Preparing for the Incoming Computer Shopper Tsunami

berbec wrote: post #4

sprior wrote: post #3

I buy Computer Shopper for the articles - said no one ever.

Since it's been so long, I can't remember, but were there even articles - or was it just 999 pages of classified ads sold to the highest bidder?

Most of the articles were product reviews, but I bought it for the BBS listings.

Re: Preparing for the Incoming Computer Shopper Tsunami

#7

Post by analog31 » Tue, Jun 06, 2023, 1:37 AM UTC

What a wonderful resource. When I was in grad school, somebody would buy the latest Computer Shopper and it would be passed around as needed. You really didn't need a brand new copy, so the old ones were passed around too. Sometimes it just gave you an idea of what could be built, and what kind of planning was needed. And payment / shipment were nontrivial in those days.

Re: Preparing for the Incoming Computer Shopper Tsunami

#8

Post by lr4444lr » Tue, Jun 06, 2023, 1:38 AM UTC

Considering the prices adjusted for inflation, and how little computers could do out of the box beyond the business applications they were designed for in that era, it was really quite an expensive hobby to be a hacker!

Re: Preparing for the Incoming Computer Shopper Tsunami

#9

Post by whartung » Tue, Jun 06, 2023, 1:39 AM UTC

berbec wrote: post #4

sprior wrote: post #3

I buy Computer Shopper for the articles - said no one ever.

Since it's been so long, I can't remember, but were there even articles - or was it just 999 pages of classified ads sold to the highest bidder?

I have vague memories of counting the number of content pages against the advertising pages once, and it was at least 80% advertising.

Re: Preparing for the Incoming Computer Shopper Tsunami

#10

Post by bluedino » Tue, Jun 06, 2023, 1:44 AM UTC

sprior wrote: post #3

I buy Computer Shopper for the articles - said no one ever.

Bob and Alice was a great column. There were some programming articles too, I learned my first compression algorithm from one!