First post, by aries-mu
I'm finding it difficult to stop wondering about how the dream computer magazine would be and what would it talk about.
(I will keep re-editing this first post as ideas evolve and suggestions come in. Or should I copy-paste-update-post it newly each time??? 🤔)
I finally decided to post a hypothetical structure, which is a very early draft that will surely evolve countless times and make this dream grow and mutate incessantly.
First, some GENERAL SPECS:
• The retro portion of the magazine starts from January 1988 and then goes ahead, month by month. So, to have an easier feel, the magazine will start on January of the whatever future year the dream will come true. E.g.: Jan 2024 - Jan 1988, and so on... Or maybe, instead of setting up an arbitrary start date, one could decide to start the retro-part 40 years before the release date of this dream magazine, aiming for it to be born on a January. E.g.: This dream magazine's first issue is released on Jan 2025, minus 40 years = the retro portion starts from Jan 1985. But with a limit! No later than Jan 1989. So, if the dream magazine really comes true at any point in time late rthan Jan 2029, the retro portion still starts from Jan 1989. Cause, hey, I don't wanna miss my favorite period!!!
• The retro portion will progress as if we were truly living in January 1988, hence even the tone of the descriptions, texts, interviews, reviews, will act accordingly. Like: "The 386 SX has just been released" etc.
• Retro ads will be retrieved as much as possible and published as part of the retro portion(s) of the magazine. Heck, who didn't love or still doesn't love to look at those ads, all the price lists of PCs and parts... compare with current prices and parts and specs...
• Rigorously print, possibly using 100% tree-free, recyclable, moisture resistant synthetic paper (e.g.: BOPP) [I know, costs... remember: this is a dream. Besides, they claim that, on the long-term, with BOPP you save money down the line]
• Digital version available: but with 30 or 60 days delay from the print release, to encourage the purchase of the print version
• Minimum 800 pages per issue [I know I know. Remember: this is a dream. But wait until you see the contents below... I'm sure it'll need even more than this]
• Glossy, smooth touch feel (like our good old magazines of past times)
• Retro-modern mirrored. For every article or review of a retro product, there shall be a corresponding article or review of nowadays' most probable corresponding/equivalent modern product. For example: a review of a Pentium Pro PC will correspond to a review of a Xeon PC. Which Xeon CPU, since there's a gazillion since many years? Again, corresponding. Was it an early or late Pentium Pro? It will be determined on a case by case basis... at the author(s)' discretion.
• The retro portion must perfectly imitate the visual style and layout of the classics (e.g.: early 90s PC Magazine, which in Italy was called PC Professionale, MC Microcomputer also in Italy https://www.digitanto.it/mc-online/ , that kind of stuff)
• The magazine will clearly state that this is a COMPUTER magazine. Therefore, you won't find in here fillers like smartwatches, smartphones, refrigerators, washing machines........ just because they got a computer inside. Those are computerized-products but are other products. This magazine will be a hardcore COMPUTER magazine: PCs and related components, peripherals, software, games, etc. For phones and that other stuff, there's already plenty of magazines around. The soul of this magazine is a retro computer magazine (80s-90s), and in those times such gadgets didn't even exist. The pages covering modern/current products will simply be 'corresponding' current products.
• Consoles will be covered, because of the gaming section and because they represent a strong pillar of the retro world, the same goes for Commodore 64, Amiga, etc.
• AI will be covered
• Everything covered (drivers, utilities, etc.), except in case of copyright restrictions, will be contained in:
a) a DVD in the magazine, wrapped with the magazine, contained in a clear plastic thin sleeve to facilitate logistics
b) The magazine's website
• The magazine's website: VERY SIMPLE. No messy stuff. Simply, you get to the home page, there's the big cover of the current print issue and then a "past issues archive" section (besides the basic standard sections, such as about us, contact us, career, etc.). You click on the main current cover and you can see the table of contents and then all the articles, just the initial excerpt (subscribers get the full text of course). A few selected articles are available in full text publicly for everyone. If you get in the archive, you see a long list of past years... with the list of the 12 issues for each month, little cover preview. You click on each cover and get the same story as the current issue. After 1 year from the release of any given issue, you can read publicly for free all the articles in full text
Main "parts" of the magazine (which will be divided into sections and subsections, see below), just conceptually, not in order:
• News
• Readers' mail (Q&A, Letters)
• Hardware
• Software
• Gaming
• Education
• Programming
• Audio-video: Actually, about this, I'm not sure whether to spread it through the hardware and software sections, or make a dedicted section, which will cover hardware, software, and stuff. Mmm... not sure.
• ...
• ...
SECTIONS (just putting draft notes here as they come to mind, not to forget them. Very incomplete)
1)...
2)...
3)...
X) GAMING
* Open source DOS games 2 threads: One about Open source DOS games and Rare and lost demo/shareware releases wanted list (thanks WolverineDK)
X) TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS ALMANAC
* All peripherals' FSB & Wait States
* Motherboards
X) MALWARE: The virus of the month
x) PERFORMANCES OPTIMIZATIONS
x) TIPS & TRICKS & CHEATS
x) OPERATING SYSTEM(S)
x) EDUCATIONAL SECTION: There will be also a considerable educational portion on a variety of disciplines: Just follow the lessons, issue by issue, study and review them during each month, and do the exercises, and you will become automatically skilled and expert in such disciplines. Educational sub-sections (are they too many??? 🤔😅):
* Cybersecurity
* Math: from A to Z. From the most basic to the most advanced/exotic/insane math
(If anybody is wondering: no smartphones cause it's a PC magazine, and we put math lectures? There's several reasons. Math is important for coding. Geometry and math for cad, game
programming. Math skills don't shine within the general population. The school system sucks but we need to reconcile relativity with quantum physics: we need brains. There might be
another Einstein out there and they don't know it. Who knows, maybe they'll discover their talent by reading our dream magazine...).
* Literature: There will be a space exploration-focused, slightly dark, sci-fi novel, published issue by issue... actually, photo-novel, with illustrations made by AI, or at least contributed by it.
x) PROGRAMMING SECTION:
* Assembly
* C++
* Python
* JavaScript
* HTML
* CSS
* Excel VBA
* Azure
* Active Directory
* MS-DOS internal and external commands
* CMD
* PowerShell
* Bash
* MacOS Terminal
* Reverse engineering & Ghidra
The (ever evolving) list of sections and topics will follow... be added here over time...
They said therefore to him: Who are you?
Jesus said to them: The beginning, who also speak unto you
