Do you remember the good old days when the Internet wasn't there yet and the only source of information and software/games for your favorite micro were the newsstands? There you could browse through lots of newspapers, books, etc. to find a good computer magazine featuring news, hardware and software reviews, and long long listings of BASIC / Assembly / Machine Language games or tools. Do you remember that? Well, of course you do, ohterwise you wouldn't be logged in here in AOC and wouldn't be reading this post. As I grew up in Italy I know very well what they were published in my own country, but what were your favorite magazines in UK or US, especially for game and program listings you (maybe) used to type in and run on your micro? I don't care about game reviews (like ZZAP! or TGM), only magazines that offered code and tech stuff. I recently found out about The Transactor, a Canadian fanzine that slowly evolved in a full and cool magazine. In Germany I'd choose 64er for the technical articles and BASIC/ML code listings. What would you recommend among the most technical magazines in your country? UK, US, France, Spain (as these are languages I can understand). Many thanks. Daz
In the UK the only type-in listings I ever done were from general computer magazines like Page 6, Atari User, Big K. I know there were a few withan emphasis on listings but can't recall them as it wasn't something I was really into back then.
Never heard about Big K, although there was a games magazine name "K" published in Italy in the 90s. But that was only games' reviews, no program listings, no tech stuff. Just sort pf an imitation of TGM. But I'll look for it in Archive. I know about Page 6 and Atari User, they were specific for a system (A8 and A16 IIRW) but they included columns about programming and so they also contained listings in BASIC or M.L. - thanks
Big K only ran for 13 issues around 1984 in the UK. Great memories for me as it was the first computer magazine I ever bought. Still have most of the issues and the free blank cassette that came with issue 1.
Yes, I found them all on Archive - nice mags, lots of advertising, good contents. Many thanks for pointing me out to this magazine.
Thanks for the advice. I kind have learned to appreciate Sinclair's little gems (from ZX80 to QL) for their philosophy and practicity, so it would be fun to browse through ZX Computing and play around with ZX Basic and a little of Z80 assembly.
They have articles on homebrew electronics and connecting them to the ZX range as well as programming. I remember BigK from back then, it used to have a covertape if I recall so Spectrum Computing should have images of the tapes in the archive. There was a multi format magazine called Your Computer that was very thick and had a lot of type-ins and projects for all the formats.
Big K was multiformat as well, so no cover tape. Unless you count the blank C15 they gave away with the first issue. It's also where I read about the Atari 800XL for the first time. Ah memories! Sorry for dragging this thread off-topic a bit!
Thanks, @nysavant - your post is quite interesting and not off-topic. Personal past experiences with machines, software and magazines are always cool to read. It's what I often look for in forum threads or social media groups. I have downloaded from Archive.org, among other tons of mags, both "Big K" and "ZX Computing" collections (don't know if they are complete) and started to browse them when I find some time to spare.
Have to say that I did not remember that Big K mag..Getting the archive to have a look..Ta all for the heads up..
Love the old adverts, remember so many of them.. Hated type in's, For anyone who owned a ZX81 with 16K (the power!!!) ram pack will know the perils of type in's. Often made worse by typo's and unchecked listings.
Oh, a top tip for mags, use a renaming tool and change the zip extension to cbr and then read them in comic book reading software. 99% of comic software has colour correction for old comics, so adjust the mild yellows of age to white and makes them look so much nicer. Also they normally auto correct the reading size so it can either be seen as single pages or in 'book' mode, so apart from the cover, you get 2 pages on screen. If files are in 7zip then just change extension to cbz..
Your Computer was my fave mag back then...and still is, Rich. Like Match of the Day on a Sat night being the HIGHLIGHT of the week, ganning down to our local newsagent on the 1st Sat morn of a month and walking back home, literally eyes glued to every word, every glossy ad and every games/hardware review and in depth article, meant I often arrived home having walked into several lamp posts so would spend the rest of the day in A&E - but Your Computer kept me going all the same!!
Thank you all for your kind responses and stories about your favourite magazines back in the 80s. For a project related to the mag RMW, I took inspiration from issue 36 of C+VG (UK) and rebuilt all the listings featured, 7 different games for 7 different 8-bit machines. All games were written in BASIC (I mean the dialect of every system). The games were surprisingly good and somehow fun. At the end of 1984, even a small game running slowly in BASIC was like getting aboard of a starship. It was very fun.and part of it has been typing some listings or find them online and learn how to run them on emulators or original machines. I had some trouble with the Dragon 32, so I thought that Richard could be of some help... As soon as the editorial project is finished, I'll let you guys know more about it.
