Pixel

Pixel (ΡΙΧΕL) was a Greek computer magazine published in Athens by Compupress from October 1983 to June 1996. This library holds 133 issues and 17,310 pages of it — more than it holds of any title from any territory except Britain, Italy, the United States and Germany.

It was commissioned by a questionnaire

Most magazine launches are explained afterwards, by people remembering. Pixel explained itself on page three of issue one, and named its evidence.

The magazine was a spin-off. Its publisher’s letter describes it as an effort by an existing title, Computer για Όλους (Computer for Everyone), to cover home and personal computers “από πλευράς προγραμμάτων” — from the programs side. The reason it existed at all was a reader survey:

“Η ανάγκη για τη δημιουργία ενός τέτοιου εντύπου εντοπίσθηκε στο ερωτηματολόγιο του 5ου τεύχους του Computer για Όλους, όπου διαπιστώθηκε ότι ένα μεγάλο ποσοστό αναγνωστών ζητούσαν περισσότερα έτοιμα προγράμματα.”

The need was identified in the questionnaire in the parent magazine’s fifth issue, where a large proportion of readers asked for more ready-made programs. A publisher counted the replies and started a magazine.

It opens by claiming to be “το πρώτο ελληνικό περιοδικό” — the first Greek magazine — dealing exclusively with program listings for the most popular micros of the Greek market.

The promise, and what happened to it

The same letter states the frequency and the ambition: the new publication would be τριμηνιαίο, quarterly, “με προοπτική να πυκνώσουν στο μέλλον οι εκδόσεις του” — with the prospect of the editions becoming more frequent in future.

The holdings record whether that came off. One issue in 1983, four in 1984, then twelve in 1985 and eleven a year, every year, until 1995. Quarterly for fifteen months and monthly for the next eleven years.

A price list nobody meant to leave

Issue one lists the machines it carries programs for, and adds a parenthesis that turns a contents page into a market record: η σειρά παρουσίασης των μοντέλων έγινε με βάση την τιμή — the models are presented in order of price.

1. Sinclair ZX81
2. Jupiter Ace
3. Sinclair ZX Spectrum
4. Oric 1
5. Texas Instruments TI-99/4A
6. TRS-80 Color
7. Commodore VIC-20
8. NewBrain
9. BBC Model B
10. Epson HX-20
11. Apple IIe
12. Osborne 1

This is the Greek market ranked by what the machines cost there in late 1983, stated by someone who had no reason to misreport it — a listings magazine ordering its own contents. It is not a British price list with the names translated: the Jupiter Ace sits second, above the Spectrum, and the imported American machines occupy the top of the range.

Every listing, the letter adds, had been checked by the magazine’s contributors so readers could type them in “άφοβα” — without fear.

⚠ This entry is built from issues 1 to 3 and from the shape of the holdings. The library holds thirteen years of Pixel and no secondary account of it, so nothing here describes how it changed, who wrote it after 1984, or what it meant to Greek computing. The price ordering is issue one’s own, and this Vault has no independent Greek price evidence to check it against.

See also

• Compupress — the publisher, also of PC Master
• MC-microcomputer — the equivalent survey for Italy
• The Games Machine (Italy) — the other non-Anglophone thread in this Vault
• Jupiter Ace — second-cheapest machine in Greece in 1983