Over the last 30 years there have been a lot of changes in the way that the magazine
- KON to start with and now the The Kiteflier - has been produced.
In the beginning there was the Typewriter. The first few issues were produced on
a manual typewriter - which is still around for those extreme emergencies! Any drawings
for the magazine were produced using a Rotring pen, drawing implements and paper.
Letraset - or dry letter transfers (remember that) was also used for captions on
the diagrams. John Barker produced many a cartoon using his unique talent. As for
printing the early issues (issues 1 to 3) - these were photocopied at work. In fact
some copies of issue 1 were copied onto foolscap paper rather than A4 (it was the
only paper size used). The membership system consisted of each members details being
held on a file card - fortunately the numbers were low as we had to write the envelopes
by hand.
Then came the First computer - Sharp MZ80K, 20KB of RAM, Z80 processor and a cassette
storage system. In fact the whole operating system was booted from tape! Other programs
were also loaded from tape and a simplistic word processor was used. Whilst the pages
with text could be printed drawings still had to be done by hand as for the early
days. The membership system was also held on tape and used a very archaic method
of having to view the addresses in a single stream of data with 'blobs' representing
line feeds! Linked up to a Epson MX80 printer we could print the address labels rather
than write them out by hand. Sold the Sharp shortly after buying the Amstrad.
Then was the Second Computer. An IBM clone Amstrad PC1512 was purchased when they
came out in 1986 - Dual 5.25" floppy discs, 512KB RAM, 8086 processor, hooked up
to the same printer as the Sharp but some quirk meant that it did not work properly,
therefore ended up buying a Star NL-10. Vast improvement on the systems and with
the ultimate add on of a 20MB file card allowed data to be kept on line without having
to load floppies. Around this time a DTP style tool called Fontasy was purchased
which allowed a bit more variation in the fonts and graphics used - and it showed
when we first got this as the overuse of fonts and graphics was rather obvious -
but hey, it was a new toy. Diagrams were still done using the trusty Rotring pen.
Membership system was Dataease (a bootleg copy from work) - which was dead easy to
use, character based and did not require any coding. WordPerfect 5.0 was the word
processor of choice - except for the Fontasy pages. Took it on holiday one year to
do the magazine whilst we were away! Still have this one in the attic! During this
time also obtained a very cheap Amstrad portable - dual floppy but we could do things
at events like take the members. Unfortunately it was stolen at Weymouth one year.
Third computer bought in 1993. Dell—faster processor, Windows 3.1 based with a 230MB
hard disc and 4MB RAM. Add ons eventually included an Iomega Zip drive for offline
storage [which as an aside came in mighty useful when the disc crashed wiping out
the membership system. We were in the process of converting to Paradox so thankfully
had a new system with the data in it to use]. Other additions—more memory, faster
CPU (bought whilst on holiday in Florida), hand scanner, page scanner, flatbed scanner
over time.
Around this time a 2400 baud modem was also obtained allowing us to browse a number
of bulletin boards (no such thing as the web then). Nice character based boards using
the old version of Hyperterminal. One of the earlier bulletin boards was a dial up
to Nottingham - not cheap on the call costs!
Zip drives, Laser printer (Sharp Wintype 4000) to supplement the dot matrix. Paradox
Database membership system created rather than simple mailing list giving us a bit
more control.
Faster modems (4800, 9600, 32000 and the ultimate 54000), web browsing, email all
came along. Used CompuServe for a number of years (remember the funny numbers for
the id - we were one of the first in the UK to have a real name instead). Microsoft
publisher used for magazine. Web site built (handcrafted in raw HTML!). Used CompuServe
for the first ISP as well as the homepage.
Kept using this computer well past the year 2000 - of course Windows 3.1 was not
year 2000 compliant so had fun and games with the date stamps on files—something
to do with 100 being the year!
At various times have also used an old IBM ThinkPad for dual typing—so we could both
do the work at the same time. The Dell is also in the attic!
Fourth computer. Compaq, 12GB disc, 128K memory - upgraded from 64K, Celeron processor,
built in modem, Colour Xerox M750 printer. Finally handed on to Tara. FrontPage 2000
used for web site rather than hand crafted. Had our own hosted web site.
Fifth computer. HP Pavilion, 256MB Ram, 20GB disc, AMD Athlon processor. Mostly the
same software as before but later versions. Broadband obtained 2004. At the same
time wired up the two PCs in a network - back to dual working!
Current Computer. Custom built mini-tower with 1GB Ram, ASUS Motherboard and far
more disc then we ever need. For printing the magazine an HP A3 colour laserjet.
Over time the main change has been the use of email for communication and submission
of items for the magazine. The time required to create the magazine has been reduced
substantially as there is little need to type the items in anymore. Various drawing
tools have been used over time.
Digital cameras have also been a great boon. Rather than the shoot, print and then
scan to get a picture in the magazine. Link up and copy directly from the camera
and the quality is as good if not better!
