SPECTRUM SUPPORT SCENE Amy's who's who of who is out there! Like a good few other people, I responded to the offer of free associate membership to INDUG. Every three months I receive an A4 mock up of FORMAT magazine and leaflets of hard/software offered by them. Apparently I also have access to a free techy phone line but I've never used it. Thankfully this isn't an 0898 number either!
Issues of FORMAT are released monthly and cost £1.50 or are free to full members (£12 per annum). How they work out that twelve issues costing you £12 is free I'm not too sure but there you go. FORMAT is a printed A5 magazine coming in somewhere between a fanzine and a Your Sinclair. It's nicely laid out and well designed. Super Cooper sent us two issues to have a look at.
January 94's issue includes a news page, program tips, a review of 'The Fractal Collection', a basic tutor section, bits on Uni-Dos and the 3D Construction kit and a lively letters section. They don't appear to make them up like we do. There are also lots of ads and addresses for those vital yet elusive spares. Febs issue features more of the same with a review of SamPaint that makes me want to rush out straight away to snap up a Coupe. The most interesting thing about Vol 7 No 6 is a proggy sent in by Barry Twyman, which generates a letter writing utility that uses a script font. What this scummy turd failed to mention was that he lifted this program from Robert Speel's paperback from 1983 'BETTER PROGRAMMING FOR THE SPECTRUM AND ZX81'. It never fails to amaze me how these losers think they are the only ones with a certain Speccy book. I've got them all mate, and you are a sad case.
Hardly FORMATS fault of course but if I was setting myself up as a Speccy authority then I'd at least know ALL my stuff. And while I'm moaning I also found the price of software in the ads disgracefully high. In several cases similar programs and utilities are available from PD libraries at an absolute fraction (we are talking pennies not pounds!)
Last year Format held a Sam/Speccy fair in Gloucester and plan to hold another on April 30. It's fantastic that people are holding these fairs but maybe they would be better staged in an area populated by humans rather than sheep & cows. I don't feel I'm missing anything by not subbing to FORMAT but I hope to aquire all the back issues pretty soon. If they blow my ankle socks off I'll print 100K of apologies. Write to FP, 34 Bourton Rd, Gloucester GL4 0LE.
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