Computist

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Computist
Computist 27.jpg
Computist issue 27 cover
Format Print
Editor Charles R. Haight
Publisher SoftKey Publishing
Origin USA
Language English
Frequency NA
Active 1981 - 1993
Topics Hacking, Computers, Cracking, Software
Number of Issues 89 + 3 (Core) + 9 (Hardcore Computing)
Follows NA
Precedes NA
Associated Publications NA
Website computist.applearchives.com

Computist was a magazine devoted to the Apple II personal computer that was published by Charles R. Haight under the SoftKey Publishing name, between 1981 and 1993, for a total of 89 issues. Originally launched as Hardcore Computing, the magazine was quickly split into two sister publications, Core and Hardcore Computist. The word "hardcore" was later given reduced emphasis in the title after a young subscriber complained that his mother was throwing the issues away, believing them to be pornography[citation needed]. The word was formally dropped from the title with the 27th issue.

Only three volumes of Core were published: "All About Graphics", "Utilities" and "Home Computer Games".

Originally, the "Games" topic was scheduled for Issue 4, but that issue was scrapped and "Games" became the theme for Issue 3. The "Databases" topic originally planned for Issue 3 later appeared as a feature article in Hardcore Computist #6. Core itself became a regular featured column in Hardcore Computist.

While it was billed as a magazine "for the serious user of Apple computers", in fact much of the content in Computist was devoted to the removal of copy protection from Apple software. At the time, it was commonplace for software publishers to prevent users from making copies of software by distributing the programs on floppy disks that had been written with a modified version of Apple DOS. Each issue of Computist included several "SoftKeys", short code snippets and instructions designed to circumvent software copy protection routines. Often these SoftKeys were designed to be used in conjunction with a program called Super IOB, which could reconstruct the publisher's DOS modifications, circumventing the copy protection for a particular program or group of programs. Typically, following the steps in a published SoftKey resulted in a disk free of protection, which could be duplicated with any disk copier, such as Apple's COPYA program.

Early in its run, Computist was the subject of controversy, when other computer magazines of the day (notably Nibble, Creative Computing and Compute!) refused to run ads for Haight's publications, citing their unwillingness to promote what they viewed as the facilitation of widespread software piracy; (they had also vetoed ads for bit copy programs, such as Essential Data Duplicator (E.D.D.) and Locksmith). Letters debating the merits of piracy versus the free exchange of information and the right of users to make legitimate backups of their programs, were exchanged between Haight and the other editors; several of these appeared in early issues of Hardcore Computist. When Creative Computing later closed down, Computist ran an obituary in Issue 28, reprinting one of its previous articles about the debate, as well as a response from a CC editor, George Blank.

The magazine changed formats several times, going from a thick cardboard-style cover with color graphics, to lighter paper stock covers with expanded content and increased page count; and finally to a large format (11" by 17") newspaper style publication. This last, beginning with issue 66, was intended as a cost-saving measure as subscriptions and reader contributions began to fall off with the waning popularity of the Apple II line. The final issue (#89) listed only four contributors, including Krakowicz, whose "submission" was nothing more than a section of his series on cracking protected software that had been circulating the BBS community for a while.

Downloads

Computist / Hardcore Computist

Issue User Link Notes
Issue 01 Archive.org
Issue 02 Archive.org
Issue 03 Archive.org
Issue 04 Archive.org
Issue 05 Archive.org
Issue 06 Archive.org
Issue 07 Archive.org
Issue 08 Archive.org
Issue 09 Archive.org
Issue 10 Archive.org
Issue 11 Archive.org
Issue 12 Archive.org
Issue 13 Archive.org
Issue 14 Archive.org
Issue 15 Archive.org
Issue 16 Archive.org
Issue 17 Archive.org
Issue 18 Archive.org
Issue 19 Archive.org
Issue 20 Archive.org
Issue 21 Archive.org
Issue 22 Archive.org
Issue 23 Archive.org
Issue 24 Archive.org
Issue 25 Archive.org
Issue 26 Archive.org
Issue 27 Archive.org
Issue 28 Archive.org
Issue 29 Archive.org
Issue 30 Archive.org
Issue 31 Archive.org
Issue 32 Archive.org
Issue 33 Archive.org
Issue 34 Archive.org
Issue 35 Archive.org
Issue 36 Archive.org
Issue 37 Archive.org
Issue 38 Archive.org
Issue 39 Archive.org
Issue 40 Archive.org
Issue 41 Archive.org
Issue 42 Archive.org
Issue 43 Archive.org
Issue 44 Archive.org
Issue 45 Archive.org
Issue 46 Archive.org
Issue 47 Archive.org
Issue 48 Archive.org
Issue 49 Archive.org
Issue 50 Archive.org
Issue 51 Archive.org
Issue 52 Archive.org
Issue 53 Archive.org
Issue 54 Archive.org
Issue 55 Archive.org
Issue 56 Archive.org
Issue 57 Archive.org
Issue 58 Archive.org
Issue 59 Archive.org
Issue 60 Archive.org
Issue 61 Archive.org
Issue 62 Archive.org
Issue 63 Archive.org
Issue 64 Archive.org
Issue 65 Archive.org
Issue 66 Archive.org
Issue 67 Archive.org
Issue 68 Archive.org
Issue 69 Archive.org
Issue 70 Archive.org
Issue 71 Archive.org
Issue 72 Archive.org
Issue 73 Archive.org
Issue 74 Archive.org
Issue 75 Archive.org
Issue 76 Archive.org
Issue 77 Archive.org
Issue 78 Archive.org
Issue 79 Archive.org
Issue 80 Archive.org
Issue 81 Archive.org
Issue 82 Archive.org
Issue 83 Archive.org
Issue 84 Archive.org
Issue 85 Archive.org
Issue 86 Archive.org
Issue 87 Archive.org
Issue 88 Archive.org
Issue 89 Archive.org
Issue 90 Mockups Archive.org
Issue 91 Mockups Archive.org

Core

Issue User Link Notes
Vol.1 No.1 Archive.org
Vol.1 No.2 Archive.org
Vol.1 No.3 Archive.org
Utility Chart Archive.org

Hardcore Computing

Issue User Link Notes
Issue 1 Archive.org
Issue 1.1 Archive.org
Issue 2 Archive.org
Issue 2.1 Archive.org
Issue 3 Archive.org
Issue 3.1 Archive.org
Issue 3.2 Archive.org
The Best Of Archive.org
Promotional Issue Archive.org
1983 Promotional Issue [ Archive.org]

The Book of Softkeys

Volume User Link Notes
Volume 1 (Issues 1 – 5) Archive.org
Volume 2 (Issues 6 – 10) Archive.org
Volume 3 (Issues 11 – 15) Archive.org

Extras

Description User Link Notes
The Computist Archive DVD-ROM (2005) Archive.org
Computist Collection DVD Archive.org
Locksmith 6.0 Manual (1987) Archive.org

External Links

Computist Project

Computist Collection (Archive.org)