The Transactor

The Transactor was a computer magazine directed at users of Commodore home computers.

This article is about a publication. For a type of electrical transformer, see Transformer types § Transactor.

The Transactor
Vol. 5, № 4 (January 1985)
EditorKarl Hildon (April 1978–March 1987)
PublisherCommodore 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 circulation72,000[1]
First issueApril 1978
Final issueAugust 1989
CountryCanada
Based inMilton, Ontario
ISSN0827-2530

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

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

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
  1. "Masthead" (PDF). The Transactor. Transactor Publishing. 8 (1): 1. July 1987. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  2. Downes, Jonno. "The Transactor Magazine". The Internet Archive. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  3. "Magazine index". INFO. INFO Publications (16): 28–30. September–October 1987. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  4. "[Untitled cover story]" (PDF). The Transactor. Commodore Canada. 1 (1): 1–3. 30 April 1987. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  5. Butterfield, Jim (Fall 1986). "Welcome to the TPUG/Transactor Pages". TPUG News. Toronto PET Users Group. 1 (1). Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  6. Hildon, Karl J. H. (July 1987). "Start Address" (PDF). The Transactor. Transactor Publishing. 8 (1): 3. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  7. Elko, Lance (May 1990). "Editor's notes". COMPUTE!'s Gazette. COMPUTE! Publications, Inc. 8 (5): 6. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  8. "Letters to the editor". COMPUTE!'s Gazette. COMPUTE! Publications, Inc. 8 (5): 7. May 1990. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  9. Hildon, Karl J. H. (January 1988). "Start Address" (PDF). The Transactor. Transactor Publishing. 8 (4): 3. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
  10. "News BRK" (PDF). The Transactor. Transactor Publishing. 5 (2): 6–14. 1984. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
  11. Hildon, Karl J. H.; Zamara, Chris, eds. (June 1986). The Transactor Book of Bits and Pieces #1. Milton, Ontario: Transactor Publishing. ISBN 0-9692086-1-8.
  12. Hildon, Karl J. H. (March 1985). The Complete Commodore Inner Space Anthology. Milton, Ontario: Transactor Publishing. p. i. ISBN 0-9692086-0-X.
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