Amiga Report

[amifan]

Hi guys, so I have been complaining about the lack of an US orientated or more technical Amiga magazine for a while, so I decided to put my money where my mouth is. I am currently talking to Jason Compton about taking over Amiga Report and relaunching it as an online magazine, if things work out maybe .... maybe as print magazine.

Anyways, for the moment if I get the go ahead from Jason, I would be launching it its original form, that of an Amiga Guide. What I am asking for now is just to see if there are any individuals who would be interested in writing any articles/reviews/opinions or even guides?

Amiga Report has such a great legacy and the online format especially in Amiga Guide gives it flexibility that print magazines cannot afford. I might be jumping the gun on this one and perhaps a little crazy but it would be nice to know if there is any interest in being part of this project. Thanks in advance guys!

[fxgogo]

Well done for making the leap. The Amiga Guide format might be interesting, although I would like to see at least a pdf version of it as well.

[Samurai_Crow]

It would have been great back in the day but I'm trying to keep from getting involved in too many hobby projects these days. I volunteer for several organizations already.

Also, every time I go to Amiwest it's mostly about next-gen Amigas and put on by Bill Bosari and other Video Toaster users. I was always into C64 and Amiga gaming back in the day and pivoting into development. I don't see much happening at Amiwest that changes things any more than I do here on EAB.

Michael V. Parent grew up in the States and moved to France later on. He's the guy that started the Metro Siege game development using the Spriter editor that he also was the concept artist behind. He's a professional video game pixel artist that got his start on Deluxe Paint and AmosPro. He's a brilliant pixel art designer but spends all his free time making Amiga games because he knows retro gaming is a hit and wants to undo the damage of U.S. Gold and Tiertex. He'd be good for an interview or even a series on game development but I can't imagine him having much time to write text media, especially with his BitBeam Cannon video blog on YouTube.

Sadly, I don't see much coming out of text media having an impact and the Amiga scene is dying here in the U.S. that I've seen. Even hypertext via AmigaGuide doesn't sound like a winner. Hollywood is a powerful scripting engine for a disk or online magazine though, and I do author with that. It requires about 32 megs of Fast RAM and a fast 020 compatible or next-gen system. That might be a better target.

[amifan]

Originally Posted by fxgogo

Well done for making the leap. The Amiga Guide format might be interesting, although I would like to see at least a pdf version of it as well.

Thank you, that is a good idea, I had not thought about a pdf format, it would make it easier to produce. Just waiting on Jason Compton to give me his approval or not, apparently I am competing with another who wants to do a mini AR

[amifan]

Originally Posted by Samurai_Crow

It would have been great back in the day but I'm trying to keep from getting involved in too many hobby projects these days. I volunteer for several organizations already.

Also, every time I go to Amiwest it's mostly about next-gen Amigas and put on by Bill Bosari and other Video Toaster users. I was always into C64 and Amiga gaming back in the day and pivoting into development. I don't see much happening at Amiwest that changes things any more than I do here on EAB.

Michael V. Parent grew up in the States and moved to France later on. He's the guy that started the Metro Siege game development using the Spriter editor that he also was the concept artist behind. He's a professional video game pixel artist that got his start on Deluxe Paint and AmosPro. He's a brilliant pixel art designer but spends all his free time making Amiga games because he knows retro gaming is a hit and wants to undo the damage of U.S. Gold and Tiertex. He'd be good for an interview or even a series on game development but I can't imagine him having much time to write text media, especially with his BitBeam Cannon video blog on YouTube.

Sadly, I don't see much coming out of text media having an impact and the Amiga scene is dying here in the U.S. that I've seen. Even hypertext via AmigaGuide doesn't sound like a winner. Hollywood is a powerful scripting engine for a disk or online magazine though, and I do author with that. It requires about 32 megs of Fast RAM and a fast 020 compatible or next-gen system. That might be a better target.

Thanks for information, maybe it might be worth while doing a Skype interview with him and then transcribing it. Will have to hit him up for interview. I will have a look into Hollywood, hmm I do not have that much ram in my Amiga lol, maybe time to get a new accelerator card (and review it

[stevelord]

I'm not sure using Hollywood is a great idea given it'll reduce the amount of Amiga users that can access it on real hardware. Not everyone has 32Mb and an 020 to play with. On the plus side it might be possible to build Mac and Windows versions with Hollywood.

There are a bunch of dedicated disk mag editors such as diskmaged in LSD's Legal Tools that should make something that'll run on anything.

Amigaguide is a pretty good shout too as it can be converted to HTML. For the mag to be successful people need to be able to read it. An ADF/HTML release would provide the best of both worlds.

[Samurai_Crow]

Originally Posted by stevelord

I'm not sure using Hollywood is a great idea given it'll reduce the amount of Amiga users that can access it on real hardware. Not everyone has 32Mb and an 020 to play with. On the plus side it might be possible to build Mac and Windows versions with Hollywood.

There are a bunch of dedicated disk mag editors such as diskmaged in LSD's Legal Tools that should make something that'll run on anything.

Amigaguide is a pretty good shout too as it can be converted to HTML. For the mag to be successful people need to be able to read it. An ADF/HTML release would provide the best of both worlds.

Re: cross-platform Hollywood
The RapaGui plugin requires a graphics card so I was thinking MUI Royale would be better for an Amiga disk magazine. Royale works on planar screens as well as graphics cards.

My main objection to Hollywood software as a whole is that Andreas Fahlkenhahn works alone on it and doesn't do bugfix releases often unless it is a serious bug. Waiting for upgrades gets annoying when a bug is a blocker for your project.

Re: memory and CPU
Since the original poster was thinking U.S.-centric and less Eurocentric, picking up a G4 PowerMac and throwing MorphOS on it would cost about the same as an 030 accelerated classic including the OS license. An American Amigan is more likely to have a box-case Amiga rather than a wedge-case model anyway and expanding them is less challenging also.

Re:disk magazine editor
How well does it work on an NG platform? Does it work on AmigaOS 4.1? MorphOS? AROS? Have you tested those on high-end configurations? I haven't because I have low hopes for potentially hardware-banging apps not working on absolutely "anything".

[stevelord]

Originally Posted by Samurai_Crow

Re:disk magazine editor
How well does it work on an NG platform? Does it work on AmigaOS 4.1? MorphOS? AROS? Have you tested those on high-end configurations? I haven't because I have low hopes for potentially hardware-banging apps not working on absolutely "anything".

Mate if that's your attitude best of luck with your mag.

[Samurai_Crow]

Originally Posted by stevelord

Mate if that's your attitude best of luck with your mag.

Sorry, bud, it's not just you. My first Amiga was an A1200 and trying to find compatible software with my Amigas has always been like pulling teeth. If it's not incompatible with AGA it's incompatible with an 020. If it's not incompatible with an 020 it's incompatible with RTG unless you're running UAE. This has been a long time coming and I have had it with people saying hardware banging code that only runs on low-spec systems saying it runs on "anything". NO IT DOESN'T.

[coldacid]

That can also be turned around the other way. Shutting out people just because they run classic hardware that can't run overweight Hollywood apps is just as bad as serving only those people. Whatever the solution is, it has to be something that runs the gamut of Amiga and Amiga-like systems.

[stevelord]

Originally Posted by Samurai_Crow

Sorry, bud, it's not just you. My first Amiga was an A1200 and trying to find compatible software with my Amigas has always been like pulling teeth. If it's not incompatible with AGA it's incompatible with an 020. If it's not incompatible with an 020 it's incompatible with RTG unless you're running UAE. This has been a long time coming and I have had it with people saying hardware banging code that only runs on low-spec systems saying it runs on "anything". NO IT DOESN'T.

It's not "not just" me. It's not me. It's you. Everything you're coming out with exists only in your head. Your logical fallacy is reductio ad absurdum. Why stop at AROS and MorphOS? No, it must run on Windows! Abacai! Pen and paper! Otherwise it can't possibly be *anything*.

Your definition of *anything* != other peoples' definitions of *anything*. I meant some (any reasonable) piece of disk magazine editing software (that) should run on Commodore's range of Amigas or systems that can emulate them. Not natively on AROS, MorphOS, NG or your mum. Coldacid hit the nail on it's head.

But it's Amifans plan so he can do what he wants and if it won't run on your obscure wacky configuration you can pick it up with him.

[Samurai_Crow]

Originally Posted by coldacid

That can also be turned around the other way. Shutting out people just because they run classic hardware that can't run overweight Hollywood apps is just as bad as serving only those people. Whatever the solution is, it has to be something that runs the gamut of Amiga and Amiga-like systems.

Ok. Hollywood is heavy for a multimedia authoring package on Amiga. I've offered to help Andreas out with it but he prefers to work alone.

What other multimedia authoring systems are system-friendly enough to run on RTG systems like an NG system but light enough to run on a flat 68000? That narrows the field. If its got a public file format then there's hope for a player that runs on other generally incompatible configurations like a G4 MorphOS box or my MicroA1.

Maybe I'm taking the term "U.S.-centric" too literally. Most Americans that had Amiga 500s sold them and bought consoles when Commodore went belly-up. Most of those never used their Workbench disks because Amiga games were mostly copy-protected track-loaders (or cracks) but only the commercial releases worked on NTSC so they figured they weren't missing out on much to switch to a console.

[fxgogo]

Before you embark on this journey Amigas, definitely reach out to the editors fo mags like Amiga Addict and Amiga Future for some tips and advice. I think we can all help each other out here.

[amifan]

Thanks for all the advice and comments, I would want the magazine to be read on all Amiga computers hence the idea of continuing with the Amiga Guide format, I know that limits the users who have 1.3 machines though.

I plan to contact Amiga Addict and Amiga Future, for some tips too, funnily enough they published a letter of mine talking about the American magazines in Amiga Addict. Might be a sign lol.

[Samurai_Crow]

Ok. Amigaguide it is. I just wish the wordwrap command worked in Kickstart 2.

There's a webpage about the format at https://code.iamkate.com/articles/amigaguide/ for anyone looking for more information.

[stevelord]

Originally Posted by amifan

Thanks for all the advice and comments, I would want the magazine to be read on all Amiga computers hence the idea of continuing with the Amiga Guide format, I know that limits the users who have 1.3 machines though.

I just tried Amiga Report 5.09 from Aminet with Amigaguide from Fred Fish disk 870 and it looks fine from here. I'd say 1.3 users should be ok as long as you're careful with new features.

[Korodny]

I had to edit several revisions of a massive AmigaGuide document years ago (DOpus 4 manual), I wouldn't recommend using it for a magazine. Unless you want to stick to a fixed width font and 78 chars per line, tables and lists are impractical. Wordwrapping only works on OS 3+, no inline pictures, no copy/paste unless you have 3.9 (or was it 4.0?)...

I love nostalgia as much as anybody else, but reading new ("technical") information in a format from 1988? I'm not so sure about that.

A proper, cross-plattform format would be Markdown. Easy to understand, anybody can edit it with a text editor if he doesn't have a proper markdown editor installed and it solves all of the problems listed above. The Markdown source can be converted to HTML and PDF using readily available tools, You can even use a different HTML style (HTML 3.x) for the Amiga, or write a simple Markdown->Amigaguide converter or a very basic Markdown viewer program.

But before starting a project of this size, you should present a more convincing case for establishing another magazine, IMHO. What exactly is not enough "US orientated" or "technical" in Amiga Addict and Amiga Future, i.e. what content would you feature that these two don't?

[amifan]

Korodny, thank you for the input and suggestion, I will have a look at Markdown, another thing to add to my list . It is a good question, why do we need another magazine? I think the first point would be that Amiga Report is a free magazine, it is not printed, and readers do not have to pay for it. In this regard there is much more flexibility in the format and content that can be put in. Amiga Addict and Amiga Future have bills to pay and this means that they have to limit what they can write. Secondly if you have a look at Amiga Addict and Amiga Future, they do feature some articles that are serious but the majority of the articles are game related. This is understandable because the Amiga was known for the gaming in Europe. Amiga Future is a bit more technical, however I would suggest reading Amiga World or Amazing Amiga, just to have a look at the articles they wrote. The magazines in the States were more technical because the Amiga was more of a productive machine, as you already know then Amiga was used a lot for video production in the States, less so than Europe. The percentage of big box Amigas used in the States is higher than Europe. To be more specific, I think it would interesting, and this is only my opinion, to have articles about how to use Amiga software such as Image FX, Final Writer, DigiPaint, and Video Toaster. Maybe these articles are antiquated, but I believe that there are people who perhaps had used the software back in the day, want to get back into but cannot remember the basics, myself included. The nice thing about the original Amiga Report format, was that you could print each article easily, just click on the relevant link and print. There are no graphics or ads like on a webpage which makes for a clean print.

Having lived in the States during the heyday of the Amiga, I really enjoyed the US magazine styles of Amiga World and Amazing Amiga. Amiga Report continued that in a way, and it is something that I think is needed. Now this is just my humble opinion, if I get the go ahead from Jason, I will continue the free format which will give it more flexibility. There is much more that I could write for the reasons to have a new magazine but I hope I could enunciate clearly enough my belief in the validity of the rebirth of Amiga Report

[stevelord]

I'd like to see more serious content. I use my Amigas for productivity as well as gaming and I always feel like I could learn a lot more about the tools I use.

It looks like MD2Guide will convert Markdown to Amigaguide. I'm sure there are other options too but this way we could have the best of all worlds. Markdown also works well with Pandoc, which is good for translation into other formats.

[OldAmigan]

@amifan

Please do go for it.

I'm UK based and subscribe to both Amiga Future and AmigaAddict but I certainly concur that they are more game focussed and it would be quite interesting to read more articles based on serious programs like ImageFX, etc and 'Howto's based on them too.

It's always good to hear views from 'across the pond' and I'm sure you could find contributors. After all, Doug Compton writes a piece for AmigaAddict and AmigaBill featured in their first issue.

Best of luck with it.

Fred