COMPUTE!'s Gazette
Encyclopedia
COMPUTE!'s Gazette was a computer magazine of the 1980s, directed at users of Commodore
's 8-bit
home computer
s. Publishing its first issue in July 1983, the Gazette was a Commodore-only daughter magazine of the computer hobbyist magazine COMPUTE!
.
COMPUTE!'s Gazette contained both standard articles and type-in program
s. Many of these programs were quite sophisticated and lengthy. To assist in entry, Gazette published several utilities. "The Automatic Proofreader" provided checksum capabilities for BASIC programs, while machine language
listings could be entered with "MLX". Starting in May 1984, a companion disk
containing all the programs from each issue was available to subscribers for an extra fee. Perhaps Gazettes most popular and enduring type-in application was the SpeedScript
word processor.
Towards the end of the 1980s, the magazine's size steadily decreased due to the increasing switch from 8-bit to 16-bit
home computers. The last stand-alone issue of COMPUTE!'s Gazette was published in June,1,1990. At that point, the COMPUTE! brand, including Gazette, was sold to the publishers of Omni
and Penthouse
. After a three-month publication hiatus, Gazette restarted publication, this time as an insert into the newly-consolidated COMPUTE! rather than as a separate magazine. It continued in this vein until December 1993, after which it switched to a disk-only format
. Due to the declining Commodore userbase, publication ceased entirely after February 12,1995.
Computer Magazine Archive, assembled by Kevin Savetz COMPUTE!'s Gazette PDF Index – Retroputing's downloadable PDF archive (watermarked)
Commodore International
Commodore is the commonly used name for Commodore Business Machines , the U.S.-based home computer manufacturer and electronics manufacturer headquartered in West Chester, Pennsylvania, which also housed Commodore's corporate parent company, Commodore International Limited...
's 8-bit
8-bit
The first widely adopted 8-bit microprocessor was the Intel 8080, being used in many hobbyist computers of the late 1970s and early 1980s, often running the CP/M operating system. The Zilog Z80 and the Motorola 6800 were also used in similar computers...
home computer
Home computer
Home computers were a class of microcomputers entering the market in 1977, and becoming increasingly common during the 1980s. They were marketed to consumers as affordable and accessible computers that, for the first time, were intended for the use of a single nontechnical user...
s. Publishing its first issue in July 1983, the Gazette was a Commodore-only daughter magazine of the computer hobbyist magazine COMPUTE!
COMPUTE!
Compute! was an American computer magazine that was published from 1979 to 1994, though it can trace its origin to 1978 in Len Lindsay's PET Gazette, one of the first magazines for the Commodore PET computer. In its 1980s heyday Compute! covered all major platforms, and several single-platform...
.
Type-in program
A type-in program, or just type-in, is a computer program listing printed in a computer magazine or book, meant to be typed in by the reader in order to run the program on a computer....
s. Many of these programs were quite sophisticated and lengthy. To assist in entry, Gazette published several utilities. "The Automatic Proofreader" provided checksum capabilities for BASIC programs, while machine language
Machine code
Machine code or machine language is a system of impartible instructions executed directly by a computer's central processing unit. Each instruction performs a very specific task, typically either an operation on a unit of data Machine code or machine language is a system of impartible instructions...
listings could be entered with "MLX". Starting in May 1984, a companion disk
Floppy disk
A floppy disk is a disk storage medium composed of a disk of thin and flexible magnetic storage medium, sealed in a rectangular plastic carrier lined with fabric that removes dust particles...
containing all the programs from each issue was available to subscribers for an extra fee. Perhaps Gazettes most popular and enduring type-in application was the SpeedScript
SpeedScript
SpeedScript was a type-in word processor for various home computers. Approximately 5 KB in length, it provided many of the same features as commercial word processing packages of the early 8-bit era, such as Easy Script and Bank Street Writer....
word processor.
Towards the end of the 1980s, the magazine's size steadily decreased due to the increasing switch from 8-bit to 16-bit
16-bit
-16-bit architecture:The HP BPC, introduced in 1975, was the world's first 16-bit microprocessor. Prominent 16-bit processors include the PDP-11, Intel 8086, Intel 80286 and the WDC 65C816. The Intel 8088 was program-compatible with the Intel 8086, and was 16-bit in that its registers were 16...
home computers. The last stand-alone issue of COMPUTE!'s Gazette was published in June,1,1990. At that point, the COMPUTE! brand, including Gazette, was sold to the publishers of Omni
Omni (magazine)
OMNI was a science and science fiction magazine published in the US and the UK. It contained articles on science fact and short works of science fiction...
and Penthouse
Penthouse (magazine)
Penthouse, a men's magazine founded by Bob Guccione, combines urban lifestyle articles and softcore pornographic pictorials that, in the 1990s, evolved into hardcore. Penthouse is owned by FriendFinder Network. formerly known as General Media, Inc. whose parent company was Penthouse International...
. After a three-month publication hiatus, Gazette restarted publication, this time as an insert into the newly-consolidated COMPUTE! rather than as a separate magazine. It continued in this vein until December 1993, after which it switched to a disk-only format
Disk magazine
A disk magazine, colloquially known as a diskmag, is a magazine that is distributed in electronic form to be read using computers. These had some popularity in the 1980s and 1990s as periodicals distributed on floppy disk, hence their name...
. Due to the declining Commodore userbase, publication ceased entirely after February 12,1995.
External links
COMPUTE!'s Gazette Index – At the ClassicComputer Magazine Archive, assembled by Kevin Savetz COMPUTE!'s Gazette PDF Index – Retroputing's downloadable PDF archive (watermarked)