I was an Atari 8-bit user in Ottawa, Canada. Back then, Ottawa had a great user group that met monthly in the National Research Council auditorium. NCAUG had a great newsletter due to the experience and expertise of several NCAUG members.
I was a young guy at the time, and had only a couple of high school friends who had Atari computers. One friend in particular, Hytham Khalil, got the Atari ST near launch. Well it was an amazing machine (though I was still a die hard 8-bitter). Hytham was extremely ambitious, and some time in 1986 after a rousing user group meeting we got talking about making a computer publication of some sort. Hytham's family had a printing and graphic design business, and with the emerging desktop publishing industry it seemed like a computer magazine would be easy to produce (boy were we wrong). Building momentum for the idea, Hytham spoke to many of the NCAUG leaders, including Bob Thompson, a professional editor by trade (and avid 8-bitter I might add). I was an editor and production assistant in addition to contributing articles.
The original issue (I would call it the beta version), a number of technical hurdles were worked out. Sales of the magazine were brisk and distributors were willing and able to take on the publication. Many computer stores were provided magazines directly. I should say that at that time, Atari looked unstoppable! The Canadian market was growing and the Atari machines were far cheaper than the Amiga alternative.
The production of the magazine used Atari computers extensively. The first issue was using manual paste up and a photo-typesetting machine, the next 2-3 issues used a postcript interface to a Linotronic L300 typesetter, and then the final issues were done with a 300DPI QMS PS800 postscript laser printer and Atari desktop publishing software. The Atari was to blame for some of the nasty kerning (which we manually corrected). The last issues done of the laser were really a cost-cutting measure, but we thought it added to the magazine as it was made by an Atari. Photos and half-tones (b&w images) were conventionally done not using the Atari directly.
There were some amazing people involved in the magazine, and some I remember (aside from Mr Khalil) include Bob Thompson, Jim Turner, Mike Riley, Glenn Brown, Dan Panke, Ross Judson and Randy Tchorznickis. There were plenty of other contributors, sorry if I have forgotten anyone.
We did attend many shows and I have fond memories of them. I got to meet Atari luminairies and a few celebrities. One thing I have to say, Hytham had the ability to work some magic. We went all over the place selling the magazines and drumming up advertising business. CES, Comdex, Atarifests and user groups were frequent stops. Some highlights:
- Comdex 1987 and 1988 - Saw David Small demonstrate Magic Sac with Bill Gates looking on in horror
- Met Fleetwood Mac (Mick Fleetwood and Billy Burnette were particularly nice) in an Atari hospitality suite after they played a blues set (no girls from the band, so they rocked out and Mick Fleetwood did an extended drum solo including a bit with a weird drum suit)
- Met Tom Harker, Mike Gustafson and the rest of the ICD team at their prime (at the time included Keith Ledbetter)
- Met Sam Tramiel (who told us his wife was actually from Kemptville a town near Ottawa and that he went there all the time)
- A team (I was not involved) interviewed Tangerine Dream about their use of Ataris (this was set up by Atari Canada)
- Met many Microsoft employees who were Atari fans at the Seattle Atarifest
- Met the folks behind the Atari version of WordPerfect (WordPerfect invested considerable resources into the Atari version)
By 1988, Atari started losing ground to the PC clones, a revitalized Amiga lineup and things seemed less optimistic. The magazine badly needed an infusion of cash and several venture capitalists were brought in to invest in the company (who had started to deliver other publications). The severe cashflow crunch left two issues at the printer--printed but not delivered.
Personally I left before the last issue (going on to work at a daily newspaper)
In late 2012, Hytham Khalil passed away suddenly at age 45.