A new issue of Archive magazine – volume 24 issue 6 – has been produced by Bart Nagel, and if you are a subscriber it should by now have landed on your doormats. In fact, even if the previous issue – 24:5 – marked the end of your subscription, you should have received a copy of 24:6 anyway.
Bart has produced the issue under the name Abbey Press, Jim Nagel’s old company name, as a tribute to his father, who sadly died earlier this year, and as a mark of respect for the magazine itself and its readership – the RISC OS users who continued to subscribe, and many of whom will have met Jim at shows and events over the years.
A digital version of 24:6 has also been put online for anyone to download and read – so if you aren’t a subscriber, but wish to read the final Abbey Press issue of the magazine, including an article about Jim written by his family, and a number of anecdotes and messages supplied by the RISC OS family, point your web browser at the Archive website, where it will remain online.
Moving forwards, the next issue of the magazine will be volume 25, issue 1 – the start of a new volume under a new editor, Gavin Smith. Based in Northern Ireland, Gavin is an old-hand with RISC OS, who also now develops software for more mainstream platforms under the name LibertyApp, such as Server Ranger, a package for keeping an eye on remote servers in order to spot any problems with them, available for Apple Mac, Windows, and Linux.
Gavin, along with Michael Stubbs (a name more familiar to RISC OS users – especially those who read the Icon Bar and RISC OS Open Ltd forums) acting in the capacity of consulting editor, had been planning the introduction of a new printed magazine to (and for) the RISC OS world, with the launch intended for Wakefield 2020 – a plan put on hold due to the pandemic and, therefore, the postponed show – so the opportunity to take on the Archive mantle has been taken up instead.
The date of that first issue of the new volume is yet to be announced, but once it is published a complimentary printed copy will be sent to all subscribers who have received the tribute issue produced by Bart. Thereafter, the magazine will be produced bimonthly, with existing subscriptions being fulfilled digitally, but there will be an option to upgrade subscriptions in order to receive printed copies. Full details of this will be in that first issue.
Good luck to Gavin in this endeavour, and thanks to Bart and the rest of Jim’s family for producing that final Nagel issue – having read my copy, I’m sure Jim would be proud of what you’ve done.