X-Magazín

X-Magazín was a Czech diskmag — a magazine distributed on floppy disk — aimed at users of the ZX Spectrum and compatible home computers. According to Wikidata, it was published between 1997 and 2000. The publication is associated with the Czech ZX Spectrum scene, a community that remained active in Central and Eastern Europe long after the platform's commercial decline in Western markets. The magazine's content was distributed both on physical media and, in later years, as digital archives. The official website zxm.cz hosts a large collection of PDF scans and disk-image supplements spanning the publication's run. The archive includes issues from the 1990s and early 2000s, with file sizes ranging from under 1 MB to over 30 MB, reflecting the growing complexity of the magazine's layout and bundled software over time. In addition to the core X-Magazín issues, the site also preserves related publications such as Proxima magazine, indicating that the project served as a broader repository for Czech ZX Spectrum-related periodicals. The presence of advertising sections (inzerce) in many issues shows that the magazine carried commercial advertisements, likely from small Czech hardware and software vendors serving the retro-computing community. X-Magazín is now defunct as a periodical, but its digital archive remains accessible online, making it a resource for historians of Central European computing and for enthusiasts of the ZX Spectrum platform. The brand is a product brand representing the magazine itself, not a corporate entity.

X-Magazín emerged in the late 1990s as a Czech diskmag — a magazine distributed on floppy disk — dedicated to the ZX Spectrum and compatible computers. According to Wikidata, its publication period was 1997 to 2000. The ZX Spectrum, originally a British home computer launched in 1982, had a strong and enduring following in Czechoslovakia and later the Czech Republic, where users continued to develop software and publish fanzines well into the 1990s and beyond. The magazine was part of a broader ecosystem of Czech ZX Spectrum periodicals. The official website zxm.cz preserves an extensive archive of issues, with the earliest listed dating from 1989 (under related titles) and the core X-Magazín run appearing from the mid-1990s onward. The archive includes issues from 1990 through 2005, though the Wikidata entry specifically identifies 1997–2000 as the X-Magazín publication window. This suggests that the site may host both X-Magazín and predecessor or successor publications under a unified archive. Each issue was distributed with a disk supplement containing software, demos, or utilities, as indicated by the ZIP files listed alongside the PDF scans. The magazine also carried advertising (inzerce), with dedicated advertising sections appearing in issues from the 1990s. This advertising likely supported small Czech vendors of hardware, software, and accessories for the ZX Spectrum platform. The archive also includes Proxima magazine issues from 1995 and 1996, indicating that the zxm.cz project serves as a repository for multiple Czech ZX Spectrum-related publications. The presence of issues dated as late as 2004–2005 suggests that either X-Magazín continued beyond 2000 under a slightly different format or that the archive includes related titles from the same publisher or community. Today, X-Magazín is defunct as an active publication, but its legacy persists through the digital archive at zxm.cz, which provides PDF scans and disk images for researchers and retro-computing enthusiasts. The magazine is a notable artifact of the Czech and Central European ZX Spectrum scene, which remained vibrant long after the platform's commercial life ended in Western Europe.

• 2000

  Publication period of X-Magazín ends according to Wikidata.

• 1997

  X-Magazín begins publication as a Czech diskmag for ZX Spectrum users.

A niche Czech-language diskmag for the ZX Spectrum retro-computing community.

• X-Magazín diskmag issues

  Floppy-disk magazine issues for ZX Spectrum and compatible computers, published 1997–2000.

• Disk supplements

  ZIP archives containing software, demos, or utilities distributed with each issue.

1. 1ZX Magazín official websitezxm.cz
2. 2X-Magazín on Wikidatawikidata.org