World of Spectrum have scanned and made available [HTTP mirror – see below – dead link] many classic issues of 80s British magazine Your Computer.
The magazine started in 1981 and had a strong hobbyist attitude, covering many of the forgotten and not-so-forgotten computers at that time, such as the Oric, ZX-81, Dragon 32, MSXes, and more popular ones. It had a column called “Fingertips” devoted to programmable calculators, and a regular type-in column called “Software File”.
The golden age was 1982-1985. In 1987 it abandoned all of its hobbyist readers, got rid of type-ins, and started to exclusively cover the PC and Mac. Within a year it had gone out of business.
I had one listing in “Software File”! Sadly despite searching many issues today I couldn’t find it, so probably it’s in one of the missing issues. The program did a recursive descent listing (basically “ls -lR”) of a RODOS-formatted floppy disk, so you could say it was niche even for an 80s hobbyist program.
World of Spectrum unfortunately prevent people from mirroring their FTP archive, even if you use a nice FTP program and limit your requests. Although I appreciate that they spent a lot of time scanning in these magazines and collecting thousands of Spectrum tapes, they don’t hold permission to more than a tiny fraction of this stuff, and they should make torrents available so that collectors can mirror this important library so it never disappears, as has happened to most of the original cassette tapes and magazines. This stuff is far too important to leave the whims of a single site owner in a world of stupid DMCA notices.
Richard WM Jones 
Hi Guys, I’ve been looking for a few articles I submitted to Your Computer magazine in the 80’s and now searching to find an archive site. Does anyone out there know I can look through old editions. Not sure if it even exists.
Jack
Now all we need is an archive of all these separate pages…
Was the best computer magazine of the time. Always seemed plenty of interesting stuff in it, even if the listings contained bugs.
I found some Your Computer magazines in my loft from the 1980’s, pretty much sequential issues. I’m thinking of donating them to a museum or good home as it is such a great part of computing history. Any ideas?
I guess the National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park would be glad to have them.
Edit: Contact them here.
Hi Tim
If you’ve not done anything with them yet, do you have one with a type in programme for a game called “Snake” for the Oric 1. I remember writing this in the 80’s at some point and receiveing a cheque for £50 for it, which at the time was an enormous amount of money for a school kid. If you have any idea or have donated them somewhere would appreciate knowing. Just interested to go to look at a little bit of personal history.
Hi Tim,
What issues do you have? I’m missing scans for a few from 1983/84 and I’m searching for Dragon 32 listing for a Stunt Cycle game I typed in and couldn’t get to work. Any info would be much appreciated.
Regards,
Mark
I had a version of the game Blitz for the UK-101 home computer published in Your Computer magazine (I think it was YC but not 100% sure as it was so long ago – maybe 1982?!). It was a two page spread but they made a mistake with my name, crediting it to Chris Dupp, however I received £40 for my efforts which was a pretty good reward at the time. I would love to see it again – it is not in your collection is it Tim?
Hi there, Trying to nail down the origin of the term “edutainment” and found a site that said it could be found in 1983 issue of Your Computer mag.
Anyone got this issue?
You’d need to know which particular issue (it’s monthly). Good luck with your search …
It could be in several months worth of mags, in articles on featuring the Oric I and Spectrum microcomputers and a package of “arcade entertainment” software. Anyone?
I guess you need to follow the links in the article above and have a look yourself.
I have Your Computer magazine (Australian Edition). Is this of any use to anyone? From first edition to mid 1980’s. The last edition I have found is 1990.
Mick
Hi Mick,
I recall reading an article (mid 1983) profiling a person from a few bankcard records. Do you have it by any chance? I need a reference for an assign. (I’m back at uni)
Hi there…. I am – do you still have them?
Yes they are. What date was the first issue? I read it cover to cover then got a job with Univac in North Ryde. I have worked in the industry since then. It all started with that issue for me. Is it the issue with the four people on the cover like the first UK version? Love to know.
I don’t think I have it. Will be home in August to look.
Hi, I have just discovered around 36 mags from May 83 to December 86. Moving to Ireland so now no longer require. Plus I have a vic20. Any offers?
Hey James I’m very interested in those magazines, email me if you want to discuss costs and postage.
Cheers,
Mark
Hi Mark
I have issues Dec 82 – Nov 83 inclusive in very good condition. I wrote some of the games on the back of Dec 82 issue (also on Nov 82 which is why I’m keeping it). Please get in touch if you’d like to buy them. I’m having a bit of a clear out as I’m moving soon.
I too wrote a game for the Oric-1 which was published in Your Computer (I believe) and would love to track down the specific issue which I’m guessing would have been around ’83-’84. The game was called ‘Moon Hopper’ and I got paid £40 for it at the time which was awesome! Any pointers to some old issue from this time would be much appreciated.
Cheers,
Gavin
I still have pretty much every issue of YC from about late 82 to 86. I had three ZX81 programs published: “Space Mining” and “Hi-Res Blitz” in Software File, and “Head-Up Display” as a main article. Best computing mag ever in my opinion!
Hi Alan,
I recall reading an article (mid 1983) profiling a person from a few bankcard records. Do you have it by any chance? I need a reference for an assign. (I’m back at uni)
I have most of the ‘Your Computer’ magazines from the start (June 1981) to Nov 86. There is one issue i cannot find any reference to – August 1984 (Vol.4 No.8). I remember at the time trying to get it, but no-one ever got it into stock.
Does anyone know if this issue actually exists?
I do remember one issue was simply never published because of a distributors or printers strike. Could be this one …
Hi Rich
I also had some your computer magazines for some time and fear they are now gone through several house moves. Like you i had alisting published for the ZX81 1k that played the classic snake program. probably never to be seen again tho.
Regards Pete
Hi
I have just been clearing out a cupboard at my Dad’s place and have found a few “Your Computer” mags. Anyone want them?
I only bought YC occasionally – I was a PCW person and have quite a large continuous run of those.
Also in among the mags were a year and a half of the weekly mag Personal Computer News, which I always liked. It seems a shame to get rid of these, but they take up a lot of space… The recycling bin beckons.
Adrian
Hi Adrian
I would be interested in the YC’s – how many did you find? What would you want for them?
Cheers
Chris
I have looked through the 1983 issues of the Australian Version (editor Les Bell) and could not see anything re:bankcard profiling.. Is it the English Version you are referring to?
thanks Mick, Yes it was in Australia, but I no longer need the reference.
Hi, maybe you have seen it before but there’s a place with a lot of torrents of old magazines including Your computer (not complete) , OCRed:
http://retropdfs.wordpress.com/currently-available-collections/
If anyone is interested I have a collection of the Your Computer Australian Magazine (1989-1997) in Your computer folders.
January 1989 – October 1997
Yes, I’m interested in the Australian Your Computer magazines…there don’t seem to be scans available of them anywhere.
I am unable to supply them now. We have moved out of our house and they were dumped. sorry Mick
Hi, I see that this is an old thread but hope someone sees this. My husband often speaks about Your computer and about a code that would lead to a game about strawberries (if successful) Does anyone know about this? Best regards from a women in Sweden
No idea, but I’d suggest doing a Google search such as this one: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22your+computer%22+%22strawberries%22+site%3Aarchive.org
Unfortunately the OCR process used to “read” the magazine and translate it into text is a bit hit-and-miss so the text is often rather unreadable. Nevertheless it did point me towards one game involving defending strawberries which was advertized in the May 1984 edition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZtG1yGirx8