4 ms·

Does anyone know of a similar archive for Personal Computer World which was (sort of) the UK equivalent to Byte? The Internet Archive has a quite a few but is a

Does anyone know of a similar archive for Personal Computer World which was (sort of) the UK equivalent to Byte? The Internet Archive has a quite a few but is also missing a lot too.

JKCalhoun 4y ago
Same (amazing) site: https://worldradiohistory.com/Personal_Computer_World.htm https://worldradiohistory.com/Personal_Computer_World.htm Also: https://archive.org/details/PersonalComputerWorldMagazine/PCW%20199506%20June%20Created%20From%20PCW%20Cover%20CD/ https://archive.org/details/PersonalComputerWorldMagazine/PC...
- klelatti 4y ago
  Wow - great site indeed. Many thanks!
Tor3 4y ago
At least a few scans exist by now.. but very few, compared to American magazines. It could be that scanning initiatives were punched on quickly by the (at that time) passive owners. I used to look everywhere for scans, but could only find one or two, or just an article extracted from an issue. I had at that time thrown out all my years of physical magazines because of absolutely no space to keep them. I used to have all of them from issue 1 until the magazine degraded into the typical "application reviews only" mode, as happened to nearly all of the magazines (Byte included). Update: That site (see other comment) has quite a few more issues up than when I last checked. That's good to see.
HarHarVeryFunny 4y ago
I used to buy PCW religiously every month, starting with the 1st issue which had the NASCOM-1 (kit computer) on the cover, which was my first computer. I'm not sure you can really compare PCW to BYTE. From what I recall PCW didn't really get into the more abstract computing topics that BYTE did - it was more more focused on products. Another good magazine from same era was Dr. Dobb's Journal. Shame that all these geeky magazines have disappeared. It's interesting watching some of the old c.1980 BBC computer education TV shows that have been uploaded to YouTube. It's funny watching them trying to earnestly explain to TV viewers the difference between a 16-bit computer with a 16-bit bus vs one with an 8-bit bus, etc... I guess back then there was a thought that the general public would be brought up to speed on the nuances of such things!
- klelatti 4y ago
  Likewise re buying but from a bit later. You’re absolutely right that PCW was more focused on products. They did sometimes have a go at some of the more conceptual stuff though and I remember learning Z80 assembly from the regular column on assembly language. I always thought it was a bit more edgy and entertaining than Byte, in some ways like a print version of the Register. I always liked Guy Kewney (RIP) who will always be famous now for this - the greatest case of mistaken identity in TV history. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6Y2uQn_wvc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6Y2uQn_wvc

Does anyone know of a similar archive for Personal Computer World which was (sort of) the UK equivalent to Byte? The Internet Archive has a quite a few but is also missing a lot too.

JKCalhoun 4y ago

Same (amazing) site: https://worldradiohistory.com/Personal_Computer_World.htm https://worldradiohistory.com/Personal_Computer_World.htm Also: https://archive.org/details/PersonalComputerWorldMagazine/PCW%20199506%20June%20Created%20From%20PCW%20Cover%20CD/ https://archive.org/details/PersonalComputerWorldMagazine/PC...

klelatti 4y ago
Wow - great site indeed. Many thanks!

Tor3 4y ago

At least a few scans exist by now.. but very few, compared to American magazines. It could be that scanning initiatives were punched on quickly by the (at that time) passive owners. I used to look everywhere for scans, but could only find one or two, or just an article extracted from an issue. I had at that time thrown out all my years of physical magazines because of absolutely no space to keep them. I used to have all of them from issue 1 until the magazine degraded into the typical "application reviews only" mode, as happened to nearly all of the magazines (Byte included). Update: That site (see other comment) has quite a few more issues up than when I last checked. That's good to see.

HarHarVeryFunny 4y ago

I used to buy PCW religiously every month, starting with the 1st issue which had the NASCOM-1 (kit computer) on the cover, which was my first computer. I'm not sure you can really compare PCW to BYTE. From what I recall PCW didn't really get into the more abstract computing topics that BYTE did - it was more more focused on products. Another good magazine from same era was Dr. Dobb's Journal. Shame that all these geeky magazines have disappeared. It's interesting watching some of the old c.1980 BBC computer education TV shows that have been uploaded to YouTube. It's funny watching them trying to earnestly explain to TV viewers the difference between a 16-bit computer with a 16-bit bus vs one with an 8-bit bus, etc... I guess back then there was a thought that the general public would be brought up to speed on the nuances of such things!

klelatti 4y ago
Likewise re buying but from a bit later. You’re absolutely right that PCW was more focused on products. They did sometimes have a go at some of the more conceptual stuff though and I remember learning Z80 assembly from the regular column on assembly language. I always thought it was a bit more edgy and entertaining than Byte, in some ways like a print version of the Register. I always liked Guy Kewney (RIP) who will always be famous now for this - the greatest case of mistaken identity in TV history. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6Y2uQn_wvc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6Y2uQn_wvc