___ v v v ___ ___
<*,*> <*,*> <*,*> <`,'> <*,*>
[`-'] [`-'] [`-'] [`-'] =^`-'^=
-"-"- -"-"- -"-"- -"-"- " "
owl punk owl owl with antlers chinese owl flying owl
___ ___ ___ ___ ___
<+,+> <@,@> <*,*> <-,-> <$,$>
[`-'] [`-'] [`-'] [`-'] [`-']
-"-"- -"-"- -"--- -"-"- -"-"-
drunk owl owl junkie one legged owl shrewd owl greedy owl
___ ___ _|||_ /_\
<#,#> <o-o> <*,*> <*,*>
[`-'] [`-'] [`-'] [`-']
-"-"- -"-"- -"-"- -"-"-
T-V owl owl with glasses owl with top-hat owl with fez
___ ___ _____ _
<*,*> <*,*> /o \_/ | * *
[`-// [`o'] [ _ | "owl"
-"-"- -"-"- `-----' `-'
owl with sling medalion owl surreal owl owl in cave owl
___ ___
<*,-> <*,*>
[`-'] [`S']
-"-"- -"-"-
confidential owl super owl
Owlies fetched, amended and offered by Mat of UNT
THE LEDGERS DISK MAGAZINE BY THE UNTOUCHABLES
by Richard Karsmakers
A fairly recent occurrence at the disk magazine front is the
Ledgers Disk Magazine by The Untouchables and friends from the
UK. This magazine started off in the summer of 1991 and has
succeeded in publishing about one issue per month since then.
This effectively makes it the most frequently appearing disk
magazine on the Atari ST (with "STEN", being bi-montly-ish,
coming second).
This review will concentrate on the three most recent issues -
7, 8 and 9 (the last being dated April 1st 1992).
The Ledgers disk magazine's main strength is the amount of
humour it offers. As a matter of fact, it rarely offers anything
but humour, though some of the folders on the disk tend to offer
computer-related material such as source files and the like.
Each of the recent issues consists of a mega-demo-like main menu
with several entry points, with each entry point offering up to 9
articles that can be selected using keys 1-9 in a submenu.
The main menu uses graphics taken from popular ST games - the
last three issues used those of "Magic Pockets", "Gods" and
"Pang" respectively.
The pageview mode that is used to display the documents has
changed with every issue so far - they're probably still
improving it. The last doc displayer uses sync scroller, open
borders and digi music. Quite nifty and very fast, though no text
styles are supported.
As was already said, the magazine is filled to the brim with
humour. The editor, Mat Sullivan, obviously raids Bulletin Boards
and various other sources (such as the modem magazine
"Nutworks") to acquire articles that fall in this category. He
adds stuff of his own as well as material supplied by the other
members of the Untouchables and their friends. This totals up to
the most zany disk magazine existing on the ST, a refreshing
breath of fun through the otherwise rather serious (or
tastelessly funny) world of ST disk magazines.
Issue 7 offered about 16 entry points with 97 (!) documents,
totally to about 570 Kb. Issue 8 offered about 16 entry points
with 54 documents that totalled to about 600 Kb. Issue 9 offered
over 10 entry points with 67 documents adding up to about 200 Kb.
These statistics succeed in illustrating a typical aspect of the
magazine: Many short articles.
Concluding, I would like to say that I respect the Untouchables
for the amount of work that goes in their mag. Each issue has a
new main menu and other bits of code added that I don't see
Stefan doing. Though it can take ages to read all the articles
because of those extensive main menus, you are usually amply
rewarded for your trouble by genuinely funny articles covering
just about every topic you may wish - varying from Skodas and
blondes to lawyers and cows. Do not expect it to supply you with
reviews and courses on programming, though - it's simply not the
mag for it.
The Ledgers magazine is very much worth while checking out. I am
sure you'll get the latest issue (including disk and postage) if
you send Mat Sullivan a fiver (i.e. 5 Pound sterling) at 24
Kingsway West, Penwortham, Preston, Lancs PR1 0JA, United
Kingdom. Issues 1-8 are licenseware; issue 9 is shareware.
Pro:
Lots of fun. Genuine humour. No previous knowledge required.
Con:
Only works on color systems. No possibility to save a file of
the current document.
Cheers to Mat for sending some issues, and to Bryan H. Joyce for
sending some more.
Disclaimer
The text of the articles is identical to the originals like they appeared
in old ST NEWS issues. Please take into consideration that the author(s)
was (were) a lot younger and less responsible back then. So bad jokes,
bad English, youthful arrogance, insults, bravura, over-crediting and
tastelessness should be taken with at least a grain of salt. Any contact
and/or payment information, as well as deadlines/release dates of any
kind should be regarded as outdated. Due to the fact that these pages are
not actually contained in an Atari executable here, references to scroll
texts, featured demo screens and hidden articles may also be irrelevant.