A Note from the Publisher...

    In 1987, my friend Dave and I owned our first home computer. Dave was first, 
with a 16K Color Computer 2 that his grandparents gave him for Christmas. Then 
I got mine a few months later on my birthday; a 64K Coco 2.

    We learned the BASIC language on our own, using the book that came with the 
computer as our guide. Then countless trips to Radio Shack to purchase ROM
packs, game cassettes, and floppy disks. We were hooked.

    In the spring of 1987, at the age of 13, Dave & I brainstormed the idea of 
printing a computer magazine. We wanted this publication to contain articles, 
programs, and tips for using the computer we were so fond of. I received my 
first printer, a DMP-105 and Dave had a small printer that used thermal paper,
the TP-10. That was enough to get this venture started. In June 1987, the first
issue of TRS-80 Computing was born in the basement of my childhood home. I 
chuckle looking back at the 14 page “magazine” that contained a couple of 
programs & articles, free ads, and a computer joke.

    The magazine was monthly for the first 6 months and sold for 60 cents an 
issue to local friends, relatives, and a few teachers at the middle school we 
attended. In 1988, the magazine became bi-monthly after realizing it was too 
much to keep up with. After all, we were only 8th graders. 

    As the years passed, the publication grew. We went from a half dozen 
subscribers at the onset to over 100 at the peak four years later. Dave & I 
solicited advertisers and additional contributors from all over the U.S. and 
Canada. The columns expanded and so did the pages. We were quite the 
entrepreneurs by the time we were sophomores in high school.

    In the winter of 1992, it was realized that the Tandy Color Computer wasn’t
the toy that it was before. Radio Shack discontinued the Coco 3 in 1991 and 
other publications such as The Rainbow started to decrease its pages. Dave & I 
were also a few months away from graduating high school and moving onto college. 
The decision was made to make the February 1992 issue the last one. It’s 
important to note that the final issue was never finished nor published. I 
decided to include this never seen before “partial” issue in the collection.

In the last year, I took upon the task of scanning every issue from June 1987-
February 1992. All 28 issues are divided into five volumes and included in this 
digital folder. Whether you were a “Cocoer” many years ago or are still active 
in the community today, I hope you enjoy browsing through a publication that I 
have fond memories of creating, typesetting, and printing. Long live the Coco!

                                Joe Ahern
                                10/23/2023
                                jaherntech@gmail.com