ACU Type-ins project

[ervin]

Hi all.

The ACU Type-ins project is finally underway again.
It took a very long time to organise/categorise/consolidate the dsk files sent to me by Tasteful Mr Ship (big thanks to him for all of his hard work - truly an amazing effort).

I'm keeping a mini-blog at the top of the page to let people know of the project's progress.

http://cpcwiki.eu/index.php/ACU_Type_Ins

There's still a heck of a lot of work to be done, but at least it is no longer behind-the-scenes stuff. It is finally visible progress!

If anyone has any suggestions, or just observations, please let me know.
This project is very special to me, and I'd like to make it as good as possible (bearing in mind that it is being done in my very limited spare time).

[Gryzor]

Man, you amaze me with your dedication... Thanks so much!

[ervin]

Thanks for the kind words Gryzor.
I must admit, I'm really enjoying this project. I feel as though I'm giving something valuable back to the community.

Also, cpcWiki seems to be a lot faster lately. It's really noticeable when doing lots of uploads and edits, and things are nice and snappy at the moment.

A quick update:
- August-September 1984 is complete.
- October-November 1984 is complete.
- January-February 1985 is complete.

[Octoate]

It's great to see that you put so much effort into the project. Now also lazy people, like me , can use those programs, too.
One idea for the ACU article (generally for every mag): The overview in the ACU Type-ins article of the different months is really good. This should be used in the ACU article, too and maybe we can also do this for other magazines like the CPCAI (I will have a look at it when I am at home this weekend). What do you think about that?

[Ygdrazil]

This is a great idea IMHO!

/Ygdrazil

It's great to see that you put so much effort into the project. Now also lazy people, like me , can use those programs, too.
One idea for the ACU article (generally for every mag): The overview in the ACU Type-ins article of the different months is really good. This should be used in the ACU article, too and maybe we can also do this for other magazines like the CPCAI (I will have a look at it when I am at home this weekend). What do you think about that?

[Octoate]

Ok, I just updated the ACU article to the index of the type ins article. Looks good, plus: you can now add the article for a magazine issue with one mouseclick .

[Dizrythmia]

A lot of bug fixing must have gone into this. I clearly recall taking an issue of ACU in to school for my teacher to help me bug fix the type in as it was pretty dodgy. I think it was the December 86 issue off the top of my head. It had a picture of a punk guy playing pinball. I never got that program to work in the end. My teacher & I gave up...

That wasn't the only time I had problems with ACU type ins

[ervin]

It's great to see that you put so much effort into the project. Now also lazy people, like me , can use those programs, too.
One idea for the ACU article (generally for every mag): The overview in the ACU Type-ins article of the different months is really good. This should be used in the ACU article, too and maybe we can also do this for other magazines like the CPCAI (I will have a look at it when I am at home this weekend). What do you think about that?

Thanks! 

I'm not entirely sure I know what you mean about the overview. Can you give me an example?

[ervin]

A lot of bug fixing must have gone into this. I clearly recall taking an issue of ACU in to school for my teacher to help me bug fix the type in as it was pretty dodgy. I think it was the December 86 issue off the top of my head. It had a picture of a punk guy playing pinball. I never got that program to work in the end. My teacher & I gave up...

That wasn't the only time I had problems with ACU type ins

I'm not really sure to be honest, as my involvement in the typing-in of all these programs has been minimal. I'm just creating the pages on cpcwiki. 
tastefulmrship and Johnny Olsen were responsible for the bulk of the typing-in work, with a bit of help from some others.
There were a few minor differences between versions, where I received the same program from different people, and I've done my best to consolidate those differences.

[Octoate]

I'm not entirely sure I know what you mean about the overview. Can you give me an example?

Well, what I mean was the overview with all covers for the ACU, which you created in the article of the ACU Type Ins project. I already changed the ACU article to look like the ACU Type Ins article (with the cover overview and links to the articles).

[ervin]

Well, what I mean was the overview with all covers for the ACU, which you created in the article of the ACU Type Ins project. I already changed the ACU article to look like the ACU Type Ins article (with the cover overview and links to the articles).

Ah, I see what you've done.
Fantastic stuff!

[Gryzor]

Indeed great, looks lovely this way!

[ervin]

Hi Themis.

I have a little request... could this topic please be moved to the CPCWiki Discussion forum?
I don't know why I didn't create it there in the first place!

[Gryzor]

Hi Themis.

I have a little request... could this topic please be moved to the CPCWiki Discussion forum?
I don't know why I didn't create it there in the first place!

Ask and ye shall find

...aaaand done!

[ervin]

Outstanding!
Thank you kind sir!

[ervin]

March 1985 is now complete.

[Gryzor]

Hehhhh great work mate... I'm looking at the page and it looks very impressive!

Only yesterday I was considering replacing the homepage related image with one promoting the forum, but now that I see the project is till on and hot I'll just leave it there

[EDIT] Actually, I just figured out how to make the image be a link to your page, so I did it

[ervin]

Fantastic!
Thanks for linking to my page.

Although I think the forums are more important... do you think it would be a good idea to promote the forums, and have a smaller image linking to the acu type-ins?

[Gryzor]

Eventually I think I will... Though maybe you're right and the focus should be on it. But if I do it as you suggest it'll get a bit cluttered. Maybe we should have a 2x2 matrix linking to 4 projects - type-ins, forum and a couple of others?... Just wondering...

[ervin]

Yeah, a 2x2 matrix is a great idea.
Although to be honest I'm not that up-to-date with happenings in the cpc world, so I can't suggest what the other 2 might be.

Certainly a 2x1 (horizontal) matrix for the type-ins and the forums may be a great start. 

[Gryzor]

Yeah... good idea. I'll take another foto (maybe green monitor) with the Forum tag and up it, though when that will be I don't know...

[ervin]

Excellent!
I look forward to the update!

[ervin]

Where on earth did the last couple of months go? 

Anyway, April 1985 is underway.

[Gryzor]

Yay Glad to have you back!!

[ervin]

Hi everybody.

I have decided to move the ACU Type-ins project to my own webspace, so I won't be adding to the version on cpcwiki anymore.

This is because:
- I don't want to risk the wiki disappearing again (even briefly)
- the inability to edit the wiki at the moment is frustrating (although understandable)
- my connection to the wiki (from Australia) is incredibly slow
- writing the mediawiki code is quick, but testing it is time-consuming
- uploading dsk files and screenshots is even more time-consuming

I'm just wondering what you all think... should I link to the project on my website from here?
I guess the answer to that is definitely yes!

But the next question is a bit trickier... should i remove the stuff done so far here on cpcwiki?
I think I should, as all of it will be replicated (and improved) on my website, and in fact the completed (on cpcwiki) issues of ACU are almost done on my site (although the current version has not yet been uploaded to my website).

This may also reduce some of the bandwidth required to host the wiki (depending on how popular the type-ins page becomes in the future!).

Thoughts?

To see the initial upload of my website, click the link in my sig.
The live version doesn't have much flesh on its bones yet, but the current dev version should be uploaded soon.