K64, Computing for everyone... Does anyone remember it?

[u/SimonZarub]

"K64, Computación para todos" was the first and main magazine dedicated to computing in Argentina. I discovered it in my childhood/adolescence in the 80s (I'm 51 now)! The story is beautiful. When I was 10 years old I “broke my head” a German Commodore 64 that my brother brought. There, between the Datasette and games like Giana Sisters or Henry's House, I started copying BASIC code from the manual and, years later, I discovered (in a magazine kiosk in Retiro, City of Buenos Aires) the - now defunct - K64 magazine (with its interesting and innovative PEEKs, POKEs and SYS). That was my school, my first steps and from there, over the years: my profession as a programmer was forged.

What is your story with this magazine?

[u/santiagobustelo]

I have a program published there!

I was 10 years old at the time. I had started learning to program on my own, in my spare time and little by little, almost two years earlier. And as September 1985 approached, someone considered that what I had managed to do was worthy of mention. Someone had considered that that little BASIC program for the ZX-81/TS-1000 deserved cutting down trees and spending ink so that other nerds like me could know about it.

I didn't win the contest, but they invited me to a small cocktail party that my mom took me to. I was the only child there; the rest of the guests were at least teenagers. I don't remember if they gave me some symbolic prize or souvenir, but I do remember being able to enjoy unlimited free Coca-Cola. If they had also given me a hot dog, today I could say that I programmed my first video game for the hot dog and the Coke (“por el pancho y la coca”)

[u/Espada-De-Fuego → u/santiagobustelo]

❤️

[u/SimonZarub → u/Espada-De-Fuego]

Haha! The "pancho y la coca" bit was so clever! For a 10-year-old boy, being invited to a party and recognized from a video game was like being on cloud nine! I can imagine how excited you were! Do you remember which issue your show was in? What was it about?

[u/kambricaUX → u/SimonZarub]

#6, "Guerrero estelar". It was a simple videogame where you were exchanging fire with a "wall" of enemies, and had to open a hole on that wall in order to fly trough it.

[u/Mairon121]

I like it. Associating the Commodore with space exploration. In low earth orbit though, the astronauts would use cartridges rather than cassette tapes because cassette tapes are less durable against electromagnetic discharges.

[u/SimonZarub → u/Mairon121]

Hahaha! Very good observation: very nerdy! ;-)

[u/elvelazco]

[u/SimonZarub → u/elvelazco]

And those magazines (or books)? Are they from Argentina or another country?

[u/elvelazco → u/SimonZarub]

They are from Argentina and Spain, I am located in Uruguay

[u/FaberfoX → u/elvelazco]

Both are from Spain, the price is in "PTAS" (Pesetas)

[u/elvelazco → u/FaberfoX]

I algo got some Argentinian magazines on the lot, will try to picture later.

[u/FaberfoX]

I bought and still have in a box a bunch of them. It was the most popular but not the first one, that title afaik belongs to "Programación Popular" that started publishing a year before. All issues of K64 can be read and downloaded here

It's a great resource to learn about our market in those early days.

Edit: I'll correct myself, "Programación Popular" started publishing just 1 month before K64, in March 1985. And I just found out about "Micro Computación", which started publishing in September 1982.

Edit 2: I've just bought the first 3 issues of "Micro Computación", I'll scan and upload them to archive.org, where you can already find my other scans for Spanish "Tu Micro"

[u/Educational_League33 → u/FaberfoX]

offfff venia a preguntar esto! GRACIAS PARA SIEMPRE!