31 Aug
2006
31 Aug
'06
8:38 p.m.
Re: "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"
I absolutely disagree with this.
These are not product manuals. They are magazines. Much of the interest is
in the advertisements. Photos in the magazine are in color. I've been
doing a lot of exactly this type of work (40,000+ pages worth) and the right
way to do it is to create an Adobe Acrobat PDF file, but the scans should,
in my opinion, be color JPEGs for pages with color, and 256 shades of gray
grayscale for pages that have no color at all. All scanned at 300 dpi,
unless there is a specific reason to scan at a higher resolution.
As to the original post, I don't think it's inherently wrong to destroy the
magazines for scanning, and they are not all that rare, but neither are they
all that commonplace (I have a complete set from the first issue to sometime
in the mid 1980's). As to copyrights, they are copyrighted, the copyrights
are still valid, the owner (McGraw Hill) still exists and might or might not
object (much depends on what is done with them). However, the most likely
outcome even if they do object is that they send you a letter asking you to
take them down and cease distribution. I can't imagine an actual action
against anyone who complies with such a request.
By the way, if you do scan them, I'd like very much to have them.
-Barry Watzman
31 Aug
31 Aug
9:55 p.m.
On Thursday 31 August 2006 20:38, Barry Watzman wrote:
Re: "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"
I absolutely disagree with this.
Ok. You aparently missed the point where I said "scan the parts which matter
in color".
These are not product manuals. They are magazines.
Much of the interest
is in the advertisements. Photos in the magazine are in color. I've been
doing a lot of exactly this type of work (40,000+ pages worth) and the
right way to do it is to create an Adobe Acrobat PDF file, but the scans
should, in my opinion, be color JPEGs for pages with color, and 256 shades
of gray grayscale for pages that have no color at all. All scanned at 300
dpi, unless there is a specific reason to scan at a higher resolution.
Amazingly enough, I actually care more about the articles than the adverts in
old magazines - partly because most of the stuff can't be purchased anymore.
In fact, every time I've seen someone ask about a magazine on here, they were
asking for an article, not asking about ads in it.
As to the original post, I don't think it's
inherently wrong to destroy the
magazines for scanning, and they are not all that rare, but neither are
they all that commonplace (I have a complete set from the first issue to
sometime in the mid 1980's). As to copyrights, they are copyrighted, the
copyrights are still valid, the owner (McGraw Hill) still exists and might
or might not object (much depends on what is done with them). However, the
most likely outcome even if they do object is that they send you a letter
asking you to take them down and cease distribution. I can't imagine an
actual action against anyone who complies with such a request.
I generally like to follow the "it's better to ask for forgiveness than to ask
for permission" rule, unless I'm friends with the person involved, or am
fairly sure they'll say "yes".
Of course, if it's obvious they'll say "no", I try to avoid putting
myself in
a bad place... (eg, distributing copies of things that you can still buy
copies of)
Pat
--
Purdue University ITAP/RCAC --- http://www.rcac.purdue.edu/
The Computer Refuge --- http://computer-refuge.org
10:09 p.m.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Patrick Finnegan" <pat at computer-refuge.org>
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Sent: Thursday, August 31, 2006 9:55 PM
Subject: Re: Byte magazines: 1976 - 1986
Amazingly enough, I actually care more about the
articles than the adverts
in
old magazines - partly because most of the stuff
can't be purchased
anymore.
In fact, every time I've seen someone ask about a magazine on here, they
were
asking for an article, not asking about ads in it.
I snagged a bunch of MacWorld and MacUser magazines from a list member a
while ago, I got them for both the advertisements and the articles. I like
collecting Nubus cards and accelerators and the advertisements give me a
good idea of what was out there over the years (same with software). There
is very little information on items from companies that died out was before
the WWW was popular so magazines of the era are a good way to see what was
being sold (and it is amusing to see the list prices of some of the items).
10:33 p.m.
On 8/31/2006 at 9:55 PM Patrick Finnegan wrote:
I generally like to follow the "it's better to
ask for forgiveness than to
ask for permission" rule, unless I'm friends with the person involved, or
am
fairly sure they'll say "yes".
Of course, if it's obvious they'll say "no", I try to avoid putting
myself
in a bad place... (eg, distributing copies of things that you can still
buy
copies of)
Because this gets a lot of heated grumbling on the music lists and I'm not
about to start another goes-nowehere thread, I'll submit the following and
not carry the matter any further.
1) Unlike patent infringement, which is a civil matter, copyright
violation is a criminal subject. That means that someone with a desire to
make an "example" out of you can have the federal marshalls break down your
front door (warrant in hand) and carry off all your goodies as evidence.
And penalties, should the matter go to trial, carry the risk of prison
time.
2) The matter of musical copying has cost many universities so much money
to settle, that several have the policy that illegal copying of music (and
for all I know, other materials) is grounds for dismissal (faculty) or
expulsion (students).
I figure that all you have to do is be noticed byf a manager who's had a
very bad day. It would be a trivial matter for McGraw-Hill to demonstrate
that they've been deprived of reprint income and so have been damaged by
your activities.
There's got to be a reason that you don't see old copies of the major
computer magazines online. I've got a fairly complete collection of PC
Tech Journal that I'm sure others would love to see--but I daren't.
I used to know a gal who made a comfortable living on her ranch near
Ashland (OR) by tracking down and reporting illegal copies of Autodesk
software.
So, I'd ask first.
Cheers,
Chuck
10:44 p.m.
On Thursday 31 August 2006 22:33, Chuck Guzis wrote:
On 8/31/2006 at 9:55 PM Patrick Finnegan wrote:
This is largely why I haven't spent much time putting stuff like this online
myself. Keeping a low profile for this stuff if you're not 100% sure it's ok
is critical. Ie, scan stuff, and provide it on request, or just put up one
or two articles. Putting up a huge easily findable repository is probably
not a great idea.
Pat
--
Purdue University ITAP/RCAC --- http://www.rcac.purdue.edu/
The Computer Refuge --- http://computer-refuge.org
I generally like to follow the "it's
better to ask for forgiveness than to
ask for permission" rule, unless I'm friends with the person involved, or
am
fairly sure they'll say "yes".
Of course, if it's obvious they'll say "no", I try to avoid putting
myself
in a bad place... (eg, distributing copies of things that you can still
buy
copies of)
Because this gets a lot of heated grumbling on the music lists and I'm not
about to start another goes-nowehere thread, I'll submit the following and
not carry the matter any further.
1) Unlike patent infringement, which is a civil matter, copyright
violation is a criminal subject. That means that someone with a desire to
make an "example" out of you can have the federal marshalls break down your
front door (warrant in hand) and carry off all your goodies as evidence.
And penalties, should the matter go to trial, carry the risk of prison
time. 
6 Sep
6 Sep
10:39 a.m.
And thusly were the wise words spake by Patrick Finnegan
Amazingly enough, I actually care more about the articles than the adverts in
old magazines - partly because most of the stuff can't be purchased anymore.
In fact, every time I've seen someone ask about a magazine on here, they were
asking for an article, not asking about ads in it.
I agree the articles contain a lot of useful information but the
advertisements give you a snapshot of the time they were created
and also usually gives you prices for the product being sold.
Cheers,
Bryan
3:13 p.m.
On Wednesday 06 September 2006 10:39 am, Bryan Pope wrote:
And thusly were the wise words spake by Patrick
Finnegan
True. But those prices were, for me at least, the ultimate bringdown when
it came to wishing I could have stuff that as it turned out I could no way
afford back in those days.
Excepting those ads that were for just TTL chips, and a bit later on LSTTL,
where the prices started out high and just kept on dropping. :-)
I know of a guy who used to run a business called "Washington Computers" that
had ads in some of those old magazines. He's expressed some interest in
getting copies of that stuff, so if any of you guys have any of those ads
and can pass along any scans, I'd sure appreciate it -- and I'd pass them
along to him right quick.
--
Member of the toughest, meanest, deadliest, most unrelenting -- and
ablest -- form of life in this section of space, a critter that can
be killed but can't be tamed. --Robert A. Heinlein, "The Puppet Masters"
-
Information is more dangerous than cannon to a society ruled by lies. --James
M Dakin
Amazingly enough, I actually care more about the
articles than the
adverts in old magazines - partly because most of the stuff can't be
purchased anymore.
In fact, every time I've seen someone ask about a magazine on here, they
were asking for an article, not asking about ads in it.
I agree the articles contain a lot of useful information but the
advertisements give you a snapshot of the time they were created
and also usually gives you prices for the product being sold.
6531
days inactive
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days old
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