========================================================================== Newsflash UK Editorial - Issue 12 JULY 1990 ========================================================================== Written and compiled by Martyn, N.UK to the sweet melodies of MEDDLE by Pink Floyd and CRISIS? WHAT CRISIS? By Supertramp <- Brill! :) ========================================================================== INTRO - Welcome to Issue 12 ! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Spurred on by last months gargantuan (that means rather large) editorial I decided to let loose my wrist and index pinkies once more, in a desperate attempt to keep you lot occupied for another stint at the Amiga, especially since it's done nothing but rain over here lately. Anyway absorbing a few more rays from that monitor of yours shouldn't cause too much harm, unless you're pregnant or an avid Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fan, in which case you probably deserve all you get. In the last editorial I've shoved all the bits into one long editorial, it saves time although it doesn't look quite as impressive and it makes people think that there's less text on our mag than there actually is. In fact if you were to decrunch it all and count it all, you'ld find that there was quite a large amount of text, as well as finding out that such an action results in boredom and is actually a complete waste of time and not heartedly reccomended by the Newsflash team. This time however the editorial has been split and appears as different articles.. if you think this idea isn`t too bright then let us know! I know quite a few people prefer more data in less files - the thing is that people tend to look and think "hmm... there`s not much on" when in fact there is, often as much as in any other magazine. Before I cut all the text up, it was about 50K in size and it allows us to slot things like hardware news in the correct section. I don't actually know what I'm going to write about before I start, I just have a coffee or a pint (depending upon the time) and hope for the best, I could, if I thought about it, become quite perplexed as to what I could write about, but the best thing is not to think and let it flow.. Sort of sit back and think of England.. or Supertramp as the case may be at the moment. Someone commented last time (after Issue 10) that I didn't really mention much Amiga news in my editorials, I suppose this is true but I think last month more than made up for that and this time I think I've managed to mention the word 'Amiga' and 'peripheral' at least once. Well I have now so can that be the end of it?? Purleaze ? I'd like to think that this article is an interesting read and we usually like to keep Amiga hardware and software news in their own sections. The whole point of Newsflash is to provide you with another 2 disks to format and use as Elite data-disks.. erm hang on.. no that's not quite right.. err Ron, What was the point of this Newsflash business again?? Well what we aim to do is generally give you something that will hopefully entertain you, keep you occupied and hopefully be of some benefit via the use of programming routines or fine utilities. 2 disks a month is a difficult task, considering that we try and keep the quality up and try and bring you things before anyone else. As soon as one issue is finished then the next is started and for something that's a part-time thing it certainly gobbles up a lot of my time. COWABUNGA ! - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Craze ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ok what is it?? Why are all the 7 and 8 year olds strapping Dustbin lids to their backs, wearing eye masks, scoffing pizza and messing about in caves and sewers ?? Well, it's all down to these Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, (or Hero turtles as they are called in the UK) a cartoon strip that has caught the imagination of the young impressionables and the commercial industry too. With everything being on the Turtle menu I am sure we shall soon see a Turtle game on the Amiga. Is nothing sacred ? If I hear or see one more thing about Turtles in the news, on the tv, on the streets or whatever I'm sure I'll crack up.. "take yer turtles and bugger off" as they say in Mozambique. Hopefully they'll last as long as the 'turtles' that made an appearance back in the early 80's controlled by the educational language LOGO. LOCAL NEWS - Down on the Newsflash UK Farm.. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Its all been very quiet lately and it's been a month of mixed fortunes with my work for Argus and in particular FAST ACCESS being in vein - more on that later on. Also we seem to be getting more response as far as Newsflash is concerned.. hopefully this will be the beginning and people will realise just exactly what we've doing for the past year, I suppose it's satisfying to receive nice comments after so much donkey-work. I hope the town of Scarboro has survived the recent visit me and a couple of friends paid it, a fond nod also to all of the regulars in the LORD NELSON pub on the sea-front, and also to that nice Policeman who thankfully decided not to arrest me after all... thanks. :) I've been faffing around with AMOS for a couple of weeks and it's really quite special, strange at first but there's an awful lot of power to behold and once you get the gist of it, there's no holding back. Its actually quite strange at first because you can do so much with it, you tend to get spoilt for choice and can't decide what to do first, ending up doing nothing at all or writing 10 programs and not finishing any of them. The British summertime has gone into classic mode, with June being nothing but very wet and very windy in these parts, summer was a warm wednesday in March this year... pity I missed it. By the way, if anyone reading in the states needs somebody for a computer related job - let me know.. It'll provide an excuse to open up an American branch of Newsflash too. I'll get to America one day.... Perhaps the only thing I'd miss would be the local pub and Elland Rd, home of Leeds Utd. If anyone had problems trying to phone me a while back then you might like to know that the phone is well and truly operational now and hasn't been poorly so to speak. I'm also on Micronet again so drop me a line via the letters on the Amiga section if you'ld like to get in touch. I'm soon going to start driving I think so people of Yorkshire beware... By the time I eventually get round to learning and passing my test I think cars will probably be obsolete! I've only been 'going-to' learn for the last 7 years, another 7 won't make much difference I don't think.. ARGUS MORTE - More Magazines fold.. (urk! BAD pun) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Last month saw Argus S.Publications pulling out of the Computer market, taking quite a number of long-serving titles with it. One was sadly Fast Access which I was due to start very shortly... The decision was apparantly undertaken by Argus's American backers and Group Editor Stuart Cooke was left a little perplexed himself. Argus are now in negotiations to sell several of the titles so it may mean the re-appearance of YOUR AMIGA and maybe FAST ACCESS at a later stage. On phoning Argus yesterday they had changed the name from Argus Specialist Press to Argus Publications... hmmm. I am due to have a meeting with Stuart soon and I'll hopefully be in the picture a bit more then.. AMIGA DISK-MAGAZINES ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are now a number of disk-magazines available for the Amiga, suprisingly enough each one manages to be totally independent and in a totally different style. Fortunately for us, we all seem to know each other and get on fine, the guys I'm speaking of are Richard Ramella of Jumpdisk (USA) and Tim Strachan of Megadisk (AUSTRALIA). That covers the world when you think about it, we're here in Europe, there's Jumpdisk in the states and Megadisk in Oz. Jumpdisk has been going for about 3/4 years now and has a large readership in the states. There's only one commercial disk-magazine available off the shelves in the UK at the moment and that's STAMPEDE. Having recently taken a look at it I don't really know quite what to think, as it literally IS a magazine on a disk, ie more or less just text with product demos on disk 2. THANKY TIME - Acknowledgements, winks and powerpacked beer tokens... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ok you guessed it, Newsflash just wouldn't be the same without the help and encouragement we recieve. Many thanks to all our readers that take the time to write or phone and a big thanks to all the regular contributors who help to make Newsflash what it is.. 2 disks with nice labels on. Special thanks to; Nico Francois, Steve Marshall, Al Brimble, Bjorn Lynne, Seb Lentfert, Brian Postma and Tobias Richter. TA-TA TIME - Martyn gets his end-bit out in now time-honoured style.. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Newsflash seems to be getting somewhat of a 'cult' status amongst users because it's not generally available and not a massive commercial project whether thats a good or bad thing I'll leave up to you, because it's like that it does mean that we're more relaxed and enjoy it more so I guess it does have it's advantages. Anyway I've always been regarded as a right cult for as long as I can remember... Well the time has come for me to wave bye-bye and sneak off to the pub for a well earned pint of water and hops'n'stuff. I hope you've enjoyed this stuff and go on to relish the rest of Newsflash 12.. I'll see you in Newsflash 13.. unready, unwilling and definately unable... Good luck, keep your disk driving, your mouse moving and the music grooving... seeya next time.... Martyn - Tinpot Editor of Newsflash Uk ========================================================================== This Editorial was written using Protext Word-Processor from Arnor, which is highly reccomended if I say so myself.. it's wonderful and not an icon in sight. :) Another record-breaking editorial out of the way.. bye! ==========================================================================