So, back in the 90s (or possibly 80s even) there was quite a scene on the home computers to distribute all sorts of content, also in a format where one could read it all on screen with a mixture of sound and music, animations, all sorts of effects too.
This is where the diskmag (or disk-zine) comes in - it's basically a magazine distributed on floppy disk (although, I've seen tape versions of this for the older 8-bit tape based computers too)
Where the diskmag differs from a traditional print magazine, apart from the obvious reading it on a screen, is that there's a lot of potential for extra content that is not easy to do in a print magazine, such as including music and animations, something that's not doable in print.
Why not? Retro computing is very en-vogue these days, for the nostalgia but also as a way to get away from the bloat and the shackles of the internet. It's kind of refreshing to take a look back at how things were.
Secondly, I used to get AMOSzine, a disk mag specifically about coding in AMOS on the Amiga. I remember really enjoying these as a teen and always had a thought in the back of my mind of "why don't I do this?", so here we are.
So, whilst I've made this for the Amiga, the content of the disk mag is going to be about retro computing and retro technology in general, and not just about the Amiga. Yes, this means there will be talk of other systems too, like the 8-bit Commodore machines, Atari machines, PCs, Amstrad, Spectrum etc. etc. as I'm generally a huge retro computing and retro technology enthusiast.
Yes, I have considered this, and I am looking in to what other platforms I would like to publish it for. However, please be aware, by choice of platforms will be based more on which ones I have more familiarity coding wise, so your favourite platform may or may not be considered, not because I dislike it, but because I've not got any familiarity with either coding or putting this together on your favourite machine - this does not mean I won't consider it in the future.
Also, keep in mind, the more platforms targetted means more time spent - there's only so many hours in the day, right? This will also be a deciding factor whether I consider porting the diskmag to a particular machine.
Well, I've had a lot of things going on, life kind of got in the way at times. I've done a full article about this in Issue 1, definitely take a look at that if you're interested.
Originally I was using the disk mag engine "Magnum Pro" and whilst I liked the look of that better than what I'm using now, it was plagued with bugs and issues - I do have the original AMOS source code, but, it's absolute spaghetti code. I got a few friends in the scene who are also handy with AMOS to take a look, and I think they also had similar issues understanding what the issues were as much as I did.
I moved over to DMC (Disk Mag Creator) and it's really good, I was impressed with it a lot. It's not perfect, but, it works well for me, so I carried on with this one instead.
At the moment, I will keep it using DMC, but, as the mag evolves, I may consider writing my own engine, as there's some feature I wish it had that it doesn't.
I am, I've already got a few contributors, but, I could always do with more - you will be credited in the disk mag, but, being as this is a free "public domain" project, I am doing this for free in my spare time, and as such, I am not offering any payment for any contributions.
by your author, Duncan 'woody.cool' Woodward