31 Aug
2006
31 Aug
'06
9:19 a.m.
Hello,
I have recently come upon a collection of Byte Magazines from 1976
through to about 1986. It is not complete, that is I do not have every
issue across that time span. But the collection is pretty comprehensive.
I have a scanner with an auto document feeder. I'd like to scan this
material in and post it online as a collection of jpgs. However, to do
this well would require destroying the bindings of each magazine in order
to get a completely flat scan of each page.
Questions:
- Is it wrong to destroy these magazines in order to scan them
in for posterity?
- Are they as rare as I think? That is, are there plenty of copies
around such that historians and others interested in classic computing
would not find this project of interest?
- Is the copyright violation involved (on 25 - 30 year old magazines)
really an issue?
Thanks,
--M
31 Aug
31 Aug
10:17 a.m.
On Thursday 31 August 2006 12:19, maynard at jmg.com wrote:
Hello,
I have recently come upon a collection of Byte Magazines from 1976
through to about 1986. It is not complete, that is I do not have every
issue across that time span. But the collection is pretty comprehensive.
I have a scanner with an auto document feeder. I'd like to scan this
material in and post it online as a collection of jpgs. However, to do
this well would require destroying the bindings of each magazine in order
to get a completely flat scan of each page.
Questions:
- Is it wrong to destroy these magazines in order to scan them
in for posterity?
I don't think so.
FWIW, I wouldn't scan (especially post!) them as JPEG images. I'd suggest
that you do this the way that Al Kossow does with Bitsavers docs - scan as a
1bpp TIFF, and use Group4 fax compression, then convert into a PDF.
Optionally, spend lots of time OCR'ing the articles, and post text versions
as well.
If you need to do color, it's not too hard to scan just the pages that need to
be color in as color, and use some other compression method, and shove them
into the middle of the B&W pages. Check the archives on scanning for
details, we've had a few discussions on the subject of how to do this (it's
easier with a *nix box than a Windows box IMO).
The only thing that I don't particularly like about ADF's is their aparent
tendancy to feed pages and scan them at 5 or 10 degree rotation
from "vertical". It's definately nicer
to have the info than to not have it,
but that rotation offset (which usually ends
up being one direction for
fronts and the other for backs of pages) really gets on my nerves when I'm
trying to read something. Not all ADF's have the problem though, and the one
I've got on my scanner seems to work ok.
- Are they as rare as I think? That is, are there
plenty of copies
around such that historians and others interested in classic computing
would not find this project of interest?
Well, I've got a set of Byte, and I think they span more dates... I'd rather
see them archived on electronic (and publicly accessible) media than have
another copy sitting in someone's basement, never to see the light of day
again.
- Is the copyright violation involved (on 25 - 30
year old magazines)
really an issue?
Possibly. You can thank Disney for our current 100(?) year copyright length
limitation. I haven't gotten any cease and desist letters yet myself. :)
Pat
--
Purdue University ITAP/RCAC --- http://www.rcac.purdue.edu/
The Computer Refuge --- http://computer-refuge.org
10:25 a.m.
On 8/31/2006 at 12:19 PM maynard at jmg.com wrote:
- Is the copyright violation involved (on 25 - 30
year old magazines)
really an issue?
Assuming the copyright holder or its assignee still exists, it probably is.
Some (and I think the publishers of BYTE are one) do a tidy business in
reprints from old issues and would take umbrage were you to post or
distribute their content without permission.
The question comes up quite frequently on music lists and the answer is
always the same: If the material is currently covered by copyright---ASK
the copyright owner. There's no substitute for permission.
This extends to software, which enjoys the same term of protection that
printed matter and recorded music does. Unilaterally declaring something
as "abandonware" and posting it on the web or distributing copies without
permission is illegal and is particularly odious if the owner can be easily
located.
Cheers,
Chuck
10:52 a.m.
maynard at jmg.com wrote:
Hello,
I have recently come upon a collection of Byte Magazines from 1976
through to about 1986. It is not complete, that is I do not have every
issue across that time span. But the collection is pretty comprehensive.
I have a scanner with an auto document feeder. I'd like to scan this
material in and post it online as a collection of jpgs. However, to do
this well would require destroying the bindings of each magazine in order
to get a completely flat scan of each page.
Before you commit to destroying one or more bindings TO ACCOMMODATE
YOUR ADF, you might consider taking a *similar* magazine and
"processing it" first. Your ADF might not be kind to the pages
(magazines are printed on "different" paper than you would find
in, e.g., a textbook).
12:52 p.m.
And thusly were the wise words spake by Don
maynard at jmg.com wrote:
But even if you didn't use the ADF to scan the pages, it
is much easier and you get a better scan from a sheet of paper
then a page directly from a magazine - no "curl" near where the
spine is...
Cheers,
Bryan
Hello,
I have recently come upon a collection of Byte Magazines from 1976
through to about 1986. It is not complete, that is I do not have every
issue across that time span. But the collection is pretty comprehensive.
I have a scanner with an auto document feeder. I'd like to scan this
material in and post it online as a collection of jpgs. However, to do
this well would require destroying the bindings of each magazine in order
to get a completely flat scan of each page.
Before you commit to destroying one or more bindings TO ACCOMMODATE
YOUR ADF, you might consider taking a *similar* magazine and
"processing it" first. Your ADF might not be kind to the pages
(magazines are printed on "different" paper than you would find
in, e.g., a textbook). 
3:25 p.m.
And thusly were the wise words spake by Don
But even if you didn't use the ADF to scan the pages,
it is much easier and you get a better scan from a sheet of
paper then a page directly from a magazine - no "curl" near
where the spine is...
I have a pile of old "Micro Users" 1983-1996 (BBC Micro - UK) that I am
trying to scan, sometime in 1984 they changed to a spine format.
The spine format makes the magazine impossible to scan without removing the
spine first.
Although, a common magazine, I am loathed to destroy them.
I had an idea, I haven't had any time to try it out yet, though...
Why not use a digital camera on a tripod with the magazine pages at 45
degrees held open with a plate of glass to hold it down and take pictures
through the glass with a cable release (lighting would be an issue, might
need a polarizing filter for the glass reflection, if there is any), rotate
the camera (or use two) to take the other page etc. You could also make some
kind of hinged glass 'V' shaped glass to come down over the magazine or book
to make handling the magazine easier. I've got a free w/e so I might try and
scan in some more Micro Users using this technique.
Dave ;)
maynard at jmg.com wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I have recently come upon a collection of Byte Magazines from
> 1976 through to about 1986. It is not complete, that is I do not
> have every issue across that time span. But the
collection is pretty
comprehensive.
>
> I have a scanner with an auto document feeder. I'd
like to scan
this
material in and post it online as a collection of jpgs.
However, to do this well would require destroying the bindings of
each magazine in order to get a completely flat scan of each page.
Before you commit to destroying one or more bindings TO ACCOMMODATE
YOUR ADF, you might consider taking a *similar* magazine and
"processing it" first. Your ADF might not be kind to the pages
(magazines are printed on "different" paper than you would find in,
e.g., a textbook). 
1 Sep
1 Sep
11:24 a.m.
David Hunt wrote:
I have a pile of old "Micro Users" 1983-1996
(BBC Micro - UK) that I am
trying to scan, sometime in 1984 they changed to a spine format.
I was about to say: "don't bother, someone's already doing that". Then I
realised it was you.
*wanders off grumbling at overlap between subscribers of different lists*
;-)
31 Aug
31 Aug
1:06 p.m.
And thusly were the wise words spake by maynard at jmg.com
Hello,
I have recently come upon a collection of Byte Magazines from 1976
through to about 1986. It is not complete, that is I do not have every
issue across that time span. But the collection is pretty comprehensive.
I have a scanner with an auto document feeder. I'd like to scan this
material in and post it online as a collection of jpgs. However, to do
this well would require destroying the bindings of each magazine in order
to get a completely flat scan of each page.
I have thought about this too.. I would probably take my
magazines to be scanned to a print shop and have them chop of the
bindings with their paper trimming machine then use a manual
paper trimmer.. (Of course I would save the spines!)
Cheers,
Bryan
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bpope＠wordstock.com -
cclist＠sydex.com -
dm.hunt＠ntlworld.com -
julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk -
maynard＠jmg.com -
pat＠computer-refuge.org -
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