''The Micro User'' (titled ''BBC Micro User'' in the first three issues) was a British specialist magazine catering to users of the

BBC Micro The British Broadcasting Corporation Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, is a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by Acorn Computers in the 1980s for the BBC Computer Literacy Project. Designed with an emphas ...

computer series,

Acorn Electron The Acorn Electron (nicknamed the Elk inside Acorn and beyond) was a lower-cost alternative to the BBC Micro educational/ home computer, also developed by Acorn Computers Ltd, to provide many of the features of that more expensive machine at a ...

Acorn Archimedes Acorn Archimedes is a family of personal computers designed by Acorn Computers of Cambridge, England. The systems are based on Acorn's own ARM architecture processors and the proprietary operating systems Arthur and RISC OS. The first mode ...

and, to a limited extent, the

Cambridge Z88 The Cambridge Computer Z88 is a Zilog Z80-based portable computer released in 1987 by Cambridge Computer, the company formed for such purpose by Clive Sinclair. It was approximately A4 paper sized and lightweight at , running on four AA batter ...

. It had a comprehensive mix of reviews of games, application software, and the latest Acorn computers;

type-in program A type-in program or type-in listing was computer source code printed in a home computer magazine or book. It was meant to be entered via the keyboard by the reader and then saved to cassette tape or floppy disk. The result was a usable game, ...

s (duplicated on a "

cover disk Covermount (sometimes written cover mount) is the name given to storage media (containing software and or audiovisual media) or other products (ranging from toys to flip-flops) packaged as part of a magazine or newspaper. The name comes from the ...

" which was available separately), a correspondence page offering help with computer problems, and approachable technical articles on programming and the BBC Micro's internals. The magazine hosted the long-running ''Body Building'' series by Mike Cook, in which each article introduced a small

electronics The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...

project that could be built and connected to one of the BBC Micro's I/O ports. The project could be ordered in kit form or fully assembled, or the reader could source the parts and design as the articles contained a

circuit diagram A circuit diagram (wiring diagram, electrical diagram, elementary diagram, electronic schematic) is a graphical representation of an electrical circuit. A pictorial circuit diagram uses simple images of components, while a schematic diagram s ...

. There were regular columns on adventure gaming from two successive contributors under the pseudonyms ''" Alice through the VDU"'' and ''"The

Mad Hatter The Hatter is a fictional character in Lewis Carroll's 1865 book '' Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' and its 1871 sequel ''Through the Looking-Glass''. He is very often referred to as the Mad Hatter, though this term was never used by Ca ...

"''. They reviewed the latest adventure releases for Acorn computers, offered hints to some games and scattered mathematical and logical puzzles in their articles. Another regular columnist, using the pen-name of ''"Hac-Man"'' (in reference to '' Pac-Man'') set out

cheats Cheating generally describes various actions designed to subvert rules in order to obtain unfair advantages. This includes acts of bribery, cronyism and nepotism in any situation where individuals are given preference using inappropriate crit ...

and compatibility fixes for popular

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

-style games, in the form of

pokes Poke may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Poke (''Ender's Game''), a fictional character * Poke (game), a two-player card game * Poke, a fictional bar owner in the television series '' Treme'' * The Poke, a British satirical website F ...

or short type-in programs. Watford Electronics and Technomatic were prominent advertisers, taking out multi-page spreads in every issue in the mid 1980s. From October 1983 the magazine carried the first four issues of ''

Electron User ''Electron User'' was a magazine targeted at owners of the Acorn Electron microcomputer. It was published by Database Publications of Stockport, starting in October 1983 and ending after 82 issues in July 1990. Initially it was included as a 1 ...

'' as a pull-out; this then split off into an independent publication.

Acorn Computing

With the October 1992 issue, the magazine was renamed ''Acorn Computing''. Each issue now came with a cover disc for user on RISC OS computers.Acorn Computing, October 1992, pg. 15

References

External links

Unofficial archive of The Micro User magazineThe Micro User Magazine @ Acorn Preservation Dot OrgThe Micro User Magazine @ The Centre for Computing History
Defunct computer magazines published in the United Kingdom Magazines established in 1983 Magazines disestablished in 1992 Magazines published in Manchester {{UK-sci-mag-stub

Acorn Computing

See also

References

External links