Slashdot Mirror
Classic Computer Magazine Archive
savetz writes "I think /. readers will find this of interest: the Classic Computer Magazine Archive serves up the full text from old compter mags: three years of Creative Computing plus every issue of Antic, STart, and Hi-Res. There's also a bit of text from Compute! and Compute!'s Gazette. Everything is there with permission from the publishers."
Now I can finally type in the hex code for CrossRoads all over again. It was only 10 or so pages full of hex codes, should be fun.
Man that game was great.
"Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door." - Emily Dickinson
- adam
another popular computer related magazine from the past, atari age.
Ah yes, when computer magazines weren't 90% ads, and contained genuinely useful and interesting, intelligtently written articles covering a myriad of topics both popular and obscure.
:-(
Where did you go?
It's a Unix system - I know this.
My father actually has a lot of 'OMNI' and 'OMEGA' science magazines, i'm not sure if you guys had them in the states but in Australia they were popular science magazines in the early 80's. It's good to read through theories that either still stand today or have been proven right or wrong.
I read through the reviews of the 'latest' technology the time had to offer, it's quite an interesting read. As well as classic computer ads such as the house that burnt down and the Apple IIe was the only things besides the cat that survived.
Did you know that sega's first consoles had tape decks? The magazines are quite old. I'll scan them one day.
Be you Admins? nay, we are but lusers!
I heard that. Creative Computing was the magazine that got me really excited about computers. The collection of stuff was always eclectic, humorous, informative, and driven by a passion to communicate the excitement of the new world that was opening up. Younger people should be rightly suspicious when old coots start prattling about how much better things were in the day, but I'm here to bear witness that every now and then things really were better, and Creative Computing was one of those things.
Seems to have been slashdotted into submission. They should have gone with a ][e.
Whoah.. check out this page of the magazine:
/ vol1no3/5.jpg ...and then this one, a couple of pages later...
/ vol1no3/7.jpg
http://www.tripoint.org/games/literature/atariage
http://www.tripoint.org/games/literature/atariage
I wanna make a joke, but I don't wanna sound homophobic! Were the 80's really like that?!
Interesting idea.. but I know of a way that you can see decades of archived magazines and newspapers! Did you know that these places usually let you see movies for free without the MPAA breathing down their necks? I know I should've posted AC because the secret is out. But go here to see what I mean.
Oh what I wouldn't give for every issue of Electronic Games Magazine. The publication was the magazine to read from 1981-85. It offered reviews, strategy guides, and more, for arcade and home games in the golden age of video gaming. Here is a Website with all of the magazines covers, and blurbs about each issue. Today, issues of Electronic Games are coveted, and fetch a pretty decent penny on Ebay. Loomis
"The television is the retina of the mind's eye" - Videodrome
When I was young, I read every one of these publications. Learned more than I could use at the time.
Today, it is not so important to know that poke 710,0 would turn the screen background black on an Atari. Their time has passed for the most part and we could all focus our energy elsewhere today.
It is important to remember the spirit of the times though. Hacking around the guts of your machine was encouraged and reported on! New techiques covered every aspect of these machines as people used them in almost every way, but the way they were designed for!
What the Fu*k happened? People who only smell money and have no regard for others is what happened! We should be ashamed for letting them.
One interesting thing was the included source code and programming techniques. Compute used to publish games and utilities written for all the major machines at the time! Never thought about it much as a kid, just thought it was cool.
Fast forward today and what is that exactly? Open source! Not only that, but in popular publications where EVERYONE COULD SEE!
A lot could be done with this code and it made each issue worth its purchase price.
Open source preserves this spirit with todays hardware. Instead of text editors, assemblers, sprite editors we get Office Suites, C Compiliers, and OpenGL modelers.
Seriously, the technology to meet everyones basic computing needs is already done! Nobody should have to keep paying and paying for it.
Thanks for a nice reminder of exactly why I choose to use Open Tools! Somehow we need to get more people in the know. Once they do, they will never go back. Just as none of us who actually read these things did!
Blogging because I can...
Antic was crap compared to Analog. Analog always published cool programs and insightful articles, while Antic wanted to be the PC Magazine of Atari. It's a shame that medocrity is remembered so well.
Cat, the other, tastier white meat.
To note, they had some custom assembler program (I believe it was called MLX) that was written in BASIC. Basically, you would have to spit out some lines of Hex Codes for each Memory segment to load, or something. The interesting thing was that if you mistyped the code in teh magazine, it would give an annoying buzz, telling you it was bad.
The reason I'm ranting about this...I remember typing a SHITLOAD of this code one time and the power went out before I saved any of it, and the original C64 keyboards weren't all the ergonomic to begin with...i learned to save my work much more often after that ;)
Sigh, the memories :">
Join the TWIT army now!
...that my wife will now make me throw out all of my original copies? :-O
Now this is the magazine I want to see in the archives.
I remember it from growing up; published by CTW (the same people who do Sesame Street and did 3-2-1 Contact!". Cool magazine for kids; I still have the issue where they discussed all that was wrong with "Wargames: The movie".
Each edition had sample code (BASIC or Assembler) in the back of each issue you could type in and run. Oh, and the classic ads for Popeye, Q-bert, and Lode Runner. Ah, those were the days....
(A.C., who grew up on TI-Basic and a 99/4A)
I notice that they don't really include the old Byte magazines. Well, I suppose there's a good reason for that: hard drives aren't big enough yet for the "telephone book" editions. :)
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
The cover story was "Why PC's Crash, and Mainframes Don't". Still as true today as it was 8 years ago.
Best Slashdot Co
When my parents went grocery shopping I used to always get them to buy me one of those gazette mags. At that time I didn't understood what the code did, but they had that checksum program to make sure you typed it in right (usually).
There was this one game I remember that was like an RPG that was several pages long. It took forever to type it all in by chicken peck typing. When I was done I ran the checksum and it passed so I saved it all to cassette tape which ended up messing it up and the whole thing got screwed and I think that was the first time I really lost it.
There was also one program I also remember in an october issue (I think) that made this face animate into a werewolf face. When I got it running I stuck the monitor in my window for halloween.
The rest of the 80's I think I spent playing flight sims and reading the choose your own adventure type books.
Or was it Nybble ? This was an Apple II magazine that contained the complete source code for tons of cool, sometimes-commercial-level programs. Half the time the code was in BASIC, the other half of the time the code was in 6502 assembler. If you want to go blind, try entering 10-20 pages or more of straight-up hexadecimal. Ahh, the days
This was the greatest of all Commodore-related magazines; it had THE most technical articles and code (most of it assembly, or the insane read-data equivalent). Those guys totally maxed out the C64, the C128 and the Amigas, doing unbelievable stuff - I still remember writing my own beginning assembly, and sticking the code into that strange "protected" memory area, and then typing 'sys 49152' to execute...
Ah, memories...
Yes, people really did wear tight shorts like that... although really, Bert and Ernie and Indiana Jones are the same today as they always were.
You just wait a few years until some whippersnapper makes fun of the 90s! "MY GOD, LOOK AT THOSE TATOOS!"
At least the tight shorts can be removed...
"Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
All sites on atarimagazines.com with atari in the text. Just remember to click on the "cached" link!
Yeah, .info rocked. If a product sucked, they said so. None of this "gotta please the advertisers no matter what" stuff. That attitude probably contributed to their going under. .info, Creative Computing, Call A.P.P.L.E., early Byte (from when they actually had SOME content), kilobyte, ... hell, I can't even remember them all.
Somewhere around here I've got boxes of
Thanks savetz, I think I'll go look around the garage for a bit before going to bed.
Beta sux! Join the Slashcott! http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=4760465&cid=46173047
Hmmm. The site seems to be /.ed at the moment, so there's no way for me to tell if they include archives of the British C64 gaming mag ZZap64, which was a cut above the rest, so here's a link to ZZap64
I loved Compute! Damn I miss my old commodore!
A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may never get over. -Benjamin Franklin
Old Byte mags (back when Ciarcia was writing for them) would rock, as well.
Hell, even old DDJ, back before it became the watered down dross it is today. It's still about the best left, but only because it doesn't really have competition, IMHO.
Gawd, I loved those magazines. Antic was terrific...I lovingly dwelled over each one. And then I got a big score, when I inherited my Uncle's C=64, I got like 5 years of Compute's Gazette...WITH DISKS! So I didn't have to type in all those programs (though I put in my share of type in.)
... check 'em out, they're both great.
Anyway, one of the best unknown games for the C=64 came from that magazine...Crossroads! (and its sequal) It was so cool, using character graphics with pixelated explosions to put hundreds of monsters on screen, each with their own allies and enemies among the other monsters. I wrote a review of both games that's at
SO YOU'RE GOING TO DIE: The Comic for Dealing with Death
Doesn't anyone remember Electronic Fun with Computers and Games? There was a classic magazine!
No- you weren't. And some of us kept waiting for the legendary Cropduster to be released...
It's psychosomatic. You need a lobotomy. I'll get a saw.
5 cls
10 for x=1to15
20 poke 53280,x
30 poke 53281,x
40 next
50 goto 10
You could add a poke 808,239 in the front to make it really annoying.
If it wasnt for those old computer mags, I would never even have wanted a computer.
With the C64 basic you could be a little sloppy..
You did not have to put spaces between many of the commands and you did not have to specify what next to jump back to in loops, it went back to the last 'for' statement automatically. I thought that made the C64 so much better then my older TRS-80.
Bad boys rape our young girls but Violet gives willingly.
I think I have copies of both editions buried in my mother's basement, but it would be nice for it to be available on the web, if for no other reason than nostalgia.
-- $SIGNATURE
I recently picked up a copy of CPU (Computer Power User) at the airport having done lots of recent travel and exhausting my normal magazines.
I was impressed. It was a balanced mag between hardware, software, Linux, Windows, and OSX.
Linux - Because Mommy taught me to Share.
They're high on nostalgia, and host the website of an Atari 130-XE... it just takes some time to get the pages... ;)
The site is totally SlashDotted, so I can't check, but does this site have any old SoftSide magazines posted? That was my personal favorite, especially the nifty games written by Sheldon Leemon.
-- thinkyhead software and media
Cool - now I can prove I really am a published author without having to bringing in my mint-condition May 1986 copy of Antic from its protective encasing at home :-).
http://www.atarimagazines.com/v5n1/derejoystick.ht ml
The day you realize Anonymous Coward isn't the name of a really prolific user, then its time to create your own
Except Bash scripts running under Linux.
Remember, you can only redirect standard output and standard input in Windows. The other pipes are *nix only.
"Live Free or Die." Don't like it? Then keep out of the USA
Wow, I remember Creative Computing. Was a GEM of a magazine. Heck I still have about 5 years of issues still in my parents attic.
Creative Computing and David H. Ahl got me started in computing. I remember in the late 70's Reading the magazine, typing in the basic (that didn't work right out of the magazine on a TRaSh-80) and having the time of my life making the stuff work.
The Ahl benchmarks were my favorite. I'd type them into everthing and submit the results religiously. My highpoint was when David Ahl sent me a letter thanking me for my contributions. A few years later a bad review of the PCjr killed Creative Computing and David joined one of the Atari Rags.
I made the trip to an Atari show in DC to meet him and loved listening to him. Heck my Atari ST's, portfolio's, 800's, XL's and Stacy were great toys of there era, but it really disappointed me to see my past hero, whoring for a single vendor rag.
Its really sad to hear of David as an insurance sales man. Heck he started me rolling on the Computer path, and now he's off it.
At least these sites bring up memories. Now I guess its time to go dig up my old Atari's and see if they work. Then revisit some of the programs in these journals.
Gator/Claria is Spyware.
Do you remember a magazine (I believe by the same people) called Hacker? It was similar in format, but had tons of code samples, and was a bit more subversive.
-------------------------------------------------
When I get a hankerin' for some of that "back in the day" goodness, I find a handheld game, like Yahtzee or Battleship, for example (they help provide instant ideas and present a palatable project duration), and then sit down at my Atari 130XE and create my own version over a weekend, sometimes in a single sitting.
In an ancient world devoid of the need for multi-threading, exception handling, and lengthy design documentation, it's amazing how fast the assembly language flows from your fingertips.
It's quite a refreshing diversion, and allows me to recapture those carefree days.
PC Tech Journal and goddam Will Fastie. The biggest idiot to ever have anything to do with a computer magazine, with the possible exception of Jerry (Plugola) Pournelle.
To ensure perfect aim, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target
The website asks that you do not mirror the content.
:-)
:-)
OK, you will do this anyways (I did some months back
IF you're going to do this, you can go easy on Kevin's site. Pick one:
1) "cron" or "at" the wget for some date in the future. Really, are you going to read it all tomorrow??
2) Add in a --wait=1 to put a 1 sec pause between gets.
Seriously, this is a labor of love and I don't think advertising pays the bills. Don't swamp his bandwidth for data you will just slap on a CD.
This reminds me.. I still need to return Kevin's magazines..
Apparently the magazines don't have enough market value to be successfully sold, but have enough that the publisher that has already made his money isn't willing to give back to the community because he sees $$$ signs.
C'est la vie--I've got my paper ones.
Call (206) 338-5780 COLLECT for information about a genuine BA, BS, MA, MS, MBA, or Ph.D.
Don't you remember?
They were bought out by Home Computer Magazine!
I remember how dorky the "k-power" kids' advisory team was... but I also remember typing my application on my TRS-80 Model I (my TI-99/4a didn't have a parallel adapter) and printing it on my daisy wheel printer, too.
Get off my launchpad!
If not for Creative Computing, Compute!, and books such as More Basic Computer Games I'd be pumping gas somewhere... hmm perhaps this reference should be retired. Anyway, I learned to code with my old Atari (do not bump the table while saving to tape!) 400 and these publications, and I'm lucky enough to get paid to code today.
I still have some copies of Compute from 1981 laying around here somewhere. They make for intersting reading especially with adverts such as:
48k memory upgrade board only $149
Ah, the good ole days.
I've been searching for this article, hoping that somewhere, someone had reprinted it. When this first article came out, I printed the maxims and put them on the wall next to my ST. After years of experience, I've leared that maxim 10 is wrong for my work; however, most of the sagely advice still applies today. Brief synopsis of David Small's voodoo computing:
- You don't know how to maintain a station wagon either!
What are some of my fond memories?
I used to read STart years ago, when I still used my Atari ST. It totally rocked back then! I'll be sure to check out that link later for some good ol' nostalgia :-)
I suffer from attention surplus disorder.
Those of you in the UK might appreciate this nostalgia trip: Your Sinclair Rock 'n' Roll Years.
I think this is the oldest extant games magazine, dating from 1980 or so.
I think the apple magazine your thinking of was "Nibble". It was an apple ][+ //e programming magazine. Lots of basic and some hex code.
I don't remeber the bar codes though, I remeber they sold the programs in the magazine on floppy if you didn't want to type them in.
Please tell I wasn't the only one that had a TRS-80 Color Computer and read Hot CoCo?
Man, I did love my 8-bit Atari's though. Something's missing from that age of computing. The wonder and excitement are gone now. Too bad.
Check out this article about a $200 million dollar megaflop computer. Cf. to the article above (in slashdot) about a 10 teraflop box from standard PC parts.
the major advances in civilization are processes which all but wreck the societies in which they occur - A.N. White
For me Dr. Dobbs Journal (running light without overbyte) was a classic. I remember reading and re-reading every single article. Every month usually had a new programming language created and implemented by hobbyists. It had a spirit of excitement and adventure that I have never seen in any other magazine, and I read every and magazine I could get my hands on: Creative Computing, BYTE, REMark, Sextant (I had an article in that one), Popular Electronics, Radio Electronics, and many I don't remember anymore.
Surely the issues from 1985 and earlier should be public domain ? We just need a set of copies and a bunch of people to scan them in!
On a different note, this applies to the topic as a whole. "Creative Computing" inherited that whole DIY attitude from the hippy days and things like the "Whole Earth Catalog". That whole, go ahead, give it a try, figure out how to do things yourself schtick. The whole early PC industry was hobbiest driven. Hell, that hippy Woz was giving away schematics to build your own Apple! (Of course, back in those halcyon days, all electronic devices came with a manual and a schematic so an electronics tech could repair them.)
Things certainly have changed. There's sure a lot more money floating around now, and a lot of people who don't "get it". But we still have open source and lots of wackos hacking up electronic stuff on the web, so it's not a total loss.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
It amazed me at the time. You could literally do anything you wanted to your Apple at that point because you were given all the tools to understand it.
For me, having that resource made the Apple a much more impressive machine compared to the technically superior but vastly more closed Atari machines.
Blogging because I can...
talks about hardware quality as well as software quality.
Best Slashdot Co