About computer magazines

After busy interest in the computer magazines of several clubs, in the American amateur computer scene, soon publishers and editors see a good business in the field of computer magazines. The first commercially distributed was Creative Computing magazine, which was to get in 1974. It was directed primarily for teachers and spread ideas and discussions on the use of computers as a teaching tool. In September 1975 another journal followed : byte. Byte was a mixture of Butes shopping guides, tips beginners, hardware and test articles for ‘freaks’. The magazines were so successful that they have later published many other titles on the market: kilobaud, SCCS interface, personal computing, ROM and many others. These publications were all not specified for one computer system.

But the first newspaper was machine-specific computer news from the home MITS - a newsletter for Altair computer. With the increasing proliferation of individual computer systems also grew the foundations for specific magazines. 80 Micro Computing in 1978 was devoted entirely to the TRS-80 from Tandy. With the advent of the IBM PC at the beginning of the’80s began a new wave of IBM-specific magazines to roll. There are also magazines, which are a particular operating system or certain applications of computers devoted. The publications, which are widely with staff or home computers employ, are in the minority. With the success of the Altair were also many other handymen on the idea of a computer kit or additional parts to develop for the market. In a short time a market was created with a difficult missed number of microcomputers, based on a variety of microprocessors based and a variety of cards for this machine.

KIM-1

Semiconductor company MOS-tech end of 1975 brought its own micro computer kit on the market: KIM-1. Based on the 6502-processor from MOS it was a small plate with 2 kilobytes of memory, and unlike other kits had KIM switches and light-emitting diodes instead of a Hexadezimaltastatur digits and a luminous display. This greatly facilitated the programming.

SWTPC 6800

Another SWTPC 6800 after Altair kit model was SWTPC 6800 South-West Technologies. He expected the first micro-computer based on the 6800-processor one. It seemed the end of 1975.

Apple I

1976  appeared as the famous Apple I. This was originally a kit consisting of a printed circuit and components based on the 6502 microprocessor. Designed and built by Steve Wozniak. It was a first success for Apple, when Steve Jobs succeeded to get in a mission over 50 assembled Apple I by Paul Terell, owner of the Byte Shop. This kit was sold about 220 times and formed the basis for the success of Apple.

Sol

Another step in the direction of today’s personal computer was the Sol. “Initially, Leslie Solomon by the magazine ‘Popular Electronics’ only one terminal, based on a microprocessor, with the company Processor Technology commissioned. But the developer Bob Marsh and Lee Felsenstein made it a fun and built a ‘computer terminal’ with the 8080-processor, both as a terminal, as well as a computer could be used. But the really new was that the Sol was decreed on a full keyboard with wooden cabinet. You had only one monitor to connected. This heralded a new chapter in home and personal computer history: the assembled immediately usable computer came on the market.

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