Ask HN: Does anyone have scans of these missing PC Plus issues (1991–1993)?

I'm looking for copies of these issues of PC Plus magazine please.

1991-Nov, 1992-Jan, 1992-Mar, 1992-Apr, 1992-Jun, 1992-Jul, 1992-Oct, 1993-Jan.

This was a popular PC magazine in the UK, and one of its highlights was Wilf’s Programmer Workshop, a regular column full of programming puzzles, challenges and reader submissions.

At one point, he ran a contest around quines (programs that output their own source). I sent in a tongue‑in‑cheek entry, a batch file that used PKZIP to “compile” code into PKZIP.OBJ (instead of .ZIP) and then ZIP2EXE to “link” it into an EXE. The result was an executable that unzipped itself back into a source file. He was amused enough to mention it near the end of his column, though he noted it didn’t quite qualify for the contest since I hadn’t written PKZIP myself.

I found scans of his section on archive.org, including the issue where he announces the contest, but I couldn't find my particular contribution. I've narrowed it down to the eight issues listed above that are in the right time-frame.

If you have any of these issues (paper or PDF), could you please check Wilf’s section near the back and see if my submission is mentioned?

Thanks!

124 points | by billpg 9 days ago

14 comments

  • jfil 5 days ago
    I looked around for you - the best I could find is a listing for the magazines at the British Library at https://www.bl.uk/. It appears that they have a copy of all the issues and they are available by request for physical viewing.
    [-]
    • PaulRobinson 1 day ago
      I regularly go to BL and had planned to go in the next couple of weeks, except I just got an email suggesting a strike might mean there are limited facilities available from Monday for a couple of weeks.

      That said, I'm happy to go and try and pull those copies (it's sometimes hard to get physical copies), and send the OP scans of his contributions (if they're in there!), when I go in mid-late November.

      OP - if this is a useful help to you, let me know and we'll find a way to connect!

    • reedf1 1 day ago
      I'm busy the next few days but I could clear an afternoon to check this out. I live nearby.
    • trollbridge 1 day ago
      This can be a pain, but we’ve done the same thing at the Library of Congress. In theory, they have access to every digital book published, too.
      [-]
      • xrisk 1 day ago
        Only books published by American publishers yeah?
        [-]
        • atrettel 1 day ago
          The Library of Congress has tons of books from foreign publishers. I have gone there many times for their extensive collection of German and Russian scientific and technical monographs. They also have a ton of obscure foreign publications and periodicals.

          Unfortunately, their catalog does not list this particular magazine as far as I can tell.

    • dandelionv1bes 1 day ago
      If you’re in the UK this is quite an easy solution. The library is right by two large train stations and you can sign up same day for a card.
      [-]
      • toomuchtodo 1 day ago
        Not in the UK, would someone be interested in working with the library to get them scanned for the Internet Archive? What would the cost and logistics look like?
        [-]
        • ta1243 1 day ago
          archive.org's been down for ages. I put it down to blocking the UK thanks to stupid UK laws, but I can't reach it from servers elsewhere either.

          Is it still going or did it piss off the wrong person in America?

          [-]
          • romanhn 10 hours ago
            I'm in California, no issues accessing it. I'm sure it'd be front page news if Internet Archive went down.
          • dcminter 1 day ago
            Random Sweden-based person here. I was using it fine yesterday & it's up and available today as well. Are you perhaps using some DNS provider that's blocking it? Or a VPN or something that's blocked from the other direction perhaps?
            [-]
            • ta1243 1 day ago
              archive.org resolves to 207.241.224.2 using cf, google and quad9

              This is just tcp to 207.241.224.2 port 80 (delivered via curl) or from a router.

              SYN goes out, nothing comes back.

              I can't reach it from AS16509 (AWS eu-west-2), AS17547 (MOne in Singapore), AS18106 (Viewquest Singapore), AS20712 (UK), or AS4755 (Tata in India)

              I can reach it from AS23674 (Nayatel Pakistan), AS174 (Cogent in US), AS3356 (Level3 in US), AS46887 (Crown Castle in US) and AS7545 (TPG Sydney)

              I can also reach it via mozillavpn on AS39351 (London) and presumably other sites

              Multiple machines, multiple ISPs, multiple ways to the internet. Very odd.

              Thanks for confirming it's not fully broken though

              [-]
      • dcminter 1 day ago
        > you can sign up same day for a card

        Do you know if there are any hoops to jump through these days? My understanding was that a reader card used to require an academic referral or at least a write-up of the research you planned to conduct.

        FWIW I was only ever there for the café or the bookshop though, neither of which required a card :D

      • foofoo12 1 day ago
        11h55 from Port Ellen.
  • billpg 9 days ago
    PS. Link to the scans: https://archive.org/details/wpw-1991-1992-1993/WPW-1991-01/
    [-]
    • Daneel_ 1 day ago
      Unfortunately those don't contain the specific issues the OP mentioned.
      [-]
      • js2 1 day ago
        You're replying to OP. :)

        The link is in reference to "I found scans of his section on archive.org, including the issue where he announces the contest, but I couldn't find my particular contribution".

        [-]
        • eterm 1 day ago
          I've always wondered why HN doesn't have an OP indicator. A blue name ( similar to the green name for new accounts ) or an asterisk, just something subtle, would do.

          Perhaps they don't want to mark out the OP as "special" to the resulting conversation, but it would help make the situation here clearer.

          [-]
          • maxbond 1 day ago
            A good compromise would be only marking their top-level comments. And/or doing this only for Show/Ask/Tell threads.

            I'm sending this thread to the admins as a feature request.

          • rrr_oh_man 1 day ago
            Tampermonkey to the rescue!
            [-]
            • jorvi 1 day ago
              Quick slaptogether. I'm decidedly mediocre at web so if anyone has improvements, please post them :)

                // ==UserScript==
  // @name         HN OP highlight
  // @version      0.1
  // @description  Find OP username and change username color to blue
  // @match        https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=*
  // @grant        none
  // @run-at       document-end
  // ==/UserScript==
  
  (function() {
    'use strict';

    // get OP 'userid' from class 'hnuser' in post subtext
    const opUsername = document.querySelector('span.subline a.hnuser')?.getAttribute('href');

    // Match other instances of same 'userid' in 'hnuser' class elsewhere in page
    if (opUsername) {
        const opHighlight = document.createElement('style');
        opHighlight.textContent = `
            /* Post header username */
            span.subline a.hnuser[href="${opUsername}"],
            /* Comment header username */
            span.comhead a.hnuser[href="${opUsername}"] {
                color: #2749F5 !important;
            }
        `;
        document.head.appendChild(opHighlight);
    }
  })();
              [-]
  • afavour 1 day ago
    Haven't heard that name in years! Thanks for a trip down memory lane. I was always more of a PC Format reader than PC Plus but would buy any of these magazines I could get my hands on and devour them. A simpler time...
    [-]
    • dcminter 1 day ago
      I was a devotee of PC Plus back in the early 90s with my first XT compatible. I have exceedingly fond memories of the 5¼" cover disks and discovering a variety of shareware, freeware, nagware, commercial-but-lightly-maimed-ware and so on. I learnt a huge amount about the PC from their pages too.

      Sadly most of the cover-disk images kicking around at archive.org are from the later 3½" cover disk era, by which time I was at college and more focused on Linux, SLS/Slackware, and so forth.

  • n4r9 1 day ago
    You've probably already looked but it may be possible to purchase physical vintage copies if all else fails, e.g.: https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?item=145752856587&rt=nc&_t...
    [-]
    • krypdoh 1 day ago
      There's at least one of the issues on eBay.
  • iam-TJ 1 day ago
    Have you checked out the The National Museum of Computing (TNMoC) archive. Last time I was there they had a rather good magazine collection going back to the early 1980s. It may be worth a call. I see they have an (incomplete) online catalogue:

    https://www.tnmoc.org/library-archive

  • toomuchtodo 9 days ago
    Might inquire in r/DHExchange as well.
  • radial_symmetry 1 day ago
    This post is proof that I truly do not understand what it takes to get to the front page of HN
    [-]
    • dcminter 1 day ago
      It requires that it offer the opportunity for an interesting discussion in the view of those checking the /new page at the time that it's posted.

      This ticks several boxes - the desire to archive technical literature, sympathy for an achieveable goal, and nostalgia for the magazines of yesteryear.

      The element of serendipity is part of the appeal for me; for example if OP had posted at a different hour, it might have sunk without trace.

      [-]
      • NedF 1 day ago
        [dead]
  • supportengineer 1 day ago
    All I have is Family Computing, INFO, and Amiga World
  • jen20 1 day ago
    PC Plus in the days of Paul Stephens (RIP) and Dave Pearman was hands down the best computing managazine around. I believe I have every issue from -1994-2000 with the exception of Feb 97 (long story) but these ones predate me sadly.
    [-]
    • bagnus 1 day ago
      Paul Stephens contributions were incredible. His web design articles in PC Plus and those Lotus Screencam tutorials on the SuperCD were what got me started. They were my first proper lessons in building web pages, and they ended up shaping my whole career in software.

      I still remember following Huw Collingbourne’s Delphi and C++ Builder tutorials too. I actually learned to write a word processor in C++ from those.

      PC Plus was such a good magazine. I bought it religiously from around 1996-2002. Miss those days.

      [-]
      • jen20 1 day ago
        Same, largely. As were the tools they somehow managed to negotiate for inclusion on the SuperCD.

        Sadly paulspages.co.uk appears to be down. It would be great to recover the screen cam videos for YouTube though!

        I did see a memorial recently [1] - turned out he lived up the street from me for many years.

        [1]: https://www.brlsi.org/a-sad-farewell-to-paul-stephens/

  • ta1243 1 day ago
    For the 120th (10 year) issue, I think in 1996, they had a "what will computers look like in 10 years time" article.

    I'd love to see that.

  • roflchoppa 1 day ago
    oh wow! back in August of 2005, I was on a trip to the UK and found a magazine that was talking about Counter-Strike hacks, and I think it was published by PC Plus,

    I could be wrong but man I want to find that magazine now.

    [-]
    • roflchoppa 1 day ago
      ahhhh nah i don't think it was PC Plus, but man I wish I could locate the magazine. :(
  • stavros 1 day ago
    > he noted it didn’t quite qualify for the contest since I hadn’t written PKZIP myself.

    Why? Had the other entries written GCC/LD themselves?

  • rasz 9 hours ago
    mmm PC Plus, UK mini version of Computer Shopper, 300 pages of product listings with prices to lust over.
  • Call_center 10 hours ago
    [flagged]