Softdisk originally Softdisk Magazette, was a disk magazine

Disk magazine

A disk magazine, colloquially known as a diskmag, is a magazine that is distributed in electronic form to be read using computers. These had some popularity in the 1980s and 1990s as periodicals distributed on floppy disk, hence their name...

 for the Apple II

Apple II

The Apple II is an 8-bit home computer, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products, designed primarily by Steve Wozniak, manufactured by Apple Computer and introduced in 1977...

 computer line, published from 1981 through 1995. It was the first publication of the company that was also known as Softdisk

Softdisk

Softdisk is a software and Internet company based in Shreveport, Louisiana. Founded in 1981, its original products were disk magazines...

, which would go on to publish disk magazines for other systems, other software, and later be involved in Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

 access, hosting, and development.

The brainchild of Jim Mangham, who then worked at the LSU Medical Center

Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport

Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport is the academic center for medicine and medical research in North Louisiana. It is located in Shreveport and is part of the Louisiana State University System. The medical school opened in 1969. One of its founders was Dr. Joe E...

 in Shreveport, Louisiana

Shreveport, Louisiana

Shreveport is the third largest city in Louisiana. It is the principal city of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana and is the 109th-largest city in the United States....

, Softdisk (originally intended to be called The Harbinger Magazette, but launched as Softdisk Magazette, with "magazette" being a portmanteau word combining "magazine" and "diskette") was published out of Mangham's house, with his then-wife Judi Mangham, LSUMC co-worker Al Vekovius, and Softalk

Softalk

Softalk was a magazine of the early 1980s that focused on the Apple II computer. Published from 1979 through 1984, it featured articles about hardware and software associated with the Apple II platform and the people and companies who made them...

 magazine (a paper magazine for the Apple) as partners in the venture.

The first issue was published in September, 1981, and consisted of a single 5.25" floppy diskette which could be flipped over to get to content on the back side.