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WANTED: BYTE Novermber 1989 Issue

M

Mr Emmanuel Roche France

Member
Joined
Sep 27, 2008
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15
Location
France
Hello from France!

On the Internet, I found a reference to:

- "HM Systems Minstrel Workstation"
Dick Pountain
BYTE, November 1989, pp.3-10

However, when I asked a photocopy of this article in a near University Library, I was told that this reference was erroneous...

So, I double checked: this is the only reference available on the Internet!

So, could someone out there open his November 1989 issue of BYTE, and tell me where is this article? (scan it?)

Many thanks in advance.

Yours Sincerely,
Mr. Emmanuel Roche, France
 
Mr. Roche, I have the November 1989, issue of Byte ( volume 14, number 12) and pp 2-3 are an ad for ALR; the table of contents is on page 5 (as is usual for this year).

The cover subject of the issue is the then-new EISA bus and shows a photograph of the HP Vectra 486 EISA system.

It looks as if your library was correct.
 
Hello, ChuckG!

Aarrgghh!! So, since 2 different persons have found independently that the Internet reference is erroneous, the question is: in which issue was published this article?

Anybody with the 1989 issues of BYTE could search for it?

Yours Sincerely,
Mr. Emmanuel Roche, France
 
It's that "80IS" notation in the index. I wonder if that refers to an advertising supplement sometimes packaged with Byte? They are often regional. For example, my copy of the November issue has an inserted supplement from AT&T detailing the 6386 line.
 
Hello, Chuck!

I have seen 3 issues of BYTE with this mysterious reference.

For example,

- "Why choose {CASE}?"
T. C. Jones
BYTE, December 1989
"80IS3--4, 6, 8, 10" <-- ?

Yours Sincerely,
Mr. Emmanuel Roche, France
 
No, not in the Dec. 89 either, but there is in the "Reviews" section, an article entitled "Making a Case for CASE".

There was also a special issue of Byte for 1989 dealing mostly with IBM-compatible system, but your article is not to be found there.

I suspect that "IS" refers to a separate advertising suppliment packaged with the normal Byte mailing. Most people (myself included) discarded them.
 
Hello, Chuck!

I have been thinking about those mysterious page references.

Apparently, a professional librarian saw such page references in at least 3 issues of BYTE magazine, so entered them in the database.

I had an idea: could there be that, when "fanning" all the pages, some pages have their own numbering system?

Again, it is needed to have an original copy of the BYTE magazine, then scan all the pages, looking at the page numbers, to see if a section has not its own numbering system.

Would you mind trying this?

I am not asking you to check all the issues of this year, since a professional librarian entered those references. He saw them, so they must exist. If a professional librarian entered those page numbers, I have no doubt that they exist. The only problem is: where?

There must be something that we have not understood in this issue of BYTE.

Yours Sincerely,
Mr. Emmanuel Roche, France
 
Hi Emmanuel!

I trust that when you say "scan all of the pages", you don't mean that I should run all 400+ pages through my scanner--I'm not willing to take that much time. But I will "flip" through the issue page-by-page to see if I see anything that might suggest a solution.

The page 3 reference has me puzzled, however, as the first non-advertising content of the magazine does not occur until page 5 in my issue.

I will also consult with a friend who is a professional librarian (Ph.D in library science) to see if she has any thoughts on the subject.
 
Argh! Yes, sorry to have used "scanned". I was thinking that it was "fanned", but, since you are a native English speaker, I will follow your use of "flip".

English is only something that I studied in school: I never lived in an English-speaking country, and don't speak English fluently. I don't understand what a singer says. One day, in England, I asked someone to explain me what a singer was singing, and he told me: "I don't know, he is American, and I don't understand what Americans are saying." I was puzzled, to say the least!

Yours Sincerely,
Mr. Emmanuel Roche, France
 
Hi Emmanuel!

You would probably have a great deal of fun listening to some Louisiana Creole!

I have solved the riddle of the missing article, however.

If I look at the "Index to Advertisers" in the back of the magazine, I see many different firms listed. But--and this is the clue--there are additional advertiser listings shown in following categories, such as "Northeast 80NE1-32" and "Pacific Coast 80PC1-32"--and "International Section 80IS1-64". In other words, Byte was published in several regional variations and you need the International edition, which I unfortunately do not have.

Perhaps we have a non-American list member who has a Byte magazine collection who might be able to assist you?
 
Hello, Chuck!

> You would probably have a great deal of fun listening to some Louisiana
> Creole!

Well, I read a book by a Frenchman who traveled in the South of the USA, and he found many people who were speaking an old style version of the french language, like the Canadians (who are pronuncing words like peasants 400 years ago, time when their ancestors crossed the Atlantic). I was told it was the same with the Americans speaking an old version of English. Very funny, for a "New World" to be based on a 400-years old European culture!

> I have solved the riddle of the missing article, however.
>
> If I look at the "Index to Advertisers" in the back of the magazine, I see
> many different firms listed. But--and this is the clue--there are additional
> advertiser listings shown in following categories, such as "Northeast
> 80NE1-32" and "Pacific Coast 80PC1-32"--and "International Section
> 80IS1-64". In other words, Byte was published in several regional variations
> and you need the International edition, which I unfortunately do not have.

Congratulations! I was sure there was something to understand about this BYTE issue.

> Perhaps we have a non-American list member who has a Byte magazine
> collection who might be able to assist you?

Let's hope so. Ebay list mostly US things to sale. Now, we need to find this "Internation Section" pages.

Yours Sincerely,
Mr. Emmanuel Roche, France
 
Hello!

I am pleased to finally report a positive conclusion.

The librarian of the nearest public library asked French universities for:

- "HM Systems' Minstrel Workstation"
Dick Pountain
"BYTE", November 1989, p.80IS-3

The first French university answered that they could not find this page reference in the issue on their shelves.

So, she asked another French university.

Each week, I would pass at the public library, and ask her what did happen since my last visit. To go faster, she made a lot of e-mails to French universities.

The month of August passed: still no article.

Yesterday, she had a big smile when giving me a photocopy of this article! She got it in response to her *NINETH* inquiry...

She has no explanation why this particular French university has the "International Section" in their copy of BYTE magazine, and not the previous 8.

The photocopy is 5 pages long.

The only thing interesting is the first paragraph:

"The "Minstrel Workstation" is a small-footprint AT compatible designed and developed in the U.K. Its manufacturer, HM Systems, is a veteran of the U.K. personal computer industry; it started in 1979 building Z-80-based business systems, and throughout the early 1980s it developed a series of multiuser, multi-processor systems under the "Minstrel" name, running TurboDOS. In 1988, HM Systems made the move into the IBM-compatible world."

So, this article described Yeat Another IBM Clown...

All those efforts for a Clown!

I will now direct my effort in the U.K., to find a genuine "Minstrel".

Yours Sincerely,
Mr. Emmanuel Roche, France
 
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