QL Magazine Articles

Last Updated: 12.07.2021

A selection of news, articles and adverts about the QL scanned from various magazines, mostly from the 1980s. Mainly PDF files. Much of the information about the magazines listed below comes from Wikipedia.org. Important - these articles remain the copyright of the authors and/or publishers. This page is a work in progress and will be added to as time permits!

Firstly, here's a random selection of QL-related magazine articles scanned by Klaus Frank. Note: About 45MB in size!
Download as PDF (45MB)

Cover page of an issue of Computer Shopper Computer Shopper

Computer Shopper is a magazine published monthly since 1988 in the UK by Dennis Publishing Ltd. It contains reviews of home computers, consumer technology and software as well as technology-focused news, analysis and feature articles. In the early days it featured QL columns written by Sid Martin and Timothy Green (Simon N. Goodwin). Download as PDF files.

March 1988 - Sinclair Scene (298K PDF)
April 1988 - Increase QL System Speed By Adding Memory Boards (291K PDF)
May 1988 - Sinclair Scene (748K PDF)
September 1988 - Sinclair Scene (938K PDF)
October 1988 - Sinclair Scene (768K PDF)
November 1988 - Sinclair Scene (543K PDF)
December 1988 - Sinclair Scene (154K PDF) December 1988 - Sinclair Scene Part 2 (288K PDF)

January 1989 - Sinclair Scene (505K PDF)
February 1989 - Sinclair Scene (774K PDF)
March 1989 - Sinclair Scene (350K PDF)
April 1989 - Sinclair Scene (529K PDF)
May 1989 - Sinclair Scene (469K PDF)
June 1989 - Sinclair Scene (535K PDF)
July 1989 - Sinclair Scene (704K PDF)
August 1989 - Sinclair Scene (517K PDF)
September 1989 - Sinclair Scene (488K PDF)
October 1989 - Sinclair Scene (415K PDF)
December 1989 - Sinclair Scene (515K PDF)

January 1990 - Sinclair Scene (474K PDF)
February 1990 - Sinclair Scene (546K PDF)
March 1990 - Sinclair Scene (367K PDF)
April 1990 - Sinclair Scene (505K PDF)
May 1990 - Sinclair Scene (486K PDF)
June 1990 - Sinclair Scene (474K PDF)
July 1990 - Sinclair Scene (494K PDF)
August 1990 - Sinclair Scene (517K PDF)
September 1990 - Sinclair Scene (486K PDF)
October 1990 - Sinclair Scene (597K PDF)
November 1990 - Sinclair Scene (630K PDF)
December 1990 - Sinclair Scene (490K PDF)

January 1991 - Sinclair Scene (473K PDF)

Cover page from first issue of Home Computing Weekly magazine Home Computing Weekly

Published by Argus Press magazines, this was a weekly general computing magazine in the 1980s.

It featured news, general articles, reviews, adverts and listings, including some for the QL. Somewhat reflecting the male-dominated computer scene of the period, some issues featured photographs of scantily clad young ladies holding computers!

It ran from March 1983 to October 1985 (133 Issues).

Cover page of first issue of New Computer Express magazine New Computer Express

New Computer Express was started in 1988 by Future Publishing. The first issue appeared in November 1988. The launch editor was Chris Anderson. During this time 8-bit micros were still prevalent, and 16-bit micros were growing their share of the market. The PC had yet to cement its hold on the home market and as a result it was a varied landscape. NCE was a multi-format magazine which tried to cover developments in the whole area. For example, in December 1989 it had articles covering the Amiga, Atari ST, PC, Amstrad CPC, BBC Micro, Acorn Archimedes, Commodore 64, MSX, Atari XE, Amstrad PCW, Sinclair Spectrum and Sinclair QL. The magazine ceased publication in 1991. The magazine featured regular QL columns which were written mainly by John Torofex (pen name of Quanta founder Leon Heller and Eric Simmonds, pen name of Freddy Vachha of QL software publisher DP Ltd)
[Information mainly from Wikipedia.org]

QL column from 12 November 1988 to 8 September 1990 - scanned to a single PDF file (820 K) or a single Word docx file (160K)

Cover page of an issue of Popular Computing Weekly magazine Popular Computing Weekly

Popular Computing Weekly was a computer magazine in the UK published from 23 April 1982 until 1992. It was sometimes referred to as PCW (although that abbreviation is more commonly associated with Personal Computer World magazine).

Its subject range was general-purpose, covering gaming, business, and productivity software. It featured regular news and listings for the Sinclair QL. The launch editor was Duncan Scott.

A noteworthy feature of the early editions was the high-quality artwork on the magazine covers. These had disappeared by 1983.

Cover page of an issue of Personal Computer News magazine Personal Computer News

Personal Computer News, commonly referred to as PCN, was a magazine publication which reviewed software and hardware for computers. It was published initially fortnightly, and during the boom period of home computing within the United Kingdom. It was published by VNU Publications and had a female editor, Cyndy Miles, unusual for computer magazines of the time.

A typical issue contained a number of articles, reviews, tutorials in computer programming and letters from readers on programming subjects. It had a regular column called Dungeon which concentrated on text adventures. Readout reviewed new books, and Gameplay reviewed new games. Other sections such as Hardware and Peripherals regularly appeared, but contained different products as they were released. It is notable for containing articles, and programs, on a large number of computers that have slipped into obscurity. It also published a large number of computer games which readers could type in.

Its first issue was published on 12 March 1983. Its last issue, number 110, was published on 11 May 1985. It had a circulation of 150,000 in 1983

Sinclair Takes A Leap PCN 21 January 1984 (673K PDF)

QL The Hard Facts PCN 25 August 1984 (438K PDF)

Cover page from an issue of Personal Computer World magazine Personal Computer World

Personal Computer World (usually referred to as PCW) (February 1978 - June 2009) was the first British computer magazine. Although its title implied it was a PC magazine, it started life when the term "Personal Computer" was more generic, with the title referring to the various early home computers of the era.

PCW was founded by the Croatian-born Angelo Zgorelec in 1978, and was the first microcomputer magazine in Britain. PCW’s first cover model, in February 1978, was the Nascom-1, which also partly inspired Zgorelec to launch the magazine.

PCW went monthly from the second edition. Zgorelec went into partnership with Felix Dennis who published his first issue in September 1979 before selling the title to VNU in 1982. The magazine was later owned by Incisive Media, which announced its closure on 8 June 2009. The magazine would from time to time use photos of chimpanzees alongside Sinclair computers, with one issue featuring a QL and a chimp on the cover. PCW would include lotsof Sinclair news and articles and in the 1980s some listings for Sinclair computers.

PC World June 1981 (152K PDF) "Computers For The Masses"
PCW 1984-06 QL Review.pdf (16MB PDF) QL review.
Timo Salmi Basic Hints.pdf (119K PDF Feb 1989)
ICL OPD Review (819K PDF)

Practical Computing

Practical Computing was a UK computer magazine published monthly. The magazine was published by IPC Electrical Electronic Press Ltd. The first edition was released in August 1978 as a special computer show edition, and the second issue was October 1978. The magazine carried on to 1987 when it merged with Business Computing. In September 1989, it was renamed Management Computing. It carried occasional news items and articles about the QL.

QL Review PC March 1984 (312K PDF)
QL Review PC September 1984 (798K PDF)
News Jan 1985 (214K PDF)
68K/OS Review PC March 1985 (149K PDF)

QL News

A series of colour multi-page QL adverts from Sinclair.

QL News 1 (618K PDF)
QL News 2 (789K PDF)

Sinclair User

Cover page of an issue of Sinclair User magazine Sinclair User, often abbreviated SU, was a magazine dedicated to the Sinclair Research range of home computers, most specifically the ZX Spectrum (while also occasionally covering arcade games and QL). Initially published by ECC Publications, and later EMAP, it was published in the UK between 1982 and 1993, and was the longest running Sinclair-based magazine.

Like many similar magazines, it contained news, game reviews, previews, tips, help guides, regular columns, readers' letters and cover-mounted game demos.

In May 1992 the former rival publication CRASH was notionally subsumed into Sinclair User but in practice this meant little more than the addition of the Crash! logo to the magazine's cover page.

QL Launch (181K PDF)
QL Review SU March 1984 (K PDF)
The QL:Separating Fact From Fiction SU July 1984 (313K PDF)
Pole-star QL On Southern Quest SU January 1985 (397K PDF)
Sinclair Bows Out SU June 1986 (200K PDF)

Cover page of an issue of ZX Computing magazine ZX Computing

A British magazine published from 1982 to 1987, dedicated as the title implies to Sinclair computers. Primarily covering Zx80, ZX81 and Spectrum, it also featured occasional QL coverage and listings.

It was published by Argus Specialist Publications Ltd and initially edited by the late Tim Hartnell of Interface Publications.

A bi-monthly publication, starting with the Summer 1982 edition, it eventually changed its title to ZX Computing Monthly when it became a monthly publication in April 1986.

Other Magazines

Here At Last - What Micro, October 1984 (588K PDF)

Science_et_vie_Mars1984.pdf (6.5MB) - A French article from Science & Vie magazine March 1984 about QL versus Mac versus IBM PC.

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