A Peek Inside the Classic Computer Magazine Archive

June 25th, 2006 by Benj Edwards

Atari Magazine ArchiveHere’s a site worth noting for all you historians out there. For the last ten years, Kevin Savetz has been hard at work transcribing the text of hundreds of vintage computer and video game magazines. Better yet, he’s received full permission from the original magazine publishers to provide the articles for free online. And they’re all available in the Classic Computer Magazine Archive. Kevin’s focus was originally on magazines about Atari consoles and computers, but it’s no surprise since the whole operation started out as the “Digital Antic Project,” whose aim was to put the entire text of the Atari-centric magazine “Antic” online. In September 2000 he met that goal and soon turned his attention to other magazines like the Atari ST-focused “STart” and multiplatform magazines like “Compute!” and “Creative Computing.” Now the site contains articles from nine different publications, either in whole or in part, available for online view.

Kevin loves sending me news of his latest additions (and I’m not complaining), which I’ve meant to tell you about before. Just this morning he wrote:

AtariMagazines.com has added the full text of 21 more issues of Compute! magazine: Fall 1979 (the first issue!), January 1981, February 1981, March 1981, April 1981, October 1981, December 1981, February 1982, June 1982, July 1982, October 1982, November 1982, January 1983, March 1983, June 1983, August 1983, September 1983, October 1983, September 1989, November 1990, and December 1990.

Published from 1979 through 1994, Compute! was a multiplatform computer magazine covering Atari, Apple, Commodore, Texas Instruments, Timex/Sinclair, and other early personal computers.

If you’re the kind of collector / historian who likes to delve deep into the news, thoughts, and reviews of the period, I definitely recommend checking the Archive out. I’d also like to thank Kevin Savetz for providing a valuable service and resource for the vintage computing and gaming enthusiast.



7 Responses to “A Peek Inside the Classic Computer Magazine Archive”

  1. Jakanden Says:

    Oh…my….god…I could waste so much time there.

  2. The World of Jakanden » Retro Magazine Gold Mine Says:

    […] As far the reason for this post, Red has directed his readers to a site that could rank right up there with the best of the “I hope you have hours to kill” websites. […]

  3. extrarice Says:

    O_O holycrap! Awesome that he received permission from the original publishers to provide those online!

  4. Bill Westbury Says:

    WOW… Finally a true 8 bit computer die hard does something smart for the rest of us dummies… Time for me to dig out my C64 and remember when computers were really fun to use..

  5. Old Man Musings » Classic Computer Magazine Archive Says:

    […] (via VintageComputing) Posted In: Games, Comics, Flashback   |   […]

  6. Jurgi/Tristesse/Atari8.Info Says:

    Indeed, Kevin does amazing work.
    The only one similar project (but far not so huge) is the full archive of Polish cult magazine ‘Tajemnice ATARI’ for 8-bit Atari users (http://tajemnice.atari8.info/).

  7. Shinderpal Jandu Says:

    What an excellent collection.
    Amazing to read this stuff – the ads , the prices as compared to what we have now.
    Amazing what we kids no consider as beyond basio and essential was either not available , impossibe to configure or unbelievably expensive beyond an ordinary person’s reach.

    http://vintagecomputermanuals.blogspot.com/
    http://www.vintagecomputermanuals.com

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