ANALOG Computing

ANALOG Computing
Frequency Bimonthly (1981-83)
Monthly (1983-89)
Founder Lee H. Pappas
Michael DesChesnes
Year founded 1981
First issue January / February 1981
Final issue
Number		 December 1989
79
Country USA
Based in Worcester, MA[1]
North Hollywood, CA[1]

ANALOG Computing (an acronym for Atari Newsletter And Lots Of Games) was an American computer magazine devoted to the Atari 8-bit home computer line, published from 1981 until 1989. In addition to reviews and tutorials, ANALOG published multiple programs in each issue for users to type in. The magazine had a reputation for listings of machine language games—much smoother than those written in Atari BASIC—and which were uncommon in competing magazines. Such games were accompanied by the assembly language source code. Originally the title as printed on the cover was A.N.A.L.O.G. 400/800 Magazine, but by the eighth issue it changed to A.N.A.L.O.G. Computing. Though the dots remained in the logo, it was simply referred to as ANALOG or ANALOG Computing inside the magazine.

While the program listings were covered under the magazine's copyright protections, users were granted the right to type them into their computer for personal use, so long as they were not sold or copied. ("Reader Comments," ANALOG #2, page 5).

History

ANALOG was co-launched by Lee H. Pappas and Michael DesChesnes who met at a Star Trek convention in 1978.[2] The first issue of the magazine was January / February 1981. It was published bi-monthly until November / December 1983 and then monthly from January 1984 on.[2]

When the Atari ST was announced in 1985, it was initially covered in the previously 8-bit-only magazine. Pappas soon launched an Atari ST-specific new magazine, ST-Log. (This is paralleled in STart magazine being spun off from Antic.)

In 1988, Pappas announced in an ST-Log editorial that both it and ANALOG Computing were under new ownership and the offices moved from Worcester, Massachusetts to North Hollywood, California.[1]

In 1989 LFP Inc. announced it would merge ANALOG and ST-Log into one Atari resource.[3] Instead, both magazines were dropped less than a month later and the staff merged into another publication owned by Pappas, Video Games & Computer Entertainment. The final issue of ANALOG Computing was in December 1989, totaling 79 issues.

Additional products

ANALOG Software

In its early years, ANALOG Computing also sold games via mail order under the name ANALOG Software.[4][5] Most of these were written by magazine staff members. Some games were never completed or published, such as Sunday Driver.[6]

Released games

  • Crash Dive - different than the Brian Moriarty text adventure of the same name
  • Star Sentry
  • Buried Bucks
  • Race in Space - later printed as a type-in listing in the magazine
  • Carnival - licensed from Sega

Books

ANALOG published two books of program listings and tutorials. The A.N.A.L.O.G. Compendium (1983) contained "the best Atari home computer programs from the first ten issues."[7] An Atari 8-bit Extra from ANALOG Computing (1987) contained previously unpublished programs.[8]

Notable ANALOG Computing writers

Staff

Contributors

See also

  • Antic, the other major Atari magazine in the US
  • Atari User, a British Atari magazine
  • Page 6, one of the longest running Atari magazines

References

  1. 1 2 3 Pappas, Lee (April 1988). "Editorial: ST-Log under new ownership". ST-Log (18): 4.
  2. 1 2 Pappas, Lee (January 29, 2015). "A.N.A.L.O.G.: A Brief History in Time". GearRant.
  3. ↑ Byron, Tom (November 1990). "The Editor's Desktop". Start. 5 (3).
  4. ↑ Pappas, Lee (May 12, 2014). "ANALOG Software". GearRant.
  5. ↑ "Games from ANALOG Software". Atari Mania.
  6. ↑ "Sunday Driver". Atari Mania.
  7. ↑ "The A.N.A.L.O.G. Compendium". archive.org.
  8. ↑ "An Atari 8-bit Extra". archive.org. ANALOG Computing magazine.
  9. ↑ Johnson, Charles F. (October 1985). "G: A printing device for Epson or Gemini printers". ANALOG Computing (35): 81.
  10. ↑ Wetmore, Russ (May 1985). "On-Line (column)". ANALOG Computing (30).
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