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                      REDNECKS... LEATHERNECKS... CHOSNECK!

                                   ISSUE ONE
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label ...... MYSTIC BYTES, Poland

system ..... Falcon, 14 MB RAM, RGB, VGA, harddisk (7,2 MB)

intro ...... Falcon, 4 MB, RGB, VGA
             coded by REMO

articles ... Grey of Mystic Bytes, Trophy, Saulot, CiH, Felice, Vasco, Dely,
             Spiny of Torment, Mr Byte of TFTE, Paranoid of Paranoia, RafalK

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After very long time, as known by ourselfs, the first  stand-a-lone issue of the
polish scene magazine called "CHOSNECK" was released. And hey, thanx to the long
delay of this UCM (yawn...) we're able  to bring you  reviews of  both magazines
now! A cool deal, isn't it?! Damn...

Anyway, while issue zero, the first issue (those polish  dudes are abusing their
vodka a bit too much) cames along with the musix compile "On Edge Of The Abyss",
this one cames as pure  magazine, but unfortunately  with the same restrictions,
means it asks for an enhanced Falcon as well, so you can stop reading if you own
just 4 MB, or in another way, read on  and decide by yourself  if it is worth to
get the 14 MB extension :)

So what about the facts  at first... Before you can read the magazine you have a
true odyssey to manage, esp. if you're using another machine to surf through the
web. For me the steps were the following, leeching over 6 MB, depacking the file
and copying all the files to disx, copying the files to the HD of my Falcon just
to rebuild the original Magazine file again and decrunching this one again...
Phew... But finally I'm able to dive into CHOSNECK's abyss now...

After starting the shell.prg  you have different  options, just like running the
magazine  with or without  intro, you can decide at what  frequency your monitor
has to run and what replay-quality the musix should have. If you're owning a RGB
monitor don't use the 5o Hz option, in this  way the magazine fucks up. Last but
not least it  is useful to enjoy the  magazine on VGA only, because of the heavy
use of open borders the RGB and esp. the TV set will hide some lines and letters
from your eyes.

The intro itself features a textured  landscape by REMO, nothing special but the
first assembler steps by this new coder who joined the forces of .tSCc. lately.

The magazine itselfs loads with rendered hires pictures (a coffee cup) and after
some loading time the main menue is presented, also in that hires style. In this
current style "CHOSNECK" reminds me  hard to PC related magazines just as "HUGI"
for example. On the left side of the screen lays the menu with the single topics
while the biggest part of the  screen is filled with a  big white area featuring
some logo and design stuff, in hires as well.

The menu offers 8 different topics, containing 55 articles and text-files at all
which is a reasonable ammount in my eyes. Why? Just think that the magazine does
not contain a special reviews corner. Grey, the main editor behind "CHOSNECK" is
telling in his  editorials that  he don't want to review  other productions here
because other magazines are doing that as well and it  could be boring to read a
review again and again, even if the different views are still interesting.

Ok, so what? Let's take  a closer look  onto the single topics. The first one is
called "Let us  entertain you" and features  the regular  articles, just  as the
editorial(s) (?!, yes, both written by Grey), greetings and handshakes, feedback
to -Issue 0- as well  as an article about creative people that are searching for
help... Hu? Yes, at first  Sqward is telling us  that he's working on  a special
tracker for the  Falcon, called "Growling Studios" and  that he  wants feedback.
The second is by some polish 8bit related software  maker that wants  to know if
there is a need for doing more Atari 8bit games.

The  second topic is  called "Unforgettable Meetings - Magic Placez" and you can
imagine what this means. Several authors have given their views on several Atari
related  events to the best and  besides funny and interesting  reports from the
Error In Line  parties and the  ParaCon 3 Party, you can  finde info files about
the Alternative Party  as well as results files  of different other events. Some
of the articles make heavy  use of one of "CHOSNECK"s special features, to bring
some picture while  clicking on some underlined words in  the text. While seeing
all those pictures I got the heavy impression that polish dudes aren't only very
addicted to  vodka and alcohol, nope  they seem to  feel very fine on toilets as
well... I really want to have some explanations about that, hehehe.
Some error occurs in this part coz the file about the "Last Party 2oo1" fucks up
and the magazine kicks out to the desk or the machine bombs out completely.

The next topic  is called "Famous bodies get naked" (hell, what  strange ideas!)
and features 1o (!) interviews made with  different people. Most interesting for
the people from western Europe are the interviews with the polish Atari veterans
from TFTE and THE VOTION, that show that there already were actions in Poland as
the rest of Europe thought the end of the Atarian world is reached at the german
eastern border. Very interesting, even  if the interviewed  people don't want to
make a comeback, supporting  the still active scene. Other  interviews were held
with  EarX of Fun, Remo, Moonwalker, Strider, CiH and  the makers of "STEEM" and
another emulation called "STEW".

The magazine  goes on with the topic "Scene community", which  features  various
articles and personal views about the scene, as well as a news file which brings
a lot of 8bit related news as well. This shows that the polish Atarians are very
close connected, it doesn't matter if they own 8, 16 or 32 bit machines.
Interesting were the views  of Grey concerning some  quarrels about C64 demos on
the last Error In Line party, a first part about  Scene History, starting with a
view on the first steps of the demoscene on Atari ST and  Paranoid brings a huge
article about the reasons to use enhanced Falcon hardware.

Ok... the  following topics  bringing very  interesting snippets  from the  8bit
scenes (just as Doom on the ZX Spectrum..., how you can IRC'ing with an Atari XL
and last  but not least some  info about STAR NET  that offers  a Windows-a-like
desk for the  8bit Atari's), Grey's hardware  shop (offering  RAM extensions and
IDE interfaces), an Interview with  SIKOR SOFT (mentioned  above in the regulars
as well), why to subscribe to STComputer magazine and  the coktail that brings a
bunch of Atari and non Atari related articles just as  about alternative gaming,
the Last Party 2ooo, an  Interview with  Jack Tramiel in an  old polish magazine
from 1987 and so on... And because I wont blow  this article away  in reprinting
the whole "CHOSNECK" magazine  it is the best you try to get a copy and read the
whole stuff by yourself.

What to say more? Have I told you that you can listen to 2 different  traker msx
while  reading your way through  the magazine? They're composed  by Seabrush and
5o5. The magazine  offers also some gifts  folder bringing  several pictures for
different tastes.

Ok, to cut  the whole thing let me go to the final words....

Highs ... "CHOSNECK"s design is very PC oriented  and quite  different  from the
          mags you know from Atari so far. It uses the capabilities of the Falcy
          with the very high resolutions, fullscreen, high replay quality of the
          musix and the heavy ammount  of included photo's and  screenshots that
          underline the contents several articles. The magazine  is very scenish
          and hard Atari oriented, without any borders to the different machines
          and Atari systems.

Lows .... "CHOSNECK" is a pure  hardware killer and I don't see the point why it
          shouldn't run on standard  machines as well. Because  of the 14 MB RAM
          frontier it will stay as a  secret for many  Falcon users. Another big
          drawback are the long  loading times and therefore the coffee pot is a
          good joke :P ...

Final words at all... "CHOSNECK" is without any doubt a very good magazine, with
                      very scene  oriented topics. It brings fresh  air into the
                      Atari mags scene because of the very special polish slang.
                      It is good styled and doesn't stays  back behing state-of-
                      the-art-magazines on other systems. If they would match it
                      to kill the  14 MB RAM frontier  it  could  be the  ruling
                      scene publication... at least on Falcon...


.tSCc.  no pr0mises - no demands!                               moondog - o2/2k2
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