Print magazines were once the lifeblood of computing fans of any platform. Sadly, over the years, many of those titles, both mainstream and niche, have disappeared due to declining sales, decline of the actual platform and the rise of online publishing. Titles such as Personal Computer World, Amiga Format, Acorn User and even the illustrious Computer Shopper (last issue out now) have faded away. That's not to say niche platforms have been left bereft of physical publications. Indeed, the Amiga market has the long established Amiga Future and a new title, Amiga Addict, which has recently successfully reached a minimum order goal and should be in reader's hands around the middle of December (I'll have a review of that one when I receive my copy). The same holds for the RISC OS market and it must be said, there is something reassuring about a platform still having the following to support the printed word.
Launched in 1987, Archive now has its third editor after the passing of long-time RISC OS user and writer Jim Nagel. Gavin Smith has taken up the reins and after sampling a pdf of the final issue of Jim's tenure, I took the plunge and ordered a one year subscription. This covers six issues for the princely sum of £40 (including p&p) for UK subscribers. European readers pay £46, whilst the rest of the world pays £50.
Since this was my first physical copy of Archive, I wasn't entirely sure what I'd be getting - after all, a pdf is just a pdf. What arrived was a 52-page A5 full colour booklet. The cover is sturdy and of high quality, as are the pages, and I definitely think I am getting good value as far as the physical quality goes.
Or course, a magazine stands or falls on its content, so what do we get in this issue?
The traditional news section, covering the new R-Comp computers, the RISCOSitory awards and a new update to ScummVM among other subjects, does the job it needs to before leading onto the bulk of the magazine, the articles.
There is a great piece on how the programming language Python 3 has made its way to RISC OS, followed by an update on the new cases available from RISCOSBits, and then a very readable first part of a series about ARM chips and their architecture. There is an update on RiscOSM and Recce, the first a package that uses OpenStreetMap so you can download and save copyright-free maps for annotation and the like, the latter an add on to add images from Google Street View. I'll be honest and admit I had not heard of these before but they sound useful so I'll keep these in mind. Next up is the tale of bringing the Raspberry Pi 4 and RISC OS together, a less than simple task given the hardware changes to the latest version of the Pi.
We also have an article on getting back into BBC BASIC programming which caught my attention, and a couple of regular columns: PC Bits and Mac Matters - both of which I found enlightening. Two more programming articles, Code Burp 1 and From gawk2Mawk, via Perl were interesting but kind of went over my head - definitely a reflection of my knowledge (or lack thereof) and not the articles themselves.
The back cover gives you notes on resources listed in the mag, details of the subscriptions available, and a Next Issue box where I saw something that piqued my attention: a comparison of the two available portable RISC OS computers - the Pi-Top 2 and the ARMbook. That I can't wait to read!
Are there any downsides to this publication? Well, there are a couple of formatting issues that, in reality, don't spoil the magazine, and the editor has already stated that there was very much a learning curve for this issue, given that it was his first, so there is no need to judge harshly here. Other than that, no, I can't see any negatives at all. The price per issue is decent (including that all important postage and packaging) given the nature of the publication, and the actual physical quality of the magazine is very good indeed. The quality of the writing is high and whilst some of the articles are more technically minded than others, that just creates a good balance for all experience levels of the readership.
This is a great first issue for the new editor and I look forward to many more. If you are a user of RISC OS or just have an interest in the operating system, I heartily recommend checking Archive out. I know I'll be keeping each issue from now on in a safe place for future reference.
Oh, and a quick note about this, the RISC OS User Guide, covering the most recent version of the operating system, 5.28 (released in October this year). At nearly 600 pages, this is not a small tome but it covers all you would need to know about using RISC OS, the bundled applications and utilities and hardware set up for networks, printers and the like. It's well illustrated with screenshots where needed though not in colour. Having said that, it's only £20 plus £4.50 postage so I can't see a reason to complain. Another very welcome addition to the computing bookshelf.
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