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Classic Computer Magazine Archive

Posted by chrisd on from the days-gone-by dept.

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."

36 of 246 comments (clear)

  1. Cross Roads - For Real by Flamesplash · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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
    1. Re:Cross Roads - For Real by bwhaley · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Ya 1 & 2, I remember them both too. c64 emu's are around, I've played with them. I probably still have the disk. I could find it if I hunted around for it enough. I have about a thousand disks with games for c64. Damn I loved that thing..

      --
      "I either want less corruption, or more chance
      to participate in it." -- Ashleigh Brilliant
    2. Re:Cross Roads - For Real by whereiswaldo · · Score: 3, Informative

      One site you could check out is:

      http://sta.c64.org/

    3. Re:Cross Roads - For Real by whereiswaldo · · Score: 4, Funny

      I remember my sister and I working to get a game going on the C64. She read the hex numbers, I typed (over 10 pp). Now that I think about it, that was pretty cool of her. :)

    4. Re:Cross Roads - For Real by ncc74656 · · Score: 3, Interesting
      Now I can finally type in the hex code for CrossRoads all over again.

      Why type it? If they're providing text, just put it on something your computer can read and read it in. If they're doing scanned images, OCR them...then put it on something your computer can read and read it in.

      They seem to be /.'d pretty thoroughly at the moment, or I'd check and see if Nibble is in their collection. If it is, it could potentially save me lots of work (every issue from 1984 to when publication ceased in 1992), as I'm trying to OCR the whole pile of magazines and archive them on CD-ROM (while verifying that the programs are scanned in accurately so they'll run).

      --
      20 January 2017: the End of an Error.
  2. How to get permission from Creative Computing? by AdamBa · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I am wondering who "owns" Creative Computing now, that they got permission from. The reason is because of the books that CC published, Basic Computer Games, and More Basic Computer Games, I think some of those games would be interesting to update to modern BASIC, convert to other languages, etc.

    - adam

    1. Re:How to get permission from Creative Computing? by savetz · · Score: 5, Informative

      Dave Ahl, who was publisher. retains the copyright to Creative Computing stuff. I plan to put Basic Computer Games, and More Basic Computer Games online eventually. In the mean time these downloadable versions work with with Microsoft basic, but converting them to other languages would be cooler.

    2. Re:How to get permission from Creative Computing? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      David Ahl sells insurance in New Jersey now, and wants to be left alone, unless you want to buy insurance. I have rewritten some of the better games from the two BASIC Computer Games books in Python. My versions of Eliza, Banner, and Wumpus can be found at http://cs.sru.edu/~conlon/it_workshop.html along with some other Python stuff I created.

  3. sweet! you might also like... by updog · · Score: 5, Interesting

    another popular computer related magazine from the past, atari age.

  4. Makes we want to cry... by benbean · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.
    1. Re:Makes we want to cry... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Yeah, but the only reason the magazines weren't 90% ads was because they were 70% giant hex tables giving object code listings for you to type in. I think the greatest thing the Internet has done for software is that I didn't have to enter the latest MS service pack one nybble at a time.

    2. Re:Makes we want to cry... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Ah yes, when computer magazines weren't 90% ads,

      Put down the crack pipe! Either they were chock full of ads, or they tried to get most of their revenue from high subscription costs and/or cheap writers. The age of ad-funded magazines was a good one.

      Remember when Computer Shopper had great articles, was about 1" thick and cost $2.95? Now it's paper thin, issue price is up to $4.99, there are NO articles worth reading anymore, and no decent ads. I didn't care that half the ads were for porn or "adult" services, it was an easy stream of revenue that kept the quality relatively high at the time. Now it's all crap. The same goes for most other magazines that have been around and/or absorbed by the Ziff-Davis-kiss-o-blandness-empire.

      I say bring back the good ole' days!

    3. Re:Makes we want to cry... by Jonathan · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Well, you are confusing two eras here -- the golden age of Computer Shopper (early '90s) with the golden age of Creative Computing (early '80s). And as someone who remembers both eras, I can assure you that Creative Computing did have fewer ads and more content than Computer Shopper. Then again, nobody I knew (including me) actually read any of the so-called "articles" in Computer Shopper -- we just bought it to find the lowest price for RAM and hard drives in the dark ages before the Web.

      Now, Creative Computing, well, think of Dr. Dobbs Journal with more of sense of wonder and less "learn this new technology and maybe you won't lose your job at the next rightsizing" attitude

    4. Re:Makes we want to cry... by slaker · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Computer Shopper had *great* content in their black-and-white tech section, the part that more-or-less started with "The Hard Edge". Readers of that material could regularly depend on articles detailing changes in CPU architecture, memory technology, optical storage etc.

      Kind of like what Tom's Hardware and anandtech do, only good.

      The shopper was my guide to life while I was in high school. I managed to build enough decent PCs to afford a dual 486DX/2 machine when I went off to college, mostly financed through the fact that I could *always* find parts a few bucks cheaper if I just dug deep enough into the ads.

      --
      -- I wanna decide who lives and who dies - Crow T. Robot, MST3K
  5. I like the old stuff... by acehole · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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!
    1. Re:I like the old stuff... by puto · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Jaysus H Christ on a digital crutch.

      Talk about dredge up a memory! There was a pic of the Apple // case melted and all and it was working!

      Damn I feeling pretty young and chipper til you reminded of that.

      We used to use that as evidence that the Apple was superior.

      That was before Apple Users claimed that Apple *invented* Unix, windowing, and the mouse.

      Puto

      --
      The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
  6. Creative Computing by Angry+Toad · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

  7. server == Apple ][+ by mashie · · Score: 4, Funny


    Seems to have been slashdotted into submission. They should have gone with a ][e.

  8. Re:sweet! you might also like... by Anonvmous+Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Whoah.. check out this page of the magazine:

    http://www.tripoint.org/games/literature/atariage/ vol1no3/5.jpg ...and then this one, a couple of pages later...

    http://www.tripoint.org/games/literature/atariage/ vol1no3/7.jpg

    I wanna make a joke, but I don't wanna sound homophobic! Were the 80's really like that?!

  9. A little known secret by Adam9 · · Score: 3, Funny

    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.

  10. Electronic Games Magazine - The Greatest by loomis · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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
  11. This is important stuff! by PotatoHead · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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...
    1. Re:This is important stuff! by WasterDave · · Score: 3, Insightful

      What the Fu*k happened?

      The vast majority of people found easier ways of enjoying their computers more. Most people are a long way short of even understanding programming, let alone enjoying it. Printed program listings were tedious, cover tapes then disks, CD's and finally websites were a godsend.

      Dave

      --
      I write a blog now, you should be afraid.
    2. Re:This is important stuff! by PotatoHead · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I agree with this only because most of us do not relate to the computer in the way made popular by these old publications, but I think you miss the point.

      Websites, CD's and other media can bring new computer experiences and communication to us, but without anyone evangalizing (sp!) the actual art of computing, our industry will grow stale --a large portion of it has!

      Most of us don't care how the computer works, but that small percent that does is what makes the difference.

      This is why things like Linux *need* to be avaliable for people to understand and create with. This could be *Bsd, Hurd or anything else that is free as in freedom as long as it is open to those who want to look.

      This is also why hacking is *not* a bad thing in and of itself. We paid for the stuff, we should be able to do what we want with it. I could as a kid, nothing should have changed.

      Without these two things in place, our 'new' creations will simply be those things that are planned and accounted for. In this context, are they really creations, or just natural selection of the controlled set of possibilities?

      The difference is more than you think.

      When I was in high school, I was connecting my computer to other things and making them go. Nobody told me computers were bad. Nobody told me it could not be done. Nobody told me that I could be breaking the law by simply learning and sharing with others the results!

      When I asked the question, and gave the answer, I really meant this:

      Those who built their empires today fear for their future. They were the kids typing in the codes, learning new things and in a position to take advantage of it.

      Now they use their position not to further the industry, but to secure their position in it AT THE EXPENSE OF THE REST OF US. This is wrong at its most basic level and a lot of people here know it.

      Problem is that most everyone else doesn't!

      That is what the fu*k happened!

      Now it is not all bad, we all have machines, they are cheap and connected. Good, but getting stale. It's time for the next round.

      Somewhere in a small town high school, a group of kids might be computing on whatever they can find. It is likely they are using Linux and learning more together then they could ever learn alone.

      Good for them and good for us.

      Hope they see a coupla issues of Compute! or Byte! and know that they are doing the right thing.

      If they can get the same encouragement and freedom we all did, then perhaps we just might get the benefit, just as our elders did.

      --
      Blogging because I can...
  12. Analog? by shlong · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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.
    1. Re:Analog? by savetz · · Score: 3, Informative

      Then check out the A.N.A.L.O.G. Preservation Project.

  13. Does this mean... by bafu · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...that my wife will now make me throw out all of my original copies? :-O

  14. The Old Byte Magazines by Reality+Master+101 · · Score: 3, Funny

    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.
  15. Anyone remember Nibble ? by tmark · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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

  16. Google Cache by manly_15 · · Score: 4, Informative

    All sites on atarimagazines.com with atari in the text. Just remember to click on the "cached" link!

  17. Computer Language Magazine by gaj · · Score: 5, Interesting
    What I would love to see is an archive of _Computer_Language_Magazine_. Good stuff! I used to have several dozen article clippings, but over time they've all bitten the dust.

    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.

  18. Mapping the Atari by antizeus · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Looks like the site has been knocked out of action, so I can't see if it's there, but it would be really cool if they released some of the books that were associated with some of the magazines. My favorite was "Mapping the Atari" which had gory in-depth details on just about every interesting memory location in the Atari 8-bit line of computers (there was a 400/800 edition and a later XL/XE edition). This book made me feel connected to my Atari computers that I have never been able to duplicate with any subsequent platform.

    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
  19. Proof! by gadgetboy1 · · Score: 3, Funny

    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
  20. Magazines I DON'T miss by rot26 · · Score: 4, Funny

    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
  21. A debt of gratitude by Pr3d4t0r · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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.

  22. creative computing reminiscences by cancerward · · Score: 3, Interesting
    I'm still (only) 26 but my school library had a full collection, and my university has them on microfiche. CC was the greatest computing magazine ever, better than DDJ. They had a focus on algorithms, programming contests, and were very humorous. Apart from the "Basic Computer Programs" listings, Creative Computing Press also published "Computers in mathematics: a sourcebook of ideas" (1979) which must have had a big effect on me.

    What are some of my fond memories?

    • The April 1980 April Fool's Day issue. The title of the issue was a take-off of DDJ's original title. You could turn it over and have another take-off magazine. It had the TRASH-80, "2000 hours later I still own a Lemon", ADVENTURE in Fortran printed in microscopic type, take-offs of the Appel/Haken 4-colour theorem proof, make your own barcode reader spoof, and parodies of many other magazines.
    • The "Inside Dreck" column by "John Qwerty" sometime in '84 or '85. These days a magazine would be sued for that, but Dvorak hasn't changed in all those years. It's not in the on-line archive, probably for legal reasons...
    • The first three months of the IBM Images column with Will Fastie - "Here is a picture of the author's personal computer" - for the first three months he couldn't get hold of one, so we had a picture of a bottle of wine, a basketball court, etc.
    • Endless source code listing with explanations, CREATIVE clever programming. Astronomy programs. Hunt the Wumpus listings, dodecahedra. "Chess C-4". Checkers programs. I know I sound like an old fogey but there's nothing like this now... which leads me to...
    • Dave Ahl's sad farewell, explaining the reasons for the closure of the magazine. Advertising revenue was down, leading to the magazine looking really anorexic at the end.