Skip to main content
Book cover

Game History and the Local pp 123–140Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Around the World with the Sorcerer of Exidy

  • 136 Accesses

Part of the Palgrave Games in Context book series (PAGCON)

Abstract

In an analysis of international computer user group newsletters, the authors explore locative dimensions of the use and reception of the Exidy Sorcerer microcomputer. They find that while user groups began with a hyper-local focus, they rapidly acquired regional and international readers with their editors entering into formal networks of reciprocal exchange to share content that was in perpetually short supply. This international growth often came at a cost to newsletter founders and brought them into contact with the challenges of international communication in the pre-Internet era. By design, the Sorcerer’s specialised programmable graphics architecture made graphics “as easy to use as text,” and the archive reveals how users exploited this technical affordance to undertake word processing and microcomputing in languages other than English.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-66422-0_7
  • Chapter length: 18 pages
  • Instant PDF download
  • Readable on all devices
  • Own it forever
  • Exclusive offer for individuals only
  • Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout
eBook
USD   64.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • ISBN: 978-3-030-66422-0
  • Instant PDF download
  • Readable on all devices
  • Own it forever
  • Exclusive offer for individuals only
  • Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout
Softcover Book
USD   84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
Hardcover Book
USD   119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
Learn about institutional subscriptions
Fig. 7.1

Notes

  1. 1.

    For a discussion of the importance of clones in teaching programming, see Swalwell (2021).

  2. 2.

    Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to find the results of the survey.

  3. 3.

    A key which is pressed and released without printing a character but which changes the meaning of the next key pressed.

References

  • Abraham, Terry. 1988. PC Users Group Newsletters. The Serials Librarian 13 (4):77–91. https://doi.org/10.1300/J123v13n04_07.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Arrington, Howard. 1981. SINGLE VOICE SOUND GENERATION. Sorcerer’s Apprentice 3 (3):50–52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arrington Software Service. 1982. <<< NEW PRODUCT RELEASES >>>. Sorcerer’s Apprentice 4 (2):36–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Auburg, C Douglas. 1980. EDITOR’S REMARKS. Z-80 MICROFANS I (8):1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beaver, Paul. 1981. Your SORCERER Computer. Your Computer. December.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, Richard, and Jose Ramirez. 1987. Southern California Sorcerer User Group (SCSUG) (ca. April 1987):n.p.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bunford, Ray. 1982. RANDOM BYTES. ESCape (European Sorcerer Club) (30):12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burnett, Jonathan. 1982. DOUBLE-SIDED DRIVES. Micropolis Users Group Newsletter (25).

    Google Scholar 

  • Carragher, John. 1987. Where are we going. Sorcerer Users Group South Australia Newsletter (SUGSA) (82):2–3.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carragher, John. 1991. The Future of SUG(SA). SUG Newsletter (formerly Sorcerer Users Group South Australia Newsletter (SUGSA)) (132):2.

    Google Scholar 

  • Computer System – Exidy Sorcerer. circa 1979. Melbourne, Australia: Museums Victoria Collections.

    Google Scholar 

  • Donaldson, John. 1981. Micropolis User Group (16):16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duddy, Ian. 1982. STRINGY FLOPPY FOR THE SORCERER. Sorcerer’s Apprentice 4 (1):2 & 23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freiberger, Paul, and John C Dvorak. 1983. OBSOLETE COMPUTERS. Infoworld. 6 June.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gazzard, Alison. 2016. Now the chips are down: the BBC Micro. Cambridge, Massachusetts : MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gottwald, John. 1982. ESI BELLY UP! Sorcerer’s Apprentice 4 (4&5):73.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guins, Raiford. 2014. Game after : a cultural study of video game afterlife. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Hagan, Roger. 1982. THE OFFICE SORCERER. Sorcerer’s Apprentice 4 (1):2.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ide, Don. 1985. SECRETARY’S SECTION. Sorcerer Users Group South Australia Newsletter (SUGSA) (60):2.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ide, Don. 1988. SECRETARY’S SECTION. SUG Newsletter (formerly Sorcerer Users Group South Australia Newsletter (SUGSA)) (95):2.

    Google Scholar 

  • InfoWorld. 1981. Exidy Forms Subsidiary Company. InfoWorld 3 (6).

    Google Scholar 

  • Jonker, Welmoed J. 1984. INFO. Exidy Sorcerer Gebruikers Groep a translation in English of the original Dutch version 3 (14):3.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jonker, Welmoed J. 1985. MICRO’S. ESGG (Exidy Sorcerer Gebruikers Groep) 4 (23):22.

    Google Scholar 

  • LaFlamme, Ralph. 1981a. ODDS & ENDS. Sorcerer’s Apprentice 3 (7):130–131.

    Google Scholar 

  • LaFlamme, Ralph. 1981b. SOFTWARE REVIEW ** GALAXIANS ** from Arrington Software. Sorcerer’s Apprentice 3 (2):36.

    Google Scholar 

  • LaFlamme, Ralph. 1982. ODDS & ENDS. Sorcerer’s Apprentice 4 (4&5).

    Google Scholar 

  • Langhurst, Fred. 1981. News from Exidy. Sorcerer’s Apprentice 3 (1):1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laudereau, Terry L, and Rick S Simpson. 1980. ATTENTION USER GROUPS! ARESCO Sorcerer’s Source 1 (4 & 5):38.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lean, Tom. 2016. Electronic Dreams: How 1980s Britain Learned to Love the Computer. Bloomsbury Sigma.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lekkas, Theodoros. 2014. Legal Pirates Ltd: Home Computing Cultures in Early 1980s Greece. In Hacking Europe from Computer Cultures to Demoscenes, eds. Gerard Alberts, and Ruth Oldenziel, 73–106. vol. History of Computing. London: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Millicer, Rick. 1986a. THE NEW SCUAMON 80 v2.3 and SCUAMON 64 v3.4. Sorcerer Computer Users Australia Newsletter 86 (April):68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Millicer, Rick. 1986b. WHAT IS HAPPENING TO SCUA? A reflection on trends. Sorcerer and CP/M Users of Australia (86):94.

    Google Scholar 

  • Millicer, Rick. 1987. Sorcerer Users Group South Australia Newsletter.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morle, Colin. 1980. SORCERER OWNERSHIP SURVEY. Sorcerer Program Exchange Club (12):n.p.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nooney, Laine, Kevin Driscoll, and Kera Allen. 2020. From Programming to Products: Softalk Magazine and the Rise of the Personal Computer User. Information & Culture: A Journal of History 55 (2):105–129.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Pfeil, Roger. 1982. Graphics with the Word Processor. Sorcerer’s Apprentice 4 (4&5):85.

    Google Scholar 

  • PORT FE. 1981. THE LATEST FROM EXIDY. Port FE Sorcerer Users’ Group Toronto (January).

    Google Scholar 

  • Power, Joseph R. 1979a. Introduction. TSAR 0.0:n.p.

    Google Scholar 

  • Power, Joseph R. 1979b. User Defined Characters in BASIC. TSAR 0.0:n.p.

    Google Scholar 

  • Power, Joseph R. 1980. Preliminary Survey Results. TSUNAMI (September):n.p.

    Google Scholar 

  • Power, Joseph R. 1981. Editor’s Notes. TSUNAMI (March):n.p.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reynolds, Harry. 1981. THE SECRETARY SPEAKS. Sorcerer Computer Users Australia Newsletter 25:2.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rowe, Greg. 1981. Hex Dumps of the 4 Character Sets by Greg Rowe. TSUNAMI March:n.p.

    Google Scholar 

  • Say, Daniel. 1983a. The European Sorcerer Community. ISIS (International Sorcerer Information Service) 1 (2):1–8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Say, Daniel. 1983b. What I did on my summer vacation. ESCape (European Sorcerer Club) (35):2–6.

    Google Scholar 

  • Say, Daniel. 1985. The Sorcerer Year 1984. Sorcerer Users Group South Australia Newsletter (SUGSA) (60):7–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • SCG Inc. 1993. End of an Era as John Carragher steps down as President of the Sorcerer Computer Group. Sorcerer Computer Group Incorporated (formerly SUGSA) (150):1.

    Google Scholar 

  • SCUA. 1981. S.C.U.A. TAPE LIBRARY. Sorcerer Computer Users of Australia Newsletter (21).

    Google Scholar 

  • Sevior, Martin. 1981. ANIMATED GAMES … a tutorial by Martin Sevior. Sorcerer Computer Users Australia Newsletter 1981 (25):9–14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shapiro, Neil. 1979. HOME COMPUTERS THAT PLUG IN AND GO. Popular Mechanics 152 (2):67–68, 150–153.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, Burks A. 1981. GRAPHICS PRIMER for VECTOR GRAPHIC (PART II). Micropolis Users Group Newsletter (11):1–1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sorcerer’s Apprentice. 1981. GALAXIANS ATTACK! Sorcerer’s Apprentice 3 (6):105.

    Google Scholar 

  • SPEC. c.a. 1979. “SORCEROR” (sic) CHARACTER SET. Sorcerer Program Exchange Club (4):1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stephenson, John. n.d. About Me. http://www.uprun.com/about-me. Accessed 18 Feb 2020.

  • SUN. 1980a. S.U.N IS UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT. SUN (Sorcerer User’s Newsletter) 2 (5):51.

    Google Scholar 

  • SUN. 1980b. Title page missing (issue incomplete). SUN (Sorcerer User’s Newsletter) 2 (1):7.

    Google Scholar 

  • Svelch, Jaroslav. 2017. Keeping the Spectrum Alive: Platform Fandom in a Time of Transition. In Fans and Videogames: Histories, Fandom, Archives, eds. Melanie Swalwell, Helen Stuckey, and Angela Ndilianis, 58–74. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swalwell, Melanie. 2015. New Zealand. In Video Games Around the World, ed. M. J. P. Wolf, 377–391. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swalwell, Melanie. 2021. Homebrew Gaming and the Beginnings of Vernacular Digitality. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Terrell, Paul. 1984. A Guided Tour of Personal Computing. Creative Computing 10 (11).

    Google Scholar 

  • Trussell, Devin. 1979. Sorcerer Users Group (later renamed SCUA) 1 (2).

    Google Scholar 

  • Trussell, Devin. 1981. Visit to Exidy Systems. Sorcerer Computer Users Australia Newsletter 1981 (22):10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trussell, Devin. 1982. Visit to Exidy Systems. Sorcerer Computer Users Australia Newsletter 1982 (32):4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vachon, John T. 1980. The Exidy Monitor I (9).

    Google Scholar 

  • Veraart, Frank. 2008a. Basicode: Co-Producing a Microcomputer Esperanto. In History of technology. Volume 28, ed. Ian Inkster, 129–147. London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Veraart, Frank. 2008b. De domesticatie van de computer in Nederland 1975–1990. Studium (Rotterdam, Netherlands) 1 (2):145–164.

    Google Scholar 

  • Veraart, Frank. 2011. Losing Meanings: Computer Games in Dutch Domestic Use, 1975–2000. IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 33 (1):52–65. https://doi.org/10.1109/MAHC.2009.66.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Webster, Tony. 1980. Australian microcomputer handbook. 1st Aufl. Sydney, Australia: Computer Reference Guide.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weston Microtechnology. 1982. <<<<< CUSTOM CHARACTER SETS >>>>>. Sorcerer’s Apprentice 4 (1):21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wong, David. 1981. SORCERER INTERFACE FOR MX-80 PRINTER. Sorcerer Computer Users Australia Newsletter (25):9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Your Computer. 1983. Dick Smith Electronics Advertisement. Your Computer. July.

    Google Scholar 

  • Your Computer. 1984. Sorcerer Not Abandoned. Your Computer. April.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Michael Borthwick

  2. Transformative Media Technologies, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Melanie Swalwell

Authors
  1. Michael Borthwick
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Melanie Swalwell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael Borthwick .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Transformative Media Technologies, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Prof. Melanie Swalwell

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Borthwick, M., Swalwell, M. (2021). Around the World with the Sorcerer of Exidy. In: Swalwell, M. (eds) Game History and the Local. Palgrave Games in Context. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66422-0_7

Download citation