The Z-100 Periodical Index

The Z-100 Periodical Index includes the three main magazines covering Z-100 Series Computers during their publication. The only one still in publication is the "Z-100 LifeLine".

Paul Herman began publishing the "Z-100 LifeLine" in April 1989, after it became apparent that the other magazines were concentrating on the newest developments of the PC clones. It was meant to provide a means of continued communication between the venders and users of the Z-100 series computer. However, with his last issue, #30, he also needed to concentrate his business on the PC-clones and looked for a replacement to continue his work on the "Z-100 LifeLine".

Steven Vagts, just retiring from the U.S. Coast Guard, assumed the publication of the "Z-100 LifeLine", with issue #31 in 1994. He changed the format of the newsletter slightly, and continued with the LifeLine theme. The purpose and intent of the newsletter remained the same, but Steve had also amassed quite an inventory of old Z-120 all-in-one computers from the USAF auction sales when their Zenith Z-100 computer contract expired and they had also moved on to the PC clones. So the new "Z-100 LifeLine" also became a source of reasonably priced spare parts. Few changes were made to the newsletter until issue #89 brought black & white graphics and pictures with Pat Swayne, long time Heath Users Group (HUG) engineer.

Then in Issue #100 a color insert was a small booklet containing an index to the first 100 issues of the "Z-100 LifeLine". Finally, in issue #124, color photographs were introduced in the issue's insert on the Smartwatch Battery. The color was necessary to show the fine detail of the SmartWatch photographs. 

Finally, with issue #125, while the general format of the newsletter remained the same, color was introduced full time, each subsequent issue containing greater use of color graphics and photographs. However, there had been some other changes over the years. Steve Vagts could no longer support publishing the "Z-100 LifeLine" every two months, went to an "as needed" publication schedule. Also, since the publication schedule had changed, the newsletter no longer required a subscription and would be published for free access on the new website, z100lifeline.swvagts.com. The purpose of the newsletter was to remain the same, to provide a means of communication between Z-100 users worldwide.

"REMmark" was the longest running of the two actual magazines. It was published beginning in 1978 by the official Heath Users Group (HUG), and later by the Zenith Users Group (ZUG) when Zenith took over the publication in December 1990. The ZUG publication lasted until issue #149, June 1992. The Z-100 itself did not appear in its pages until issue number 30, with this picture of a Z-110 low profile computer on its cover. Pat Swayne, the HUG engineer, was the most actively involved in developing both software and hardware for the Z-100 and "REMark". While "REMark" began with a lot of H-8 and H/Z-89, it later covered the Z-100 series of computer and then Zenith's PC clone material.

"Sextant" was a magazine for Heath/Zenith computers, published by Charles Floto from Spring 1982 to March 1989, with only 40 issues. The Z-120 all-in-one was pictured on the cover of issue #2. It began publishing late in Heath/Zenith's history and generally covered computing subjects about the time that the Z-100 came on the scene in 1982 until after the development of the PC-clones. 

PDF Periodical Index

Finally, I combined indexes of all three into one huge, 85 page Periodical index! A PDF file is available to you by clicking this link, 'PDF Periodical Index', the link at the start of this paragraph, or the link to the lower right. Finally, I'm told that some of you would prefer the Index as a RTF file that you can search topics and print sections of interest. When you click on this link, 'RTF Periodical Index', the file will be downloaded and you can open it in WordPad, but it will not display automatically in a separate window unless you open it. (Note: Every time you click on this link, another copy will be downloaded! Why does life have to be so difficult?)

Enjoy.