Polish Computer Magazines of the 80s

In the Museum of computer history in Katowice, you can look through specialized magazines of the 80's and 90's dedicated to computer topics. The most famous magazine in Poland was Bajtek (from the Polish Bajt - byte), published from 1985 to 2012. The idea belongs to the famous popularizer of science Waldemar Siwiński, an electronic engineer by education, the magazine was originally published at the expense of the Polish youth Union.

"What is CAD/CAM". Computers have been used in engineering design since the 50s, but only for the most complex and important tasks, since there were few computers and their machine time was incredibly expensive. The concept of computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) appeared in the mid-70s, but only began to be massively implemented with the advent of powerful personal computers in the 80s.

The article "The computer will replace the drawing board".

Description of the graphics mini-package for the Amstrad PCW computer. A large part of the article is source code in Assembler language, readers are invited to dial his-and-collect program. Now any program can be downloaded on the Internet in a ready-made form, and at the beginning of the era of personal computers, this was often the only way to distribute software among computer enthusiasts.

Article describing the main commands of the UNIX operating system. They are still relevant today in Linux OS.

Prices for home computers, printers, and floppy disks. The cheapest ZX Spectrum 48 could be bought for 450 thousand zlotys, the Amiga 1200 was sold for 7.5 million zlotys. Printers cost no less, from 5 million for a simple Star NX-1001 to 20 million for HP Laser Jet 4L. Hard drives also scare prices: from 2 million for 40 megabytes, to 21.2 million for "half a gig". Floppy disks from 50 to 290 thousand for a box of 10 pieces. It was possible to take and piece, 10% more expensive.

PC accessories: 286-486 motherboards from 0.7 to 17 million zlotys. The prices for sound cards are amazing, now these devices cost a penny. Sound Blaster CD16 sold for 16 million zlotys. For comparison, a 19-inch VGA monitor costs one and a half thousand less. Although by that time Poland had already established semi-artisanal production of analogues that could be bought for 30-40 thousand zlotys. Can you imagine the price level if in 1994 the dollar was worth more than 20 thousand zlotys in Poland.

Catalog of personal computers Amstrad for the year 1988 from the joint venture Polanglia Ltd. Here prices are shown in British pounds. I would like to add that the computers of this British company were of high quality and very reliable.

Another Polish computer magazine, Mikroklan, addressed to fans of electronic creativity. Here is a diagram and drawing of a printed circuit Board of a computer keyboard for self-manufacturing.