v125lqbx@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (Brian T McColpin) (03/30/91)
QUESTION: Is the Amiga World Tech magazine available -without- the disk? I'm not going to plunk down $16 per issue just the chance that it might be good (especially given that it's AW, whose technical expertise I don't have the highest regard for.) On that same note, could someone please write an -informed- review of the two Tech magazines currently available? I guess it'd be AW Tech #1 and AC Tech #2, right? I'm interested in knowing whether anyone will pick up where Transactor left off. I'm a novice, and none of the rags currently in publication are helping me much... Thanks.
giguere@csg.uwaterloo.ca (Eric Giguere) (03/30/91)
In article <67906@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU> v125lqbx@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu writes: >QUESTION: >Is the Amiga World Tech magazine available -without- the disk? As far as I know, no. No disk doesn't make much sense since there will be few listings in the magazine itself. >I'm not going to plunk down $16 per issue just the chance that it might >be good (especially given that it's AW, whose technical expertise I don't >have the highest regard for.) Hmm... well, I think the quality should be good, though I have yet to see the first issue myself. I think that both magazines should make up for the vacuum left by the demise of the TransAmi... -- Eric Giguere giguere@csg.UWaterloo.CA Unlike the cleaning lady, I have to do Windows.
gerry@dialogic.com (Gerry Lachac) (03/31/91)
In article <67906@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU> v125lqbx@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu writes: >On that same note, could someone please write an -informed- review of >the two Tech magazines currently available? I guess it'd be AW Tech #1 Unfortunately I don't have the time to write a really "informed" review of either magazines (I have the first issue of both). I will say however, that I was more impressed with the contents of the AmigaWorld offering. The articles were better written, IMHO. -- uunet!dialogic!gerry | "Even a dead plant turns | Dialogic Corporation OR | over a new leaf | 300 Littleton Rd gerry@dialogic.UUCP | when the wind blows." | Parsippany, NJ 07054 | | (201)334-8450
jms@vanth.UUCP (Jim Shaffer) (03/31/91)
In article <67906@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU> v125lqbx@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (Brian T McColpin) writes: >QUESTION: > >Is the Amiga World Tech magazine available -without- the disk? > >I'm not going to plunk down $16 per issue just the chance that it might >be good (especially given that it's AW, whose technical expertise I don't >have the highest regard for.) No, it's not available without the disk. There was a letter in the first issue begging them to sell it without the disk, but they said absolutely not. Also, the thing was full of typos! I couldn't believe a professional magazine was so poorly edited. On the other hand, some of the things they plan to cover seem promising. But I don't think $16 per issue is a reasonable price to pay. Considering that the cost of bulk disks is negligible! (Also, either the Parnet or Sernet file on mine (can't remember which) was corrupted. But then again, nowhere does it say it was even supposed to be included!) Is Amazing's Tech magazine any better? I haven't been able to find it locally, in fact I didn't even know it had been published yet until you mentioned that they were on the second issue! -- * From the disk of: | jms@vanth.uucp | "You know I never knew Jim Shaffer, Jr. | amix.commodore.com!vanth!jms | that it could be so 37 Brook Street | uunet!cbmvax!amix!vanth!jms | strange..." Montgomery, PA 17752 | 72750.2335@compuserve.com | (R.E.M.)
srp@modcomp.uucp (Steve Pietrowicz) (03/31/91)
In <67906@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU> v125lqbx@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (Brian T McColpin) writes: >Is the Amiga World Tech magazine available -without- the disk? No. It saves more room for articles....all the code and executables for the articles are on disk (plus more!) >I'm not going to plunk down $16 per issue just the chance that it might >be good (especially given that it's AW, whose technical expertise I don't >have the highest regard for.) The magazine has a "Peer Review Board" that checks for the technical accuracy of the articles. People on that board are: Brad Carvey, Joanne Dow, Keith Doyle, Andy Finkel, John Foust, Jim Goodnow, Scott Hood, David Joiner, Sheldon Leemon, Dale Luck, R.J. Mical, Eugene Mortimore, Bryce Nesbitt, Carolyn Scheppner, Leo Schwab, Steve Tibbett, and John Toebes. Some of those folks are from Commodore, many have been with the Amiga since the beginning, and Dale and RJ helped create the Amiga! Pretty good technical expertise on this board, eh? ;-) Some of the people on the list have articles in the first issue too. Steve -- SR Pietrowicz UUCP: ...!uunet!modcomp!srp CIS: 73047,2313
v125lqbx@ubvmsa.cc.buffalo.edu (Brian T McColpin) (04/01/91)
In article <jms.3813@vanth.UUCP>, jms@vanth.UUCP (Jim Shaffer) writes... >In article <67906@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU> v125lqbx@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (Brian T McColpin) writes: > >Is Amazing's Tech magazine any better? I haven't been able to find it >locally, in fact I didn't even know it had been published yet until you >mentioned that they were on the second issue! I haven't seen it yet, I've just seen a couple of references to it on the net, and a friend of mine in Toronto said that he was sure he'd seen it in the stores almost a month ago... It seems the consensus is that AW won't be selling its Tech magazine without the disk. That's too bad, because I would like to buy it, but at $16/issue, how much would a year's subscription be? Forget it. :-) At least I still have my back issues of Transactor to learn from. :-)
mwm@pa.dec.com (Mike (My Watch Has Windows) Meyer) (04/01/91)
In article <1991Mar30.025114.975@maytag.waterloo.edu> giguere@csg.uwaterloo.ca (Eric Giguere) writes: In article <67906@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU> v125lqbx@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu writes: >QUESTION: >Is the Amiga World Tech magazine available -without- the disk? As far as I know, no. No disk doesn't make much sense since there will be few listings in the magazine itself. No disk makes lots of sense on a $ basis. There wasn't anything on the first issues disk that was even worth looking at. At around $5, the first issue (sans disk) would have been a good buy, and I probably would have subscribed. At $16, I feel ripped off, and will only buy one if it's got several articles of high interest, or something relevant to what I'm currently working on. I've already written a letter to the editor suggesting they offer a diskless version, and make the disk available to buyers of that version for extra $'s. <mike -- It's been a hard day's night, Mike Meyer And I been working like a dog. mwm@pa.dec.com It's been a hard day's night, decwrl!mwm I should be sleeping like a log.
drmellen@vela.acs.oakland.edu (D. R. Mellen) (04/01/91)
A problem with Amazing's Tech magazine is in the video digitizer they leave out where three capacitors are placed. They even go as far as to say that they are not included in the schematic, but never tell you were to put them. Though they do sell a kit to make the digitizer for eighty dollars (I think). drmellen@vela.acs.oakland.edu
wally@pallas.athenanet.com (Wally Hartshorn) (04/02/91)
Both AmigaWorld and Amazing say that they won't sell the magazines without the disk so that they don't have to "waste" space in the magazine printing source listings. Baloney. They could DOUBLE the size of the magazine, leaving them PLENTY of room for source listings, and sell the thing for considerably less than the $16 that they're asking now. I buy magazines for IDEAS, not for software. If Fred Fish can sell his disks for $7 (or less), then surely AmigaWorld and Amazing can sell their stuff for less $$$ than what they're charging now. I've bought the first issue of both magazines, and although I was impressed by both, I don't think I felt impressed enough to spend $16 for them. Frankly, I think they're trying to rip us off. They KNOW that we're desperate for a techie replacement for Transactor, so they're going to soak us for all the cash they can. (I generally laugh at people who make accusations like the one I've just made, but this issue really has me ticked off.) -- Wally Hartshorn (uunet!pallas!wally or wally@athenanet.com) President, Amiga Computer Enthusiasts of Springfield (ACES) Chronicler, Shire of Swordcliff, SCA Sysop, The Quest, F&SF BBS, Citadel-68K node US (217) 546-7608
kuch@reed.edu (04/03/91)
Does anyone on the net know if anyone from Amazing Computing or Amiga World reads news? The "disk shoved down your throat with every issue" policy kind of sucks. $16? Get real. With Fred Fish charging $7 a disk that seems really lame. Not to mention the dubious merits of getting a nice detailed piece of source code all polished and entered. I think something of the learning process is lost when you don't have to go through the mother line by line trying to figure out how it works...
greg@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Greg Harp) (04/03/91)
[Re: Whether AC Tech should sell a diskless version of their magazine.]
I remember that the only reason I didn't buy the first AC Tech was that I didn't
want the disk. The articles would have been interesting and enjoyable, but I
figure that I would have been wasting money on the disk because I was likely to
only read about the projects they published. I have enough of my own to start
adding some of theirs.
I agree that a diskless version of the mag should be available. They could even
do it something like Dr. Dobbs Journal does. (Hey, it may be a PC-oriented mag,
but the April issue has articles on neural nets, genetic algs, fractals, BSD
Unix, and multitasking. It's pretty decent.)
The way DDJ does it is to publish the source (or a good part of it when the
source is long) in the mag, then make it available for something like $14.95
on disk. You can also download the source from CompuServe or a free service
via direct dial (long distance).
--
Greg Harp |"How I wish, how I wish you were here. We're just two
|lost souls swimming in a fishbowl, year after year,
greg@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu|running over the same ground. What have we found?
s609@cs.utexas.edu |The same old fears. Wish you were here." - Pink Floyddave@unislc.uucp (Dave Martin) (04/04/91)
From article <1991Mar30.025114.975@maytag.waterloo.edu>, by giguere@csg.uwaterloo.ca (Eric Giguere): > In article <67906@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU> v125lqbx@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu writes: >>I'm not going to plunk down $16 per issue just the chance that it might >>be good (especially given that it's AW, whose technical expertise I don't >>have the highest regard for.) > > Hmm... well, I think the quality should be good, though I have yet to > see the first issue myself. I think that both magazines should make > up for the vacuum left by the demise of the TransAmi... ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Very unfortunate, I always liked Transactor including the C64 version. Surprise! I have found the AW tech magazine to be a very good start, at least as good as the AC tech magazine. (IMO) The first issue of AW tech contains articles on: the deep bitmap standard (24-bitplane bitmaps). Menu style in 2.0. How to get a list of devices and assigns from a program. An explanation of FFS vs OLD FS (relating to floppies). How to make shared libraries. In addition to other stuff and some reviews (CygnusEd 2.11, Macro68, Algebra, QPMA BASIC Programmers Toolkit, and FlexeLint 4.0) The floppy contains DICE, a powerwindows demo, and source/executable for the articles. As long as both magazines maintain high quality standards I would like to see both succeed. -- VAX Headroom Speaking for myself only... blah blah blahblah blah... Internet: DMARTIN@CC.WEBER.EDU dave@saltlcy-unisys.army.mil uucp: dave@unislc.uucp or use the Path: line. Now was that civilized? No, clearly not. Fun, but in no sense civilized.
timg@cbmtor.uucp (Tim Grantham) (04/08/91)
In article <68044@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU> v125lqbx@ubvmsa.cc.buffalo.edu writes: > >It seems the consensus is that AW won't be selling its Tech magazine without >the disk. That's too bad, because I would like to buy it, but at $16/issue, >how much would a year's subscription be? Forget it. :-) > >At least I still have my back issues of Transactor to learn from. :-) Transactor for the Amiga went tits up partly because the owners were, to put it diplomatically, extremely incompetent, BUT also because there wasn't enough advertising to pay for production, much less the poor authors who were contributing such stuff you now treasure in the back issues. My efforts to convince the publisher to INCREASE the cover price, based on the belief that our readers would pay more to get the best, fell on deaf ears. ``We would lose 20% of our readers immediately,'' they said, based on past experience with their other consumer magazines. Reading the message excerpted above, however, has me grudgingly admitting that they were probably right. I notice that there is very little advertising in Amigaworld's Tech Journal -- surprising, given IDG Communication's considerable sales resources. I'm afraid it's not a good sign. The answer: you get what you pay for. If you want a good technical journal, PAY what it costs to produce it. I think $16/copy, including the disk, is a bargain. And not just because I've got a review in the first issue, either. ;-) Tim. P.S. Please don't bug me about what happened to the subscriptions/products you ordered, paid for and didn't receive, or the author payments you didn't receive. I resigned when I realized there was nothing I could do to make the Transactor's publishers honour their obligations. I have no idea what's happened to them, and don't want to know. It was not a pleasant experience.
dtiberio@eeserv1.ic.sunysb.edu (David Tiberio) (04/09/91)
In article <m0jNpjb-0003PHC@reed.edu> kuch@reed.bitnet (Gerald D. Kuch) writes: >Does anyone on the net know if anyone from Amazing Computing or Amiga World >reads news? The "disk shoved down your throat with every issue" policy kind >of sucks. $16? Get real. With Fred Fish charging $7 a disk that seems >really lame. Not to mention the dubious merits of getting a nice detailed >piece of source code all polished and entered. I think something of the >learning process is lost when you don't have to go through the mother line by >line trying to figure out how it works... There are some members of Amazing Computing on BIX, but I do not know how to send mail to them yet. -- David Tiberio SUNY Stony Brook 2-3481 AMIGA DDD-MEN -- Any students from SUNY Oswego? Please let me know! :)
wally@pallas.athenanet.com (Wally Hartshorn) (04/10/91)
In article <475@cbmtor.uucp> timg@cbmtor.uucp (Tim Grantham (GUEST)) writes: >My efforts to >convince the publisher to INCREASE the cover price, based on the belief that >our readers would pay more to get the best, fell on deaf ears. ``We would lose >20% of our readers immediately,'' they said, based on past experience with >their other consumer magazines. Reading the message excerpted above, however, >has me grudgingly admitting that they were probably right. > >The answer: you get what you pay for. If you want a good technical journal, PAY >what it costs to produce it. I think $16/copy, including the disk, is a bargain I'm perfectly willing to pay good money for a good technical magazine. I paid $6.95 for The C Journal, for instance, and that isn't even Amiga-specific. What I'm not willing to pay for is a disk that I don't want. The first AmigaWorld Tech disk, for instance, contained a PD C compiler (which I don't want, since I already have Manx), a demo of PowerWindows (which I don't want, since I already have the real thing), ParNet (which I don't need), and SerNet (ditto). That's 500K right there that's a total waste for me. The articles were interesting, but there wasn't really much that I actually need to use. Thus, for me, it would make much more sense to have the listings printed in the magazine, boosting the number of pages, and leave the disk out. $16/copy, including the disk, is only a bargain if you can USE a significant portion of that stuff. Those who needed it could buy the version with the disk. Those of us who did not, or who didn't feel that typing in a couple of listings was that big of a deal, could save some money by buying a diskless version. Ironically, I'll probably end up SUBSCRIBING to the #&#&#& thing, simply because that will bring the price down from an astronomical $16 per issue to a merely overpriced $10 per issue. -- Wally Hartshorn (uunet!pallas!wally or wally@athenanet.com) President, Amiga Computer Enthusiasts of Springfield (ACES) Chronicler, Shire of Swordcliff, SCA Sysop, The Quest, F&SF BBS, Citadel-68K node US (217) 546-7608