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Show HN: A zoomable, searchable archive of BYTE magazine

(byte.tsundoku.io)
401 points chromy | 2 comments | 26 Aug 25 15:34 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source

A while ago I was looking for information on a obscure and short lived British computer.

I found an article[1] in the archives of BYTE magazine[2] - and was captivated immediately by the tech adverts of bygone eras.

This led to a long side project to be able to see all 100k pages of BYTE in a single searchable place.

[1]: https://byte.tsundoku.io/#198502-381

[2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17683184

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bdcravens ◴[26 Aug 25 18:16 UTC] No.45030249[source]▶
Kinda meta, but I found it fascinating seeing the ads that were presumably bought up well in advance, with the same company on the same page in the first few pages of the issue, at least early on. Seeing how it changed over time, I can't help but wonder if that in itself is a bit of a historical record about the growth and death of parts of the industry.
replies(1): >>45031706 #
1. throwup238 ◴[26 Aug 25 20:09 UTC] No.45031706[source]▶
That’s why I find old publications so interesting. I have several copies of Scientific American from the 19th century and watching the advertisements evolve at the pace of the industrial revolution is really fun, as are all the letters to the editor debating stuff like the nature of comets from a 19th century layperson’s perspective.

(You can get the same experience from the Scientific American archives but holding the 170 year old bound copies with all the prints is something else)

replies(1): >>45034286 #
2. NoMoreNicksLeft ◴[27 Aug 25 01:08 UTC] No.45034286[source]▶
I downloaded all of Scientific American. There is a k12 school website that posts the password to their group account, you can log into SA's own archives, and they provide them as PDFs. Only 2-3 issues from 1868 (I think) are missing.

Cell (journal) also makes all their stuff accessible, but they don't provide the front matter or cover... was going to grab that too. Quite alot of everything's up on archive.org if there's anything in particular anyone wants.