A computer catalog at the local Radio Shack set me off in 1978 or '79. I started by reading BYTE Magazine cover to cover, in 1980, when I found it at the local

A computer catalog at the local Radio Shack set me off in 1978 or '79. I started by reading BYTE Magazine cover to cover, in 1980, when I found it at the local library. It was a foreign language that I acquired, slowly, by immersion. I was twelve years old. I was a BYTE subscriber in 1999, when they abruptly ceased publication. The new owners switched my subscription to "PC Magazine", I believe. I sent them a note to the effect that BYTE had covered the whole industry, not just Windows-compatible machines, and they could donate the pro-rated price on the subscription remaining to the beer fund for the BYTE staff that had had no warning that the ace was about to fall. It's hard to build a culture, a cadre of writers and editors, with ad-hoc contributors to online sites. I subscribed to Ars Technica, Phoronix, and lwn.net with the lunch money I had left over as the year draws to a close. Please consider supporting such institutions, if you can. Every bit helps. https://arstechnica.com https://arstechnica.com https://www.phoronix.com/phoronix-premium https://www.phoronix.com/phoronix-premium https://lwn.net/subscribe/ https://lwn.net/subscribe/ https://archive.org/donate https://archive.org/donate