Jump to content
IGNORED

ABBUC magazine #144


pps

Recommended Posts

I got mine yesterday - looked like the mail service opened it with a chainsaw.  The proc insert was all shredded at the edge and the magazine was bent.  I haven't tried the disk yet - I need to spin it by hand and make sure the assholes at the post office didn't crease it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Gandor said:

Received my copy today.

Top was cut open but magazine and disk were there (including some proc-atari insert).

Are our copies mailed from the USA now?

 

49 minutes ago, Stephen said:

I got mine yesterday - looked like the mail service opened it with a chainsaw.  The proc insert was all shredded at the edge and the magazine was bent.  I haven't tried the disk yet - I need to spin it by hand and make sure the assholes at the post office didn't crease it.

 

At some point during its month long journey the box shipped to me was cut open, unpacked, and loosely thrown back together by customs before poorly re-taping. Lots of envelopes were banged up and creased at the corners and a couple were torn, none of the envelope contents looked in bad shape. See pics earlier in this thread.

 

I didn't have any blank Abbuc envelopes to repackage anything torn so the couple of torn ones were taped up as best I could, next time @skr will be including some blank envelopes to fix that issue. Nothing was cut, nothing was bent, everything was unsealed so I could check it before sealing it up and mailing. By the time I'd sorted everything and sealed it all up it all looked in reasonable shape. See earlier pics.

 

If anyone has any disks or magazines ruined in the mail let me know in messages here and I will send out replacements, I have a few spares.

 

Next time we should hopefully avoid all the customs issues, @skr thinks it was because he didn't list the contents fully so a more detailed manifest will be included next time. This will hopefully speed up the shipment and avoid the box getting trashed by some overzealous official on route. 

 

It's nice to see people are getting them at least. The last step of the journey took less than a week.

 

 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just received mine here in Austin today, and looks a little tattered on the outside but everything stayed intact it seems. All the goodies inside see fine.  :)

 

Looks like a great issue! 

 

Hey, where can we download the English version these days, since the ABBUC web servers was hacked and is down?

 

-Eric

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Mr Robot said:

I think by the time there is an English version of the magazine PDF the Abbuc website will be back up. I think they are a few issues behind at this point.

 

Thanks for this.  I sure hope I did not come off as upset with you for anything that happened here!  I appreciate all of the work you are doing.  This was a pure "F U" to the post office.  No replacement would be necessary - I have multiple ways of getting content to the machine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, selgus said:

Received my copy yesterday.. lots of great articles, trying to brush up on my German :)

yeah, i really want to dive into those RMT articles, but I might have to get google translate scanner going for that ! 

Edited by erichenneke
Link to comment
Share on other sites

#144 arrived in suburban Detroit today. Envelope split on one side (appears to be wear-thru, not cutting) but magazine looks great! I've gotta learn to read German.

 

Disk has no apparent physical damage but will not load... starts giving BOOT ERROR after a few sectors. Tried two different drives, same result.

No need to send a replacement, though. I will format and rewrite it when I can download the .ATR file.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/30/2021 at 12:45 AM, erichenneke said:

yeah, i really want to dive into those RMT articles, but I might have to get google translate scanner going for that ! 

We really need to push to get all the abbuc magazines online in html format for members so translation to english is trivial. copying and pasting from a pdf to deepl or scanning, ocr'ing and then translating is too slow. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Allan said:

Got mine today. Thanks Mr. Robot. And of course thanks Abbuc team.

I got my issue today as well. I will have to wait until the weekend to hook up the 1050 to see what is on the disk. Hopefully, the ATR download will be available again soon. I know that real life gets in the way of rebuilding the server. 
 

Bob C

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello Steve ( @Mr Robot )

 

Why not (for now) just send everybody a mail containing the ATRs of the from and back side of the floppy disk?  (As I've suggested to skr before)  That's two attachments of 130KB each.

 

BTW to all: Not the best solution, but it'll do until the magazine gets translated by people: there are phone apps that will translate (almost) everything that the camera captures.  Not sure if these exist for iPhone, but a colleague held her android phone over an address sticker with Chinese characters and you could see the translation into "normal" characters on the screen of the phone.  This doesn't only seem to work with Chinese characters, but for many languages.  With such an app, you could hold your phone over the magazine and the translation would appear on the screen of your phone.

 

Sincerely

 

Mathy

 

Edited by Mathy
Enhanced the text
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Mathy said:

Hello Steve ( @Mr Robot )

 

Why not (for now) just send everybody a mail containing the ATRs of the from and back side of the floppy disk?  (As I've suggested to skr before)  That's two attachments of 130KB each.

 

BTW to all: Not the best solution, but it'll do until the magazine gets translated by people: there are phone apps that will translate (almost) everything that the camera captures.  Not sure if these exist for iPhone, but a colleague held her android phone over an address sticker with Chinese characters and you could see the translation into "normal" characters on the screen of the phone.  This doesn't only seem to work with Chinese characters, but for many languages.  With such an app, you could hold your phone over the magazine and the translation would appear on the screen of your phone.

 

Sincerely

 

Mathy

 

I love that ATR via email suggestion! 

 

Yeah, I use the phone/camera apps that translate "on the fly" and it's really cool for about 30 seconds.  Then it's torture, especially for long articles. 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes to ATRs. IF (big if) that does mean the floppy and printed magazine will keep going... That's a big part of the retro experience: have the physical media that you can touch, see, smell, taste... no maybe that's too much.. but you get my point

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes I agree about the printed magazine/inserts.

I don't have a floppy drive so I don't need and can't use the disk so I'd be happy if I just got the disk label instead.

I know the  disks are getting harder to source. 

 

I'd be a bit worried (if I were the Abbuc overlords) about emailing out ATR's, there is a risk of getting flagged as a spam email sender if you send out mass mailings like that. Being able to get them from the Abbuc website does seem the way to do it. I'm sure the new download area will be all sorts of awesome when it gets set up. What would be nice is for the PDF's & ATR's to be available for download the same day the physical copies go in the mail. 

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It makes my day when the ABBUC package arrives in the mail. With that said, I would love a digital-only membership option. It can be exactly the same price. 
 

In my case, setting up the 1050 is a pain and I have to try to translate any article I am interested in anyway so the PDF works better for that. 
 

I would like to see the floppy disks used for those ABBUC members that will use them. 

 

I look forward to the reinstated ATR and PDF download areas. 
 

Bob C

 

PS: What files are on the #144 floppy anyway? 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/2/2021 at 3:53 PM, erichenneke said:

Yeah, I use the phone/camera apps that translate "on the fly" and it's really cool for about 30 seconds.  Then it's torture, especially for long articles. 

 

It's much easier to simply hire a German-English translator to read it to you, it's just four times per year.

 

  • Like 1
  • Haha 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

I assume the new membership cards did not make it to US members. I only have my original card that Wolfgang sent me when I first joined ABBUC. 
 

I did get #144. I even hooked up my 1050 so I could see what was on the disk. 
 

@skr - Who do I send my PayPal renewal to? My membership expires this month. I do not think I send it to Wolfgang’s address. 
 

Bob C

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...