COMPUTE!’s Gazette – Volume 1 – Issue 1 – July, 2025
There’s a certain magic tied up in our first computers. For me, it was a Commodore 64, an unexpected Christmas gift from my older brother, John. It arrived just a couple of months after a panicked moment where I accidentally erased his PC’s hard drive trying to sneak in a game of Starflight. Unwrapping that C64 was one of the most profoundly impactful moments of my young life. Tucked alongside it was a stack of magazines that would become treasured companions: RUN, Ahoy, and the legendary COMPUTE!’s Gazette.
Countless hours were spent patiently typing in pages of programs from the Gazette. The work was tedious, but the reward was miraculous. Seeing those lines of code spring to life on the screen unlocked a universe of possibilities, sparking a creative curiosity that has never left me.
That Christmas glow feels like both yesterday and a lifetime ago. My brother John, the giver of that life-changing gift, is gone. On June 22, 2022, John, a man whose heart soared when he was flying, was piloting a vintage Huey helicopter during a Vietnam veterans reunion. An engine failure took him and the five other souls aboard from us. Losing John wasn’t just losing a brother; it was losing my best friend.
About a year into that fog of grief, a small light flickered. I stumbled upon the C64 breadbin he’d given me all those years ago. Firing it up brought back a flood of warmth and shared laughter. It still held that magic.
That rediscovery led me down a wonderful rabbit hole of collecting the classic machines I dreamed of as a kid: Amigas, Ataris, Apples, and more. Each one felt alive with its own distinct personality, a soulful contrast to modern machines.
COMPUTE!’s Gazette was such a huge part of that original joy, a feeling I know I shared with so many other Commodore users. In its prime, it was a guide, a teacher, and a source of endless inspiration. That’s the feeling I want to help recreate for today’s vibrant Retro Computing community. While there are other great retro publications, many lean heavily into gaming. The soul of retro computing encompasses so much more—the programming, the hardware tinkering, the history, the sheer creativity.
With the revival of COMPUTE!’s Gazette, our dream is to capture this wider spirit. We’re thrilled that organizations like the official Commodore Corporation, MEGA65, and Commander X16 are joining us as regular contributors.
Launching a print magazine in 2025 for a niche like ours isn’t a typical business move; it’s a labor of love, bootstrapped from my own pocket. That’s why I’m pouring my own time and resources into getting this first issue into your hands. But I can’t do it alone. If this endeavor speaks to your own love for retro computing, please consider becoming a regular monthly subscriber. Your support makes continued development possible. And please, share your thoughts, your ideas, your stories—your contributions are the lifeblood of this community project.
To those wonderful souls who have already believed in this vision, offering your time, talent, or financial support—you have my deepest, most heartfelt gratitude. You’ve helped turn a spark of memory into a tangible reality.
Until next month, keep it retro!
Edwin J. Nagle, Founder, Editor In-Chief
Read the full story and discover more about the world of retro computing in the first issue of COMPUTE!’s Gazette in 35 years!
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