Your Computer was a British computer magazine published monthly from 1981 to 1988 and aimed at the burgeoning home computer market. At one stage it was, in its own words, "Britain's biggest selling home computer magazine". It offered support across a wide range of computer formats, and included news, type-in programs, and reviews of both software and hardware. Hardware reviews were notable for including coverage of the large number of home microcomputers released during the early 1980s.
IPC Electrical-Electronic Press was the first editorial company in founding Your Computer magazine, being finally launched in mid-1981. At the beginning of its release in stores, it was initially published every two months, starting in June/July of same year. From its third volume onwards, it became monthly until the end of its existence. The last issue that is certainly known, but not confirmed, was released in May of 1988.
The magazine started in 1981 and had a strong hobbyist attitude, covering many of the forgotten and not-so-forgotten computers at that time, such as the Oric-1, ZX-81, Dragon 32, BBC Micro, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, MSXes, New Brain and more popular ones. It had a column called “Fingertips” devoted to programmable calculators, and a regular type-in column called “Software File”, dedicated to readers' short BASIC programs.
The golden age was 1982-1985. In 1987 it abandoned all of its hobbyist readers, got rid of type-ins, and started to exclusively cover the PC and Mac. Within a year it had gone out of business.
Your Computer was a multi-format title, published by a variety of companies (IPC, Business Press and finally Focus Magazines). It covered all 80's micros and some of those professional computers dominating business market, initially towards a serious and hobbyist reader, but increasingly towards the gamer through it's lifespan.
For a long period of time, the magazine grew in page count, sometimes reaching over 200. However, a large portion of these issues were taken up by various advertising campaigns and advertisements from a big lot of companies, hardware manufacturers, and software publishers, both video games and various applications. Starting in 1986, the page count gradually decreased, but never fell below just over 120 pages at certain times of the year. Then, by 1987 and until its dissolution in mid-1988, its last publisher reduced again its space to a standard magazine with around 76 pages per issue.
However, despite the obvious and incongruous amount of space devoted to such advertising, readers were passionate about the analysis articles and reports on the computers that were being launched throughout that period. The measure between advertising and real contents was hard to handle for readers, unless Your Computer sold very well in the Great Britain islands and other countries, including Singapore and New Zealand.
In another order of facts, Your Computer published a good number of programs from both collaborators and readers, for typing in at home, business or at the school. Most of them were developed of such a high quality that obscured other type-in listings offered in other British magazines like Your Spectrum, Sinclair Programs, Sinclair User, Computer & Video Games and more. Unless basically all type-ins were made in the corresponding BASIC language of a certain micro-computer, in many cases, these programs were published in both BASIC and machine code, or just only machine code, revealing the effort and dedication of their authors to develop better or improved programs (games, educationals or tools). Some were even marketed under a few of those emerging software companies of the time, such as "Dracman", lately known as "3D Bat Attack", which was programmed by Mark C. Jones and published by CheetahSoft in 1984.
During a short period of time, the magazine created its own software service by sending on demand a bunch of tapes to their readers, full of the best programs for most known 8-bit computers, as Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and Commodore 64. Unfortunately, almost every one of those tapes weren't subsequently preserved until today.
CURIOSITY:
At least in Spain, a full set of tapes were marketed by Sintax, S.A. company containing several programs for ZX Spectrum, Amstrad and Commodore users, from printed magazine. To do this, Sintax obtained the authorization (license) to publish the magazine's developments in England in cassette format, but for Spain, making a personal selection and creating different versions according to the system it was intended for.
As for the cassette releases we're looking at here, they came in various print runs, these being for the most popular systems (according to them): Spectrum, Amstrad, and Commodore. Creating tapes with programs and games for each system, based on the original programs published in “You Computer” magazine and occasionally translating part of their content into their countryland language. Until seven tapes were launched for each system.
Games and an assorted set of applications were released in those tapes, to give fun and knowledges to Spanish users. These packs were announced in some Spanish computing magazines and every one of them could be demanded by post or available at shops and newssagents.
PRESERVATION AND PROGRAMS:
Despite its good reputation, the magazine was not preserved in PDF or other document formats in its entirety, with at least several issues from 1987 and 1988 missing from being digitized and made publicly available to users through the usual archive websites. The rest can be found in pages like Internet Archive, Spectrum Computing and others.
Concerning type-in programs, most of them can be found in the well-known archives you already know, depending on the home computer system you wish to search for.
As full list of all Your Computer type-ins is really huge, I've divided it in four parts. Here you may find the programs' contents from issue 1 to 17 (Vol. 2 #12 - December 1982).
Following second part will be ready for public release during this next week.
Related sites:
Gamebase 64 (Your Computer C64 games)
VIC-20 Listings (Your Computer VIC-20 programs)
Magazines section of Spectrum Computing web archive
The Type Fantastic (by Jim Grimwood) (ZX Spectrum programs)
Your Computer en España (only in Spanish)
FULL LIST OF TYPE-INS PER ISSUE:
# Title System Author(s) Pages
---------------------------------------------------------------------
1 (Vol. 1 - June/July 1981):
Crossword Challenge ZX-80 Colin Hogben 47
Reaction Timer ZX-80 Andrew Hope 47
Bar-Graph Plotter ZX-80 Peter Collingridge 47-48
White-dot Destroyer ZX-80 R. J. Price 48
Polynomial Solver ZX-80 Paul Duckett 48-49
Graphics Search Acorn Atom Allison Brown 49
Auto-run Tape Loader Acorn Atom Ian Pine 49
Cartoids Drawing Acorn Atom Martyn Smith 49-50
Atomic Space Buttle Acorn Atom Christopher Histed 50
Atom Information Acorn Atom Derek Haslam 50
Escapist Solution UK-101 J. Gordon 50
2 (Vol. 1 - August/September 1981)
I-Ching Sharp MZ-80K John Alfred 30-32
Graphic Characters Acorn Atom Roy Burgin 43-44
Point to Point ZX-81 Mike Howard 61
Complete Music ZX-80 Robin Arlott 61-63
Teaching Aid ZX-80 J. J. Bartolo 63-65
Sketch-Pad ZX-81 Eric Deeson 65
Pools Prediction ZX-80 T. Davison 65
Child's Play Acorn Atom D. J. Berry 65-66
Tabulation Techniques Acorn Atom John Meikle 66
Symbolic Values Microtan Bob Green 66
Setting Memory Size Video Genie P. Crowston 66
Road Runner Sharp MZ-80K Alan Murray 67
Graphics Entry UK-101 A. Hughes 67
Keyboard Scan Acorn Atom Nigel Capper 67
Request Answered Acorn Atom J. W. Comley 67
3 (Vol. 1 - #3 - October 1981)
J-Checkers Sharp MZ-80K John White 24-26
Innocent Indexing ZX-81 Tim Goldingham 64
Green-eyed Monster ZX-80 P. Connell 64-65
Exam Marks ZX-81 G. A. Genever 65-67
Latest Score ZX-80 Terence Wilson 67
The Plough ZX-81 William Cartwright 67
Punter's Draw Commodore PET J. Consadine 69
Least Squares Acorn Atom Kevin Polston 69
Bulls and Cows Microtan Graham Richards 70
Consult the Oracle ZX-81 D. A. Walker 71
4 (Vol. 1 - #4 - November 1981)
Siege CBM PET Bob Merry 32-34
Remember re-number ZX-81 James Tyler 67
Free Memory ZX-81 Paul Brittain 67
Mortgage Calculator CBM PET J. Consadine 68
Line Drawer ZX-81 Guy Broker 68
Atomic Invaders Video Genie Jonathan Histed 68-69
Moving Graphics ZX-81 Loll Holt 69-71
At Your Command TRS-80 David Jones 71
TRS-80 Compatibility Genie Gareth Monkman 71-72
Bigger Screen ZX-81 Nigel Moat 72
Revolutionary Art ZX-81 S. Farr 74
Instant Execution Video Genie D. Jansons 74
Figure Handling ZX-81 B. M. Hawkes 74
Spacefire CBM PET Marcus Altman 75
More In Store Acorn Atom E. J. Harding 76
5 (Vol. 1 - #5 - December 1981)
Chess ZX-80/81 John White 30-34
Making Music TRS-80 Alun Evans 36-38
M-C Disassembler Acorn Atom Roy Burgin 56-57
Kalah Acorn Atom R. Terry 65
Machine-code Tips ZX-81 W. E. Thomson 71
Security Numbers ZX-81 A. D. Robinson 71
Card Sharp Sharp MZ80K C. J. Davison 72
Real-time Clock Acorn Atom Kamal Jabbour 72-73
Demon at the Wheel Sharp MZ80K Richard Bassett 73
Sound-box ZX-81 J. Charlmers 73-75
Maths Teaching ZX-81 M. N. Scarlett 75
Zero Dropper Acorn Atom G. Stephen 75-77
Anagrams ZX-81 Iain Hancock 77
Half Life ZX-81 Raymond Nugent 77
Palindromes ZX-81 Tim Goldingham 77-78
Paying a Mortgage CBM PET K. Ward 78
Transposing Music ZX-81 J. F. Vincent 78
Bomb Disposal ZX-81 Roger Brooks 79
Screen Artist ZX-81 T. M. Humphries 79
Ark Royal ZX-81 D. Evan 79
6 (Vol. 2 - #1 - January 1982)
Treasure House Sharp MZ80K C. J. Davidson 30-32
Breakout ZX-81 Martin Buckeley 48-50
Effortless Index ZX-81 L. Basford 61
Alien Search ZX-81 R. Lawrence, S. Haigh 62
Memory economy ZX-81 S. A. Nicholls 63
Moonlander ZX-81 C. Butler 63
Cricket Score ZX-81 M. Fox 63-65
Writing Wrongs ZX-81 D. Lawrence 65-67
Screen Print CBM PET N. Higham 69
Cost Price ZX-81 Ian McAlpine 70
Wild Dogs ZX-81 C. D. Carter 70
7 (Vol. 2 - #2 - February 1982)
Cube Master ZX-81 16K Simon Lane 16-21
Screen Routines BBC Micro Jeremy Ruston 28-29
Book Opening CBM PET John F. White 32-35
Dominoes CBM PET David Smith 36-38
Noughts and Crosses ZX-81 Tony Poulter 67
The Dictator ZX-81 Martin Bishop 67-68
Mechanical Music Acorn Atom Andrew Turner 68-69
Dare Devil ZX-81 Mark Andrews 69-71
Chi-Squared Video Genie Gordon Millington 71
Learning Fun ZX-81 C. M. Robinson 71-73
24-line Screen ZX-81 Timothy Gilbert 73
Through The Maze Acorn Atom R. Pincott 73
Equations ZX-81 A. Jones 73-74
Telescope Modelling ZX-80 B. Spencer 74
Calculated Risk ZX-81 Loll Holt 74-75
Formula for Sucess ZX-81 Michael Dunn 75
Doodlebug Acorn Atom Luc Fountain 75
8 (Vol. 2 - #3 - March 1982)
Maze Attack CBM PET Marcus Altman 30-31
ZX-81 Music ZX-81 John Sylvester 34-35
Snakes & Ladders ZX-81 Brian Horsfield 37-38
Polar Plotting Video Genie Bev Mason 41-42
Silent Running ZX-81 S. A. Nicholls 65-66
Load Warning Acorn Atom G. Sleet 66-67
Molecules ZX-81 B. G. Cornhill 67-69
Card Tricks ZX-81 L. Cunningham 69-70
Guessing Game VIC-20 J. Wise 70
Lateral Scroll ZX-81 Darrin Hill 71
Enterprise Rescue ZX-81 D. E. Healey 71
On the Dump Sharp MZ80K C. Perry 71-72
Fighter Pilot ZX-81 C. M. Medley 72
Keyboard Reverse ZX-81 Derek Robinson 72-73
Atom Art Acord Atom Martin Campbell 73
Piano Keys VIC-20 Nalin Sharma 73
9 (Vol. 2 - #4 - April 1982)
Adventure ZX-81 16K Graham Thomson 24-27
Sorting on the ZX-81 ZX-81 David Lawrence 37-38
NIM ZX-81 David Lawrence 48-49
NIM Apple II Sean Overend 49-50
Graphics on the VIC-20 VIC-20 Nick Hampshire 57-58
Breaking Out VIC-20 David Jones 71-72
Mystery Program ZX-81 C. E. Lowe 72
Electronic Keep-fit Acorn Atom A. J. Capper 72-75
READ and DATA Acorn Atom J. D. Tarrant 75
Lunar Manoeuvre ZX-81 S. S. Grewal 75-76
Program Conversion UK-101 Paul B. Kaufman 76-77
Brahma ZX-80 Paul Blythe 77
Alien Arcade VIC-20 Stuart Debuse 77-79
Prime Numbers ZX-80 Jack Bettridge 79
Faster slow mode ZX-81 G. W. Hewitt 79
Top Drawer Video Genie A. J. Bissex 80
Biorhythms ZX-81 Michael Sørensen 80
Double Height ZX-81 16K Brian Syne 81
Satellites ZX-81 Terry Jeeves 81
10 (Vol. 2 - #5 - May 1982)
Aerial Photo Cauculator Acorn Atom Michael Banks 32-33
Tank Battle VIC-20 David Prosser 34-35
Magic Squares ZX-81 16K Rod Hyde 40-43
BBC Graphics BBC Micro Brian Smith 59
High Resolution VIC-20 David Rees 75-76
Block Graphs VIC-20 Jenny Dodsworth 76
Not St George's Day ZX-81 P. Watson 76-79
Resistor Finder Microtan I. Weeks 79
Hot Pursuit ZX-81 S. A. Nicholls 79-81
Millikan BBC Micro John Lewis (Perth) 81
Sequence ZX-81 John M. Lewis (Dyfed) 81-83
Colour and Sound BBC Micro Eric Deeson 83
Key Options Acorn Atom G. E. Taylor 83
Fighter Raid VIC-20 C. J. Hall 83-84
Status Display Microtan Paul Kaufman 84
Sounds of Alarm ZX-80 Michael Trinder 84
Cast the Runes CBM PET P. Horton 85
Disassembler ZX-81 Chris Lam 85
Dice Thrower ZX-81 Chris Tolley 85
11 (Vol. 2 - #6 - June 1982)
Mars Revenge VIC-20 Paul Edmond 40-41
Atom Utility Set Acorn Atom David Berry 46-48
ZX-81 Monitor ZX-81 16K John Sylvester 50-54
BBC Character Set BBC Micro Peter Vasey 67-69
Assault Craft ZX-81 C. J. Young 69
Pascal Triangle ZX-81 M. R. Tolun 69-70
Organic Tunes ZX-81 G. N. Owen 70-71
Deep-space Attack MZ-80K James Holland 71-73
Reading Speed Microtan Iain Weeks 73
Multiplier Effect CBM PET Raymond L. Vickers 75
Tape Directory Acorn Atom S. Robinson 75
Cypher Breaker ZX-81 G. L. Billington 75-76
Contents Display Acorn Atom Gerard Leblanc 76
Artful Dodge ZX-81 P. Marco 76
HEX Convert ZX-81 Paul McGowan 76
Over the Moon BBC Micro A. Cockburn 77
Tunnel Vision (Maze) VIC-20 D. M. Jones 77
12 (Vol. 2 - #7 - July 1982)
ZX Spectrum Graphics ZX Spectrum Tim Hartnell 24-26
Dog Race ZX-81 16K Simon Lane 40-44
Simon Challenge VIC-20 David Reichental 54-55
Disassembler ZX-81 16K David R. Horne 56-57
From Beyond the Grave ZX-80 Paul Hutchinson 60-62
Guessing Game Video Genie Richard Lancaster 64-65
Plotter Planner ZX-81 Paul Newman (Suffolk) 81-82
Voyager Views BBC Micro G. E. Malpas 82
Alien Attack ZX-81 J. Jones 82-83
Ragtime RAM VIC-20 Ian Greenshields 83-85
Course and Time ZX-81 Chester Watson 85
Bridge Too Far CBM PET Stuart Maclaren 85-86
Verse and Worse Acorn Atom R. Newton 86-89
Multicolour BBC Micro Simon O'Leary 89
Surround ZX-81 Paul Beadle 89-90
Sea Battle BBC Micro Lakith Leelasena 90
Picture Plot Acorn Atom I. S. Jones 90
Scroll Roles ZX-81 Per Nielsen 90-91
Borderline Case ZX-81 D. Clancy 91
Anagram ZX-81 Simon A. Rapley 91
13 (Vol 2 - #8 - August 1982)
Spectrum Sounds ZX Spectrum Tim Hartnell 30-32
Demon's Domain ZX-81 16K Joseph Nicholls 36-38
Duck Shoot VIC-20 David Prosser 42-43
Ecological Modelling ZX-81 16K William Mansfield 46-48
Atom File Handling Acorn Atom George Byrns 62-64
Dungeons ZX-81 16K J. Chalmers 75-77
Word Processor BBC Micro Nigel Langley 77-79
Earth Invader VIC-20 Bharat Patel 79
3D Triangle BBC Micro D. Konig 81
Permutations Video Genie David Guest 81
Graphic Strings ZX-81 Julian Stradling 81-82
Speed Ball ZX-81 Michael Rigby 83
Faster Graphics ZX-81 Jonathan Brazier 83
Loony Lander CBM PET Roger Valentine 83-84
Calculator ZX-81 Malcolm Taylor 84
Board Game ZX-81 N. D. Willink 84
Sounds of Alarm VIC-20 D. Harmes, D. Martin 85
Test Timer Sharp MZ-80K J. Laidlaw 85
Words of Wisdom Acorn Atom F. K. Carver 85
14 (Vol. 2 - #9 - September 1982)
Dambuster VIC-20 David Smallbrook 42-43
Intelligent Typewriter Acorn Atom David Berry 47-48
B-52 Bomb-Run ZX-81 16K S. A. Nicholls 50-51
User-Defined Graphics BBC Micro Ian Thomas 54-56
VIC Assembler VIC-20 16K Philip Horton 58-60
Disassembler ZX Spectrum David Horne 62-63
Indexer ZX-81 16K John Watson 68-70
Landscape ZX-81 Garry Owens 89-90
Life Expectancy VIC-20 Bharat Patel 90
Change of Memory VIC-20 Gavin Warren 90
Key Routine Acorn Atom P. J. Mills 90-91
Pac-Man ZX Spectrum Chris Lam 91
Cartoon Time BBC Micro J. P. Riggs 91-93
Character Generator ZX Spectrum Bill Longley 93-94
Lower-Case Letters ZX-81 Brian Cadge 94-95
Multiple Response Video Genie John Wilkinson 95-96
Golf ZX Spectrum N. R. Civeton 96
Windmills ZX-81 S. J. Bennett 97
REM Memory ZX-81 Andrew Norman 97
15 (Vol. 2 - #10 - October 1982)
Pinball Wizardry ZX-81 Stuart Nicholls 46-47
Wordy ZX-81 16K A. F. Whiddet 52-55
Spectrum Processor ZX Spectrum Robert Daren 55
Catacombs VIC-20 Patrick Edmonds 56-57
ZX Spectrum Assembler ZX Spectrum Chris Lam 66-67
Star Trek ZX-81 Philip Pulsford 83
Hidden Depths BBC Micro M & S. Downes 83-84
Scroll Colors ZX Spectrum Bill Longley 84
Sketch Pad Sharp MZ-80K J. Laidlaw 84-85
Standard Deviations ZX-81 L. Cooper 85
Phone Pad VIC-20 P. Hintjens 85-87
High-Res Graphics ZX-81 Julen Strandling 87-89
Label Finder Acorn Atom L. Kneeling 89
Breakout Sharp MZ-80K Brian Russell 89-91
Pattern Memory BBC Micro John Billingham 91
Code Storage ZX-81 D. L. Clay 91-93
Polyphonic Pen VIC-20 Richard Barton 93
Column Scroll ZX-81 John Hirst 93-94
More Characters ZX Specturm Colin Ridley 94
Word Puzzles ZX-81 Chris Callender 94
Undercut ZX-81 R. Vanhove 95
Screen Flash ZX-81 R. M. Taylor 95
16 (Vol. 2 - #11 - November 1982)
Night Racer VIC-20 Dirk Lampe 44-45
Artist Dragon 32 Keith & Steven Brain 46-47
The Sound of Micros Acorn Atom David Morton 50-52
" " " " BBC Micro Chris Melville 54-57
" " " " ZX Spectrum Jeremy Hall 59
Sound Analysis ZX Spectrum J. D. M. Edwards 60-61
BBC Teletext BBC Micro Martin Glass 72-73
ZX81 Toolkit ZX-81 Michael Fox 76-80
Submarine ZX-81 16K Michael Fox 99-100
Alien Shootout Dragon 32 Steven Lilley 101
Random Graphics Atari 400XL Jack Schofield 101
Dodgems VIC-20 Nagerai Jayakumar 101-103
Slalom ZX Spectrum Jonathan Yeomans 103-104
Atom Squash Acorn Atom Robin Ager 104
Pascal Functions Sharp MZ-80K D. M. Woolley 105
Graph Screen VIC-20 K. G. Staller 105-108
Line Drawing TI 99/4A Richard Matthews 108-109
Animated Train BBC Micro G. E. Malpas 109
Lissajous Figures BBC Micro Stephen K. Wilson 109-110
Program Name ZX-81 Alan Went 110
Spiral Clear ZX-81 Gary Nugent 110
Double Height ZX Spectrum Paul Evans 111
Magic Circle Dragon 32 Stephen Skinner 111
Scroll Clear ZX-81 Ian Bland 111
17 (Vol. 2 - #12 - December 1982)
Flight Simulator ZX Spectrum Rod Hopkins 38-41
Chicken Run Atari 400XL Stan Ockers 42-43
Nightmare Holiday Dragon 32 Keith Brain 44-45
Coup d'État Sharp MZ-80L Boylen Harvey 48-51
Probe ZX-81 16K B. R. Law 52-53
VIC Breakout VIC-20 John Cullen 56-57
Maze Muncher BBC Micro David Griffin 58-59
Atom Quest Acorn Atom Colin Comber 62-65
1K Chess ZX-81 David Horne 68-69
Atom Account Acorn Atom Nigel Haughton 70-71
More Music for BBC BBC Micro Chris Melville 74-77
Forth Simulation ZX-81 16K R. C. Ranson 84-85
Three Games ZX-81 C. G. Brown 97
Sub Attack ZX Spectrum Paul Sellin 97-98
Sorcerer's Castle BBC Micro Stuart Sly 98-99
Bomber VIC-20 K. A. Mair 99-101
The Hawk Acorn Atom Roy Pincott 101-103
VIC Synth VIC-20 Kevin Boyd 103
3D Bar Chart BBC Micro J. Meech 103-105
Visual Recall BBC Micro A. J. Hynd 105
Bit Bandit Acorn Atom S. P. Elliot 105-106
VIC Stick VIC-20 Andrew Tuck 106
List Self-Starters ZX-81 Gino Gracin 106
Tape Salvage BBC Micro Paul Mudditt 106-108
Error Fix Acorn Atom C. Cytera 108
Music Notation ZX-81 Ashley Robinson 109
Strange Patterns ZX Spectrum James Southgate 109
(to be continued)
No comments:
Post a Comment
NO SPAM, PLEASE!
I appreciate any comment, so try to be respectful and polite. Thanks!