Super Pet Gazette

[CompuForensics]

I was pleasantly surprised to find a group that still discussed the PET series of microcomputers. Starting out in IBM mainframes in 1974, my first microcomputer experience was with a PET 2001 8K that I bought from an electronics store in Saint Louis around 1977. Sometime around 1982, I purchased a SuperPET from a computer store in Honolulu for use in debugging IBM mainframe COBOL programs. Since a SuperPET was not available locally, one was ordered. The first SuperPET box showed up at the computer store, but minus the computer. Instead, several rocks were substituted. The first and only time I've had that experience. Shortly thereafter, boxes complete with a computer and dual quad density drives did arrive at the store.

I used the SuperPET at home and work during the next two or three years. It was during that time that my wife and I subscribed to the SuperPET Gazette, a newsletter published out of West Virginia (I believe). We received the Gazette until it faded away or changed focus to later Commodore machines. I always wondered what happened to the gentleman who published the Gazette.

I still have the SuperPET. It's been boxed up since the mid-80s, having been replaced by a long series of IBM compatible computers. Every now and then I am tempted to break the tape seal on the boxes and see if the old gal still runs. In any event, I find it comforting that there is still interest in what was probably my favorite computer, micro or otherwise.

John

[airship]

I don't know if there was a separate "SuperPET Gazette", but...

The "PET Gazette" was published by Len Lindsay out of Madison, Wisconsin. It was later developed into Compute! magazine, and Len was quickly ousted by the new management. It was a very messy split, with the new owners taking full credit for having developed the magazine. The full story was related in a feature article in INFO magazine, written by yours truly.

Len went on to become the founder of the COMAL Users' Group, which distributed the COMAL programming language for the C64 and Amiga. As I understand it, he now works in IT for the state of Wisconsin.

[Blacklord]

COMPUTE! ISSUE 1 / FALL 1979 / PAGE 2

"PUBLISHER'S REMARKS

Welcome to the last "Super" issue of The PET Gazette, and the first "Super" issue of COMPUTE. Whether you're an old or new reader, you should read Len Lindsay's article on the evolution of the magazine. It'll tell you more about where the magazine began, and provide some context for the Resource Sections, the "Gazettes," the Review Form, and so on.

The PET Gazette built its name by serving as a resource journal. We expect to continue that tradition, not only in relation to Len's activity as Senior Contributing Editor for Commodore products, but other editorial activity with the additional 6502 products being added to the magazine.

We won't review a product from a press release. When you see a review in COMPUTE, you'll know it exists. We cannot always guarantee that it exists in quantity (e.g. note the Atari review ... John Victor reviews from experience. He has his hands on one of the very few that Atari has released to their suppliers), but that's the nature of the business these days. If we're reviewing a prototype, we'll try to tell you.

We'll reiterate Len's trusted warning: Never buy a product unless you're sure it exists. We try to screen our advertising, but that's not even a sure bet, so trust the reviews you see here, and article reviews you see elsewhere. World Power has given the industry some new problems, and we need to develop ways to protect ourselves in the future.

One last comment on "prototype" reviews. The lead time in the publishing industry is tremendous ... frequently 4-5 months. In fairness to developing companies, we'll review prototype products as one means of shortening that lead time. We'll make it clear in the review that the product is a prototype and may suffer as such from developmental bugs and hasty documentation. Nonetheless we think it will service both readers and "emerging" companies.

I'll be interested in comments on such a practice from manufacturers and readers. For additional information on our review policies and practices, see the facing page.

Small System Services, Inc. of Greensboro, NC is the publisher of COMPUTE. Among other things, our company runs a retail store (The Corner Computer Store) and has an R&D/new product division. We're offering this information up front because we see no point in trying to avoid the fact that we're a multifaceted company. Some articles are contributed by our staff (see ROM Retrofit installation and Sorting Sorts). These are intended to be service articles. We treat the magazine as a totally separate operation of our company. It will be as objective and fair as it has always been.

COMPUTE is not a non-profit magazine (at least it's not intended to be), but we fully intend to maintain the access to resources and informative approach of the original non-profit PET Gazette.

As you can see from the Table of Contents, we've organized the magazine into four major "Modules." These modules will continue to provide the basis for each issue of COMPUTE.

   1. 6502 Section: This part of the magazine is intended to provide articles of interest to everybody with a machine with a 6502 inside. If you're writing an article for this section, it needs to apply to more than one machine, or be generalizable to other 6502 machines.
   2. Business and Industrial: This section of the magazine is devoted to business and industrial applications of 6502 based machines. The articles will be of general interest to both learners and "doers."
   3. Education: This section is intended as a resource guide to teachers actively involved in the use of microcomputers, and equally to teachers considering involvement.
   4. The Gazettes: For your own "special" machine, we offer a PET Gazette, an Atari Gazette, an Apple Gazette, and for now, an SBC Gazette (Single Board Computer Gazette—ouch). In the Gazettes, you'll find material of specific interest; articles, reviews, new products and resources. Naturally we're strongest this issue with the PET Gazette, closely followed by the SBC Gazette. The Atari Gazette is off to a good start, and we expect Apple to catch up by the next issue. We'll look forward to your comments, reviews and articles. Welcome to COMPUTE.!

In January, we'll begin a column called the GAP, where we'll "discuss" problems, products, etc. We want the GAP to promote a dialogue between manufacturers and consumers. Nothing makes it to the marketplace that's all good or all bad. The GAP will attempt to investigate these "margins." Among other things, January's column will comment on that little piece of red plastic on the SYM-1, Commodore's documentation, and OSI. We're sure, by then, Atari and Apple will be included as well.

Enjoy this issue. Send us your comments, suggestions and complaints. We'll see you in January.

Robert Lock

HELP!

Beginning in January, Compute. will offer a HELP! column in each section of the magazine (as demand warrants). If you have a problem, question, complaint, etc. write to met at Compute. Be sure to write "HELP! Column" on the lower left corner of the envelope. We'll farm out your requests to "HELPful" persons in business, industry, education and so on as available and try to answer in the next issue. Please understand that requests cannot be answered personally, and that all requests for HELP! will not be responded to in the HELP! columns."

THE PET® GAZETTE

THE EVOLUTION OF A MAGAZINE

by Len Lindsay

April 1978 marked the beginning of the PET GAZETTE. It was begun by an enthusiastic, active, involved dreamer. There were, of course, high hopes, but it's beginning was quite modest. A little background about it's founder may be of use.

WRITING. When I put together the first PET GAZETTE, I had a background that helped to get it started and grow. I previously was the editor, typist, etc. for a college newspaper. Thus at the beginning I knew how much time and effort a newsletter takes. (It is estimated about 10 hours per page for a newsletter editor, if he doesn't do the typing — I did the typing too!) I also was familiar with printers and camera ready copy. But a good writer I was not. In fact, my college English professor said that I was one of the worst writers she had ever seen. But maybe that was one of the reasons the GAZETTE grew. It was not stuffy and gramatically precise, but rather down to earth. I believe what one says is more important than how one says it (as long as your readers understand what you mean).

DECISION. The decision to specialize in the PET was made after analyzing the information in all the magazines and 5 full file cabinet drawers. It appeared to be the computer of the future, for the everyday person. The decision to buy a PET was made, and the first issue of the PET GAZETTE was compiled. My PET did not arrive until MAY of 1978. Thus, my first issue was written, printed and mailed before I even had a PET.

DISTRIBUTION. The first issue was mailed to every name and address that could be found connected to the PET via an article or ad. News releases were sent to various publications. I was determined to provide information for PET users free of charge.

PROGRAMMING. I did not know BASIC very well when the PET first arrived, but learned PET BASIC very fast using my PET to help me. I don't know any other computer language. However, most PET users also seem to be in that position when they first get their PET so my articles may have been more relevant to them.

THE EVOLUTION BEGINS. The PET GAZETTE was originally to be a resource guide, to give all PET users one place to look to find any PET company's address, a list of products for the PET etc. The first issue listed two PET groups and 4 magazines. A list of 15 PET related magazine articles was printed. The list of PET related products amounted to only 4. The software list included 11 known sources and a FREE cassette program exchange was announced along with some guides for programs and their submission. Peoples' Computers Graphic and Special Character LISTING conventions were mentioned and supported. This trend of proposing standards to help the user avoid the trap of everyone doing it a bit different was continued in future issues.

SECOND ISSUE. The second issue was twice as large. This issue contained one half page ad. The Software list increased and listed specific programs and prices. The number of PET groups listed doubled to 4. The list of PET accessories increased from 4 to 11 companies, and there now were 3 pages for standards and Cassette Exchange information. This issue was published in May 1978, just before I received my PET. I had no PET programs myself, and luckily no one had submitted programs for exchange. I did worry about what would happen if delivery of my PET were late. Fortunately, I received my PET in time. And when I was embarrassed that in my second issue, one of my programming suggestions to improve readability of BASIC wouldn't work on the PET. I had advised indenting the inside of each FOR ... NEXT loop by one space. But I found that the PET ignores all extra spaces between the line number and the start of the commands. Thus you could leave the extra spaces as you typed in the program, but when listed they would be gone. I wonder how many of my then almost 100 readers realized that at the printing of my 2nd issue of the PET GAZETTE, I still did not have a PET?

ISSUE THREE. The growth trend continued. The third issue was three times the size of the previous issue, now weighing in at 24 pages. Advertisements now took up about 8 pages. Advertising rates were kept extremely low as an incentive to get a lot of ads. I felt the PET users would appreciate being able to see all the PET products advertised in one place. There were now 2 full pages listing PET related magazine articles. The Software list expanded to 2½ pages. Now that I had a PET I began carefully looking at programs on the market for the PET. My reviews covered 4 pages, and began what was to become a main emphasis in the PET GAZETTE — informing PET users what to expect from programs purchased.

FOUR BRINGS PROBLEMS. This was my last monthly issue. It's 40 pages presented a problem: collating it by hand and then stapling it together. This wasn't too bad before with fewer pages and less copies. But my mailing list continued its trend of doubling each issue. 400 copies to collate, fold, staple, address, and mail is quite a chore. To save on postage, I acquired a bulk rate mailing permit. I retained the size to keep it a handy little reference publication. The mailing list was put onto metal addressograph plates. A printer in town was kind enough to do this for me. He also had collating and paper folding machines. They helped, but it still took a few days of solid work for myself and the couple of people that I talked into helping me.

Sound capability was now being added to the PET and when this issue came out, at least 3 methods, all incompatible, were being used. The simplest one was chosen to be proposed as the convention for adding sound to programs. All it took was 2 wires and a speaker/amplifier. And the programming was rather simple too. This convention did become standard and is often referred to as the GAZETTE sound convention. Almost all programs using sound use this convention. This kept the exchange of programs compatible.

This issue also began my WARNING. *** Never buy a product unless you are sure it exists ***. This was right on the cover of the issue. Every issue from this point on contained a similar warning on the cover or 1st page. This of course made product reviews very important. It also helped PET users to be wise buyers. I never printed a review of a product that did not exist. In addition to the reviews, PET programming tips were expanded. The GAZETTE was now more than just a guide to PET resources, it was an information guide as well.

LAST OF THE HANDY SIZE

This issue was the first where I had too much material to print, and could not afford to print and mail it all. Only about half of the material was chosen to be printed. The list of PET companies now covered 3 pages, with 4 columns on each page. Listing of PET programs began in this issue with FILE MANAGER, a program to help users with data files. Now, the bulk of the GAZETTE was helpful information and programming tips. My mail was increasing and many people were sending in information to print for the benefit of my readers. I was very happy with the generally enthusiastic and friendly attitude of most PET users. It really seemed that we had a PET community.

A MAJOR TURNING POINT. I decided to double the size from 5½×8½ to 8½×11. The GAZETTE had by now become a magazine. I converted my mailing list and arranged for another company to manage it for me.

Advertisers in this first large size issue were lucky. They paid for a full 5½×8½ page ad and received an ad twice that size, due to the page size doubling. I now had over 25 reviews printed, and several more that didn't get included until the next issue. The cover now was a beautiful photo of the PET in outer space, which I designed. I am very happy with that cover photo. The workings of the PET were also uncovered and a machine language program listing was included.

Perhaps the most significant change was that I now was using my PET to do my magazine. I had a Word Processing Program and printer. If it weren't for that I would not have been able to keep up the GAZETTE.

THE BEST. Due to requests for back issues which no longer were available I decided to compile all my previous information together with my new information and publish a BEST OF THE PET GAZETTE. I printed 4,000 copies of this 100 page book. It included over 100 product reviews, 20 program listings, and a ton of information. Company addresses were printed along the left side of 9 consecutive pages so as to be easy to flip through to find any company's address. Copies of this excellent resource and information guide are still available from COMPUTE at $10 each.

SPRING '79 issue. The GAZETTE now included art work and parts of it were typeset. Almost 60 more products were reviewed. I now was receiving reviews in the mail from enthusiastic readers. Some reviews came on tape, which provided data for my Word Processor Program. I then could print out the review on my printer in any size column to fit the space available on the page.

SUMMER '79. This issue brought all the problems to a head. It took almost 2 months to get it back from the printer, and another month before it was mailed by the company managing my subscription list. I had no control over all these delays, and was very frustrated. This, combined with being overworked and having to spend the majority of my time with "business" rather than with "computing" led to a sad state of affairs. The quality of my writing could not remain high when I had only enough time to put out first drafts, which were then printed. This is far from ideal. But by now there were thousands of PET users depending on the GAZETTE and I did not have the heart to just quit. Small System Services called. What do you know! They were interested in publishing the GAZETTE. After a few letters and phone conversations it was decided that they could carry on the GAZETTE and improve it immensely. How could I refuse that? The GAZETTE now reached its turning point, and it looked like a turn for the BEST.

THE NEW PET GAZETTE. Small System Services now is publisher of the PET GAZETTE. They decided to change its name to COMPUTE, the Journal for Progressive Computing. Emphasis on the PET remains, but other 6502 computing systems will also be covered, including the new, not yet released ATARI! In addition to all that, COMPUTE will have its own booth at three major fall computer shows (Boston, Atlanta, Philadelphia). The fall super issue of COMPUTE looks promising indeed, with about 10,000 copies to be distributed. All this, and it should get even better. Watch for my program review roundup in the next issue. I'll be here hope you will be too.

[Andrew Wiskow]

Interesting...  Doesn't sound like it was very "messy" to me.  But perhaps that came later...

[airship]

Interesting...  Doesn't sound like it was very "messy" to me.  But perhaps that came later...

Indeed. Len never got a nickel, despite the fact that their written and signed agreement guaranteed him payments every issue. He wrote a column for about three issues (I think) and then they kicked him out. They took 'formerly the PET Gazette' off the cover and removed Len from the masthead.

I'll try to figure out which issue of INFO the story is in, then put up the PDF and post a link. The most unfortunate thing is that Len was robbed of his legacy by Lock, who ever after personally claimed credit as the 'founder' of Compute!, despite all the evidence to the contrary in early issues of 'his' own magazine!

[CompuForensics]

I enjoyed reading the replies to my initial posting. After checking with my wife, I can report that the title of the newsletter was the SuperPET Gazette. We initially received it in 1983 or 84. The last issue of the SuperPET Gazette, which took the form of a newsletter received in the mail, occurred in the mid-80s. We may have a copy squirreled away somewhere that survived two Government moves.

To the best of my recollection, the SuperPET Gazette was succeeded by a newsletter focusing on the Amiga. Since IBM compatibles were by then in wide use by my employer, the US Government, I decided against buying another non-IBM compatible computer.

Working on the assumption that the SuperPET still runs, is there a source for the quad density floppies containing the programming language interpreters? I believe floppies start to degrade after about five years. It would be more of a curiosity than anything else. For some reason I kept the SuperPET, my first IBM compatible (Televideo II portable purchased in 1984) and first notebook (GRiD 8086 with 10MB saddleback fixed drive and plasma display).

[RobertB]

Working on the assumption that the SuperPET still runs, is there a source for the quad density floppies containing the programming language interpreters?

I would think that the Toronto Pet User Group would have them, because I believe they have the largest number of SuperPETs gathered nowadays.

                 Truly,
                 Robert Bernardo
                 Fresno Commodore User Group
                 http://videocam.net.au/fcug
                 CommVEx v5 info - http://www.commodore.ca/forum and click on ComVEX