I can still sort of remember that in the 90s, but was mainly reading magazines in the late 90s and early 2000s, so I probably missed out on some of that. I did go back and read a lot of old magazines on microfiche at the library a few years ago (I think Byte magazine) and yeah...a lot of ads, but I guess they would have been super useful pre-internet. Did you use the BBS as well? I was too young when that was common.

I used to wait for dad to come home each Thursday because that was the edition of the paper with quarter-page ads that were just price lists of refurbished computer equipment. I'd sit there with a highlighter and go through them, trying to figure out a way to afford my own Pentium 3 on $10/week of pocket money, or get my Pentium 1 to run a little faster.

It was also the edition of the paper with a new TV guide, which I'm sure made my habit very annoying when the rest of the family wanted to see what was on.