Memphis Amiga Group (MAG) and
Memphis Commodore Users Club (MCUC) History
MCU Magazine
Welcome
This is a collection of scanned and transcribed newsletters and disk magazines from the Memphis Amiga Group, as well as newsletters from its predecessor, the Memphis Commodore Users Club.
The Memphis Commodore Users Club (or Users Group, MCUG) started in the early 80s and lasted until the early to mid 90s. It spawned the Memphis Amiga Group (MAG) as a SIG in the late 80s. MAG operated from the late 80s to the late 90s. Commodore's demise in 1994 took the wind out of the group, and after a few more years it faded out of existence.
Meetings were held monthly, and most were preceeded by a board meeting the week before. MCUC presidents over the years included Ken Akins, Dwight Campbell, Jim Fox, Bob Nunn (of Operator Headgap BBS), and Pete Norton. MAG presidents included Alan Schwartz, Broadus Weatherall, Todd Rooks, Brian Akey, Bob Nunn, and Scott Pitts (who ran Amiga Pitts, MAG's official BBS). The only surviving near-relative of the group is AppleCore of Memphis, a Memphis-area Apple computer users group.
If you have newsletters, diskmags, or anything else at all pertaining to the Memphis Amiga Group, the Memphis Commodore Users Club, or even the Memphis PC Users Group, please contact me. I would like to add what you have to this site.
Contents
These newsletters and diskmags hold bits and pieces of history pertaining not just to MCUC and MAG, but to personal computing (particularly with regard to Commodore computers) in general. Some parts, such as these hardware prices from 1989, are particularly amusing. There are several chat transcripts (some from pre-Internet online services such as People Link and Genie) that indicate the state of Mac emulation in 1989, multimedia in 1991, and computer graphics in 1992. There are also old hardware hack instructions, such as upgrading the Amiga 1000 to the 68010 processor (1986.)
Some of the highlights of Commodore's rise and fall can also be traced:
- 1988 - Commodore produces seven TV commercials
- 1988 - Commodore introduces Amiga with 68020
- 1989 - Commodore discontinues the Commodore 128D
- 1990 - Unveiling of the Amiga 3000 in New York City
- 1991 - Commodore cuts prices and provides 24 hour support
- 1991 - Amiga/Commodore 64 sales up, CDTV promoted in Japan
- 1992 - Commodore the top stock pick of S&P analyst
- 1992 - Amiga 600 announced: the "Sega/SuperNES killer"
- 1993 - Commodore introduces the CD32
- 1994 - Commodore chairman grilled by stockholders over $356M loss
- 1994 - Commodore liquidation proceedings
- 1995 - Summary of auction day for Commodore's assets
Interesting Texts
The following is a random selection of a few of the "interesting" texts found throughout the disks in the DiskMAGs section.
Name | Description |
---|---|
Amy_Today6.2 | Amy Today, am Amiga text-file magazine, volume 6 issue 2 from December 25th, 1988. Includes a review of Dragon's Lair and the second part of a long article about Sheldon Leemon that has bits of information about the early days of the Amiga. |
AmyToday10.1 | Amy Today, am Amiga text-file magazine, volume 10 issue 1 from April 10th, 1989. Contains a review of the Amiga 2500 and its 68020 board ("instant 14 MHz 68020 power!" ... "$4600.00 with SCSI controller and 40 meg hard disk"). |
ScreenPhotos | Instructions for taking high-quality 35mm color slides from the Amiga's screen. |
LetterCBMgould | Letter to Commodore's shareholders from Irving Gould and Mehdia Ali, CEO and President of Commodore, respectively, from November 1991. |
Boardstuff | "64 good reasons why the Commodore 64 surpasses the IBM 486." |
5min4-19 | The StarShip 5-MINUTE Weekend Newscast from April 16th, 1993. Includes announcements for CSA's TwelveGuage, a 50mhz 68030 accelerator for the Amiga 1200, and the Retina graphics board. Both retailed for $699. |
5min5-10 | The StarShip 5-MINUTE Weekend Newscast from May 7th, 1993. |
AR206.guide | Amiga Report Magazine 2.06 from February 11th, 1994. |
AR218.guide | Amiga Report Magazine 2.18 from June 3rd, 1994. |
AR222.guide | Amiga Report Magazine 2.22 from July 15th, 1994. |