Fred disc magazine was owned and run during the 1990's by Colin MacDonald and is the finest disc-based magazine ever to come out of Monifieth in Scotland.
Fred ran for 82 mostly monthly issues and it's success spawned the production of FRED Publishing that managed to secure the most famous licence of all for Lemmings.
Colin has kindly permitted the distribution of All Fred Issues 1-82 as well as the special Fred '92 Compilation and the "Best of's" for Fred, SamCo and ZAT.
Notable Issues
| Issue | Description |
|---|---|
| Fred 3 | Featured Tetris. |
| Fred 10 | Ian Slavin almost-takeover. |
| Fred 11 | Simon Cooke Machine code menu blazes a trail. |
| Fred 11b | Another Ian Slavin takeover. |
| Fred 18 | "That" Noesis Software menu by Simon Cooke |
History
Fred Magazine was owned by Colin until Fred 78 when it was taken over by Darren Wileman until October 1998 when it went to George Boyle where it only lasted a single issue Fred 82 before reverting back to Colin.
In January 1999 it was transferred to Persona with intention of folding Fred into Persona's disk magazine Blitz.
Timeline
Taken from Fred '92:
Before I go any further, I'll just introduce myself as Colin Macdonald, founder of FRED - and still very actively involved in all the FRED projects.
Just to let you know the story of FRED, I'll do a brief rendition of the history :
| Date | Details |
|---|---|
|
May 1990 |
First issue of FRED released. Neither this or Issue 2 were great successes despite being the first SAM disc magazine. |
|
August 1990 |
Issue 3 released - featuring the previously unseen Tetris by David Gommeren. The start of FRED's success. |
|
December 1990 |
Nick Roberts reviewed FRED in CRASH and as a result, many copies of the first six issues of FRED were sold. |
|
June 1991 |
I am employed at SAM Computers Limited for 3 months. FRED now has over 100 readers. |
|
September 1991 |
FRED's first commercial title, "Impatience" is released. |
|
December 1991 |
FRED now has 300 readers and Impatience has been a success - getting a 90% review in Your Sinclair. |
|
January 1992 |
Employed at SAM Computers Limited for 3 weeks. |
|
February 1992 |
Name changed to FRED PUBLISHING. |
|
March 1992 |
Follow-up to Impatience, "Triltex - The Later Levels" is launched. |
|
April 1992 |
Employed at SAM Computers Limited for 2 weeks. |
|
June 1992 |
Start 2 month employment at SAM Computers Limited |
|
July 1992 |
July 15th, SAM Computers Limited goes into liquidation. FRED now has 500 readers. |
|
August 1992 |
FRED Publishing's first utility "Spell Master" is launched and proves to be very popular. |
|
September 1992 |
The shoot-em-up "Parallax" is released. It is received with mixed opinions. |
|
October 1992 |
FRED magazine now became professionally duplicated and on-body printed. An editor is employed to compile the magazine. FRED's second shoot-em-up "Dyzonium" is released and goes down well. |
|
November 1992 |
FRED releases the super pacman game, "The Bulgulators". |
|
December 1992 |
FRED takes over Noesis Software and releases the hit platform game, "Boing!". FRED now has 750 readers. |
|
January 1993 Fred 29 |
FRED releases WaterWorks and E-Tracker. Both have been well previewed. |
And there you have it, the very concise story of the humble FRED Publishing - missing out many hundreds of the finer details which were documented in FRED magazine at the time.
Editors
| Editor | Tenure |
|---|---|
| Colin MacDonald | |
| Brian McConnell | Fred 27 to Fred 49 |
| Colin MacDonald | Fred 50 |
| Colin Anderton | Fred 51 to Fred 75 |
| Colin Anderton and Allan Clarkson | Fred 76 to Fred 81 |
| George Boyle and Bill Rutherford | Fred 82 only |