Byte magazine artist Robert Tinney, who illustrated the birth of PCs, dies at 78

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/02/byte-magazine-artist-robert-tinney-who-illustrated-the-birth-of-pcs-dies-at-78/

63•rbanffy•3h ago

Comments

cmrdporcupine•1h ago

When I was 10 years old in elementary school in rural Alberta, Canada in the early 80s this man's art (along with stacks of older Byte magazines that the librarian gifted me) were a gateway to another world.

RIP. Thanks for all the amazing imaginations and for being part of setting me on this career.

sombragris•1h ago

I clearly remember his covers and being inspired and stimulated by them. RIP Mr. Tinney, thanks for your great art.

forinti•1h ago

Magazine and game covers had such cool art then. It's still a joy to look at them after so many years.

RIP Mr Tinney.

throw0101a•1h ago

Various archives:

* https://archive.org/details/BYTE-MAGAZINE-COMPLETE/197509_By...

* https://archive.org/download/BYTE-MAGAZINE-COMPLETE

* https://vintageapple.org/byte/

* https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Byte_Magazine.htm

* 5mo ago, "Show HN: A zoomable, searchable archive of BYTE magazine": https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45028002

Had a subscription to it in the 1990s. Probably one of the best computing magazines that existed (it covered all sorts of topics, from CPU cache workings to file systems (like Veritas)).

muyuu•30m ago

wonderful stuff

I have a bunch of the old ones from my late father, I have sunk thousands of hours in old computer magazines, there's something special to them that the new world cannot capture anymore.

rbanffy•14m ago

It was an amazing magazine, one we still need to this day. I still subscribe to a couple magazines, IEEE's Computer, Micro, and Spectrum, and Communications of the ACM, on paper, and IEEE's Software on PDF, but none covers the breadth and depth of BYTE.

I still feel a bit like an orphan.

rgacote•41m ago

Robert's cover art set the tone for each issue. His covers danced a fine line between whimsical and informative.

rbanffy•14m ago

He always managed to capture the soul of the subject.

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Byte magazine artist Robert Tinney, who illustrated the birth of PCs, dies at 78

Comments

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The "Crown of Nobles" Noble Gas Tube Display (2024)

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The missing digit of Stela C

AI agent opens a PR write a blogpost to shames the maintainer who closes it

“Nothing” is the secret to structuring your work

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Carl Sagan's Baloney Detection Kit: Tools for Thinking Critically (2025)

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Byte magazine artist Robert Tinney, who illustrated the birth of PCs, dies at 78

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