The Micro User
Encyclopedia
The Micro User was a British specialist magazine
catering to users of the BBC Micro
computer series, Acorn Electron
, Acorn Archimedes
and, to a limited extent, the Cambridge Z88
. It had a comprehensive mix of reviews of games, application software, and the latest Acorn
computers; type-in program
s (duplicated on a "cover disk" 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
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
.
There were regular columns on adventure gaming
from two successive contributors under the pseudonyms "Alice
through the VDU" and "The Mad Hatter
". 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 and compatibility fixes for popular arcade
-style games, in the form of poke
s 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
as a pull-out; this then split off into an independent publication.
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
catering to users of the BBC Micro
BBC Micro
The BBC Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, was a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by Acorn Computers for the BBC Computer Literacy Project, operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation...
computer series, Acorn Electron
Acorn Electron
The Acorn Electron is a budget version of the BBC Micro educational/home computer made by Acorn Computers Ltd. It has 32 kilobytes of RAM, and its ROM includes BBC BASIC along with its operating system....
, Acorn Archimedes
Acorn Archimedes
The Acorn Archimedes was Acorn Computers Ltd's first general purpose home computer to be based on their own ARM architecture.Using a RISC design with a 32-bit CPU, at its launch in June 1987, the Archimedes was stated as running at 4 MIPS, with a claim of 18 MIPS during tests.The name is commonly...
and, to a limited extent, the Cambridge Z88
Cambridge Z88
The Cambridge Computer Z88 is an A4-size, lightweight, portable Z80-based computer with a built-in combined word processing/spreadsheet/database application called PipeDream, along with several other applications and utilities, such as a Z80-version of the BBC BASIC programming language.The Z88...
. It had a comprehensive mix of reviews of games, application software, and the latest Acorn
Acorn Computers
Acorn Computers Ltd. was a British computer company established in Cambridge, England, in 1978. The company produced a number of computers which were especially popular in the UK. These included the Acorn Electron, the BBC Micro, and the Acorn Archimedes...
computers; type-in program
Type-in program
A type-in program, or just type-in, is a computer program listing printed in a computer magazine or book, meant to be typed in by the reader in order to run the program on a computer....
s (duplicated on a "cover disk" 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
Electronics
Electronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...
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
Circuit diagram
A circuit diagram is a simplified conventional graphical representation of an electrical circuit...
.
There were regular columns on adventure gaming
Adventure game
An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...
from two successive contributors under the pseudonyms "Alice
Through the Looking-Glass
Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There is a work of literature by Lewis Carroll . It is the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland...
through the VDU" and "The Mad Hatter
Mad Hatter
Hatta, the Hatter is a fictional character in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and the story's sequel, Through the Looking-Glass. He is often referred to as the Mad Hatter, though this term was never used by Carroll...
". 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
Pac-Man
is an arcade game developed by Namco and licensed for distribution in the United States by Midway, first released in Japan on May 22, 1980. Immensely popular from its original release to the present day, Pac-Man is considered one of the classics of the medium, virtually synonymous with video games,...
) set out cheats and compatibility fixes for popular arcade
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
-style games, in the form of poke
PEEK and POKE
In computing, PEEK is a BASIC programming language extension used for reading the contents of a memory cell at a specified address. The corresponding command to set the contents of a memory cell is POKE.-Statement syntax:...
s or short type-in programs.
Watford Electronics
Watford Electronics
Watford Electronics was a British computer electronics company. It was founded in 1972 in a bedroom belonging to Nazir Jessa, and grew to become one of the best-known suppliers of microcomputers and micro peripherals during the 1980s....
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
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....
as a pull-out; this then split off into an independent publication.