Gears EDITORIAL --------------- Hokay ! Here is my editors bit ! I've edited and coded this mag aswell as writing for it, so excuse me of if I waffle on a bit ! I'm very tired now and the release date is upon me !! Here goes .... DISCLAIMER ---------- Anything said in this mag is the opinion of the person writing it. Zircon accepts no responsibility for any bad stuff happening to anyone ! (Yes, the crap disclaimer is BACK aswell !) Zircon has a strong team of lawyers who will screw everything out of anyone wishing to bring court action against us. They are also available for divorces and large newspaper companies. The case involving the ZAM disk, some vaseline, an Amiga, a video digitiser, a beautiful naked girl and a video camera was never proved and we didn't use the picture. However, the picture will be available after we have proved our case at the appeal court ! Waaaaap !!! But seriously ! Please take the serious articles seriously and the funny articles with a large dose of salt !! We don't want to offend !! THE DELAY AND THE NEW FEATURE ----------------------------- ZAM ISSUE 1 - Released September 1992. ZAM ISSUE 2 - Released November 1992. ZAM ISSUE 3 - Released February/March 1993. *********** ZAM ISSUE 4 - Released March 1994. *********** Yes ! After a WHOLE year in a PD coma We ArE bAcK !!! Hitting you with more ideas, style and comedy than ever before !!!! Ah yeah ! We are now offering you a bigger chance to contribute than ANY other disk-mag available !!!! It's easy to do !! Just move the mouse to that big REPLY button and press it !! Then type in ANY comment you want and send ZAM-4 back to us with an SAE and we'll send disk 1 of ZAM-5 or (if you request) a fresh copy of ZAM-4 !!! Coo ! WHY COME BACK NOW ? ------------------- Over the past few months I have seen the amount of disk-mags multiply, but all seem to have the same look and the same `feel' to them. I'm not saying that there aren't any good ones, I'm just saying that they all tend to try the same menu options etc. So, one day I looked at all these mags and tried to find something that they hadn't tried. I looked at GrapeVine, Propaganda, The Jungle, Visual Intensity, Upstream, Digital Disk, etc...etc.... there are a lot more, but I can't mention them here as I'd run out of disk-space! Anyway, they are all very, very, good but they all had the same look and the same options. As one Amiga Format reviewer said, "this mag is put together in a similar style to ...... disk mag". I then had a look at some paper-mags, Amiga Computing, Amiga Format, Amiga Shopper etc. They had different lay-outs ! Why couldn't this be so for disk-mags ???? So, that very same day I decided to get ZAM back on the rails and give it a face-lift. I had almost abandoned it, and it was only the constant whails from my contacts that re-started the mag ! So, I DID something new and different with a REPLY function. The idea is that when you read something that you agree / disagree with you can put your feelings down instantly and easily. You can advertise your club, group, library, software, hardware or shop ! I don't care what it is ! You can even ask questions ! Respond to other readers questions ! Anything ! The possibilities are endless - put simply, if it'll fit in the REPLY box we'll publish it (provided it doesn't cause a war or start a court case) And so here it is !!! Sure, it's a bit short on articles ! We have been away for a long time AND it means MORE space for YOU! HIT THAT REPLY BUTTON !!! WHO DID WHAT ? -------------- MENU SYSTEM It was programmed in a week and has only three menus because of the amount of articles that can be put on one menu. It's the first time I've done any sort of programming since I had a Speccy 48, so don't expect too many flashy bits yet ! There should be about 30 articles on each menu page - I know that other mags use a whole menu page with 10 articles in it just to pad it out ! The next issue of ZAM will have more menus and, therefore, more articles ! MUSIC The music was done by Projex who used to be in a group called Colour. He gave permission to use this mod, so we have ! Contact us Projex, just hit that REPLY button man ! GFX Drawn by Emkay, who I haven't heard from in a while. I hope that you'll get in touch with us Emkay so that we can use your stunning artwork in ZAM-5 !!! DISTRIBUTION MegaSoft are handling the spreading and distribution end of the ZAM disk, and I am currently collecting the REPLY text that you send ! MegaSoft do a vast range of PD and commercial software, so don't hesitate to contact them with your enquiries. Find their address in the CONTACT US article. A QUICK PLUG I'd just like to grab this opportunity to tell everyone about KEW=II, which is a very fine PD library indeed ! It is not like any other PD library - because it operates just like a Pick n' Mix ! You can choose any program you want, and have it put on a disk with lots of other programs of your choice. This way you'll ALWAYS get what YOU want !!! Write to them at :- KEW=II P.O. Box 672, South Croydon, Surrey. CR2 9YS. And don't forget to mention Zircon when you write! TESTING Actually, I might not have time to send this out for testing, but be sure to know that ZAM will be (hopefully) bug free ! Anyway, the people testing are :- Cosmic, Bob, Mark, Fudge, Shot, Ezz. PUT TOGETHER USING An A1200 HD, 800 cups of tea, lots of late nights, hundreds of disks, headaches, and a large dollop of madness. AND FINALLY.... I would like to make a plea, no.... I would beg whoever wrote the articles marked "???" to contact me !!! Erm..... Oh yeah... The next issue is due out in May/June 1994, but we'd like all REPLY text sent to us a few weeks before !! Anything that's late will go into the next issue. As you can see, this NEW edition of the mag is a bit thin on articles, so we will use ALL of your comments in the next mag - we want YOU to write THIS mag !!! DO IT NOW !!! Have fun, and enjoy the mag !!