''The Transactor'' was a
computer magazine
Computer magazines are about computers and related subjects, such as computer network, networking and the Internet. Most computer magazines offer (or offered) advice, some offer Programming language, programming Tutorial, tutorials, reviews of the ...
directed at users of
Commodore
Commodore may refer to:
Ranks
* Commodore (rank), a naval rank
** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom
** Commodore (United States)
** Commodore (Canada)
** Commodore (Finland)
** Commodore (Germany) or ''Kommodore''
* Air commodore, a ...
home computers.
In contrast to other Commodore-focused publications such as ''
Commodore Magazine
''Commodore Power/Play'' was one of a pair of computer magazines published by Commodore Business Machines in the United States in support of their 8-bit home computer lines of the 1980s. The other was called ''Commodore Interface'', changed to jus ...
'' and ''
COMPUTE!'s Gazette
''Compute!'s Gazette'' (), stylized as ''COMPUTE!'s Gazette'', was a computer magazine of the 1980s, directed at users of Commodore's 8-bit home computers. Announced as ''The Commodore Gazette'', it was a Commodore-only daughter magazine of the ...
'', ''The Transactor''
's popularity was based on its coverage of deep technical issues and
hardware hacking
Hardware may refer to:
Technology Computing and electronics
* Electronic hardware, interconnected electronic components which perform analog or logic operations
** Digital electronics, electronics that operate on digital signals
*** Computer hardw ...
.
''
INFO
Info is shorthand for "information". It may also refer to:
Computing
* .info, a generic top-level domain
* info:, a URI scheme for information assets with identifiers in public namespaces
* info (Unix), a command used to view documentation produc ...
'' called ''The Transactor'' "the undeniable authority" on "Commodore programming and hardware information".
Publication history
The magazine was launched on 30 April 1978 as the official international bulletin of
Commodore Canada
Commodore International (other names include Commodore International Limited) was an American home computer and electronics manufacturer founded by Jack Tramiel. Commodore International (CI), along with its subsidiary Commodore Business Mach ...
to
PET
A pet, or companion animal, is an animal kept primarily for a person's company or entertainment rather than as a working animal, livestock, or a laboratory animal. Popular pets are often considered to have attractive appearances, intelligence, ...
user group
A users' group (also user's group or user group) is a type of Club (organization), club focused on the use of a particular technology, usually (but not always) computer-related.
Overview
Users' groups started in the early days of Mainframe compu ...
s.
The early issues were low-tech
mimeograph
A mimeograph machine (often abbreviated to mimeo, sometimes called a stencil duplicator) is a low-cost duplicating machine that works by forcing ink through a stencil onto paper. The process is called mimeography, and a copy made by the pro ...
ed productions with no non-Commodore advertising and a roughly monthly release schedule. Despite its association with Commodore, the magazine earned a reputation for being honest and upfront about bugs and faults in Commodore's products.
In September 1982 the magazine was relaunched as a fully independent, bimonthly, advertiser-supported publication. From this point the magazine became professionally typeset with full-colour illustrated covers.
It was sold by subscription throughout its run, and also appeared on newsstands from June 1982 until July 1987; during this period the magazine claimed a peak circulation of 72,000, of which 53,000 was newsstand sales.
The independent ''Transactor'' went through a succession of publishers (
Canadian Micro Distributors
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
until April 1983, then Transactor Publishing from July 1983 to September 1988, and finally British publishing house
Croftward Publishing). Though a popular magazine among Commodore users, it unexpectedly went out of business and ceased publication in August 1989.
Karl Hildon Karl may refer to:
People
* Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name
* Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne
* Karl Marx, German philosopher and political writer
* Karl of Austria, last Austria ...
served as editor-in-chief of the magazine until the March 1988 issue. Frequent contributors included
Jim Butterfield
Frank James "Jim" Butterfield (14 February 1936 – 29 June 2007), was a Toronto-based computer programmer, author, and television personality known for his work with early microcomputers. He is particularly noted for associations with Commodore ...
and
Richard Evers
Richard Evers (born May 31, 1959) is a Canadians, Canadian publisher, programmer, technology consultant and List of Canadian writers, author. Evers was editor and publisher of ''The Transactor'' and ''Transactor for the Amiga''. He has worked for ...
.
Spin-offs
In January 1988, ''The Transactor'' announced that it had spun off its coverage of the
Commodore Amiga
Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphi ...
to a dedicated magazine, ''
Transactor for the Amiga
''The Transactor'' was a computer magazine directed at users of Commodore home computers.
In contrast to other Commodore-focused publications such as ''Commodore Magazine'' and ''COMPUTE!'s Gazette'', ''The Transactors popularity was based o ...
''.
At least four anthologies of ''Transactor'' articles appeared in book form: ''The Best of The Transactor Volume 1'' through ''The Best of The Transactor Volume 3'',
plus ''The Transactor Book of Bits and Pieces #1''.
In the course of preparing ''Volume 2'' Hildon was inspired to create a comprehensive reference work for Commodore 8-bit computers, which was eventually published as ''The Complete Commodore Inner Space Anthology''.
References
External links
Authorized online archiveMiscellaneous info about ''The Transactor'' magazineby Craig S. Bruce
Partial indexby Dan Fandrich
''Transactor'' booksat
The Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Transactor, The
Commodore 8-bit computer magazines
Defunct computer magazines
Defunct magazines published in Canada
Home computer magazines
Magazines established in 1978
Magazines disestablished in 1989
Magazines published in Ontario