Comment by xtracto | Hacker News Reader

Comment by xtracto | Hacker News Reader

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I loved Linux Journal, Linux Magazine and I loved CUJ and a couple of other Mexican tech magazines I used to purchase when I was young.

I Miss curated quality "push" information with substance. For me, the internet has brought really good "pull" information and put it at my fingertips, but I always enjoyed to get to know about some subject that I was not looking for, and was even not related to what I was looking for.

Nowadays, I use a combination of Feedly, HackerNews, Slashdot OSNews and others to try to get some interesting articles, but 90% of it is low quality SEO blurbs and a lot of it is repetitive.

Let's hope that Linux Journal returns with the same quality it had before.

Funny side story: Back in the mid 1990s I couldn't get Linux Magazine in my town in Mexico, but I had a cousin in Alaska. I subscribed and gave her address, and every 6 months or so she will travel to Mexico and give me batches of the magazines. It was a great time when I got to catch up on the great stuff in that magazine.

I miss the thrill of visiting the local news stand and purchasing my favourite computer magazines. The internet has diminished some of that excitement with its always-available / quick-consumption model. Quality content is worth paying for but I would like to see publishers accept payment in smaller increments, as opposed to the current model of "we'll bill you $100 per year".

>I loved Linux Journal, Linux Magazine and I loved CUJ

Also DDJ, Byte (before got too commercial, aka ads over 70% of content), Unix Review, PC Magazine), etc. Even JavaWorld, etc., some time later, were good for a while.

> Also DDJ, Byte (before got too commercial, aka ads over 70% of content)

Wasn't this just how even good magazines were back then? I frequently read old scans of Byte magazine (they're all on archive.org), and while the technical content is really good, the ads probably take up 70% of the page count. I don't mind, since the the ads are themselves an interesting slice-of-life from the early days of microcomputers.

One key difference is that print ads don't dance around the page, expand to cover it up, play audio, use fake user interface widgets to get you to click them, or track you as you read.

For some time it may have been less than 70. But your point stands. I too liked reading many of the product ads. Got to learn of new genres and features. And there might have been more innovation in those days (both hardware and software),even if not all of it earth-shaking, as opposed to a lot of copycat and fluffy stuff these days (not all, of course).

Shout out to Creative Computing too.

But Linux Magazine still exists? I ended up with a subscription to it when Linux Voice closed and got folded into it. I get a copy once a month in the mail.

EDIT: Ah, it seems it's called "Linux Pro Magazine" in the US. Maybe a different "Linux Magazine" you got?

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