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The Transactor
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The Transactor was a computer magazine directed at users of Commodore home computers.
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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]
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Publication history
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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.
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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]
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References
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