Disk Drive Documents - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

6 Jun 1999

There is one other aspect to consider in making a public archive of these
documents, and that is that this is not my information, nor is it public
domain.  So far, no one has mentioned that there is likely still a copyright
on the documents.  I suppose permission will have to be obtained from the
copyright owner.  It's likely, since most of these companies, e.g. Seagate,
Siemens, Mitsubishi, Xerox (bought Shugart Associates. (?)) are big users of
PDF format for some of the reasons previously stated, probably have a
preference for PDF.  It's too soon to speculate on what these companies will
do.

Please see my commments embedded below.

Dick
-----Original Message-----
From: Sellam Ismail &lt;dastar(a)ncal.verio.com&gt;
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
&lt;classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu&gt;
Date: Sunday, June 06, 1999 9:27 PM
Subject: Re: Disk Drive Documents

...
 On Sun, 6 Jun 1999, Richard Erlacher wrote:

> In any case, I'll agree that each of us will have an approach to
"using" our
...
 > computer which may not suit someone else, and
those who have a preferred
> format for openly presented technical data should make their preferences
> known.  The people who actually prepare the data and present it for use will
...
   probably have
the final say, though and there's no guarantee that I will
 have any more to say in the final choice than you. 
Well, I definitely agree with Tony on this. 

On which point, Sam?

...
 The fact is you're never going to get consensus
amongst everyone on what
format the file should be in.  So in this case, if the intent is to create
a public archive, you must go with the least common denominator, which
will serve everyone.  In this case, that means plain ASCII for the text.
For the images or graphics, that's a bit trickier, but GIF format is about
the widest deployed graphics format out there. 

Well, I don't, and for the reason that lowest common denominator means the
lowest efficiency for the most people.  I want to make it easy and
accessible to as many people as possible.  Based on statistics, that means
that the only OS that really matters is  . . . now say it along with me . .
.

I don't anticipate getting complete agreement from everyone.  What has to be
considered is (1) What do the owners of the data have to say? (2) What are
the people willing to do the work willing to do? (3) Where are these
documents to be stored and presented to the public and how much space will
they allow for this purpose? (4) What will satisfy the needs and preferences
of MOST of the people having access to the documents?  The weight assigned
to the answers will probably be in about this order as well.

As far as I'm concerned, what's most important is that the documents be
stored as complete, separate,  and single files.  They should not be broken
up into pages or chapters or text in one part and graphics in another in the
stupid, Stupid, STUPID way much of the LINUX documentation is published.
Further, while GIF format is probably OK for your vacation pictures or the
latest centerfold, I don't find it particularly advantageous for presenting
line-art drawings because common viewers don't have a standard presentation
format for them.  They come in a size matched to some raster image and if
your display matches it, great, else too bad.  Again I prefer the PDF, not
only because it is what most people can get and use for free, but because it
is a single format useable in common for both text and graphics.

...
 Sellam                                    Alternate
e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com
...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---
...
 Don't rub the lamp if you don't want the genie
to come out.

             Coming this October 2-3: Vintage Computer Festival 3.0!
                   See http://www.vintage.org/vcf for details!
                        [Last web site update: 05/25/99]