The Internet is a wonderful place that gives us unlimited access to almost any program or information we need. But there was a time before the Internet when we had to rely on public domain libraries (PDLs) and magazines for Atari ST/STE-related software and information. He often wished to buy the Atari ST trade magazines such as WH Smiths’ ST Format, ST Review, and ST User, and eagerly glanced at the contents of the cover disc that adorned the cover. I would sit in my comfortable chair in the quiet surroundings of my bedroom and enjoy reading the magazine from cover to cover, checking out the latest reviews of PD (Public Domain), Freeware, Shareware, Licenseware and commercial software, as well as the helpful tutorials and items .
The magazine would advertise the many PDLs providing PD, Freeware, Shareware and Licenseware software on a floppy disk for between £1 and £3. The PDL ads only offered a small selection of software on their listing, but would provide you with a disk or paper catalog listing their entire software library. The best thing about PDLs is that they gave you access to software written by dorm room programmers that you would never find in stores. For a programmer like me, they were a useful resource for things like: source code, fonts, sprites, music files, and images. They also provided issues of various diskzines such as Stosser, Power, ST Plus, Atari Times, and Maggie.
WHAT IS A DISKZINE?
A diskzine is a collection of documents on a floppy disk that can be viewed using software called a “shell.” The shell would list the names and descriptions of all the documents on the disk that would be displayed in the form of articles, reviews, and tutorials, as well as other items of interest, such as announcement pages, someone’s ramblings, and contact lists. The shell would have its own built-in document viewer that would load each document, format it, and display it with the option to change fonts and music. Later versions of document viewers would display images along with text, like Tony Greenwood’s popular Stosser Doc Displayer. Some diskzines would also provide free software known as freebies, such as Stosser Diskzine, also by Tony Greenwood. Diskzines are sometimes referred to as “diskzenes” or “diskmags”.
HOW DOES DISKZINE BENEFIT ME?
Diskzines can offer content on basically any topic. Stosser diskzine covered articles and tutorials related to the STOS Basic programming language, while Atari Times covered all things Atari ST. Another diskzine known as Power provided pretty much everything you could dream of, even weird stuff like the entire script for the popular movie Terminator 2. The diskzines are also free unless you buy them from a PDL. You can distribute discs to your friends and contacts for free and they can do the same for you; therefore you can get a lot of software and information for free instead of paying for the Atari ST trade magazines I mentioned above. Diskzines allows you to meet other computer users with the same interests as you with whom you can trade things. Some may even have an issue page where you can get faster answers to questions than in trade magazines.
WHO WRITES THE CONTENT OF THE DISKZINE
The general idea behind diskzines is for readers to write content and share it with their fellow readers. Stosser and Power were two diskzines that relied heavily on contributions. The main people behind the diskzine were the ones who put everything together, including the editing and creating the shell. There may even be someone running a normal page, such as the problem page. Diskzines usually have a few people who become regular contributors to each issue on a monthly basis, while some casual readers come in little by little. Software is also provided and is a great way to ensure mass distribution of your work.
WHERE CAN I DOWNLOAD THE DISKZINES
Try Exxos Atari Pages for a selection of the best diskzines.
