@database BenSpeaks @author "Ben Vost" @$VER: 1.5 (08.07.97 - AFCD17) @node MAIN "Welcome to AFCD17" @{b}AFCD17 September 97@{ub} Blimey it's hot! In fact, it's so hot, I can't think of anything to write this month. All I can think about is swimming pools and frosty glasses of beer and stuff. But here I am stuck in this sweltering office (which is at a temperature of around 28°C!). Still, by the end of last month, it was soggy in the extreme with more than 260% of the expected rainfall for the Bath area. And people wonder why the English are so obsessed with the weather! Oh well, I wonder what the temperature's like on Mars? Thanks to NASA's generosity and the wonder of the world wide wait we can get information that's as up-to-date on the Mars Pathfinder mission as any you get on the TV or radio news and that's great. I can remember as a gawky teenager sending off a self-addressed envelope to NASA's public relations department requesting a few pictures of the (then new) space shuttle. I waited for about a month and a half, running down to the postbox every morning eager to see if my pictures had arrived, until I lost heart and gave up. Of course, the very next day, I received a huge envelope in the post, crammed with all sorts of data and photographic reprints of the shuttle and earth-seen-from-space shots. And with the speed of the web these days, it's almost a similar wait now! :) See you next month, @{"Ben" link "thought" 0} @{b}HEY!!!! READ THE SUBMISSION ADVICE! THEN YOUR STUFF MIGHT GET ON THE CD!!!@{ub} PS. OK, you've stopped sending us your modules, but still more than half of your submissions are @{b}not@{ub} getting onto the AFCD. If you don't know why yours hasn't appeared then maybe you should check out the @{"submissions advice page" link "sadvice" 0}. @endnode @node sadvice "Submissions advice" @node MAIN "Submissions advice" @{b}HOW TO SEND US YOUR SUBMISSIONS ===============================@{ub} @{b}IMPORTANT! We can no longer accept your music modules as submissions for the Amiga Format CD owing to copyright problems with sound samples from copyrighted sources. Thanks for all your music submissions up till now, but please don't send any more...@{ub} We want you to send us your programs, animations, pictures, game tips and cheats, hacks, hardware projects, basically anything you can think of that you have done with your Amiga. It must be your own work - no passing off Chris Achilleos' greatest masterpieces as your own, and we need a variety of things from you in addition to your submission and we need them on your disk. @{b}1.@{ub} We need your name and address so that we know where to send your prize. You should also put your name and address on labels on your media. @{b}2.@{ub} We need two @{"read me" link "readme" 0} files accompanying your work; one for us and one to go on the CD itself (title them @{b}AF_ReadMe@{ub} and @{b}ReadMe@{ub}). These can be as in-depth as you want them to be, but should contain instructions for us on getting your work running if it is a complicated procedure, including things like necessary libraries and so on. The readme that will go on the CD will be the introduction of your work to the whole Amiga Format reading world so check your spelling and grammar and show people just what is so good about your work. @{b}3.@{ub} If your work requires files such as libraries which you cannot send us owing to copyright reasons make sure we know about them so that we can either arrange to put them on the CD, or warn our readers about them (you will probably do this in your CD read me). @{b}4.@{ub} Be aware that we won't be as interested in programs that need to boot or that require to be in a certain place on the CD, unless, of course, that place happens to be in your directory on the CD. Your directory will almost certainly have the path: @{b}"AFCDx:-ReaderStuff-/your_name/"@{ub} but then no-one will be able to run your program except from the CD, limiting its usefulness or appeal. If we do put something on the CD that needs to autoboot, it will almost certainly only be as a DMS that readers will have to extract to disk before they can use it. @{b}5.@{ub} Lastly, your submission @{b}must@{ub} include the following text within your AF_ReadMe file, otherwise your submission will @{b}not@{ub} go on the CD: @{fg highlight}In respect of all material which forms my reader contribution to Future Publishing's Amiga Format I hereby warrant that:- (1) the material is original and does not infringe any other material or rights; (2) the material does not contain any material which is defamatory, obscene or indecent and is exempt from classification under the Video Recordings Act 1984; (3) that there are no legal claims against the material provided; (4) that I have full power and authority to provide this material to Future Publishing.@{fg text} (There is a version of this text as a file in the -Look_here_1st!- drawer on the CD.) You can send us your work on pretty much any sort of media whether it be floppy disks (high or double density, but don't send us work on high density disks unless you yourself have a high density drive. High density disks used in a double density drive aren't as reliable as using double density disks), a floppy disk back up using AmiBack, Quarterback or any of the shareware backup tools, Zip disk, Jaz cartridge, SyQuest 44MB, 88MB or 105MB or EZ Drive, DAT tape backup from any of the above-mentioned programs (the only thing we're not very keen on is the Video Backup System that Power Computing sell in the UK, we've had nothing but trouble with it), FTP upload to @{b}ftp2.futurenet.co.uk@{ub}, (you'll only be able to put your file in the incoming directory, you won't be able to see it once you have finished uploading, but don't worry, it'll be there. Make sure that you name your file with AF at the start so that we know it's for us) basically anything apart from a listing on paper. We don't want to have to type in your program too! We will return any media more expensive than high density floppies via registered post, so you won't have to worry about losing seventy quid's worth of Jaz cartridge. Send your submissions to: @{b}CD submissions Amiga Format 30 Monmouth Street, Bath, BA1 2BW@{ub} @endnode @node readme "How to make a Read me file" If you are unsure about how to make a readme file it really is very simple. If you have a word processor of some description (Wordworth, Final Writer or the like) you can create one in that - you must just make sure that you save the text as ASCII text; there will be an option in the Save As... requester or program preferences. If you don't have a word processor, but you have a text editor for a programming language or for some other reason - we put Gold Ed on our CD every time the authors release a new version, you can use that, in fact, it would be ideal for the purpose. If you don't have a third party text editor, you have two provided by Commodore with your Amiga. In the tools drawer you should find MEmacs, but just opening a shell window will get you to ed. To edit a new file in ed, type the following line at the shell prompt: @{fg highlight}ed ram:AF_Readme@{fg text} This will create a new text file in RAM: called, yes, you guessed it, AF_Readme. It won't have an icon, but don't worry about that, we can always add one for you, just make sure you put it in with your submission. @endnode @node thought "Thought for the month" @{b}Muddy hell@{ub} I'm glad I didn't get to Glastonbury this year. Although I would love to have seen Beck, The Prodigy and the Levellers live, it was the mud I could well do without. But it did set me thinking what sort of music I really enjoyed while crafting the world's best Amiga magazine - and that the other people around me like too. There's only one thing that we are, for the most part, agreed on and that's that Nicki Campbell (a DJ on the radio station we usually listen to) just drives us all to distraction. So at that time of the afternoon, we usually switch the radio off and bung on a CD. For me, the choice could be anything from gangsta rap to a bit of Mozart, but this is what the other people round the office would name as their ideal mid-afternoon listening. Andrea Dummy by Portishead. A brilliant album, so I'm with Andrea on this one. Nick Glen Campbell's twenty golden greats (a CD he recently got for his birthday, but not hugely indicative of his general musical taste which runs more to Neil Young...) Andy He's not here right now, but it's a good bet that he'd want to listen to either Ziontrain doing Babylon's Burning or possibly Hank Williams. Odd, eh? Cathy Cathy's ideal choice of music is usually Radiohead, but personally, I find I can only listen to a little at a time lest I am forced to go and commit suicide. Steve Fardy Urban Hang Suite by Maxwell. Steve's in for us while our art ed's on his hols and he reckons this is a right nice funky little number. Vicki Blue Lines by Massive Attack. Another excellent CD and one that would be lovely to listen to right now... The only trouble is that the only one of us with any of these CDs here is Nick, so we're all having to sing along with "Rhinestone Cowboy". Again. For the third time. @endnode