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Ask HN: Does anyone have scans of these missing PC Plus issues (1991–1993)?

by billpg on 10/15/25, 5:25 PM with 40 comments

I'm looking for copies of these issues of PC Plus magazine please.

1991-Nov, 1992-Jan, 1992-Mar, 1992-Apr, 1992-Jun, 1992-Jul, 1992-Oct, 1993-Jan.

This was a popular PC magazine in the UK, and one of its highlights was Wilf’s Programmer Workshop, a regular column full of programming puzzles, challenges and reader submissions.

At one point, he ran a contest around quines (programs that output their own source). I sent in a tongue‑in‑cheek entry, a batch file that used PKZIP to “compile” code into PKZIP.OBJ (instead of .ZIP) and then ZIP2EXE to “link” it into an EXE. The result was an executable that unzipped itself back into a source file. He was amused enough to mention it near the end of his column, though he noted it didn’t quite qualify for the contest since I hadn’t written PKZIP myself.

I found scans of his section on archive.org, including the issue where he announces the contest, but I couldn't find my particular contribution. I've narrowed it down to the eight issues listed above that are in the right time-frame.

If you have any of these issues (paper or PDF), could you please check Wilf’s section near the back and see if my submission is mentioned?

Thanks!

  • by jfil on 10/19/25, 9:32 PM

    I looked around for you - the best I could find is a listing for the magazines at the British Library at https://www.bl.uk/. It appears that they have a copy of all the issues and they are available by request for physical viewing.

  • by billpg on 10/15/25, 5:30 PM

  • by jen20 on 10/23/25, 12:40 PM

    PC Plus in the days of Paul Stephens (RIP) and Dave Pearman was hands down the best computing managazine around. I believe I have every issue from -1994-2000 with the exception of Feb 97 (long story) but these ones predate me sadly.

  • by afavour on 10/23/25, 1:44 PM

    Haven't heard that name in years! Thanks for a trip down memory lane. I was always more of a PC Format reader than PC Plus but would buy any of these magazines I could get my hands on and devour them. A simpler time...

  • by ta1243 on 10/23/25, 4:33 PM

    For the 120th (10 year) issue, I think in 1996, they had a "what will computers look like in 10 years time" article.

    I'd love to see that.

  • by n4r9 on 10/23/25, 12:37 PM

    You've probably already looked but it may be possible to purchase physical vintage copies if all else fails, e.g.: https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?item=145752856587&rt=nc&_t...

  • by iam-TJ on 10/23/25, 5:33 PM

    Have you checked out the The National Museum of Computing (TNMoC) archive. Last time I was there they had a rather good magazine collection going back to the early 1980s. It may be worth a call. I see they have an (incomplete) online catalogue:

    https://www.tnmoc.org/library-archive

  • by toomuchtodo on 10/15/25, 5:26 PM

    Might inquire in r/DHExchange as well.

  • by radial_symmetry on 10/23/25, 3:38 PM

    This post is proof that I truly do not understand what it takes to get to the front page of HN

  • by supportengineer on 10/23/25, 4:20 PM

    All I have is Family Computing, INFO, and Amiga World

  • by roflchoppa on 10/23/25, 2:24 PM

    oh wow! back in August of 2005, I was on a trip to the UK and found a magazine that was talking about Counter-Strike hacks, and I think it was published by PC Plus,

    I could be wrong but man I want to find that magazine now.

  • by stavros on 10/23/25, 2:06 PM

    > he noted it didn’t quite qualify for the contest since I hadn’t written PKZIP myself.

    Why? Had the other entries written GCC/LD themselves?

  • by rasz on 10/24/25, 11:00 PM

    mmm PC Plus, UK mini version of Computer Shopper, 300 pages of product listings with prices to lust over.