Description

COMPUTE!’s Gazette Issue #10 Digital Edition – April, 2026

COMPUTE!’s Gazette – Volume 2, Issue 4 (April 2026 Issue #10) – BASIC Is Not Dead. Step into the living, breathing world of BASIC programming — still evolving, still inspiring, and anything but gone — with the April 2026 issue of COMPUTE!’s Gazette. This 80-page edition makes the case that the language that greeted a generation of programmers from ROM chips is still producing real games, real tools, and real communities in 2026. From a scrolling arcade game written in Atari BASIC to a snake-like C64 title born from a childhood dream, this issue pairs its cover story with deep dives into retro hardware restoration, the golden age of video game box art, early personal computing history, and the technical evolution of the BBS. A must-read for any retro enthusiast who believes the best of these platforms is still ahead.

Feature Highlights:

• BASIC Is Not Dead: Edwin Nagle profiles three developers actively building in BASIC right now. Cory Smith of gotBASIC.com explains why the BASIC community is larger, quieter, and more devoted than the internet would have you believe; Alex Viroli walks through Chased, a complete six-level scrolling game written entirely in Atari BASIC; and Steve Reuter (Steviesaurus Dev) recounts how a childhood dream finally became The Munching Millipede, a finished snake-style game written in the austere C64 BASIC V2.
• The Game in the Box: Box Art vs. Reality: A nostalgic and witty examination of the golden age of video game packaging, exploring how fantasy cover art — often inspired by Boris Vallejo and Frank Frazetta — sold the dream while the hardware could only suggest it. Covers infamous examples from Adventure, Pac-Man, Jet Set Willy, Shadow of the Beast, and more.
• Dawn Before the Trinity: 1974–1976: Steve Lewis traces the forgotten chapter of personal computing history — the SCELBI-8H, MARK-8, Altair 8800, SOL-20, Apple-1, and the little-known POLY-88 — documenting the systems that laid the groundwork for the 1977 Trinity.
• Upgrade the Color Computer: Ian Mavric provides a detailed technical guide to upgrading the TRS-80 Color Computer to 64K RAM, covering Rev D and Rev E motherboard modifications, ROM-Write Disabling, and sourcing modern replacement parts.
• Jupiter Fracture (C64): Peri Fractic and the development team recount the making of Jupiter Fracture, the Commodore 64 Ultimate launch title — a spiritual sequel to the 1982 classic Jupiter Lander featuring nine levels, 360-degree rotation, and 2SID music, delivered for CommoServe in time for the holidays.

Hardware & Community:

• Retro Community to the Rescue: How a Commodore 16 Got Its Groove Back: Joe Ochwat details his journey acquiring, troubleshooting, and fully upgrading a nearly-mint Commodore 16 found at VCF Midwest, including installing the zeus074 TED RAM Expansion board via PCBWay for a solderless 64K upgrade.
• Lost & Found: Andrew Fisher covers Cavey (Caveman Capers), a newly recovered unfinished C64 platform game from 1992 with a working level designer; puts out a call for surviving issues of the Micro League Baseball Newsletter; and spotlights a newly discovered Atari 8-bit prototype of Tony Crowther’s Trap.

Columns & Regulars:

• The Gazette Wire: Covers the latest retro news including the 5200XEGS project bridging the Atari 5200 and XL/XE lines.
• Commodore Corner (Peri Fractic): Takes a personal turn, addressing the landmark California jury verdict against Meta and Google over social media harm to children, and reflecting on smartphone addiction and the retro community as a space to heal.
• Dialed Back (Rob Sherman): Traces the technical evolution of the BBS from Hayes AT commands and dial-up modems through Telnet and modern Wi-Fi adapters like FujiNet and WiModem.
• The FujiNet Report (Thomas Cherryhomes): Continues the FujiNet Battleship series with a deep dive into C client architecture, data structures, and cross-platform game logic.
• Podcast Corner (Brian Cox): Spotlights RetroMacCast and its annual Marchintosh tradition, including community projects like The Crow’s Nest BBS and After Dark modifications.
• Tandy Land (Ian Mavric): Brings TRS-80 and Color Computer festival news, online resources, and a product spotlight on Jay Crutti’s Cherry MX replacement keyboards for the Model III and 4.
• MEGA65 Digest (Dan Sanderson): Launches a new series on programming robotfindskitten in BASIC 65, covering DATA statements, random number generation, input handling, and program structure.
• Insight: Atari (Jerry White and John Zielke): Brand-new column making its debut this issue, covering Atari BASIC programming, community news, and active projects including the 5200XEGS.
• Lost & Found (Andrew Fisher): Covers the newly recovered C64 game Cavey (Caveman Capers), issues a call for surviving Micro League Baseball Newsletter issues, and spotlights a discovered Atari 8-bit prototype of Trap.