
to me already after those few seconds, and it was wonderful.
At that moment I felt scared and disoriented just like the
professor, feeling sensations that no game had ever given
me before.
I'll explain better.
In whatever adventure we are the character we are using,

RETROHISTORY
We will soon discover that Another World will always be this.

We will never know what to do and what awaits us on the
next screen.
All that will guide us will be the survival instinct.
No collectibles and no record of points to beat.
We are not spotless heroes and perhaps not particularly
brave either.
All we know is that we want to survive and that in order
to survive we have to escape, but we have no idea where
we can go, provided that there is a safe haven in this
to find the right way.
strange place.
All this in a very narrow, dark and probably cold space.
Above all, we have no idea how to get home.
It is certainly not the most difficult part of the game, on
the contrary, with a couple of attempts you can do it.
Soon we will meet the only character who will reveal
Try to imagine yourself in such a situation, though, and
himself to be a friend, imprisoned like us for who knows
tell me if you are not assaulted by total panic.
what reason. It will also tell us something that, of course,
causes language unknown to us, we will never understand.
There is no music in the course of the whole adventure,
It will be with him and thanks to him that we will begin
except for the ending, and there could not have been a
our escape for freedom.
better choice.
We will find a gun that will be our only weapon to survive,
The total absence of any musical background contributes
even though we have no idea how to use it, not entirely,
to the sense of danger that we perceive from the beginning
but we will find out.
to the end of our adventure, as well as making everything
Not before they're disintegrated at least a couple of times.
much more likely.
Deep down in our everyday lives, there's no music to
From now on, our adventure will be a single, long chase.
accompany our actions, is there?
We'll be in frantic situations, involved in Star Wars-worthy
There's nothing epic or exciting about what's happening
laser gun shootings.
to us. We're just desperate people trying not to die.
With the difference that in Another World our pursuers
have a much better aim than the Stormtroopers, who
From a graphical point of view Another World was simply
instead have never hit a target even if they pay money to
a wonder, although it was quite essential.
succeed.
Our professor and the other humanoid characters were
created using a handful of "naked" polygons, without any
We will experience less chaotic moments when we will
texture, very basic.
not be hunted, but which will not be at all relaxing.
The animations were made using the rotoscope technique,
Like arriving in the basement of the prison, where we will
meaning the same one used in Prince of Persia.
still find ourselves alone, without our only friend and
The bottoms are static bitmaps, also in this aspect the
where we will come across one of the most claustrophobic
essentiality is well present and works great.
sequences ever seen in a video game, at least for the writer.
With a few lines and a handful of colors, the environments

I am referring to that part, fortunately brief, where we
created are full of atmosphere and extremely evocative.
will have to roll without seeing where we are going, hoping
Even the different characters, although aesthetically
essential, work great.
A really interesting aspect, which largely explains the
atmosphere that we breathe throughout the duration of
our adventure, concerns the creation of Another World.
When the development of the game began there was no
script, a storyboard or anything else, nothing planned in
short.
The first part to be realized was the presentation, once

RETROHISTORY
completed even Chahi did not yet know what would happen was published, also by Delphine Software, a respectable
from then on. game that many considered somehow linked to Another
World.
And so it was throughout the development of the adventure This was probably also due to his graphic style, which in
that he continued browsing on sight, the developer had fact had several aspects in common with Chahi's work,
no idea what would be on the next screen, what events probably also the alien setting contributed.
he was going against and how the story would continue. For many it was a sort of spiritual sequel, but it was not.
There is no link between the two games, except Delphine
We then discover that that sense of bewilderment, confusion Software, but the influence of Another World is undeniable.
and anxiety that the protagonist lives, and we with him,
are the sensations that Chahi also felt during the Several years later Fumito Ueda, creator of the wonderful
development of what we were playing. Ico for Playstation 2, explicitly said how much he was
The loneliness of the protagonist, especially of the first influenced by Chahi's creation. For example, see the total
part of the game, is his loneliness, that slight sense of absence of on-screen indicators in Ico, as in Another World.
anguish due to uncertainty was what he too felt. Hideo Kojima, the father of Metal Gear Solid, cited Another
World as one of the five games that most affected him.
This splendid adventure thus becomes a metaphor for
its very birth and growth. In conclusion, considering Another World a game is really
We're the professor, but we're also a little like Chahi. reductive.
Pure video game poetry. It's a work of art, a swirling set of emotions.
Loss, anguish, fear, excitement, all this and much more
The end of the game is a lesson that many writers of condensed into two beautiful floppies.
movies or video games should learn by heart. More than a video game, it is an experience that must be
Without wishing to spoil anything (dear reader, if you experienced and savoured in every single pixel.
have never played and completed Another World, we Another World cannot simply be played, Another World
cannot be friends), the final sequence leaves us in total must be lived.
uncertainty about what will happen from now on to
Professor Knight and his trusted friend.
Actually, we'll know a few years later, and our professor

won't end well, unfortunately.
In 1994, the follow-up to Another World was published
entitled "Heart of the Alien", in which we find ourselves
guiding Buddy, our alien friend, thanks to which we will
relive the events of Another World from his point of view.
However, the game was a resounding flop.

Chahi, who initially wanted to end the story with Another
World, deliberately providing the player with more questions
than answers, did not participate in its development.
He merely supervised the remote work, but was not happy
with the final result at all, so happy with his failure.
More than for its quality (not at the levels of the first
chapter, but not so bad), Heart of the Alien was the victim
of the resounding flop of the only platform on which the
game came out, namely the Sega CD.
When you say farsightedness.
Before closing, a couple of notes that tell the importance

of the work Another World for generations of future
developers and video players: the following year Flashback
RETROHISTORY
Road Hunter TI99/4A

alias Spy Hunter plus Road Fighter
by Ermanno Betori
In the 2013-2014 biennium, an unknown Danish This is the arcade game that made the undersigned lose
programmer, Ramsus Moustgaard, appeared on the world a sea of money in the arcades and that remained engraved
stage of the users of the old TI99/4A retro-computer, in his memory.
presenting in about a year, three games that will change
the concept of how to program a video game on that Road Fighter, on the other hand, is a game of more skill
computer. in avoiding opposing cars and managing petrol supplies,
but also very enjoyable; so when after 30 years a clone
He created games that were previously impossible to was released that mixed the two games on the TI99, I
program, the first one was Titanium, a vertical scrolling was amazed and incredulous.
clone of Uridium with parallax scrolling effect, the second
one was the almost perfect clone of the arcade game
Scramble and the third one was Road Hunter, which we
are going to present.
Road Hunter is the transposition on the TI99/4A of two

famous car games Spy Hunter and Road Fighter that
were a huge success in the arcades of the 80s.
Spy Hunter Road Hunter
Spy Hunter and Road Fighter (see above) have as their

general setting a vertical scrolling car race, but in reality
one game reproduces a chase between cars, secret agent
007 style, while the other is a time race being careful not
to collide or run out of fuel.
In fact, in Spy Hunter we have our armoured car that is

equipped with various weapons such as machine guns, I was incredulous, because until then it was not thought
smoke generators, oil to make opposing cars swerve... possible to create a car race with such technical
Car opponents who in turn have a supply of rubber cutting characteristics on the TI99/4A.
blades, bulletproof armor or firearms etc... and to complicate
everything also appears a helicopter dropping bombs. Almost perfect video scrolling, the type of interaction
All seasoned with an amazing soundtrack that is the between sprite and background graphics that varies from
theme of Peter Gunn created in 1958 by Henry Mancini clashes with opposing cars to the use of weapons; and
(a curiosity: after many years I discovered that Henry all with the background soundtrack Peter Gunn always
Mancini was actually Enrico Nicola Mancini’s stage name, active, just like in the arcade game.
son of Italian immigrants).
RETROHISTORY
Hunter, as we also have here the possibility to arm our

car with a machine gun and to make collisions with the
opposing cars to put them out of play with an almost
realistic effect of the heel that simulates the impacts.
All this considering the hardware limitations of the video

chip tms9918 and generally the architecture of the TI99
which has as maximum memory expansion only 32Kbytes.
In addition, Rasmus has also integrated support for the

F18A into the game, which is the improved redesign of
the old Texas Instruments tms9929/9918 video chip that
increases its graphic rendering in colors and sprite usage
and also allows SVGA video output.
You retrogamer fans can try this game using the TI99
Java emulator at the following address:
http://js99er.net/#/
Basically Ramsus Moustgaard had created the impossible...

His Road Hunter game is the transposition of Spy Hunter
and Road Fighter perfectly mixed on the TI99 computer!
This game has in fact set a new standard on the Ti99 of

how a car racing game should be programmed. In addition
Greetings to all readers and please let us know your
to evaluating the game in its technical complexity: the
opinion, perhaps by communicating your highscore. ;-)
programming used to exploit multitasking, scrolling and
so on, it must be said that it is extremely playable. There
are no strange effects in the physics of the movement of
cars and it reproduces exactly the style of play of Spy

RETROHISTORY
Wizard of Wor – Commodore 64

by Christian Miglio
“Come back for more... with the Wizard of Wor. Ka ka ka ka. ” and sheltered level.
Okay, the game isn't that he actually said "ka ka ka ka”, We will face 5 different types of monsters, each one has
but the speech seemed a little like cavemen, so laughter its own speed, the first 3 types are minions with variable
sounded like that. quantities, in addition to the laser we will have the strategy
to use the walls to ambush and a "through door", a side
Good afternoon friends of RetroMagazine World, from the door that allows you to pass from one side to the other
dawn of Atari 2600 and 5200 to Coin-op, comes a game of the screen (as in the Pac-Man principle for terraplattists).
that combines fantasy and science fiction set in a futuristic Warning that even enemies can use them!
universe, the father king of all laser arenas; ladies and At each level after eliminating the minions a Worluk will
gentlemen today we talk about Wizard of Wor! appear, a kind of bee that can teleport, if killed it will give
a bonus and give the chance to make the real boss appear,
the fearsome Wizard of Wor, teleporter him too, and killing
him our score will be doubled.
If the worluk and the Wizard of Wor escape through one
of the through doors, we won't get any points.
Wizard of Wor: Gameplay
Wizard of Wor is an endless game (like many of the games Wizard of Wor: Strategies
of the time) where the player controls a warrior armed
with a laser rifle who together with his companion or Minions can become invisible to reappear when on the
alone has to clean a series of fixed-screen mazes full of line of fire, or in the same corridor as our hero.
monsters. In addition, we will also have a beautiful radar at the
Obviously, our heroes won't be able to fire the next shot bottom of the screen to help us win.
unless the previous one hit the target or ended the race A peculiarity of this game is that the laser can kill monsters
against a wall. with one stroke, but consequently also our companion of
The levels are of increasing difficulty, we will juggle through misfortune.
narrow tunnels until we reach the Pit, a completely open It follows, of course, that we too are vulnerable.

RETROHISTORY
On some levels, a winning strategy could undoubtedly be Final considerations

to stand back to back with your partner to increase survival.
This is a game that therefore allows for a cooperative/ Wizard of Wor is, in my humble opinion, a small hardware/
competitive mode at the same time, so that we collaborated software masterpiece that emerged in an era of technological
as long as necessary, after which each game still ended innovations that, at the right price and in the small home
in disgust despite the initial good intentions, normally on environment, could also be revived at home, proof of this
the second accidental blow that hit our friend, a war is the existence of the Magic Voice Speech.
between the two players began suffocated with blasters.
Seriously was a great innovation for the time that provided About the game, on the other hand, it is a game that bases
players with self-determination as well as making everything its strength on teamwork and realism, proof of this is
interesting and very long-lasting, it is a game that however precisely the fact that it can be hit by "friendly fire". About
is well enjoyed only by playing it with a friend. the musical section, it is almost non-existent except for
a pressing background motif that increases its rhythm
Wizard of Wor: Hardware and curiosities with the increase in the speed of the level.
The original arcade game also features primitive speech While the musical section is poor, the discourse is different
synthesis and utters several phrases that represent the as regards the sound effects, rich, beautiful and impactful,
voice-over of the Wizard of Wor. make the idea of being under continuous attack good.
One of these is precisely the sentence that opens this article.
The game for Commodore 64 can also boast "spoken"
phrases, as it is one of the few software that supports
Magic Voice Speech hardware expansion, an expansion
that was inserted into the cartridge port and in turn
provided a cartridge input as pictured.
Wizard of Wor for Commodore 64 is a title that has been
distributed primarily in cartridges.
Regarding gameplay, however, some more demanding

players may complain of a repetitiveness in the background
since in the end the levels are almost always the same,
but the fact of being able to play in two certainly gives a
different strength and longevity to a title that does not
need great presentations for those who have had a
Commodore 64.

RETROHISTORY
F-1 Spirit: the way to Formula-1 (MSX)

by Ermanno Betori
Konami had already created her first Road Fighter racing
game (featured in the description of the Road Hunter
game for TI99/4A) but was not satisfied with its success
and wanted to try again to create a better racing game,
but could it be done? The computer always had to be the
standard one, that is, the MSX1 that with the TMS9929/18
as graphic chip and the PSG General Instrument AY-3-
8910 as sound chip, so you had to have the right idea to
develop a new game... and the idea came!
F3000 race, Endurance race and finally F1 races (with

16 tracks).
Initially, as already mentioned, you can only run in stock,

rally and F3 races. As the player wins the races, he
accumulates points that will allow him to play new races.
If the player finishes a race in first place, he receives nine
points. He gets eight points if he comes in second, etc. If
the player finishes tenth or more, he doesn’t get any
point. This is the game, which has excellent playability
and a difficulty calibrated in Japanese style... at the
beginning normal, then difficult and to finish (at least for
the undersigned) at hellish level.
Konami's genius in creating this game was to insert a

hardware upgrade into the cartridge. They had two choices:
either improve the sound or video on the computer…
The result was F-1 Spirit: The Way to Formula-1 released They chose the audio. In 1984 Yamaha had created the
for MSX in Japan and Europe in 1987, three years after
Road Fighter. F-1 was created as a top-down Formula 1
racing game, just like Road Fighter from which it took
much as the engine of the game, but adding robust
managerial management. In fact, you can customize cars
by choosing the engine, the type of wheels, the suspensions,
the brakes... thus influencing parameters such as the
speed or road holding of the car.
At the beginning of the game we start with standard cars,

moving on to rally cars and Formula 3, until we reach that
point, which is the final goal of the game: to win in Formula 1.
There are six types of races: Stock race, Rally, F3 race,
RETROHISTORY
sound chip Y8950, called MSX Audio, with which it hoped

to create the new musical standard to which all
manufacturers of MSX computers would have to adhere.
But that did not happen and many companies designed
their own audio chip, including Konami in collaboration
with Toshiba.
This audio chip was revolutionary compared to others

created later, as it was customized by Konami to interact
specifically with the MSX computer. This audio chip, which
was called the SCC (Sound Creative Chip), had as its
technical specifications five wave table channels that
completed the three-channel PSG chip on the MSX
computer. The SCC had an 8-voice polyphonic effect, not peripheral. In practice, a special version of F-1 Spirit
as good as the one obtained using the Yamaha audio chip improved, with bug fixes, futuristic cars compared to
or others who will follow, but if programmed well it allowed normal Formula 1 cars and an eye-catching steering
excellent performance especially if inserted into a video wheel including gear shift lever that reminds a lot of the
game. This happened with F1-Spirit: it was in fact the arcade coin-op cabinets of the time.
first cartridge built for MSX to have both the game's Roma
and the SCC audio chip inside. From the point of view of programming, the game was
“F-1 Spirit: The Way to Formula-1” was also Konami's very complex when compared to the other driving games
most extensive and complex racing game for MSX. created by the same software house. It involved several
human resources to be completed; the development team
consisted of people who made history not only in the
world of video games created in Japan.
Konami soon afterwards released A-1 Spirit, which was

the first MSX game to be sold along with an external
We have respected people at programming such as Toshiya

Adachi (Space Manbow and SD Snatcher), M. Ozawa
(Gradius3 and Sunset Riders as lead developer and
Knightmare2 and Penguin Adventure as co-developer),
Ritsushi Sagisaka (the creator of Quarth).
In the graphic sector we find Hiroshi Makitani (he created

Resident Evil 3 and the graphics of King's Valley 2 and
Penguin Adventure), T. Shimizu and Tomiharu Kinoshita.

RETROHISTORY
specific only to Formula 1 races.

Like the parent F-1 Spirit, even in this game there is the
Kazuhiko Uehara (who created some of the most beautiful

soundtracks of all time such as those found on Nemesis2,
Knightmare2, Kings Valley2, Space Manbow, Metal Gear2,
Parodius and many others), Motoaki Furukawa (same
thing, dozens of hits but is remembered for the music of
Castlevania) and Yoshinori Sasaki (who in 2015 was co-
programmer of Resident Evil Revelation 2).
management component that allows you to modify your

car such as the bodywork, the engine, the colour, the
brakes, the suspensions, the wheels, the gears and even
the wings!
F-1 Spirit 3D Special (MSX2)

Finally you can also set the level of difficulty.
In addition to the classic game style modes such as free
F-1 Spirit 3D was the real sequel to the game, released
run, race, etc., the two-player combat mode was also
in 1988 for the MSX2 plus computer that was only sold
created that could be used by connecting two MSX2+
in Japan at the time.
computers with a special connection cable, always created
by Konami (obviously sold separately), called JE700
Unlike the original, this game used a third person rear
Multiplayer Link Cable that was to be inserted into the
view as in the Pole Position game and the game play was
second joystick port.
RETROHISTORY
F-1 3D was released by Konami on three floppy disks and

was the only one Konami developed for the MSX2 plus
computer.
Another thing that made this game special at the time

was that Konami gave up the SCC as an additional sound
chip to use the Yamaha YM2413 OPLL that is present on
the FM-Pac cartridge or the MSX2+ and TurboR computers.
The particular packaging (front and back) of the
Almost all other games developed by Konami on floppy JE700 Multiplayer Link Cable that had to be inserted
disks that required an additional sound chip were sold in the second joystick port and allowed to connect
two MSX2 computers!
with an SCC ROM cartridge such as Snatcher and SD
Snatcher.
The game's music was composed by Goro Kin pseudonym

Tsutomu Ogura.

GAME PREVIEW
NEW GAME!!!
TURBO Year: 2021

Developer: McGeezer
SPRINT
Genre: Racing Game
Platform: Amiga AGA
The wait is over! Turbo Sprint AGA

has finally arrived (released May 7,
2021).
From the team that brought us the

award-winning RYGAR comes this
wonderfully faithful version of the
classic arcade.
We followed its development on our

facebook page and watched the game
grow.
Super sprint was one of those iconic

arcade racing games of the 1980s
that stood out not only for the multi-
player cabinet with steering wheels,
but also featured a well-balanced Each car can be mapped to different
gameplay and amazing graphics (for game inputs (port 1, 2, keyboard).
time) with miniature cars whizzing on
winding slopes. Purpose of the game?
Qualify and win!
The game had been converted to a
myriad of home systems, but the How's the game going? Well, I guess.
appeal lacked the Amiga except for
a 2021 conversion derived from THE
ATARI ST version (which we willingly
forget).
This version is designed to work on

Amiga AGA (A1200, A4000 and CD32),
available in two editions: digital and
physical.
You can order it from the McGeezer

channel (https://mcgeezer.itch.io/
turbo-sprint).
The game is easy to use (everything
is done via fire button and joystick
lever).
Page 48 of 63 RETROMAGAZINE WORLDENGLISH YEAR 2 ISSUE 8
GAME TESTING
OUR FINAL SCORE
» Gameplay 85%
Same as the bar, but better
from a control standpoint.
Plays well in singles, doubles
and even foursomes.
» Longevity 70%
Fun, but like the bar game
suffers from boredom in the
long run.
The work of these months with the archive and launching the
numerous betas released has meant turbo_sprinte.exe file).
that the final product is really well played.
Summing up. A good fun and well
Very fluid and fast graphics in any developed game, listening to the
configuration. It runs on both basic community of players who helped in
and expanded Amiga configurations the development.
and has also given excellent results AMIGA lives!
emulated on WinUae.
by Carlo N. Del Mar Pirazzini
It can be launched directly or uploaded
from Workbench (copying the LHA

GAME TESTING
SAINT SEIYA – IL MITO GAME

KNIGHTS OF THE ZODIAC!!! PREVIEW
This amateur video game project can reach a maximum of 10 and is

really got me involved! expandable, attack (ATT) or the ability
Like so many of us, as a child I followed to damage an enemy both by punch
the deeds of the knights on the TV, and by special blow.
the Knights of the Zodiac adventures
and partners against evil, the Then we have the defense (DIF) or
challenges of the golden knights. the ability to resist the opponents
Ades... What a beauty! and their blows, the dexterity (Des)
that will allow us to hit or dodge and,
In Japan, some experiments for finally, THE SPECIAL BLOWS
Famicom and Super Famicom have characteristic of the knights.
been released over the years, almost All this in the best style of classic gdr.
all of them unsuccessful and in a
language that is not understandable The demo includes:
(obviously for those who do not speak - Prologue: tutoring and story
Japanese). - Chapter 1 - "The rebirth” (training,
galaxian wars and armor theft)
Luckily there is this Italian experiment. - Chapter 2 – "The Black
We thank Davide Rufini for contacting Knights” (should I explain?)
us and allowing us to try this project. - Chapter 3 – "Helmet Fight” (Morgana,
Saint Seiya “Il Mito” is a 16-bit style Docrates, Flame and Ice Master).
graphic adventure/gdr created on PC
and Android developed with Personal opinions. The game is very
RPGMAKER 2003. promising. Well developed technically
and lets you play well. The tutorial
It is a project created for the fun of guides the player very well and the
fans by a group of fans of the television level of difficulty is optimal.
series and manga. A non-profit project, We look forward to seeing how the
all the material developed by the development will proceed and invite
group is for free use (provided that you to participate as a tester by helping
all rights are owned by TOEI Animation the developers.
and Namco Bandai).
Kyaaaaiiiiiii!!!
The version on the site that I will link
you to at the end of the article is still WEB site: http://
THE DEMO version, the subsequent kingseiya.simplesite.com/
parts are still under development. FB page: https://www.facebook.com/
The demo we tested covers the first saintseiyailmito/
3 chapters of the game and the YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/
prologue (which is a long introduction channel/UChfCx8hvV_TdrzShrsWbYAQ/
and a game tutorial). videos
Instagram: https://
The game develops in two ways. The www.instagram.com/saintseiyailmito/?
exploratory part that recalls the many hl=it
gdrs from above Japanese and the
combat part. Server Discord: https://discord.gg/
S3rVxDHC
The heroes present have the
differentiated characteristics in life by Carlo N. Del Mar Pirazzini
points (HP) that start at 100 up to a
maximum of 150, energy (EN) that
GAME TESTING
NEW GAME!!!
Year: 2021
PHANTOM GEAR
Publisher: Megacat Studio
Developer: Bits Rule
Genre: Platform game/Action
Platform: Sega Megadrive
A good game! We can then enhance the skills of our

This is exactky the feeling that you hero with experience, explore the vast
prove playing with Phantom Gear for levels in search of secrets and
Mega Drive. treasures.
It is a lateral sliding platform that Beside this there is also the old-
mixes arcade action gameplay from fashioned platform component that
the old school with some dynamics we like so much.
typical of modern MetroidVania. A beautiful adventure.
The plot will not be the most innovative

one, but the game is undoubtedly
well developed and very intriguing.
It is very reminiscent of Wonderboy

in Monster World as game dynamics,
but it also has a lot in common with
games like Metroid. The game is available in two versions.
The classic digital download version
available on the MegaCat Studios OUR FINAL SCORE
website and the physical version that
contains the game cartridge, a
beautiful colorful manual and a really
» Gameplay 75%
Excellent control system and
remarkable artwoork. skill advancement.
The cost is 41.95 euro and is currently » Longevity 80%

restocked on the site (it has It will keep you busy enough
undoubtedly been very successful). and entertained, with the
classic style of MegaCat
Studios' games.
by Carlo N. Del Mar Pirazzini

GAME PREVIEW
Year: 1989
Developer: Hal Laboratory/
EARTHBOUND
Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Genre: Role Playing Game
Platform: Super Nintendo/
Super Nintendo Mini
Shigesato Itoi is a genius! A game Years after this kidnapping, a meteorite

design genius. Earthbound is full of falls to earth in the city of Onett in
his genius. Eagleland, near the home of young
In 1989 he invented the story of an Ness.
alien kidnapping (which really Angrily, the boy goes to discover the
happened to his grandparents!) with meteorite and meets Buzz Buzz, a
protagonists an extraterrestrial named small bee who says he comes from
Giygas and a married couple, George the future and crowns Ness, along
and Maria. with three other friends, as the chosen
The couple are kidnapped by the ones to save the world from Giygas,
Starmen and taken to Giygas' returned to get his revenge.
spacecraft, which only wants to meet To do so, they will have to find the
them. eight shrines scattered around the
Among a thousand incredible stories world and learn the melodies that will
it turns out that Mary is for the alien give them a chance to confront aliens.
like a mother, George steals the powers
of the Starmen and releases them to What exactly is this Earthbound? It's
Earth. actually a Japanese role-playing game
almost identical to any Dragon Quest
This is what we have known since the in Snes era. Similar game structures,
first in the Earthbound saga (called with explorations through a vast world,
Mother in Japan). with turn-by-turn combat, level growth;
GAME TESTING
OUR FINAL SCORE
» Gameplay 95%
A perfect character
management system, well
balanced fights that together
with an immediate learning of
the dynamics put it in the
mount Olympus of role-playing
games for Snes.
» Longevity 90%
You will love its vastness and
its many crazy stories.
all very classic, mah... fact, only thanks to the recent arrival
There is a gigantic mah that has elevated of the Super Nintendo Mini can we enjoy
the game among the most loved of all the English version of the game.
on Nintendo platforms, the concentration
of incredible irony, the comic scenes A very well aged, current and fun game
and the various and absurd situations that will drag you into history. If you
that keep the player glued to his pad love Toriyama nonsense and Japanese
to see what happens in the course of crazy stories, you'll love it.
history.
It also has a really impressive soundtrack
The combat system is beautiful and that is the cherry on the cake of a
deadly: while exploring the various perfect product of its kind. At the top
settings you come across enemies that of the gdr on Snes with Zelda, Chrono
are visible on the screen, touching one Trigger and Secret of Mana.
starts the fight, if the enemy is turned Vast and hilarious!
away you will have an advantage to
attack during the turn regardless of It worths a try, Bardo's word.
the character's speed stat, as well as
having 100% chance of escape. by Roberto “Il Bardo” Pirazzini
If you are caught by surprise, you will

not be able to escape and you will have
to suffer an attack during the initial
turn. Once the enemy is engaged, the
battle screen will be displayed in person,
consisting of a dialog box at the top,
the animated image of the enemy in
the center and the statistics inside an
ODOMETER at the bottom. The peculiarity
of this odometer is that it always turns
when being attacked.
The game belongs to the series of

games that arrived late, towards the
end of the Super Nintendo's life. In

GAME TESTING
NEW GAME!!!
BATTLE Year: 2021

Developer: Numskull Games
AXE
Genre: Hack & Slash
Platform: Pc Windows and
console NG
Wait a minute...
RetroMagazine World reviewing new
games?
Shame on us!!!
And why should we be ashamed? This

Battle Axe is an absolute tribute to
our beloved retrogaming world.
A tribute to those masterpieces we

used to play as kids.
button fires, the third uses the special

A game that reminds us of Gauntlet,
shot, and the last can use a spell.
Golden Axe, Rastan... and even The
Chaos Engine.
A touch of class at the end of each
level, as we rest, comes the merchant
A game that runs on the new platforms
witch who will offer us her services
but could easily be “carried” on the
and enhancements (so the more we
old 16-bit consoles (e.g. the
massacre and earn coins to increase
development team is thinking of a
our powers).
demake on Super Nintendo and
Megadrive).
Three different characters. A warrior
armed with a gun. Not fast, but very
Stop apologising! Battle Axe is the
strong. A gnome wizard, not very
kind of game we've wanted for a long
time. A fast, frantic game, which does
not impose very long video scenes,
exhausting tutorials with absurd
explanations.
You enter the game, choose your

favourite character and free the
Fantasy kingdom of Mercia from the
domination of the witch Etheldred.
That's enough!! Simple and linear.

Directional cross and four buttons to
manage the character. First one for
the hand-to-hand combat, the second
GAME TESTING
OUR FINAL SCORE
» Gameplay 90%
Three well-characterized
characters, great control
system and a well-balanced
difficulty.
» Longevity 95%
Every time you turn on your pc/
console, a game will take
place. To improve your game
score, to see new scenarios or
simply to upgrade your
character. Unbelievable.
skilled in hand-to-hand but with an even in these... and you will have fun
excellent firing spell system and finally like crazy!
the dark elf; fast, fast but not very
resistant. by Carlo N. Del Mar Pirazzini
What more can I say? Nothing… It's

already perfect.
Wonderful pixel art. Amazingly animated,

colourful and always very varied.
Exciting soundtrack.
This game also has the bad habit of

keeping us glued to the pad for hours
and getting replayed every time we
have a free moment.
This is the spirit of the arcades of the

“golden years”. Battle Axe is full of them.
Buy it and play with it.
You will not regret it and you will feel

like you are in the 80s, 90s, 2000s or

GAME TESTING
SOKKO SEITOKAI: Year: 1998

Editor: Banpresto
SONIC COUNCIL
Genre: Beat em up
Platform: Sega Saturn
In this issue Takahiro (dear friend clichés. No succinct dresses, necklines,

and collaborator of RMW) spoke about shivering décolleté, “cute costumes.”
the Sega Saturn, explaining its history, You punch each other in the face here,
life and the best titles. but you do it seriously.
If you're looking for “ignude" women,
Taka sent me the iso of this game to you can always look for Dead or Alive
test for a review. It belongs to those saga.
titles unknown to the public that have
had a good success in Japan. The game features 2d graphics that
A special title.. a beat em up for... girls!!!
are really well crafted for the Sega
Saturn's capabilities. The 2d in this
Well, Sokko Seitokai is one of the very console was impressive. Perfectly
rare games aimed at female audiences. animated, fluid, rich in detail and
Typically these products have a “bad moving fast. A game that, if imported
reputation” in the gaming world. Yet and translated, would have been
this Sokko is intriguing and well made. successful for its graphic appearance
It certainly presents some problems also in Europe. Beautiful backgrounds.
here and there, but it's a fun combat Really a pixel art gem.
game for anyone looking for something
fast, furious and funny on this console. There are also several graphic effects
History. It all starts with the manga. that are activated when certain
Yes, because Sokko Seitokai was a conditions called heat waves are
manga before it was a video game. It reached. That is, when the fight bar
was produced by Banpresto under is at its maximum and we can use the
the watchful eye of Gamest, a company special shot. Remarkable.
that made manga shojo in Japan based
on video games in the 90s.
I'm not sure enough about the real

story of the game, unfortunately I've
never read the manga. From what I
understand, everything revolves
around a martial arts tournament and
the main character, Ai Honda, wants
to win it at all costs. She is the typical
teenager of souls and manga, reckless
with her head in the clouds. He thinks
he has a lot of incredible strength and
magical powers, but he discovers that
it will be harder than you can imagine
going on in the competition.
For a game focused on women's

combat, we will find very few such
GAME TESTING
OUR FINAL SCORE
» Gameplay 80%
Easy to manage and well
featured in the moves and
roster.
» Longevity 70%
Strange... You'll quickly learn
the play style and the
opponents are also easy...
except for the final boss.
Inhuman!
The audio compartment is flawless. magazines at the time to increase player

Much spoken (in Japanese) and a good competitiveness. He even inserted
soundtrack typical of hard knocks. entire fights of the game's buyers into
manga numbers.
Let's talk about gameplay. Sokko stands
on the border between "old school The game is also available in physical
fighting” and “new style fighting”. format compatible with the Saturn NTSC
Combos are encouraged, the frame and you can find it at “human” prices
count is high compared to other Saturn on ebay.
games and the roster is very balanced, I tested it on an emulator, and I tell you
at least until we reach the final boss it's really good.
(which we can unlock later). In this
case the level of difficulty is inhumane. by Carlo N. Del Mar Pirazzini
Painful notes, though. Some characters
are quite simple to beat once you
understand the pattern to use, the
roster is balanced but does not have a
wide choice compared to other games
of the period. This will certainly lead
to mastering all the techniques of the
characters in a short time, also bringing
boredom.
Another of the most obvious problems

concerns the collision between sprites.
At times she appears confused and
often seems to lack frames. Maybe a
few things have been left out to get the
title out. That's too bad.
However, Sokko Seitokai is a good game.

Perhaps not the best of its kind on
Saturn but a pleasant discovery and a
little gem that I recommend to all of you.
A couple of curiosities. Gamest included
victory and loss rankings in their
GAME TESTING
NEW GAME!!!
Year: 2020
SPEARHEAD
Developer: Alf Yngve
Genre: Horizontal Scrolling
Shooter
Platform: Commodore 64
Whoa! Whoa! If they'd told me in 1982, (no bombs to drop like in other shooters
I wouldn't have believed it. The of this type) and with the aim of
computers that in those years laid achieving the maximum score we will
the foundations for the history of have to fly over a series of islands
computing as we know it, today are where each building will prove to be
even more alive than ever: in our a threat: missile launcher turrets,
hearts, on the machines of thirty years immense range cannons, UFO and
ago (perhaps polished through some more!
wise electronic repair) or more simply
thanks to the emulators that from Our plane will respond surprisingly
arcade games of the 80s to the most well to commands so at first the
recent 3D systems, actually make situation will seem easy to tame.
video gaming history within reach of Proceeding along our path of
all owners of a PC but also of dedicated destruction, however, we will
consoles. understand the need to perfectly
calibrate every single movement both
We can then choose whether to relive to avoid collisions with buildings and
the pearls of the past by retrieving to avoid fragmentation devices capable
the images of the original discs and of taking a considerable slice of our
cassettes or set off to explore the vital space.
present where thousands of fans on
the net enjoy today as they did As mentioned before, our shot can
yesterday in the creation of brand be enhanced by collecting several
new video games made specifically floating power-ups, but just like in
to be played on printed circuits beautiful old games, our skill and
conceived over 30 years ago. precision will allow us to obtain star
scores. Sperhead is therefore, in my
This is the case of this adrenaline opinion, a game created in 2020 for
Spearhead, a horizontal scrolling Commodore 64 that is worth trying
shooter made by Norwegian Alf Yngve, and to do so the options are certainly
a video game made with SSEUCK not lacking.
(sideway shooting 'em up construction
kit) ranked second in the 2020 C64 The author, from the official page of
SEUCK Compo. I remember that the the game, in fact allows you to
SEUCK was software developed by download for free the file to feed to
Sensible Software able to create our favorite emulator and for the hasty
vertical scrolling shooter on C64 but ones has thought well to implement OUR FINAL SCORE
also on Amiga and other systems of the execution of the game also through
the time while the SSEUCK is a modified the browser! What are you waiting for?
version of that software that allows » Gameplay 92%
the development of horizontal scrolling Official site (freeware game) Fast, big sprites, great
games. http://richard-tnd.itch.io/spearhead playability proving that the c64
will never die.
Adrenaline, huge sprites able to get C64 SEUCK Compo 2020 Page
the most out of the hardware of your http://tnd64.unikat.sk/
breadbin and above all a great Seuck_Compo_2020.html » Longevity 90%
playability with the consequent ability A game that pushes you to do
to keep us glued to the screen of our by Flavio Soldani better and better to achieve
Commodore even today! The higher scores.
spacecraft at our disposal is equipped
with a horizontally boostable shot
GAME TESTING
NEW GAME!!!
MUTANTS FROM Year: 2021

Developer: Locomalito
THE DEEP
Genre: Shoot'em up
Platform: MSX
The dynamic duo! Locomalito and A shooter with a slightly different look
Gryzor98 (with the help of Manuel and an innovative game mood in which
Pazos and Fernando García) have precision is rewarded in the face of
produced a jewel game for the first the desire to end everything that
generation MSX systems. appears on the screen.
The possibility of shooting diagonally

and the speed of the enemy shots, as
well as his crazy sense of timing,
makes it particularly advisable to
move well and position yourself even
better to avoid damage, before going
crazy to shoot. Graphically it is at a
spectacular level for the machine,
with detailed settings, mysterious
figures populating the backdrops,
corals and a very well used color
palette. Obviously, the usual Gryzor98,
has created vibrant melodies, full of
energy and with a mysterious touch
essential for an underwater theme
game, a soundtrack that encourages
us to start again and again.
The game will be released today 13

A multidirectional shooter (the May on MSX and on 27 May the PC
protagonists can shoot in eight version will be released. It is compatible
directions) where we can drive a diver with MSX, MSX2, MSX2 + and
or a siren and shoot down a mutant MSXTurboR systems, and can be
threat emerging from the depths of perfectly reproduced in any emulator
the sea. The diver Marcelo has more such as blueMSX or via online
life points, so he can withstand more emulators.
impacts than the enemies, but in
return he is slower and can last less A physical version made by the friends
time without oxygen. of Retroworks will also be available.
"Mutants from the Deep" is a small OUR FINAL SCORE

arcade delight that will excite both
the hardcore MSX system fans and
the lovers of classic video games in » Gameplay 90%
general, a different shooter, with its A product in the style of
own rhythm and with that special Locomalito and co. Great
flavour that we retrogaming lovers control system, dynamic action
look for in the new niche productions. and never punishing.
It surely deserves a gold medal. » Longevity 90%

Marila, the siren, is faster and lasts A product not very long but
longer without the need for air bubbles, by The Masked Editor Jr. that will keep you glued to the
but has very little resistance to damage screen and the joystick of your
and this means you will have to be MSX. Strongly recommended.
particularly precise with her.

GAME TESTING
NEW GAME!!!
JUMP OUT
Year: 2021
Developer: Vector Games
Genre: Puzzle game
We are having a wonderful time! Maybe in the house or in a square without

better than the '80s themselves. O_O going over them twice? That's right!
It's the same thing Steve has to do.
Think about it... You have to go over all the green tiles
We have at our disposal (original or to make the office door open.
emulated) all the computers that we
could then only wish for. We have all Careful though... The green tiles, once
the software developed in the 1980s stepped on, will disappear into thin
and 1990s at our fingertips... And air, preventing Steve from going back
above all, a lot of it is still produced in his footsteps if a tile was accidentally
today, with techniques that at the blown.
time we could only dream of. But not
only that, all that good is very often The layers of the game are designed
free and usable by all. This is the casein such a way as to make the transition
of the title I want to present to you operation on the green tiles
today: Jump Out. increasingly difficult. From the first
levels of warming, we will soon find
Jump Out is a 2021 puzzle game ourselves faced with some maps in
developed by Vector Games and which we will have to calculate our
released for free to the public. moves in advance, to avoid failing the
level or, worse still, getting trapped.
In the game, with a view from above, In that case, we'll have to kill ourselves
we play a funny marble, which we will and start over.
call Steve. Steve is an absolutely
ordinary person who has no special There are also a couple of special tiles
needs. All he wants to do is going to that, once stepped on, will have a
work every morning. Seems simple, particular effect:
doesn't it? - teleport: Steve will be teleported
from one place to another on the route
Unfortunately, the pension system is
trying in every way to save on salaries
and Steve is one of the victims of this
scam system. If Steve does not show
up for work every day, he will lose his
pension entitlement, so to make this
task as difficult as possible, Steve's
home-work journey has become a
real puzzle.
We all have to take the car or a

combination of public transport to
get to our workplace. Steve, on the
other hand, can easily roll to his office.
All you have to do is complete the
home-work path by passing over all
the green tiles. You know when you
pretend to have to step on all the tiles
GAME TESTING
OUR FINAL SCORE
» Gameplay 80%
Very playable and enjoyable.
The ball moves without
hesitation and the levels are
well designed and attractive.
Once you start playing it, you'll
want to see the end!
» Longevità 60%
Thirty maps... It seems like a
lot, but it takes very little to
master the game and finish it.
Once finished, unfortunately,
you will not pick it up again
immediately. Maybe you will be
- forced direction: Steve will have to for anyone looking for a puzzle like they tempted to play a game every
move in the direction indicated by the used to be. now and then...
arrow
These tiles are used on maps to I suggest you try it anyway. Once you
complicate Steve's path. I told you, have started you will want to see and
public finances are collapsing and the complete all 30 maps. Unfortunately,
need to save is high! once you're done, you're hardly going
to play it again, or at least not right away.
Technical implementation: Special mention for the convenient
Steve's movement is fluid and well code system that will allow you to restart
animated and the graphics are well from the last completed level!
designed and functional to the game.
There is no music at stake, just a nice
sound effect to underline the movement
from one tile to another. Those who
know me know that I appreciate this
choice.
The first levels are really simple, but

already from the fifth we have to
understand that to complete the level
it is necessary to do a certain thing. It
took me a few seconds to figure it out,
but then it was all clear. Obviously I
don't spoil you... But you'll figure it out
for yourself.
Unfortunately that's the problem with

Jump Out! The game is immediate and
easily intuitive. There are 30 levels to
complete, but once you understand
the game mechanism, it will take you
very little time to complete it. Personally, Where to get it:
I think I finished it in less than an hour, You can find the game on CSDB:
and it's not like I'm really an inveterate https://csdb.dk/release/?id=203698
player...
by Francesco Fiorentini
So the immediate game mechanics and
the simplicity of the maps make the
game all too easy and not a challenge

GAME TESTING
Year: 1987
LIGHT FORCE
Developer: FTL-Faster Than
Light
Genre: Shooter
Commodore 64 also means shooters and enemy base complexes, we will

set in different galaxies that I used have to destroy a complex at the end
to snort as a child, perhaps because of the level before moving on to the
I thought they were repetitive. Or next, not very difficult task...
maybe because there were too many
for my taste. Without taking anything And so on until the gameover, since
away from masterpieces such as the game is repeated endlessly with
Nemesis, Gyruss and other conversions increasing difficulty after each end,
very well made for this and other not too compromised thanks to the
platforms. extra lives that we can earn honestly.
Maybe I'll be repetitive if I say The gameplay should not last long
"newsstand software tapes” (it's not but the desire remains endless and
an incitement to piracy back then!); it will also be fun to play with some
Yes, because one day my mother friends challenging each other to
returned from work with a pile of points( I often challenged my cousins)
cassettes given to her by a colleague, and the excellent soundtrack will not
or rather by the son of the colleague make you easily detach from the
who probably had too many around screen.
the house. I don't remember what
series they were part of and that night It will have taken me twenty years to
I just had time to try the first game find the real name of the game and
of one recorded on both sides. here it is thanks above all to the
passion that has overwhelmed us for
A game of spaceships happened to a few years and made us find it on
me and despite my adversity in the social media, so in addition to reviewing
genre I decided to play it anyway it I can also recommend it to those
since the music was quite relaxing who let it slip away or to those like
and engaging. me who were still looking for it without
knowing the name.
Without using too many words, the
game was Lightforce and as I just This in my opinion will be a worthy
said it had great accompanying music opponent of the well-known converted
as well as good gameplay and a sense arcades and beyond...
of challenge.
by Daniele Brahimi
OUR FINAL SCORE
The sliding is vertical, you always
have the same infinite ammunition » Gameplay 80%
with the double cannon not modifiable Easy and intuitive.
and no upgrades for the spacecraft
except a smart bomb. » Longevity 90%
Many challenges and endless
hits await you!
Levels are subdivided by base, that
is, after facing meteorites, spaceships
You may play, but then you ought
to break everything!
Some time ago I was reading again an old editorial written by the Disclaimer
legendary Italian journalist Alessandro De Simone for the equally
RetroMagazine World as an aperiodic
legendary (at least in Italy) Commodore Computer Club magazine. magazine entirely ad-free is a non-profit
The editorial was entitled "Giocando s'impara" (i.e. “Learning by project and falls off any commercial circuit.
playing”) and, left aside a few considerations based on the historical
All the published material is produced by
the respective authors and published thanks
moment in which that particular issue (for the record, it was no. 20, to their authorization.
May 1985) came out on newsstands all over Italy, one can't help but
find a certain degree of modernity in the central topic addressed in RetroMagazine World is licensed under
the terms of: Attribution-
that piece: playing passively or learning by playing. NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) https://
In 1985, after only 20 issues, the magazine “CCC” needed to present its readers with increasingly creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/
4.0/
sophisticated software programs, because of the ever-increasing demands by readers. But this
project clashed with the inadequacy of paper as a suitable medium for publishing long sources This is a human-readable summary of
and commented code listings. The alternative, even if more expensive for both the publisher (and not a substitute for) the license. You
and the readers, was to publish/purchase separated magazines (in this case belonging to the
are free to:
same publishing house) equipped with ready-to-use cassettes (i.e. tapes, mind you, not yet Share — copy and redistribute the
floppy disks because drive units were still too expensive and thus not very common). These material in any medium or format
tapes included simple utilities or complete games entirely written in machine language, whose
Adapt — remix, transform, and build
sources were frankly useless to publish in a magazine because they would have taken up dozens upon the material
of pages and would have had to be typed by the readers on the target computer to be saved
and tested. And we know very well that out of hundreds and thousands of lines of code, it would The licensor cannot revoke these
freedoms as long as you follow the
have been easy to introduce even a single error by mistake or inattention, that would have
license terms. Under the following terms:
compromised the very functioning of the program.
Attribution — You must give appropriate
CCC is one of those magazines taken as a model by the RMW editorial staff, both for its educational
credit, provide a link to the license, and
indicate if changes were made. You may
approach and for the balanced distribution of its contents, which we always try to emulate do so in any reasonable manner, but not
selecting game reviews, hardware tests and articles dedicated to software programming. In in any way that suggests the licensor
that editorial, CCC’s manager confirmed the choice of aiming at presenting programs that were endorses you or your use.
short but at the same time useful and understandable, publishing simple but playable games NonCommercial — You may not use the
and showing code able to exploit a certain hardware feature of a system. In short, their idea material for commercial purposes.
was to pursue a substantially didactic editorial line and try to entice readers to "break" the
ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or
listings they had just typed in, in order to make improvements and changes, add new game
build upon the material, you must
levels and above all learn by playing with code. distribute your contributions under the
same license as the original.
Since the beginning, we at RMW have been trying to (immodestly) follow the same editorial line,
No additional restrictions — You may
also with the releases of the project called “Press Play Again”. In the last few years, retrocomputing not apply legal terms or technological
is experiencing a certain renewed youth and this leads many young people to approach this measures that legally restrict others from
magical world made up of computers relatively simple to program, but certainly fun to use. doing anything the license permits.
That’s why on every issue of RMW, besides many game reviews that we invite you to play again,
you will always see full listings of games, programs, utilities and small/big hacks, that we
encourage you from now on to "break through", to see (as said in Alessandro's editorial of 36
years ago) what it contains and how it’s done. Sometimes learning how to make games is more
fun than playing them!
David Cercamon La Monaca
RetroMagazine World
Year 2 - Issue 8 - JUNE 2021
Chief Editor
Francesco Fiorentini
Managing Editor
David La Monaca
Editing Manager
Marco Pistorio
Web Manager
Flavio Soldani/Giorgio Balestrieri

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Més que un Magazine TABLE OF CONTENTS

◊ The Karnak MFP810 Calculator Pag. 3

At the time we are writing, we are also working behind the

Page 2 of 63 RETROMAGAZINE WORLD-ENGLISH YEAR 2 - ISSUE 8

The Karnak MFP810 Calculator

RETROMAGAZINE WORLD-ENGLISH YEAR 2 - ISSUE 8 Page 3 of 63

SEGA SATURN - a fantastic but misunderstood platform!

The Saturn was instead a great product, beautiful to see

Page 4 of 63 RETROMAGAZINE WORLD-ENGLISH YEAR 2 - ISSUE 8

Top 5 on Saturn in our opinion:

Panzer Dragon Saga

Saturn Bomberman NiGHTS into Dreams

Commodore 264 Series

However, the development of the new computer continued

Fig.1 - Commodore 264 prototype (photo by

Origins of the series

Page 6 of 63 RETROMAGAZINE WORLD-ENGLISH YEAR 2 - ISSUE 8

Fig.3 - Commodore Plus/4

RETROMAGAZINE WORLD-ENGLISH YEAR 2 - ISSUE 8 Page 7 of 63

standard (externally expandable vocabulary) and it also

had underestimated. In fact, they knew that the computer

RETROMAGAZINE WORLD-ENGLISH YEAR 2 - ISSUE 8 Page 9 of 63

OLIVETTI, when Italy was Silicon Valley

Understanding Olivetti's Thought

happiness that generated eﬃciency. The workers lived

It is no coincidence that many Olivetti products are

RETROMAGAZINE WORLD-ENGLISH YEAR 2 - ISSUE 8 Page 11 of 63

the industrialist was investigated by US Intelligence. At

The majority shareholders were all direct descendants

Olivetti creates Cosmos

Olivetti had a professional team of a level never seen

He himself paved the way for American conquest in the

Produced since 1983, in one of the typical conﬁgurations

Page 14 of 63 RETROMAGAZINE WORLD-ENGLISH YEAR 2 - ISSUE 8

Several companies responded to the call, but almost none

Fig. 1 - Olivetti PC128S

Among Prodest, PC128S seems like the ideal compromise.

With its eye-catching and bright "two piece" design

RETROMAGAZINE WORLD-ENGLISH YEAR 2 - ISSUE 8 Page 15 of 63

Fig. 3 - BBC Master Compact and Olivetti PC128S

Page 16 of 63 RETROMAGAZINE WORLD-ENGLISH YEAR 2 - ISSUE 8

of 380,000 lire and a built-in cassette drive, it was aimed

After this historic introduction, we are now at the end of

The sound is based on the Texas Instruments SN76489

Fig. 6 - Olivetti branded software

If you own or have owned a PC128S and this article has

Fig. 7 - L'avventura Modem's Secret

Page 18 of 63 RETROMAGAZINE WORLD-ENGLISH YEAR 2 - ISSUE 8

I am very happy to oﬃcially announce the creation of an Just old listings?

We need you... Today more than ever!

Currently we have already obtained collaboration from

RETROMAGAZINE WORLD-ENGLISH YEAR 2 - ISSUE 8 Page 19 of 63

Nobility of a humble ﬂowchart

Fig.4: Frank and Lillian Gilbreth Fig.5

RETROMAGAZINE WORLD-ENGLISH YEAR 2 - ISSUE 8 Page 21 of 63

However, in a later document Curry reported that the

Page 22 of 63 RETROMAGAZINE WORLD-ENGLISH YEAR 2 - ISSUE 8

The weaknesses of a ﬂowchart

RETROMAGAZINE WORLD-ENGLISH YEAR 2 - ISSUE 8 Page 23 of 63