First and Last

 

The massive denial of service attack against the Internet Archive has been a bit of a blow. I rely on its archive of computer magazines so I need to find a different approach if I want to keep the two week cycle of updates going. What do I have in terms of other resources? I have a subscription to newspapers.com because I am unable to remember when a free seven day trial is about to come to an end. How can I use that? What if I use it to find the first and last mentions of selected UK home computers. It's a bit high concept but I think I can make it work. So, what computers? Lets pick 10 and write about them in chronological order; The BBC Micro, Enterprise, ZX80, ZX81, ZX Spectrum, Sinclair QL, VIC-20, Commodore 64, Dragon 32, and Amstrad CPC.

Automata Adverts

March 17 1983 to May 1 1985. 109 weeks. J. Alfred Prufrock measured out his life in coffee spoons. Automata measured theirs with weekly adverts on the back page of POPULAR COMPUTING WEEKLY. The first Automata advert, 17-23 March 1983, sits alongside news about the 16K Oric and Commodore's proposed factory in Corby, and reviews for Football Manager, The Hobbit, and Automata's Pimania. The last advert sits next to details about a new computer called the Amiga and the liquidation of Bug-Byte, and reviews of... well it wasn't a great week for classic games, Booty, Shadowfire, and Spy Hunter are probably the most notable titles. Those two years cover a lot of ground and the advantage of the weekly grind is that Christian Penfold, Mel Croucher, and artist Robin Evans frequently turn their gaze out onto the wider industry when casting around for material. The adverts provide a window onto how the UK software scene looked and how Automata regarded itself.