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 Atari 8-bit family of home computers. It was published from 1981 until 1989. In addition to reviews and tutorials, ANALOG printed 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. ANALOG also sold commercial games, two books of type-in software, and access to a custom bulletin-board system.

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.[2]

History

ANALOG was co-launched by Lee H. Pappas and Michael DesChesnes who met at a Star Trek convention in 1978.[3] The first issue of the magazine was January / February 1981. It was published bi-monthly through the November / December 1983 issue and then monthly from January 1984 on.[3]

When the Atari ST was announced in 1985, it was initially covered in ANALOG. 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] The relocation resulted in circulation being interrupted between issues 57 and 58 (from October 1987 to March 1988). It was addressed in ANALOG issue 58 since subscribers weren't informed ahead of time.

In 1989 LFP Inc. announced it would merge ANALOG and ST-Log into one Atari resource.[4] 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 December 1989, totaling 79 issues.

Additional products

ANALOG Software

In its early years, ANALOG Computing sold games via mail order under the name ANALOG Software.[5][6] Several of these were written by magazine staff members. Some games were advertised, but never completed or published, such as Sunday Driver.[7]

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."[8] An Atari 8-bit Extra from ANALOG Computing (1987) contained previously unpublished programs.[9]

The ANALOG Computing Pocket Reference Card was published in 1985 and sold for US$7.95.[10] It contains a summary of Atari BASIC commands, player/missile memory layout, hardware register and operating system addresses, ATASCII characters, graphics modes, and other information.[10]

Bulletin board

The ANALOG Computing Telecommunications System, or ANALOG Computing TCS, was a custom bulletin board system accessible only through paid subscription. After the TCS launched, an 8-page ANALOG Computing TCS Guide was bound into an issue of the magazine.[11]