Run (magazine)
{{short description|Defunct American computer magazine}}
{{more citations needed|date=November 2017}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox magazine
| image_file = RUN Premiere Issue.png
| image_alt =
| image_caption =
| editor = Dennis Brisson
| editor_title = Editor
| previous_editor =
| staff_writer = Tim Walsh
Lou Wallace
Ellen Rule
Beth Jala
Tony Branter
Robert Rockefeller
Arnie Katz
John Ryan
Walt Latocha
| frequency = Bi-monthly
| circulation =
| category =
| company = IDG Communications
| publisher =
| firstdate = January 1984
| country = United States
| based =
| language = English
| website =
| issn = 0741-4285
| finaldate = November/December 1992
| finalnumber = Issue #94, volume 9 number 6
}}
Run (stylized as RUN) was an American computer magazine published monthly by IDG Communications with its first issue debuting in January 1984. Bi-monthly publishing began in June/July 1990 (issue #78, volume 7 number 6), and went on until the magazine folded in November/December 1992 (issue #94, volume 9 number 6).{{Cite web |title=RUN Magazine – Commodore Computers: C64 VIC20 PET C128 Plus4 – 8 Bit PC's |url=https://www.commodore.ca/commodore-gallery/run-magazine/ |access-date=2024-04-18 |website=www.commodore.ca}} In its heyday, Run{{'}}s monthly circulation was in the 200,000–300,000 range. Folio, the trade journal of the magazine industry, rated it as the second fastest-growing U.S. magazine of 1985.
The magazine contained articles about Commodore 8-bit home computers and peripherals, as well as reviews on available software packages for the computers. In addition, every issue featured several type-in programs written in BASIC and/or machine language. The magazine's name came from the BASIC command "RUN",{{cite magazine |last= |first= |date=January 1984 |title=Welcome to the World of RUN |url=https://www.commodore.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/run_issue_01_1984_jan-www.commodore.ca_.pdf |magazine=RUN |page=6 |issue=1}} which started execution of the computer's program, presumably typed in from the magazine.
The front cover was originally accented by a logotype reading "RUN", with each letter placed on a key button resembling those used on the C-64. In June 1987 the keys were removed and the font became italicized with rounded letters.
Content
Run columns included the following:
- Magic, perhaps the magazine's most distinctive feature, was a collection of short programs, programming tips, and tricks, mostly submitted by readers.{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/run-magazine-28/Run_Issue_28_1986_Apr#page/n97/mode/2up|title=RUN Magazine Issue 28 Magic column showing a variety of typical items|date=April 1986 }} Several dozen were published each month, and they were all numbered in hexadecimal, with each issue's numbering taking over where the last one had left off. Readers could write to Magic at P.O. Box 101011, a box number chosen for its binary appearance. Often, a "special issue" published at the end of the year would collect the year's Magic entries and augment them with many unpublished ones. This column, created and compiled by Louis F. Sander, debuted in the first issue and was run during the entire life of the magazine.
- Mega-Magic was a monthly column that included type-in programming utilities larger and more powerful than those in the standard Magic columns.
- Commodore Clinic, a letters column, allowed users to write in with questions about hardware and software issues, which would then be answered in the magazine.
- Run Amok was an errata column that published corrections to previous type-in programs and articles.
- Software Gallery reviewed various commercial software packages.
- 128 Mode, taken over from Commodore's own magazine when it was purchased by Run, included programming advice and short type-ins for the Commodore 128.
- Gold Mine was another Louis F. Sander column taken over from Commodore's magazine. It featured tips and tricks for commercial games.
Contributors
Michael Vaughn Konshak, better known as Mike Konshak, a BASIC software developer and mechanical engineer, contributed the popular DataFile database management program and many other utilities for the Commodore 64 to Run.{{Cite magazine |date=1986 |title=Productivity Pak II |url=https://archive.org/details/Re-Run_Productivity_Pak_II_1986_IDG_Communications_US/page/n1/mode/2up |magazine=Re-RUN |page=2}} The code was first published in the back of the November 1984 issue. A small note, written by Konshak at the end of the article, stated: "If you don't want to type this in, send me $6.00 and I'll send you a disk".{{cite web |date=November 1984 |title=RUN Magazine Issue 11, November 1984, Page 75 |url=https://archive.org/details/run-magazine-11/page/n75/mode/2up}} 1500 Run subscribers sent Konshak money in the first month, which prompted the editors to create the "Re-Run" disk to generate more revenue for the publisher.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}
A series of dozen follow-on article by Konshak were published in the ensuing two years, and the programs were exclusively sold on Run{{'}}s Re-Run disk, as the editors restricted authors from soliciting for disks in the magazine from then on.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}} Datafile then evolved into dFile64, dFile128, dFcalc, DFword, etc., and was sold by Konshak through his small company, MichaelSoft {{endash}} "[a] cottage industry of homespun software".{{Cite magazine |date=January 1986 |title=Mike Konshak introduces dfile 128 |url=https://archive.org/details/run-magazine-25/page/n61/mode/2up |magazine=RUN |page=60 |issue=25}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Internet Archive|run-magazine|RUN}}
- [http://www.bombjack.org/commodore/magazines/run/run.htm DLH's Commodore Archive] Gallery of RUN magazine covers and downloadable PDFs of the "Special Issues."
- [http://10print.org 10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10], book about a one-line type-in program published in RUN{{'}}s "Magic" column
{{Commodore 8-bit computer magazines}}
Category:Bimonthly magazines published in the United States
Category:Commodore 8-bit computer magazines
Category:Defunct computer magazines published in the United States
Category:Magazines established in 1984