This is it. The final issue of Commodore Cee as a disk magazine. We are going to switch from a straight disk magazine to a printed magazine with one disk inside. I freely admit that we are borrowing that idea from 64er magazine of Germany. But, we won't be as big or as elegant as they are. Our magazine will be about the size of the reRUN magazine that accompanied disks from RUN magazine. It impressed us not just because of size but also by its quality. Or I should say by the quality of some issues. I can't help but notice that they seemed to use it as an experimental place to try out layouts, fonts, and other ideas. I have all the disks but only a few of the issues of reRUN. Wish I had them all to look at.
We are not going to commit to a monthly or every other monthly setup yet. We are going to offer two issues right now and seen how it goes from there. The first two issues will be by subscription and subscription will be $10. That should give us some idea of how much interest there is. Issue 2 will contain information about future price and number of issues.
This brings up another point. Several of those who wanted us to switch to a disk magazine wanted to be sure that it was produced on a 64. Well, it will be. At least most of it. I work mainly on a 128 and usually in 64 mode. My main work is done with two programs - FUN GRAPHICS MACHINE and THE WRITE STUFF.
I am only an occasional GEOS user. I do like GEOS for the fact that it is WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) but TWS is much easier for me to use when writing. And the additional support for it from Ron Hackley's printer driver for the Bubble Jet means that it can produce excellent copy on paper.
The only thing that might make me use GEOS more is if I had one of those 20 MHZ units from CMD but I can't afford one in the foreseeable future. Other things have to come first.
Since I wrote the What's Up column for issue 5 we have had some tremendous flooding here in Northern California. It hasn't rained for the last four days but the last storm was so big that run-off from the Sierra's is still causing flooding in much of the area around us. New levee breaches are occurring every few hours. All of the dams are over 90% full and winter hasn't even started. ( and a few years ago we we where going through a 7 year drought. ) This means that the dams will all have to release a lot of water so we can continue to expect levees to fail and flooding to continue for a while. The brightest spot in this for us has been that we are higher and dryer here in North Highlands. In the last few days the airbase at the end of town where we are has been designated as a refugee center. So, I guess at least they think it's safe here. Sure hope they're right.
So, at the moment we are high, dry, and starting the new year still in business for Commodore lovers. Hope to hear from you folks soon.
