The Transactor
| File:The Transactor Vol. 5 № 4.jpg Vol. 5, № 4 (January 1985) | |
| Editor | Karl Hildon (April 1978–March 1987) |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Commodore Canada (April 1978–August 1982) Canadian Micro Distributors (September 1982–April 1983) Transactor Publishing (July 1983–September 1988) Croftward Publishing (December 1988–August 1989) |
| Paid circulation | 72,000[1] |
| First issue | April 1978 |
| Final issue | August 1989 |
| Country | Canada |
| Based in | Milton, Ontario |
| ISSN | 0827-2530 |
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 Transactor's popularity was based on its coverage of deep technical issues and hardware hacking.[2][3] INFO called The Transactor "the undeniable authority" on "Commodore programming and hardware information".[3]
Publication history
[edit | edit source]The magazine was launched on 30 April 1978 as the official international bulletin of Commodore Canada to PET user groups.[4][5] The early issues were low-tech mimeographed 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.[5]
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.[5] 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.[1][6] The independent Transactor went through a succession of publishers (Canadian Micro Distributors 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.[7][8]
Karl Hildon served as editor-in-chief of the magazine until the March 1988 issue. Frequent contributors included Jim Butterfield and Richard Evers.
Spin-offs
[edit | edit source]In January 1988, The Transactor announced that it had spun off its coverage of the Amiga to a dedicated magazine, Transactor for the Amiga.[9]
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,[10] plus The Transactor Book of Bits and Pieces #1.[11] 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.[12]
References
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External links
[edit | edit source]- Authorized online archive
- Miscellaneous info about The Transactor magazine by Craig S. Bruce
- Partial index by Dan Fandrich
- Transactor books at The Internet Archive