Publishers
Publisher Information and Releases
Your Computer (Sintax S.A.)
Spain
oringinal text here in spanish www.commodorespain.es
One of the English magazines that had its little attempt to reach us in the 1980s was "Your Computer". This magazine in paper format, in England had its golden years between 1981 and 1988, but surely many of you did not know it at the time other than by simple cassette tapes published in Spain under the same name "Your computer". Nothing to do with the original English magazine, except the games they shared.
The English magazine Your Computer, as we have indicated, was published in England between 1981 and 1988 by the company Ipc Electrical-electronic Press. Being its main theme the information related to microcomputers, performing analysis on hardware and software, interviews, evaluations, sector news, programs and developments, etc. Very much in line with other similar magazines during that time. But also as it was almost a classic at that time, the magazines were accompanied by games and developments for users of microcomputers, games for Commodore 64, Spectrum, Amstrad systems.
Headquarters where the SINTAX, S.A. publisher resided
In England, this magazine had a monthly periodicity, but for Spain this magazine would arrive somewhat distorted. A publisher called SINTAX S.A. Established in October 1985 and based in the Paseo de la Castellana in Madrid, it would be in charge of publishing part of it for Spain. For this, what Sintax did was to obtain the authorization (license) to be able to publish in Cassette format the developments of the magazine in England but for Spain, making a personal selection and creating different versions according to the system that was directed.
Sintax, with its main office located in the capital, would be in charge of the creation, sale and distribution of some small “fascicles” in cassette format with its selection. With the intention of competing with other similar publications at the time such as: Video Commodore, Video Spectrum, Stars Commodore, etc ...
Sintax continued after those years its professional career in the publishing world, but without too much noise, until in 2001 its owners would officially close the company, although in recent years it was hardly operational more than as an official company registry.
As for the cassette publications that we are remembering here, it had different runs, these being for the most popular systems (according to them): Spectrum. Amstrad and Commodore. Creating a tape with programs and games for each system, based on the original programs published in the magazine "You Computer" and also sometimes translating part of its content.
In general, each edition brought its own different games or programs with the rest of the other runs. Thus achieving an exclusivity for the systems and without the possibility that they could be compared, with what this could have brought to the end users.
YOUR COMPUTER - CASSETTE COMMODORE 64
We are going to focus on the "You Computer" tapes for Commodore. Some tapes with a monthly periodicity and a sale price of 695 Pts. The list of the games and programs published, were normally of a good quality (speaking from the point of view of the software package) and coming from where they came from, it was software launched from the original magazine but edited and translated for its cassette version in Spain.
All the edited tapes, (7 in total, were not many) started with a presentation screen to view the index of the cassette and to start loading the program in question. Here we leave you some of these charges, but notice a small rag from the time. In number 2 of the Your Computer Commodore tape, the presentation load says "Year I-# 1", But! Wasn't it No. 2? Small errors that many times because of the rush to get the editions out or maybe due to the lack of controls, sometimes happened as you are. Curious truth? Here you can see some examples of the presentation loads, in addition to the rag:
On the other hand, we already told you that the software they had was translated from its English version into Spanish, and so it seemed like a product with a national brand, it was always more attractive than English. Here you can see some examples with three games of the cassette tape of Your Computer for Commodore: Snapman (Published in the edition # 4 of 1984 of the original magazine), Charlie and the Jugs (Published in the edition nº12 of 1985 of the original magazine ) and Asteoroides Lander (Published in issue 4 of 1985 of the original magazine). Games that in turn would be published for the Spanish version of Your Computer in 1986.
One of the English magazines that had its little attempt to reach us in the 1980s was "Your Computer". This magazine in paper format, in England had its golden years between 1981 and 1988, but surely many of you did not know it at the time other than by simple cassette tapes published in Spain under the same name "Your computer". Nothing to do with the original English magazine, except the games they shared.
The English magazine Your Computer, as we have indicated, was published in England between 1981 and 1988 by the company Ipc Electrical-electronic Press. Being its main theme the information related to microcomputers, performing analysis on hardware and software, interviews, evaluations, sector news, programs and developments, etc. Very much in line with other similar magazines during that time. But also as it was almost a classic at that time, the magazines were accompanied by games and developments for users of microcomputers, games for Commodore 64, Spectrum, Amstrad systems.
Headquarters where the SINTAX, S.A. publisher resided
In England, this magazine had a monthly periodicity, but for Spain this magazine would arrive somewhat distorted. A publisher called SINTAX S.A. Established in October 1985 and based in the Paseo de la Castellana in Madrid, it would be in charge of publishing part of it for Spain. For this, what Sintax did was to obtain the authorization (license) to be able to publish in Cassette format the developments of the magazine in England but for Spain, making a personal selection and creating different versions according to the system that was directed.
Sintax, with its main office located in the capital, would be in charge of the creation, sale and distribution of some small “fascicles” in cassette format with its selection. With the intention of competing with other similar publications at the time such as: Video Commodore, Video Spectrum, Stars Commodore, etc ...
Sintax continued after those years its professional career in the publishing world, but without too much noise, until in 2001 its owners would officially close the company, although in recent years it was hardly operational more than as an official company registry.
As for the cassette publications that we are remembering here, it had different runs, these being for the most popular systems (according to them): Spectrum. Amstrad and Commodore. Creating a tape with programs and games for each system, based on the original programs published in the magazine "You Computer" and also sometimes translating part of its content.
In general, each edition brought its own different games or programs with the rest of the other runs. Thus achieving an exclusivity for the systems and without the possibility that they could be compared, with what this could have brought to the end users.
YOUR COMPUTER - CASSETTE COMMODORE 64
We are going to focus on the "You Computer" tapes for Commodore. Some tapes with a monthly periodicity and a sale price of 695 Pts. The list of the games and programs published, were normally of a good quality (speaking from the point of view of the software package) and coming from where they came from, it was software launched from the original magazine but edited and translated for its cassette version in Spain.
All the edited tapes, (7 in total, were not many) started with a presentation screen to view the index of the cassette and to start loading the program in question. Here we leave you some of these charges, but notice a small rag from the time. In number 2 of the Your Computer Commodore tape, the presentation load says "Year I-# 1", But! Wasn't it No. 2? Small errors that many times because of the rush to get the editions out or maybe due to the lack of controls, sometimes happened as you are. Curious truth? Here you can see some examples of the presentation loads, in addition to the rag:
On the other hand, we already told you that the software they had was translated from its English version into Spanish, and so it seemed like a product with a national brand, it was always more attractive than English. Here you can see some examples with three games of the cassette tape of Your Computer for Commodore: Snapman (Published in the edition # 4 of 1984 of the original magazine), Charlie and the Jugs (Published in the edition nº12 of 1985 of the original magazine ) and Asteoroides Lander (Published in issue 4 of 1985 of the original magazine). Games that in turn would be published for the Spanish version of Your Computer in 1986.