''Electronics Today International'' or ETI was a magazine for

electronics The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...

hobbyists and professionals. Originally started in Australia in April 1971, ''ETI'' was published in the UK in 1972. From there, it expanded to various European countries, including France (where it was started in November 1972) and over to Canada. It was one of the first magazines to publish

circuit diagram A circuit diagram (wiring diagram, electrical diagram, elementary diagram, electronic schematic) is a graphical representation of an electrical circuit. A pictorial circuit diagram uses simple images of components, while a schematic diagram s ...

s for building homebrew computer systems. They also published a monthly series of articles for their "system 68"

microcomputer A microcomputer is a small, relatively inexpensive computer having a central processing unit (CPU) made out of a microprocessor. The computer also includes memory and input/output (I/O) circuitry together mounted on a printed circuit board (PC ...

based on the

Motorola 6800 The 6800 ("''sixty-eight hundred''") is an 8-bit microprocessor designed and first manufactured by Motorola in 1974. The MC6800 microprocessor was part of the M6800 Microcomputer System (latter dubbed ''68xx'') that also included serial and para ...

Microprocessor, most of them written by John Miller-Kirkpatrick, the dozen or so articles described in detail how to build a M6800 based microcomputer, including a VDU. In that sense it was one of the first

computer magazine Computer magazines are about computers and related subjects, such as networking and the Internet. Most computer magazines offer (or offered) advice, some offer programming tutorials, reviews of the latest technologies, and advertisements. His ...

The 1970s

''ETI'' was launched by Modern Magazines, a publisher of specialist magazines based in Rushcutters' Bay, Sydney. The magazine was started at the suggestion of Kim Ryrie (later of

Fairlight CMI The Fairlight CMI (short for Computer Musical Instrument) is a digital synthesizer, sampler, and digital audio workstation introduced in 1979 by Fairlight. — with links to some Fairlight history and photos It was based on a commercial lic ...

fame), the electronics-enthusiast son of

Colin Ryrie Colin Stirling Ryrie (23 December 1929 – 7 July 1972) was an Australian Olympic sailor. He competed in the Finn class at the 1956 and 1964 Summer Olympic games. In 1954 he and Jules Feldman formed Modern Magazines Pty Ltd and launched ''Moder ...

, who owned the publishing company, but who died in a boating accident the following year. They hired Collyn Rivers (ex

de Havilland Propellers de Havilland Propellers was established in 1935, as a division of the de Havilland Aircraft company when that company acquired a licence from the Hamilton Standard company of America for the manufacture of variable-pitch propellers at a cost ...

and

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

Research) as editor. Collyn's initial research indicated that the publication would only be financially viable if it could be published in at least two countries. This recommendation was accepted. The magazine then set up a development laboratory to produce designs for publications in all future editions. Whereas most other magazines in this market relied on designs submitted by freelance amateur designers, ETI's editor could commission cutting-edge designs from the in-house laboratory, which was run to professional standards by Barry Wilkinson. It is believed that it was, in part, the quality of these designs which set ''ETI'' apart for its competition, and ensured its success, initially in Australia and then in overseas markets. Collyn Rivers states that what assisted the magazine's success was having a long established and very high quality competitor in ''

Electronics Australia ''Electronics Australia'' or ''EA'' was Australia's longest-running general electronics magazine. It was based in Chippendale, New South Wales. Publication history It can claim to trace its history to 1922 when the '' Wireless Weekly'' magazine ...

''. He is on record as saying that 'whilst I visualised ''ETI'' as being very different, Electronics Australia always remained by far our most serious competitor worldwide.' The Australian edition sold well from the start (at approximately 40,000 copies/month). The first overseas edition was published (a year after the Australian edition), by a subsidiary of Modern Magazines. There were initial teething problems, but it began to work following the appointment of Halvor Moorshead as editor/publisher for the UK market. Halvor syndicated the magazine in Germany and the Netherlands. In 1978 ETI entered the North American market with a Canadian edition. In the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

version was published as "electronica top internationaal" by "Radio Rotor", a mail order company for electronic hobby equipment located in Den Dolder (

the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

) and

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

(

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

), later they moved shop to

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

where they are still operational. In 1980, Collyn Rivers added an Indonesian language edition. There was also, for a time, a pirated Indian edition that Collyn Rivers decided 'not to know about' on the basis that it was needed but non-affordable by its young readers. Initially, most editorial material, including the constructional projects were sourced from Australia, but it was soon realised that, apart from spending time in Australia, this did not offer enough opportunity for its overseas staff. Whilst the major constructional projects continued to be produced in Sydney, the overseas editions were encouraged to be free to interchange material, but to be otherwise editorially independent. This proved highly successful. The ''ETI'' network offered valuable travel opportunities for its young staff. Steve Braidwood, who worked on the UK edition as a student in 1973 and joined as assistant editor in 1974, went to Sydney in 1976-77 as acting editor and then to Canada in 1977–1979 as editor and publisher. He was succeeded as editor in Canada by Graham Wideman (se

. Unusually for a publishing operation, Collyn Rivers preferred to hire people who had expertise in specific fields other than journalism. This provided greater subsequent employment opportunities: ETI Australia's assistant editor Jane Mckenzie, for example, subsequently became editor of Choice; Barry Wilkinson's successor, Alan Waite, ended up owning one of Australia's largest security equipment companies. Another later gained a physics Ph.D. In 1976, the Australian edition was named by Union Radio Presse Internationale as 'The Best Electronics Magazine in the World'. It is still the only Australian developed magazine to have had successful overseas editions. The Australian group also produced a number of associated magazines including ''Sonics'', ''Comdec Business Technology'', ''Australia CB'', ''Business Computing'', '' Your Computer (Australian magazine), Your Computer'' and many others some of which had overseas edition counterparts. In November 1978 the British edition of ETI published an article describing the schematics and other technical details (including PCB) of an

Intel 8080 The Intel 8080 (''"eighty-eighty"'') is the second 8-bit microprocessor designed and manufactured by Intel. It first appeared in April 1974 and is an extended and enhanced variant of the earlier 8008 design, although without binary compatibil ...

based single board computer called the Transam Triton, which could also be bought as a kit, including a specially designed metal enclosure with a built in PSU and 56-key keyboard. Initially a single board system, with 4K firmware, (1.5 Monitor, and 2.5K BASIC) and 3K of RAM and a 64x16 VDU, it could be expanded using a " passive motherboard" with eight slots with 64-pins DIN connectors for Eurocard shaped

expansion card In computing, an expansion card (also called an expansion board, adapter card, peripheral card or accessory card) is a printed circuit board that can be inserted into an electrical connector, or expansion slot (also referred to as a bus sl ...

s, this way the system could be expanded to a complete

CP/M CP/M, originally standing for Control Program/Monitor and later Control Program for Microcomputers, is a mass-market operating system created in 1974 for Intel 8080/ 85-based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc. Initi ...

based system. In 1980 the Triton was followed up by the

Zilog Z80 The Z80 is an 8-bit microprocessor introduced by Zilog as the startup company's first product. The Z80 was conceived by Federico Faggin in late 1974 and developed by him and his 11 employees starting in early 1975. The first working samples were ...

and

S-100 bus The S-100 bus or Altair bus, IEEE 696-1983 ''(withdrawn)'', is an early computer bus designed in 1974 as a part of the Altair 8800. The bus was the first industry standard expansion bus for the microcomputer industry. computers, consisting of p ...

based Transam Tuscan. Transam ("Transam Components Limited") also wrote a Pascal compiler, "TCL Pascal" for the Triton, consisting of a 4K monitor/editor in ROM, and a 20K compiler for a total of 24K ROM. TCL Pascal was also available on a single 8-inch floppy disk, and ported to other systems, like the

6502 The MOS Technology 6502 (typically pronounced "sixty-five-oh-two" or "six-five-oh-two") William Mensch and the moderator both pronounce the 6502 microprocessor as ''"sixty-five-oh-two"''. is an 8-bit microprocessor that was designed by a small te ...

-based

Commodore PET The Commodore PET is a line of personal computers produced starting in 1977 by Commodore International. A single all-in-one case combines a MOS Technology 6502 microprocessor, Commodore BASIC in read-only memory, keyboard, monochrome monitor, ...

. At much the same time, the Australian edition developed (in conjunction with Kim Ryrie) a complex music synthesiser, that subsequently had its commercially further-developed counterpart: Kim Ryrie's Fairlight Synthesizer. In 1980, Kim Ryrie sold the overseas editions, each to individual owners. The Canadian operation was bought by Halvor Moorshead in 1979, when the Australian company was acquired by

Kerry Packer Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer (17 December 1937 – 26 December 2005) was an Australian media tycoon, and was considered one of Australia's most powerful media proprietors of the twentieth century. The Packer family company owned a controlling ...

's Australian Consolidated Press. The UK company was sold to Argus Specialist Press (a subsidiary of BET). The subsequent edition editors and Collyn Rivers (previously managing editor of them all), with Halvor Moorshead's encouragement and assistance attempted, with some success, to continue to maintain the previous cooperation, but this came to an end when, in early 1982, ACP sold the Australian group to Federal Publishing. Collyn left Federal shortly after to form a specialist technology publishing company with designer Alison White, and later his own publishing company, Caravan & Motorhome Books – which still (March 2014) exists. He also doubled as technical contributor to ''The Bulletin'' from 1982–1990, and later founded Australian Communications. Federal Publishing also purchased the long established ''Electronics Australia'', but closed both publications some years later. ''ETI'' and ''Electronics Australia'' still survive in Australia – incorporated in Silicon Chip, run by ex Electronics Australia Editor, Leo Simpson (who bought the copyright to all editorial material of both publications). Halvor Moorshead remained in Canada where he ran successful genealogy publications and later a local community radio station. He died on 7 March 2014.Halvor Moorshead Passes Awa
Retrieved 2014 March 23

The 1980s and 1990s

Throughout the 1980s, ''ETI'' featured type-in computer programs submitted by readers. The last issue, Volume 20, Number 4, was published in April 1990. In February 1999 Wimborne Publishing, who published the rival magazine ''Everyday Practical Electronics'', acquired its UK rival ETI.

References

External links