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

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Core

Issue User Link Notes
Vol.1 No.1 Archive.org Acquired
Vol.1 No.2 Archive.org Acquired
Vol.1 No.3 Archive.org Acquired
Utility Chart Famicoman 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 Acquired
Promotional Issue Archive.org
1983 Promotional Issue Famicoman 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
Computise Editorial (1982) Famicoman Archive.org

External Links

Computist Project

Computist Collection (Archive.org)