96 replies to this topic

[ThumpNugget]

Greetings people! I apologize in advance for the length of this post.

I’ve been working on creating a set of PDF scans of SoftSide magazine. For those that do not know much about this magazine it was published starting in October of 1978 until sometime in 1984. Originally it covered only the TRS-80 model 1. Coverage of the Atari and Apple computers was added in August of 1980. Coverage for commodore and the PC was added at the very end of its life. Originally the magazine was half size but went to a full size magazine when Atari coverage was added.



The magazine was famous for its adventure game (around 50 were published including many for the Atari) and it also had a monthly column by Scott Adams in when Adventure International was still very young. The magazine went through a lot of changes. Starting in January 1983 the magazine was split into two: One was the main magazine and the other simple code listing for the specific computer of the subscriber (or the main program for every computer for the newsstand copy). The numbering scheme is also bizarre with column numbers being used for the first 44 issues and then a numbering scheme starting with issue 45 (though they started the number at #30). This numbering scheme has made it difficult to collect artifacts for this magazine!

I’ve put up one of the issues here (60 megs – be patient): SoftSide 55 PDF

So here is what is done so far:

The first 62 issues are scanned (Oct 1978 through Feb 1984). I do not know how many more issues there are though I know it died sometime in 1984 and that there is a march 1984 (vol . 7-03, issue #48) so I am missing at least one issue.

I’ve also been trying to get the programs listed in the magazine. I have a lot but there are a lot missing. The spreadsheet shows three colors: Green means it came off a disk, blue means I pulled it from a cassette. Red means it is missing. This is true for the programs only. The red on the magazine listings simply mean that I did not do the scan (I swapped a bunch of scans with Ira over at trs-80.com to fill in some missing gaps).

What I am looking for (read: my plea for help):

The separate “code” additions for the Atari are all collected with the exception of 1983-09 (#43, vol 6-11).



And of course anyone with SoftSide disks/tapes that show anything missing:







And of course any SoftSide disks/tapes that show anything missing on the list (excel spreadsheet):  SoftSide_Magazines.zip   50.14K   290 downloads

If you have any SoftSide materials not in the spreadsheet please get int touch! I'm mostly looking for the Atari Materials but I'm also tracking for the other machines...

I’ve had a lot of help from Allan on here getting SoftSide magazine materials. He sacrificed quite a few of his own magazines to help get this together so a special thanks to him.

I’d like to do something similar with the SoftSides that were done with the Antic/Analogs: create a nice disk set (these will fit on 1 DVD as I am processing them files differently than the Antic/Analog which shrinks the pages by about 30%).. Torrents would then shortly follow.

Thanks for reading.

Edited by ThumpNugget, Tue Aug 18, 2009 9:32 PM.

[jacobus]

Great work! I really appreciate this!

Not sure what it was, but there was some intangible quality about SoftSide that made it stand out from other magazines of the era ... Always one of my favourites!


I have the "Best of SoftSide" (Atari version of course) Compilation - Do you want that as well?

[www.atarimania.com]

Great!

Some of the game titles in red can be found on our site.

--
Atari Frog
http://www.atarimania.com

[ThumpNugget]

jacobus, on Wed Aug 19, 2009 3:28 AM, said:

Great work! I really appreciate this!

Not sure what it was, but there was some intangible quality about SoftSide that made it stand out from other magazines of the era ... Always one of my favourites!


I have the "Best of SoftSide" (Atari version of course) Compilation - Do you want that as well?

Yes, that would be excellent! Thanks much.

[DanBoris]

Nice work! I loved Softside magazine. I was always impressed with the quality of Softside's type in programs. Some of them were as good if not better then a lot of commercial programs.

[ThumpNugget]

www.atarimania.com, on Wed Aug 19, 2009 4:31 AM, said:

Great!

Some of the game titles in red can be found on our site.

--
Atari Frog
<a href="http://www.atarimania.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.atarimania.com</a>

I went through the atarimania site and found 12 not already saved and added them to the current ATRs... good progress!

I updated the spreadsheet (there only ones missing are the programs in red)

 SoftSide Magazines.zip   50.53K   197 downloads

Edited by ThumpNugget, Thu Aug 20, 2009 1:21 PM.

[Bill_Loguidice]

Great stuff, thanks! I only have a handful of issues, including the first one, myself.

[jacobus]

I scanned and PDF'd the "Best of..." book book today, unfortunately it takes up about 10 mb for the book and 3mb for the covers. How can I get it to you?

Just for fun, I ran it through an OCR engine and it seems to have done an excellent job of recognition - programs can be copied and pasted fairly easily.



P.S. Can you please post your Excel file in 97/2003 format - I don't have OO/Office07 installed in this machine.

[redman]

ThumpNugget, on Tue Aug 18, 2009 9:31 PM, said:

Greetings people! I apologize in advance for the length of this post.

I’ve been working on creating a set of PDF scans of SoftSide magazine. For those that do not know much about this magazine it was published starting in October of 1978 until sometime in 1984. Originally it covered only the TRS-80 model 1. Coverage of the Atari and Apple computers was added in August of 1980. Coverage for commodore and the PC was added at the very end of its life. Originally the magazine was half size but went to a full size magazine when Atari coverage was added.

SoftSide...ShowSize.jpg

The magazine was famous for its adventure game (around 50 were published including many for the Atari) and it also had a monthly column by Scott Adams in when Adventure International was still very young. The magazine went through a lot of changes. Starting in January 1983 the magazine was split into two: One was the main magazine and the other simple code listing for the specific computer of the subscriber (or the main program for every computer for the newsstand copy). The numbering scheme is also bizarre with column numbers being used for the first 44 issues and then a numbering scheme starting with issue 45 (though they started the number at #30). This numbering scheme has made it difficult to collect artifacts for this magazine!

I’ve put up one of the issues here (60 megs – be patient): SoftSide 55 PDF

So here is what is done so far:

The first 62 issues are scanned (Oct 1978 through Feb 1984). I do not know how many more issues there are though I know it died sometime in 1984 and that there is a march 1984 (vol . 7-03, issue #48) so I am missing at least one issue.

I’ve also been trying to get the programs listed in the magazine. I have a lot but there are a lot missing. The spreadsheet shows three colors: Green means it came off a disk, blue means I pulled it from a cassette. Red means it is missing. This is true for the programs only. The red on the magazine listings simply mean that I did not do the scan (I swapped a bunch of scans with Ira over at trs-80.com to fill in some missing gaps).

What I am looking for (read: my plea for help):

The separate “code” additions for the Atari are all collected with the exception of 1983-09 (#43, vol 6-11).

Atari_Selections.jpg

And of course anyone with SoftSide disks/tapes that show anything missing:

Covers_1.jpg

Covers_2.jpg

Covers_3.jpg

And of course any SoftSide disks/tapes that show anything missing on the list (excel spreadsheet): SoftSide_Magazines.zip

If you have any SoftSide materials not in the spreadsheet please get int touch! I'm mostly looking for the Atari Materials but I'm also tracking for the other machines...

I’ve had a lot of help from Allan on here getting SoftSide magazine materials. He sacrificed quite a few of his own magazines to help get this together so a special thanks to him.

I’d like to do something similar with the SoftSides that were done with the Antic/Analogs: create a nice disk set (these will fit on 1 DVD as I am processing them files differently than the Antic/Analog which shrinks the pages by about 30%).. Torrents would then shortly follow.

Thanks for reading.

Can't wait til you start the torrents. I've never seen SoftSide so this will be great! Thanks a lot

[Allan]

ThumpNugget, on Thu Aug 20, 2009 1:19 PM, said:

www.atarimania.com, on Wed Aug 19, 2009 4:31 AM, said:

Great!

Some of the game titles in red can be found on our site.

--
Atari Frog
<a href="http://www.atarimania.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.atarimania.com</a>

I went through the atarimania site and found 12 not already saved and added them to the current ATRs... good progress!

I updated the spreadsheet (there only ones missing are the programs in red)

 SoftSide Magazines.zip   50.53K   197 downloads

I can't seem to open this document. Can someone save this as a text file or older Exel file?

I found my Softside disks. I have issues 38, 40, 41, and 42. I just need to copy them off of the disks and post them.

Allan

[joyfulcoder]

Allan, on Mon Aug 31, 2009 9:53 AM, said:

ThumpNugget, on Thu Aug 20, 2009 1:19 PM, said:

www.atarimania.com, on Wed Aug 19, 2009 4:31 AM, said:

Great!

Some of the game titles in red can be found on our site.

--
Atari Frog
<a href="http://www.atarimania.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.atarimania.com</a>

I went through the atarimania site and found 12 not already saved and added them to the current ATRs... good progress!

I updated the spreadsheet (there only ones missing are the programs in red)

 SoftSide Magazines.zip   50.53K   197 downloads

I can't seem to open this document. Can someone save this as a text file or older Exel file?

I found my Softside disks. I have issues 38, 40, 41, and 42. I just need to copy them off of the disks and post them.

Allan

Here is the same file in Excel 2003 format. I hope that helps.

 SoftSideMagazines-Excel2003.zip   30.16K   142 downloads

[Allan]

joyfulcoder, on Mon Aug 31, 2009 12:03 PM, said:

Allan, on Mon Aug 31, 2009 9:53 AM, said:

ThumpNugget, on Thu Aug 20, 2009 1:19 PM, said:

www.atarimania.com, on Wed Aug 19, 2009 4:31 AM, said:

Great!

Some of the game titles in red can be found on our site.

--
Atari Frog
<a href="http://www.atarimania.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.atarimania.com</a>

I went through the atarimania site and found 12 not already saved and added them to the current ATRs... good progress!

I updated the spreadsheet (there only ones missing are the programs in red)

 SoftSide Magazines.zip   50.53K   197 downloads

I can't seem to open this document. Can someone save this as a text file or older Exel file?

I found my Softside disks. I have issues 38, 40, 41, and 42. I just need to copy them off of the disks and post them.

Allan

Here is the same file in Excel 2003 format. I hope that helps.

 SoftSideMagazines-Excel2003.zip   30.16K   142 downloads

Thanks, Joyfulcoder. That worked.

Unfortunately he already has all four disks.

Allan

[ThumpNugget]

Sorry to have not responding as of late.. I was a bit behind on things and just now catching up. I have a few disks people have emailed me. I'll be going through them and reposting where everything is at and bugging those who have stuff that is too big to email...

[KLund1]

Can't wait to be able to download ad read the issues, and use the programs!!!!
When might we be able to see those links, and or torrent-links. Even if not every issue is ready. Whatever issues you got would be really nice to see.
Can you get us a little update?
Thanks a lot for this!!!

[ThumpNugget]

I've had a few emails asking about the torrent.. I've really been hoping to find the last few issues but they have not popped up. I really don't want to make a DVD set until I at least get all the magazines (The first 62 issues are done - missing the last few) but as that may take a while I would at least like to get a torrent going of the current set for those that want it.

Here is a link to the torrent... It will probably be slow for a while.

http://thepiratebay....torrent/5161231

Edited by ThumpNugget, Fri Nov 13, 2009 4:37 PM.

[Allan]

ThumpNugget, on Fri Nov 13, 2009 4:22 PM, said:

I've had a few emails asking about the torrent.. I've really been hoping to find the last few issues but they have not popped up. I really don't want to make a DVD set until I at least get all the magazines (The first 62 issues are done - missing the last few) but as that may take a while I would at least like to get a torrent going of the current set for those that want it.

Here is a link to the torrent... It will probably be slow for a while.

http://thepiratebay....torrent/5161231

I'm sorry if we discussed this before but it's been a while. Have you been able to verify in any way if any issues after issue 62 exists?

Allan

[ThumpNugget]

Allan, on Fri Nov 13, 2009 6:11 PM, said:

ThumpNugget, on Fri Nov 13, 2009 4:22 PM, said:

I've had a few emails asking about the torrent.. I've really been hoping to find the last few issues but they have not popped up. I really don't want to make a DVD set until I at least get all the magazines (The first 62 issues are done - missing the last few) but as that may take a while I would at least like to get a torrent going of the current set for those that want it.

Here is a link to the torrent... It will probably be slow for a while.

http://thepiratebay....torrent/5161231

I'm sorry if we discussed this before but it's been a while. Have you been able to verify in any way if any issues after issue 62 exists?

Allan

Hey there.. Issue 62 exists, it is part of the torrent

Issue 63 (Vol 7 No 3) Is not in the torrent but I saw a picture of it so I know it exists, it was in a pile of magazines I won on eBay two months back but the seller picked that time to decide to no longer send his stuff out and eBay canceled his account (crazy timing - he had 9,700+ feedbacks... his feedbacks suddenly went all negative and his account was canceled by eBay). I have nothing confirmed to exist after issue 63 other than the Wikipedia article that mentioned the last issue was in august of 1984... Issue 63 is March of 84.

Edited by ThumpNugget, Fri Nov 13, 2009 6:29 PM.

[Allan]

ThumpNugget, on Fri Nov 13, 2009 6:28 PM, said:

Allan, on Fri Nov 13, 2009 6:11 PM, said:

ThumpNugget, on Fri Nov 13, 2009 4:22 PM, said:

I've had a few emails asking about the torrent.. I've really been hoping to find the last few issues but they have not popped up. I really don't want to make a DVD set until I at least get all the magazines (The first 62 issues are done - missing the last few) but as that may take a while I would at least like to get a torrent going of the current set for those that want it.

Here is a link to the torrent... It will probably be slow for a while.

http://thepiratebay....torrent/5161231

I'm sorry if we discussed this before but it's been a while. Have you been able to verify in any way if any issues after issue 62 exists?

Allan

Hey there.. Issue 62 exists, it is part of the torrent

Issue 63 (Vol 7 No 3) Is not in the torrent but I saw a picture of it so I know it exists, it was in a pile of magazines I won on eBay two months back but the seller picked that time to decide to no longer send his stuff out and eBay canceled his account (crazy timing - he had 9,700+ feedbacks... his feedbacks suddenly went all negative and his account was canceled by eBay). I have nothing confirmed to exist after issue 63 other than the Wikipedia article that mentioned the last issue was in august of 1984... Issue 63 is March of 84.

Doh!! I meant issue 63. Damn butter fingers.

Allan

[Marathonman]

ThumpNugget, on Fri Nov 13, 2009 4:22 PM, said:

I've had a few emails asking about the torrent.. I've really been hoping to find the last few issues but they have not popped up. I really don't want to make a DVD set until I at least get all the magazines (The first 62 issues are done - missing the last few) but as that may take a while I would at least like to get a torrent going of the current set for those that want it.

Here is a link to the torrent... It will probably be slow for a while.

http://thepiratebay....torrent/5161231

Thank you very much.

Now, I've much to read in the cold winter evenings and I can see like all has begun.

Marathonman

Edited by Marathonman, Sat Nov 14, 2009 12:58 AM.

[Coconut]

ThumpNugget, on Fri Nov 13, 2009 6:28 PM, said:

Issue 63 (Vol 7 No 3) Is not in the torrent but I saw a picture of it so I know it exists, it was in a pile of magazines I won on eBay two months back but the seller picked that time to decide to no longer send his stuff out and eBay canceled his account (crazy timing - he had 9,700+ feedbacks... his feedbacks suddenly went all negative and his account was canceled by eBay).

He may have died. It happens. Family can't access his account.

[ThumpNugget]

Coconut, on Sat Nov 14, 2009 2:43 AM, said:

ThumpNugget, on Fri Nov 13, 2009 6:28 PM, said:

Issue 63 (Vol 7 No 3) Is not in the torrent but I saw a picture of it so I know it exists, it was in a pile of magazines I won on eBay two months back but the seller picked that time to decide to no longer send his stuff out and eBay canceled his account (crazy timing - he had 9,700+ feedbacks... his feedbacks suddenly went all negative and his account was canceled by eBay).

He may have died. It happens. Family can't access his account.

I was able to get the money back from PayPal and he kept responding that he *for sure* had sent it out... Which I might have bought if there were not dozens of others making the same claims on his eBay feedback at that point.

Sorry about the delay in the torrent this morning. I have my server in the middle of my living room right now (having carpets replaced in the house) and the chord was kicked out this morning.. It's going again now! Looks like everyone is at about 48%...

[Coconut]

ThumpNugget, on Sat Nov 14, 2009 9:49 AM, said:

Sorry about the delay in the torrent this morning. I have my server in the middle of my living room right now (having carpets replaced in the house) and the chord was kicked out this morning.. It's going again now! Looks like everyone is at about 48%...

Wish I was. I'm at 0% with no peers right now ....

[rdea6]

ThumpNugget, on Sat Nov 14, 2009 9:49 AM, said:

<SNIP> kicked out this morning.. It's going again now! Looks like everyone is at about 48%...

Looking good here!

[Coconut]

ThumpNugget, on Sat Nov 14, 2009 9:49 AM, said:

Sorry about the delay in the torrent this morning. I have my server in the middle of my living room right now (having carpets replaced in the house) and the chord was kicked out this morning.. It's going again now! Looks like everyone is at about 48%...

Any chance you could upload this to Rapidshare? That's far faster and more reliable IME -- and with a free account you'll earn brownie points.

If you do this, be sure to accept the free account after uploading the first file. That gets you your points and allows more than 10 downloads total.

[ThumpNugget]

Coconut, on Sat Nov 14, 2009 12:02 PM, said:

ThumpNugget, on Sat Nov 14, 2009 9:49 AM, said:

Sorry about the delay in the torrent this morning. I have my server in the middle of my living room right now (having carpets replaced in the house) and the chord was kicked out this morning.. It's going again now! Looks like everyone is at about 48%...

Any chance you could upload this to Rapidshare? That's far faster and more reliable IME -- and with a free account you'll earn brownie points.

If you do this, be sure to accept the free account after uploading the first file. That gets you your points and allows more than 10 downloads total.

Good thought though from my end the limiter is my allowed upload speed from CableOne.. It looks like RapidShare has a maximum upload size of 200 Megs, the Torrent is just under 3 Gigs.. Does RapidShare have any restrictions to the downloader?