Bajtek

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Bajtek was one of most popular Polish computer magazines at it times.

Contents 1 History 2 Bajtek and CPC 3 List of articles releated to CPC 3.1 1986 3.2 1987

History

Bajtek was started in 1985 by Władysław Majewski, an editor of "Przegląd - Komputer" - insertion added to "Przegląd Techniczny". First issue would be published by "Krajowe Wydawnictwo Czasopism", but because it was started 'ad hoc', it didn't have paper allowance (dear reader - please remember, at this time Poland was a communist country), so it had to borrow paper. The "Sztandar Młodych" (Youth Banner), the newspaper of ZMP (Polish Youth Association - an organ of the communist party for the young communists) decided to lend paper for the Bajtek, and the first issue could be printed. It was continued by three other issues during the 1985 and all 200000 copies were sold on spot.

The "Sztandar Młodych" editor liked the idea of a computer magazine adresed at the young computer entusiasts (rather than at computer scientists - as all other polish computer magazines, at that time did), so much, that he decided to take it over.

In the Fall of 1985, The editor of "Sztandar Młodych" Aleksander Kwaśniewski (who will later became President of Poland) become "minister do spraw młodzieży" (Youth minister? minister in matter of youth? Blah, communistic 'nomenclature' is really hard to translate and my english ain't good too), and his first decision, was to make Bajtek, a part of the "Sztandar Młodych" publishing house. Since 1986, until 1989 Bajtek was published by "Sztandar Młodych".

In the year 1989, thanks to the 'Round Table', there were many changes in Poland. One of the most important, was the closing of the Office of Censorship and stoping of the press regulation. With that (and many other changes), Bajtek was divided from the "Sztandar Młodych" and continued on it own, published by Bajtek Publishing House, an co-operative stared by Bajtek redactors. It ran down until 1996, when bancrupcy of Agrobank had bringed Bajtek Publishing House to it's knees, eventualy bancrupting it too.

Bajtek and CPC

On the beginning, Bajtek had mainly articles about computers from "private import" (more communistic 'nomenclature'), particulary about ZX Spectrum, which became quite popular in Poland in the first half of the 80'ies, mainly because of it's price. In the 1986, there was an advent of 'clans' - subparts of Bajtek, each dedicated to only one machine/producer (All Ataris, All Commodores and so on).

By that time, the popularity of the CPC in Poland was rising. That was, to the simple fact, that CPC were (thanks to CP/M+ and 80 column mode) considered as cheap alternative to IBM PC and other 'professional machines'. Personally, I've heard about CPC applications in scientific calculations, witch on it own shows how this trend was strong. That was because even institutions (like universities) couldn't allow themselfs for substantial amounts of PCs. Poland was (at that time) very poor country and high exchange rates added to the problem. Also, there was COCOM, which meant that really big machines were out-of-reach.

Also, the bulit-in Cetronics port of the Schneiders allowed very easy producing of so called "Publikacje bezdebitowe" ('debitless' publications). Debit is a word from french, meaning 'to sell', 'place of selling' and 'bez-' is a polish word for "without". At that time, if you wanted to distribute your publication, you had to have 'debit', an allowance from Office of Censorship. So, in short, "bezdebitowe" or 'debitless' publications were illegal 'papers' distributed by underground. As they usally been produced in quantities of around 200 copies, The CPC with good NLQ printer and possibly a copier was all you need to fight with communism. Needless to say, CPC became quite popular in underground.

Thanks to that, CPC was noticed by Bajtek and The "Klan Amstrada/Schneidera", a clan for the CPC and PCW computers was also formed. Unfortunatly, because of the typical profile of polish CPC users, polish 'scene' never formed, so there weren't autors in "CPC clan" who could portrey the "Colour in CPC". Most articles was about practical applications of CPC and PCW.

Bajtek continued to publish articles about CPC and PCW until 1994.

List of articles releated to CPC

(As no other wiki editor could do it, I'll make that list, but this will take some time. Some of my Bajteks were lost when I've moved, others still aren't here... But should be by the end of this year)

1986

Title	Title translation	Issue	Page
Arnold - Rozmowa z Joe Oki	Arnold - interview with Joe Oki	5-6/1986[1]	6
CPC 464	n/a	5-6/1986	10
Mini organy	Mini organ	5-6/1986	12
Drugi drążek sterowy	Second Joystick	5-6/1986	13
Pisać zamiast pisac	Imposible to translate - this was article about polish diacritical signs	5-6/1986	13
Animacja	Animation	5-6/1986	14
Zabezpieczenia	Protections	7/1986	19
Odzyskiwanie plików omyłkowo skasowanych na dyskietce (6128)	Recovering data deleted from disc by accident (6128)	7/1986	19
CPC 6128	n/a	8/1986	8
Menu dysku	Disc menu	8/1986	8
AMX dla myszy	AMX for mouse	8/1986	9
Ekran na papierze	Screen on paper	8/1986	10
Zegar dla Amstrada	Clock for Amstrad	8/1986	10
Lista zmiennych	variables list	8/1986	11
Powiększanie napisów	Enlarging the Signs	8/1986	11
Jednoręki bandyta	Blackjack (?)	9/1986	12
Magnetofon i Amstrad	Amstrad and the tape recorder	9/1986	14
Jak odbezpieczyc program w BASIC-u	How to unprotect BASIC program	9/1986	14
Test oczu i uszu	Test your eyes and ears	10/1986	14
Muzyka robota	Robot's music	10/1986	14
Transmat	???	10/1986	15
Polskie litery	Polish letter (again about polish diacritical signs)	11/1986	8
Trochę ruchu...	Some movement...	11/1986	8
Pamięć pod lupą	Memory under magnifing glass	11/1986	9
Amstrad PC 1512	n/a	12/1986	11
Circle	n/a	12/1986	11
Ruchome literki	Moving letters	12/1986	11

[1] - Troughout the 1986, there were some problems with continous publishing, so there were couple of bi-monthly issues

1987

Title	Title translation	Issue	Page
PCW8512	n/a	1/1987	20
Co piszczy pod klawiaturą (1-12)	What squeaks under the keyboard (part 1 to 12)	1-12/1987	[1]
Węże	Snakes	2/1987	11
Programy biurowe	Office applications	2/1987	12
Zmiana krojów pisma	Font changing	4/1987	15
BASIC CPC 464	n/a	5/1987	14
Jezyki programowania	Programming languages	6/1987	13
Drukarka?	Printer?	6/1987	14
Instalacja polskich liter w CP/M PLUS dla CPC6128	Installation of polish letters under CP/M PLUS for CPC 6128	8/1987	13
Firma	Firm	10/1987	14
Uczymy mówić CPC 464, 664, 6128	Teach CPC 464, 664, 6128 to speak	11/1987	13
Katalog	Catalog	12/1987	12

[1] - This article was 12 part, each one had been on diffrent page. I could list 12 entries, each one stating the correct page number, but, as I don't think, any of You collect Bajtek(now or will in the future), I don't see the point.