Computer Hardware Documentation Bidders Mailing List?

From: John R. Keys Jr. <jrkeys_at_concentric.net>
Date: Wed Aug 16 08:39:38 2000

I agree with you, because I sometime have pay more than I really want
to get something that I need or either I back off and let the other
person have it and hope more comes online. I have tried what you
suggest in trying to work with other bidders and let them have it in
exchange for a copy of the manual but each time someone else comes in at
the last second and out bids them and we all end up with nothing, so
it's a big gamble sometimes. The best is a online site that does get
doc's from all over and puts up for the use of all. I have a large
collection of manuals and would be willing donate for free to a site
that would put them online for others. I get request from strangers all
the time for copies of manuals that I have but I do not own a copier and
the cost to copy 300 to 400 or more pages is too high and too much time
if you are doing a bound book.
John Keys
----- Original Message -----
From: "Corda Albert J DLVA" <CordaAJ_at_nswc.navy.mil>
To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 15, 2000 6:01 PM
Subject: Computer Hardware Documentation Bidders Mailing List?


>
> Over the past couple of months, I've been trying to accumulate
> some basic DEC documentation. There is quite a bit available
> on the web, but I've needed a number of manuals/schematics/etc.
> that I haven't been able to find, and as a result I've been forced
> to use E-pay more than I would have liked. I don't know how many
> of you out there have checked the DEC/PDP offerings on ebay,
> but there has been quite a lot offered recently in the way of
> documentation. Unfortunately, I find myself bidding against people
> who share my same interest, and it saddens me since I've always
> felt that documentation should be available for everyone who wants
> it (please, no flames! This is just a personal opinion)
Documentation
> is unique in that, in many cases, a photocopy (or scanned image)
> in place of the actual document would be just as useful to me as the
> original since my interests lean towards restoring the hardware,
> rather than collecting the "original" documentation. I also see
small
> manuals/schematic sets/etc. being broken up into indivudual items
> and going for what I believe is much more than they are worth (again,
> no flames!, this is just my opinion). It has occured to me that if a
> mailing list were set up where a person could post their intention of
> bidding on a specific piece of duplicatable documentation, then other
> potential bidders could contact the initial poster and work out a deal
> where they could "share" the cost of the initial poster's bid (plus
> copying charges), in return for not competing with the initial
poster's
> bid.You may have noticed that I have avoided the problem of copyright
> infringement. I believe that with documentation of the vintage that I
am
> refering to, such issues are probably moot, especially since In many
> cases the companies no longer exist. As far as the sellers on E-bay
> go, they have a significant advantage since their individual items
remain
> on the block for days, rather than minutes as in a "real" auction.
> (but let's not turn this into yet another "is E-bay fair?" thread :-)
>
> Also, I wonder of some of the on-line "Computer Museums" might
> consider hosting an on-line documentation repository, where people
> could submit scanned schematics/manuals/etc. for (free) web-based
> access and archival purposes. It would be a tremendous service
> to our on-line community. Currently, this is being done by a number
> of very helpful individuals, but I would think that some of the "real"
> museum sites might be more capable of organizing such info and
> supporting the amount of storage needed.
>
> Again, I'm just throing these ideas out to see if anyone thinks
> they have any merit...
>
>
>
> -al-
> -acorda_at_geocities.com
>
>
Received on Wed Aug 16 2000 - 08:39:38 BST