So long, and thanks for all the nibbles
September 19, 2013 8:17 AM Subscribe
Back in the days when diskettes were literally floppy and storage was measured in Ks and Ms rather than Gs and Ts, any geek worth the name read Byte Magazine. Its founder, Wayne Green, passed away last week on Friday the 13th, at age 91.
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End of an era, to be sure. I learned BASIC by typing in programs published in BYTE magazine. (Well, what I really learned was debugging! You'd almost always make a few typos ...)
posted by crazy_yeti at 8:25 AM on September 19, 2013 [7 favorites]
End of an era, to be sure. I learned BASIC by typing in programs published in BYTE magazine. (Well, what I really learned was debugging! You'd almost always make a few typos ...)
posted by crazy_yeti at 8:25 AM on September 19, 2013 [7 favorites]
Oh my, that takes me back. I guess the British equivalent would have been Personal Computer World (back in the very late 70s/early 80s, when the likes of the late Guy Kewney were writing for it regularly).
posted by cstross at 8:28 AM on September 19, 2013
posted by cstross at 8:28 AM on September 19, 2013
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Issues of Byte lying around the "computer lab" (probably three machines or so) at the high school where my dad worked (along with a dad who would let me join him after hours and the teacher who subscribed who let me access the issues) meant that elementary school Mike knew more about the current world of computing than adult Mike ever will.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 8:29 AM on September 19, 2013
Issues of Byte lying around the "computer lab" (probably three machines or so) at the high school where my dad worked (along with a dad who would let me join him after hours and the teacher who subscribed who let me access the issues) meant that elementary school Mike knew more about the current world of computing than adult Mike ever will.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 8:29 AM on September 19, 2013
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posted by Smart Dalek at 8:31 AM on September 19, 2013
posted by Smart Dalek at 8:31 AM on September 19, 2013
2E
posted by The Bellman at 8:34 AM on September 19, 2013 [8 favorites]
posted by The Bellman at 8:34 AM on September 19, 2013 [8 favorites]
I keep thinking I need to get rid of some of the accumulated collections I've got piled up in the tiny amount of storage space I have available, but every time I open up my boxes in the pursuit of condensing my material subconscious into something more compact and bijou, the 1970s-thru-mid-1980s Bytes get paged through, triggering a fugue state of reflection, then carefully reboxed and returned to memory. The dreams of S100 futures return, I wonder what I'd have been if I was as smart as I was interested in such things, and I invariably boot up the Kaypro II for one more game of Ladder, listlessly poke at the Northstar, and leave it all behind, but not entirely.
Anyone want an Epson Geneva PX8?
I'm a digital pack rat, alas.
posted by sonascope at 8:40 AM on September 19, 2013 [3 favorites]
Anyone want an Epson Geneva PX8?
I'm a digital pack rat, alas.
posted by sonascope at 8:40 AM on September 19, 2013 [3 favorites]
Far be it from me to correct sonascope on the use of a word, but 'alas' is pretty much the opposite way to end that sentence.
(I'm a recovering hoarder though, so my judgment on such matters might not be flawed.)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 8:43 AM on September 19, 2013
(I'm a recovering hoarder though, so my judgment on such matters might not be flawed.)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 8:43 AM on September 19, 2013
Far be it from me to correct sonascope on the use of a word, but 'alas' is pretty much the opposite way to end that sentence.
That depends on whether they are big endian or little endian. (Have not seen their endian and don't know).
posted by srboisvert at 8:45 AM on September 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
That depends on whether they are big endian or little endian. (Have not seen their endian and don't know).
posted by srboisvert at 8:45 AM on September 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
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So many years, so much change... and Byte started it off.
Thank you, sir - you done good by the world.
It will go on and you will be remember, even after the Great Maker has hit Control-C on you.
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posted by JB71 at 8:48 AM on September 19, 2013
So many years, so much change... and Byte started it off.
Thank you, sir - you done good by the world.
It will go on and you will be remember, even after the Great Maker has hit Control-C on you.
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posted by JB71 at 8:48 AM on September 19, 2013
I probably was the only kid in my public library eagerly reading every issue the moment it came out. Hell, I was probably the only person in my town reading it. Every issue was a wonderland of new and amazing stuff...and then the Apple ][ hit. Everything changed.
0x2E for Wayne.
posted by JoeZydeco at 8:48 AM on September 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
0x2E for Wayne.
posted by JoeZydeco at 8:48 AM on September 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
> 10 PRINT "Goodbye, Wayne"
> 20 GOTO 10
posted by islander at 9:03 AM on September 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
> 20 GOTO 10
posted by islander at 9:03 AM on September 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
Wayne was also a well-known amateur radio operator (W2NSD), and publisher of several magazines on ham radio.
posted by action man bow-tie at 9:24 AM on September 19, 2013
posted by action man bow-tie at 9:24 AM on September 19, 2013
Yeah - Byte always seemed a little more geeky to me than a lot of the other computing mags out there. I mean, I liked Family Computing and shit. Byte just seemed deeper.
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posted by symbioid at 9:24 AM on September 19, 2013
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posted by symbioid at 9:24 AM on September 19, 2013
Byte and Creative Computing were my favorites in the 1970s and 1980s.
OK, those andThe Dragon.
And Omni. Also Starlog.
posted by zippy at 9:36 AM on September 19, 2013
OK, those and
And Omni. Also Starlog.
posted by zippy at 9:36 AM on September 19, 2013
Chaos Manor. Ciarcia's Circuit Cellar. Those were the days indeed. Not as knotty as Dr Dobbs, not as fluffy as the local stuff (although Personal Computer World put on a good show), it somehow didn't seem strange that I was reading about registers and RAM designs when the highest tech stuff in my home was a colour TV with tubes and a 1960s-designed telephone. The only computer I had access to was a Prime in the local polytechnic which accepted bunches of punched cards from my school.
I learned a lot from Byte. Not least that, in the mid-to-late 70s, the average American had infinitely more spare cash than I could imagine. That £50 ZX81 kit couldn't come soon enough (literally, given Sinclair's delivery habits).
posted by Devonian at 9:43 AM on September 19, 2013
I learned a lot from Byte. Not least that, in the mid-to-late 70s, the average American had infinitely more spare cash than I could imagine. That £50 ZX81 kit couldn't come soon enough (literally, given Sinclair's delivery habits).
posted by Devonian at 9:43 AM on September 19, 2013
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posted by Hairy Lobster at 10:01 AM on September 19, 2013
posted by Hairy Lobster at 10:01 AM on September 19, 2013
You can browse many early issues at archive.org. Or just read some reviews of classics like Zork, Window, and the IBM PC.
BYTE was different than the later "personal computing" mags because it preceded personal computing. You'd not only read about hardware hacks but things like Smalltalk, LISP, FORTH, UNIX, Renderman, etc. It was like reading about the future.
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posted by RobotVoodooPower at 10:04 AM on September 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
BYTE was different than the later "personal computing" mags because it preceded personal computing. You'd not only read about hardware hacks but things like Smalltalk, LISP, FORTH, UNIX, Renderman, etc. It was like reading about the future.
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posted by RobotVoodooPower at 10:04 AM on September 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
010100100100100101010000
posted by BigHeartedGuy at 10:06 AM on September 19, 2013
posted by BigHeartedGuy at 10:06 AM on September 19, 2013
I worked at Byte in the late 1980s, mostly writing news items for BIX, which had about 30,000 members at the time -- it was the third largest computer network, I believe (not counting the early Internet), behind AOL and Compuserve. Byte was a great place to work, very interesting mix of people. Best of all (to me, at least) was that it was located in Peterborough, New Hampshire, a beautiful tiny rural town, the last place you'd expect to find a McGraw-Hill magazine with a (then) circulation of 400K.
By the time I got there, the wonderful Robert Tinney covers (as well as great ones from other artists) were a thing of the past, and competition with the newer consumer-oriented magazines was in the forefront. I never knew Wayne, don't believe I even met him. But he created a wonderful magazine, for which I was grateful. May he rest in peace.
posted by young_simba at 11:31 AM on September 19, 2013 [3 favorites]
By the time I got there, the wonderful Robert Tinney covers (as well as great ones from other artists) were a thing of the past, and competition with the newer consumer-oriented magazines was in the forefront. I never knew Wayne, don't believe I even met him. But he created a wonderful magazine, for which I was grateful. May he rest in peace.
posted by young_simba at 11:31 AM on September 19, 2013 [3 favorites]
I never got into Byte (a bit too young) but I know Byte and the other magazines basically helped create a local computer publishing industry in the Peterborough NH area as young_simba said, I now live nearby and I think the presence of some of the small web and tech companies here is due in part to that, which lets folks like me live in this rural area but have interesting technical work.
posted by thefool at 11:37 AM on September 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by thefool at 11:37 AM on September 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
Wayne was also the founder of the ham radio magazine 73.
Also, Kilobaud Microcomputing
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posted by ZenMasterThis at 11:54 AM on September 19, 2013
Also, Kilobaud Microcomputing
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posted by ZenMasterThis at 11:54 AM on September 19, 2013
Wayne was also a well-known amateur radio operator (W2NSD), and publisher of several magazines on ham radio.
"Never Say Die" was Wayne's credo (based on his callsign, of course), and the name of his column in 73 magazine. A gadfly and a crazy cat.
. . . -.-
posted by Herodios at 12:23 PM on September 19, 2013
"Never Say Die" was Wayne's credo (based on his callsign, of course), and the name of his column in 73 magazine. A gadfly and a crazy cat.
. . . -.-
posted by Herodios at 12:23 PM on September 19, 2013
BYTE . . . preceded personal computing. You'd read about things like Smalltalk . . . It was like reading about the future.
Hah! The only issue of Byte still in my possession is the August 1981 issue covering Smalltalk, showing ". . . clouds clearing from around the kingdom of Smalltalk, and, with banners streaming, the Smalltalk [balloon] taking flight into the mainstream of the computer programming community."
S'fun.
posted by Herodios at 12:38 PM on September 19, 2013
Hah! The only issue of Byte still in my possession is the August 1981 issue covering Smalltalk, showing ". . . clouds clearing from around the kingdom of Smalltalk, and, with banners streaming, the Smalltalk [balloon] taking flight into the mainstream of the computer programming community."
S'fun.
posted by Herodios at 12:38 PM on September 19, 2013
Omni was my gateway drug, but Byte was my first taste of the hard stuff.
*pours out a40 64*
posted by oneswellfoop at 2:10 PM on September 19, 2013
*pours out a
posted by oneswellfoop at 2:10 PM on September 19, 2013
I was a little too young for Byte, so I read K Power (which is also, incidentally, where I first heard of Joey Ramone and Talking Heads). My fourth-grade teacher would let my buddy and me stay inside at lunch recess to type the lines of BASIC into our classroom's (one) computer--an Apple IIe. Ah, the nerdy good times we had.
So if Byte scratched the itch for its readers the way K Power did mine, I feel your pain.
posted by Rykey at 2:49 PM on September 19, 2013
So if Byte scratched the itch for its readers the way K Power did mine, I feel your pain.
posted by Rykey at 2:49 PM on September 19, 2013
Byte and Creative Computing were both wonderful, back when every machine was different and had their own quirks and foibles.
I still have a box of both. Amazing to see the milestones on the cover of Byte. The PC, Mac, Atari ST, NeXT. Deep articles, not just a rehash of the company's sales literature. And the Tinney covers! I still want to get a poster of that one.
I think there is still a market for something like Byte, looking at everything from chip design and OS architecture. But dead-tree magazines seem to be, well, dead.
You can reminisce here.
Thanks, Wayne.
posted by bitmage at 3:52 PM on September 19, 2013
I still have a box of both. Amazing to see the milestones on the cover of Byte. The PC, Mac, Atari ST, NeXT. Deep articles, not just a rehash of the company's sales literature. And the Tinney covers! I still want to get a poster of that one.
I think there is still a market for something like Byte, looking at everything from chip design and OS architecture. But dead-tree magazines seem to be, well, dead.
You can reminisce here.
Thanks, Wayne.
posted by bitmage at 3:52 PM on September 19, 2013
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I used to read 73 magazine (CQ not so much) from cover to cover and once met 'Never Say Die' at his home QTH many years ago. He was a 'one off'.
posted by lungtaworld at 10:30 AM on September 20, 2013
I used to read 73 magazine (CQ not so much) from cover to cover and once met 'Never Say Die' at his home QTH many years ago. He was a 'one off'.
posted by lungtaworld at 10:30 AM on September 20, 2013
> 10 PRINT "Goodbye, Wayne"
> 20 GOTO 10
Good, but can be improved.
10 DIM i
20 LET i = 0
30 PRINT "HELLO WAYNE"
40 LET i = i + 1
50 IF i > 90 THEN GOTO 91
60 GOTO 30
91 PRINT "GOODBYE WAYNE"
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posted by Autumn Leaf at 6:06 PM on September 20, 2013
> 20 GOTO 10
Good, but can be improved.
10 DIM i
20 LET i = 0
30 PRINT "HELLO WAYNE"
40 LET i = i + 1
50 IF i > 90 THEN GOTO 91
60 GOTO 30
91 PRINT "GOODBYE WAYNE"
.
posted by Autumn Leaf at 6:06 PM on September 20, 2013
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Byte in the early and mid part of the eighties was a strong influence in making me go into Computer Science as a field. It had a very nice, and to my knowledge unrivalled, mix between tinkers, hobbyists, and academics. Heck, just the dumps from Bix were interesting, years before I got online.
Since then it became more like a thick PC Mag, which was too bad.
posted by bouvin at 8:23 AM on September 19, 2013 [3 favorites]