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Disc Magazines
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  Disc magazines first started on the Amiga some years ago. They were
basically a way for programmers to voice their views. A lot of these
views were something like 'we are the best, all other groups must bow
down and worship us'. This was all very well, but they lacked a
certain something and most magazines with this attitude faded away.
As the ego magazines left a new type of disc mag surfaced. They
contained useful information, they made you think and most of they
where not ego extensions. These soon gathered a following (much like 
Ham radio) and the the TRUE disc mag was born. There are a number of 
problems with running a disc mag, the main one is funding; it's all
very well having a magazine but you have to remember that you are the
writer and publisher.  Most disc magazines on the Arch solved this
problem by becoming Public Domain or Freeware like this one, other
magazines charged per issue and offered a subscription service.
Being PD gives you more freedom, eg this magazine was slated for
release in July; it is now September. It also helps you reach more
people. Being commercial allows you to have the backing to invest in
software to review, but you have to stick to deadlines. There are a
number of PD disc mags around here are short reviews of the best:

New Dawn: We couldn't go through an entire issue without mentioning
new dawn, one of the very first disc magazines on the Arch, also 
one of the best. It is put out by quantum, best know for their (FST)
flight simms, it's editor being cobra, who also writes the PD page
for Acorn User. The first two issues where full to the brim with
computer related articles, fiction articles etc. But then it
disappeared, when it reappeared it had a totally new look, the display
program had improved 100%, but the articles were lacking the certain
something they had in the first two issues. Hopefully by issue four
they will be back up to the old standard. People will of course
compare Spectrum with new dawn, although at first they do look
similar, they are in fact totally different. At the moment new dawn's
articles are of a higher standard, but the display program is
sluggish and assumes a lot of the user.

Lunchtime: The indie comic of the disc mag scene. It is also the only
disc mag to released on two different computer formats, the Amiga
and of course the Arch. This does limit the contents to non-computer
related chit chat, but that's ok because the Lunchtime crew don't want
that. Instead they produce articles giving Pythonesque views on life.
As well as the magazine there is also a spin off game called knockout
(see the first issue and this issue for two very different reviews of
the game), which again is a first, if the Lunchtime crew had their
way there would no doubt be Lunchtime Cereal, T-Shirts, Doogie and
Harvey talking stuffed toys and of course the live action film! In all
a very good magazine which makes you laugh, think and most of the
time it shocks you.
Kirky Says: " Lunchtime is so deliciously sick that I was drooling
all over the keyboard when I first saw it! It's animations are best
though, as I was too busy trying not to wet myself to read many
articles. Gets my seal of approval! "

  So now we have established what Disc magazines are about and which
are the best how do you go around writting one?

  First you need a display program. You could use a disc mag editor
like a program called MEDitate, by the Lunchtime crew, (this is the
program used to produced Lunchtime), while the end results are good,
getting there is a very long road as it is not the most user friendly
program I have ever used. An alternative is to use a program like
Magpie or Bookbinder (free with Acorn Computing August 1993), and
although they are are good programs they can leave a hole in your
pocket. The last option is a custom program. This will mean it will
have to be able to display text, be user friendly and also be up to
the standard of the programs around at the moment like this one and
New Dawn.

  Next issue we will have reviews of more disc mags including some
commercial ones, as well as comparing Arch disc mags to the ones on
other computers such as the Amiga and PC.

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