13 March 2002, 02:27 | #1 |
Coder/webmaster/gamer
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Proposal for Amiga Books Archive
I have a suggestion for the Amiga community...we should set up an archive containing electronic versions (preferably AmigaGuide but also ASCII, HTML, PDF, etc.) of Amiga- and/or Commodore-related books and magazines. I'm quite surprised this hasn't been done already.
The justification is as follows: Manuals and other documentation need to be available for users and developers. Although things such as the Amiga Interactive Guide and the Amiga Books FAQ contain lists and/or photos of Amiga books they do not have the *contents* of such books and are thus of no use. Although there seems to be efforts underway to preserve other Amiga resources, eg. demos, advertisements, etc. there does not seem to be any coordinated effort to digitize and archive Amiga reference material, creating what could be called an "Amiga Library". Given that these books are generally out of print there is no way for Amiga users to obtain these, whether in hard or soft format. Also being in electronic format has certain other advantages, eg. easy searching, potential for AmigaGuide conversion and thus hypertextual browsing, etc. On my website I currently have 4 Amiga books for download: The Amiga User Interface Style Guide, the AmigaDOS Manual, the Amiga Programmer's Handbook (Exec chapter only), and OS3.9 "Das Buch" (The Book) (English and German versions) - well over 1000 pages worth. So these books can serve as the nucleus of the library. I have typed all of these in by hand for the benefit of the Amiga community, however I lack the time and books to continue to do this. There are many other books which would be good to add to the library: eg. the Amiga Guru Book, the ARexx Cookbook, etc. in fact everything on the AIG and Amiga Books FAQ lists. If someone has a scanner and would like to scan any of their books as images, and preferably OCR them too, this would be excellent. What does the community think of this proposal? |
13 March 2002, 04:20 | #2 |
Give up the ghost
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I think it's a great idea. I wish I had the time to contribute to it, but surely there are others who have the need to contribute but have no area from which to do so. This would be a good one for them.
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13 March 2002, 05:49 | #3 | |
Junior Member
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Re: Proposal for Amiga Books Archive
Quote:
Anyhow I think your idea is great, I hope it takes off. My collection of amiga books only extends to the books that came with the machine |
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13 March 2002, 05:52 | #4 |
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Twistin'Ghost, I presume you mean that there's nowhere for them to upload their books to? For the time being they can upload them to the Zone, or email them directly to me.
Re. OCR: Yes, I did type it all in by hand: I don't have a scanner :-( Also it's generally a somewhat more accurate method than OCR. But I don't want to have to type another 1000 pages :-( Ever :-( Since I prefer to code than to type. By the way OS3.9 "Das Buch" (The Book) isn't available in English. So the autotranslation at the site is the only English translation in existence. If someone wants to tidy up the English of it they are welcome to :-) Last edited by Minuous; 13 March 2002 at 05:59. |
01 March 2008, 07:00 | #5 |
A4000T owner :)
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I know that I am "necroing" an old thread, but I think this initiative should be reconsidered and worked into being!! Especially since scanners are fairly inexpensive these days!!
I have access to a scanner at home but alas I have none of the amiga related books |
01 March 2008, 20:17 | #6 |
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It's a shame Johnny5 isn't real. He could read a whole bookshop
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01 March 2008, 22:22 | #7 |
Amiga Collector
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Thats a great idea. I thought about it too. It would be nice to have the books in PDF format. If such a project is started i would be willing to scan my boosk in. I have a lot.Unfortunately i have only limited time so it would take really long.
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01 March 2008, 23:33 | #8 |
Ya' like it Retr0?
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I don't mind helping out with space
unlimmited webspace at ones service. I can create a full gallery submissions system on it, so people can add to the subs page and then its added to the full gallery / web portal thingy later there are some restrictions, as some books may either be in print and or still under copyright, these would have to have express permission from the said owner before I could host them. this would include software and hardware manuals. so once the IP is sorted out then it would be a walk in the park. |
02 March 2008, 00:35 | #9 |
A4000T owner :)
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I'm wondering, for the Amiga User Manuals, who would we have to talk to about IP.... Amiga Inc ?? Hyperion ??? Who ???
I know Copyright has to be respected but I'd think it pretty silly if any company would ban the pdf'ing of old manuals, that are no longer printed or for that matter sold... maybe someone can enlighten me As stated, I have access to a scanner but no books, I'd not mind scanning books.... I'm located in the bay area of California. |
06 March 2008, 06:03 | #10 |
Zone Friend
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Hey guys don't foget to Check the LSD docs as the have already got some of the manuals in Power Packed .txt format.
Don't want people reinventing the wheel here. |
06 March 2008, 13:04 | #11 | |
Collector
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Quote:
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06 March 2008, 17:49 | #12 |
Amiga Collector
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.txt format maybe good for teh beginning. But i would like to have all books scanned in. I thinks thats much better than just plain text. But as long as they are just available in that format its a good start.
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06 March 2008, 18:36 | #13 |
A4000T owner :)
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I've got a copy of the A1200 User's guide and am currently working through the pdf to OCR the text... alas the original scan wasn't ocr'ed and therefore the text will not be as nice as if that had been done... but then again would it be ok to make that pdf publically available ??
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07 March 2008, 01:04 | #14 |
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Some very good questions raised here. Who owns the IP for books published by Compute! and Abacus? Or did these companies simply go out of business?
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23 August 2008, 20:32 | #15 | |
Likes to be thought of as
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Quote:
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23 August 2008, 21:16 | #16 |
Global Moderator
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23 August 2008, 21:33 | #17 |
Registered User
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i have the book Arexx - your amiga's built in turbocharger. Is this of interest to anyone?
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23 August 2008, 21:57 | #18 |
Likes to be thought of as
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ooops
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27 August 2008, 23:38 | #19 |
Awesome to the max
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Well... if we can't put up a Workbench manual due to copyright we probably have to remove 80% of AMR aswell...
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27 August 2008, 23:43 | #20 |
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It's allowed now, we managed to convince Bippy it was alright
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