Zane, your comments are appreciated.
I have paid for subscriptions to ebooks that cost ~10 a month, and they are OK for text,
but when a schematic comes up, it sucks (scribd) you cant zoom or increase the
resolution.
I also follow you on your purchase experience with out of print and search.
I am dumb or spend hours on search, then find it and think everybody already knows but me.
Most recent all the Dr. Dobbs and Byte, Pop Sci online I only found recently.
I suppose there is money to be made if you can check in your morals. I see all this (now)
public domain type stuff (including Al's bitsavers manuals) for sale on ebay DVDs.
The unwashed will be relieved from their dollars.
Randy
________________________________
From: cctalk <cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org> on behalf of Zane Healy via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Sent: Friday, December 14, 2018 5:40 PM
To: Fred Cisin; General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: Looking for a home for most issues of BYTE Magazine
On Dec 14, 2018, at 1:22 PM, Fred Cisin via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
> There exist some people who DISCARD materials
once they have been scanned.
> Some people object to calling that "preservation".
On Fri, 14 Dec 2018, Zane Healy wrote:
Aren?t these the same people that scan at such
poor quality that only the text is ?usable?, and illustrations are largely unusable?
I wouldn't be surprised if there is substantial overlap between the two groups.
Although one would hope that those who think that digital copies are adequate would care
about making them adequate.
Admittedly, there are SOME materials where scans need only be adequate for OCR. Certainly
Murphy would hold that the least available ones would be those that most need quality
scanning.
And scan in colour, where it?s important!
Case in point,
I?m trying to track down a 150 year old book, by one of my favorite photography authors,
it?s on Google books, but the illustrations, which are vital to understanding what the
author is talking about, are largely useless.
Hmmm. 150 year old photography book would be just after civil war.
My preference for photography books isusually from about 60 to 80 years ago, when
publishers could do a good job of B&W plates, and the technology of 35mm was coming
along. (Morgan and Lester, etc.)
Occasionally, I'll drive to Carmel to look at Ansel Adams prints at the Weston
Gallery - "megapixel" just doesn't cut it!
It?s less a technical book, and more a philosophical book on composition, and uses works
of a well known 19th century painter in most examples. As for books in the time frame
you?re mentioning, don?t forget the ?Ilford Manual of Photography?, the examples for
troubleshooting are actually easy to use compared to the newer ?Manual of Photography?,
even though they?re mostly the same photo?s. Right now I?m fighting with some processing
issues with 8x10 and 11x14 film. Though if I was driving to Carmel, it wouldn?t be to
look at Ansel Adams prints, it would be to look at Edward Weston?s. His work for Walt
Whitman?s ?Leaves of Grass?, drives much of my efforts.
Is there any way to penetrate the Google
infrastructure, to track down who scanned the book, and where it now is?
I think I?ve finally tracked down a copy. Part of the hold-up has been ensuring that I
don?t buy an older edition. There were at least 4 editions. It?s also *not* a cheap
book. Oddly enough, some of the techniques used in the book, seem better suited to Adobe
Photoshop. :-) H.P. Robinson was a man before his time!
Zane