Desktop Publishing Circa 1976

In November it became clear that the program was nearing completion. With no more memory for additional heuristics or more complicated calculation strategies and finding few parameters to tweak for further improvements in play, it was time to move on to distribution of the program.

Microchess was to be a product and not just a program. That meant it should have a manual offering more than just a single photocopied page of instructions. The difference is still apparent today between a programmer who sells shareware with a readme file hastily prepared at the last minute and a software publisher who includes professional documentation and help files.

The Microchess manual was created using the latest desktop publishing technology of the time. The text was typed on an IBM Selectric typewriter using different typeballs to vary the size and typeface of the font. Mistakes were corrected with white out, using both a tape and bottle of liquid. Typed sections of the document were cut out from the page and pasted to the master copy. Cut and paste meant using scissors and rubber cement to paste prepared sections of text and graphics onto a master page. The cover and headlines were laboriously rubbed onto strips of paper using Letraset Dry Transfer Lettering, which is still available. Sheets of letters in the desired font are purchased and each letter is transferred to the paper by rubbing it with a pencil-like instrument capped with a small aluminum ball.

The pages of source program were printed on the Decwriter at work. The actual dump of the program, which the purchaser would have to type into his Kim, was a dump produced on the already ancient Model 15 printer attached to my Kim-1.

Microchess Manual 1976