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AN: LInks to Lancaster Classics Project Reprints...

M

Michael Black

Jan 1, 1970
0
Don said:
... are in the process of being added to http://www.tinaja.com/glair01.asp

Ah, the Psych-tone, in the very first issue of Popular Electronics I
ever saw, and obviously the first time I saw your name. I actually did
breadboard it some years later, playing around with the "signal processing".

That February 1971 issue was the second electronic magazine I ever bought,
having discovered them a week or so earlier and bought the Jan-Feb issue
of Electronics Illustrated.

I don't know whether it was a wise move or not, but over the years I've
gone through spurts of clearing out the magazines. I'd shred them and
save what I thought should be kept. Part of me wishes I hadn't, but
I can't go back. Obviously I saved all your articles.

I do realize how much work it is to get old articles in electronic
form. I bought a scanner last year with that plan. I wanted to
get things more accessible for my own use. I've not really done
much with it. Kids today don't realize that things weren't always
in electronic form, and old material is less likely to be "found on the
internet" (copyright issues aside) than more recent material because
the more recent material is already in electronic form and it's just
a matter of uploading it. Old stuff requires work.

Michael
 
W

Winfield Hill

Jan 1, 1970
0
Michael Black wrote...
Ah, the Psych-tone, in the very first issue of Popular Electronics I
ever saw, and obviously the first time I saw your name. I actually did
breadboard it some years later, playing around with the "signal processing".

That February 1971 issue was the second electronic magazine I ever bought,
having discovered them a week or so earlier and bought the Jan-Feb issue
of Electronics Illustrated.

Is the Psych-tone article on Don's site? Wait, here it is,
http://www.swtpc.com/mholley/PopularElectronics/Feb1971/PE_Feb1971.htm

I have one of those instruments. Lots of fun to play with,
but frustrating. Just when its randomly-generated tune seems
to be getting someplace, it loses the concept... :>)
 
D

Don Lancaster

Jan 1, 1970
0
Michael said:
Ah, the Psych-tone, in the very first issue of Popular Electronics I
ever saw, and obviously the first time I saw your name. I actually did
breadboard it some years later, playing around with the "signal processing".

That February 1971 issue was the second electronic magazine I ever bought,
having discovered them a week or so earlier and bought the Jan-Feb issue
of Electronics Illustrated.

I don't know whether it was a wise move or not, but over the years I've
gone through spurts of clearing out the magazines. I'd shred them and
save what I thought should be kept. Part of me wishes I hadn't, but
I can't go back. Obviously I saved all your articles.

I do realize how much work it is to get old articles in electronic
form. I bought a scanner last year with that plan. I wanted to
get things more accessible for my own use. I've not really done
much with it. Kids today don't realize that things weren't always
in electronic form, and old material is less likely to be "found on the
internet" (copyright issues aside) than more recent material because
the more recent material is already in electronic form and it's just
a matter of uploading it. Old stuff requires work.

Michael


Scanning is only a stumbling first step to restoring pre-computer articles.

You next have to convert the text portions to actual .PDF text so they
look better and can be full text searched. Then you have to convert the
most obvious and most convenient figures and color patches to stroked
graphics. Finally, the few remaining bitmps need retraced or retouched.

All the while trying to retain the exact vibes of the original.


--
Many thanks,

Don Lancaster
Synergetics 3860 West First Street Box 809 Thatcher, AZ 85552
voice: (928)428-4073 email: [email protected]

Please visit my GURU's LAIR web site at http://www.tinaja.com
 
W

Winfield Hill

Jan 1, 1970
0
J

John Woodgate

Jan 1, 1970
0
I read in sci.electronics.design that Winfield Hill
about 'AN: LInks to Lancaster Classics Project Reprints...', on Fri, 19
Aug 2005:
Just when its randomly-generated tune seems
to be getting someplace, it loses the concept... :>)

Reminds me of a certain widely-used operating system...
 
D

Don Lancaster

Jan 1, 1970
0
Winfield said:
Winfield Hill wrote...



Makes a nice 2.4MB pdf file. Thanks, Don!




Actually, I have a Muse, shown on page 28 of Don's article.

Properly done, there's no reason why a better looking final .PDF file
cannot be done in around 60K. Just time and money is all.

--
Many thanks,

Don Lancaster
Synergetics 3860 West First Street Box 809 Thatcher, AZ 85552
voice: (928)428-4073 email: [email protected]

Please visit my GURU's LAIR web site at http://www.tinaja.com
 
W

Winfield Hill

Jan 1, 1970
0
Don Lancaster wrote...
Properly done, there's no reason why a better looking final .PDF
file cannot be done in around 60K. Just time and money is all.

You have too much time on your hands! The 2.4M Acrobat version
is just a convenient single-file packaging of the jpg files.
 
Scanning is only a stumbling first step to restoring pre-computer articles.

You next have to convert the text portions to actual .PDF text so they
look better and can be full text searched. Then you have to convert the
most obvious and most convenient figures and color patches to stroked
graphics. Finally, the few remaining bitmps need retraced or retouched.

All the while trying to retain the exact vibes of the original.

Those specs sound like the ideal focus for some sort of artificial
intelligence application. Most of the pieces already exist. The effort spent
on cleaning up a few scans, if redirected into an AI application, means that
after that the cleaning up of all the rest of the scans is free!

The finished application could (probably should) include all the
refinements needed to duplicate the vibes you think make a PDF "pretty" and
"useful".

If I were ambitious, I'll bet I could start a successful software
business based on a "scan to PDF" converter.

Jim
 
T

Terry Given

Jan 1, 1970
0
Those specs sound like the ideal focus for some sort of artificial
intelligence application. Most of the pieces already exist. The effort spent
on cleaning up a few scans, if redirected into an AI application, means that
after that the cleaning up of all the rest of the scans is free!

The finished application could (probably should) include all the
refinements needed to duplicate the vibes you think make a PDF "pretty" and
"useful".

If I were ambitious, I'll bet I could start a successful software
business based on a "scan to PDF" converter.

Jim

I have a dream....

in the not-too-distant future, it ought to be feasible to scan a book,
then automagically make the movie. Lots of artistic input of course, but
the bulk of the work should be able to be automated. I'm looking forward
to it, as there is such a wide body of literature to choose from.

Cheers
Terry
 
D

Don Lancaster

Jan 1, 1970
0
Terry said:
I have a dream....

in the not-too-distant future, it ought to be feasible to scan a book,
then automagically make the movie. Lots of artistic input of course, but
the bulk of the work should be able to be automated. I'm looking forward
to it, as there is such a wide body of literature to choose from.

Cheers
Terry

The problem is that nobody, but nobody has come up with a decent scan
bitmap to vector tracing converter. Ancient Adobe Streamline is
mesmerizingly awful but also one of the best.

I'm working on some universal bitmap manipulation code that may help.


--
Many thanks,

Don Lancaster
Synergetics 3860 West First Street Box 809 Thatcher, AZ 85552
voice: (928)428-4073 email: [email protected]

Please visit my GURU's LAIR web site at http://www.tinaja.com
 
D

Don Lancaster

Jan 1, 1970
0
Don said:
The problem is that nobody, but nobody has come up with a decent scan
bitmap to vector tracing converter. Ancient Adobe Streamline is
mesmerizingly awful but also one of the best.

I'm working on some universal bitmap manipulation code that may help.


BTW, the present linking sequence of 23 classic projects is now complete.

Per http://www.tinaja.com/glair01.asp

More are possibly expected to follow in a few weeks.

--
Many thanks,

Don Lancaster
Synergetics 3860 West First Street Box 809 Thatcher, AZ 85552
voice: (928)428-4073 email: [email protected]

Please visit my GURU's LAIR web site at http://www.tinaja.com
 
B

Ben Bradley

Jan 1, 1970
0
I have a dream....

in the not-too-distant future, it ought to be feasible to scan a book,
then automagically make the movie. Lots of artistic input of course, but
the bulk of the work should be able to be automated. I'm looking forward
to it, as there is such a wide body of literature to choose from.

Can you do that with a short story?

http://www.sba.muohio.edu/snavely/415/thunder.htm

It must have been too short, they added to the story, they have to
"set things right:"

http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/asoundofthunder/
 
S

Spehro Pefhany

Jan 1, 1970
0
BTW, the present linking sequence of 23 classic projects is now complete.

Per http://www.tinaja.com/glair01.asp

More are possibly expected to follow in a few weeks.

Hey, Don-- is that you on the cover with the metal detector, or did
Poptronics get sent the stuff and do their own photograpy? Or
something else?


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
 
T

Tim Shoppa

Jan 1, 1970
0
Not wanting to stir up legal trouble Don, but when you published these
articles originally did you sign the "Gernsback/Ziff-Davis owns the
rights to this article in perpetuity in all forms" release or did you
get better terms that allowed you to republish this stuff later (books
were clearly on your plate in the 70's, but in that time frame they
clearly weren't thinking about websites!)

I know that I completely signed away all my rights to several articles
that I published. And usually the companies that got the rights are no
longer to be found so I don't really give a damn anymore. My academic
papers, the companies that published them are still around but they are
usually amenable to reproduction in reasonable forms.

Tim.
 
D

Don Lancaster

Jan 1, 1970
0
Tim said:
Not wanting to stir up legal trouble Don, but when you published these
articles originally did you sign the "Gernsback/Ziff-Davis owns the
rights to this article in perpetuity in all forms" release or did you
get better terms that allowed you to republish this stuff later (books
were clearly on your plate in the 70's, but in that time frame they
clearly weren't thinking about websites!)

I know that I completely signed away all my rights to several articles
that I published. And usually the companies that got the rights are no
longer to be found so I don't really give a damn anymore. My academic
papers, the companies that published them are still around but they are
usually amenable to reproduction in reasonable forms.

Tim.

I carefully retained copyright and reproduction rights on many of my
publications.

Above and beyond this, I have been told the site to which the links go
has been carefully cleared with the current PE/RE IP rights owner
apparent custodian. I am not directly involved with the linked site in
any manner.

All appears to me to be totally 100 percent legal and kosher.

=========================

BTW, Tektronix also released their rights to legacy equipment tech docs.
The big question is when HP will do likewise.

As a practical matter for others, I feel that if the story went through
several no longer existing publishers, and if there clearly is no
litigation history, the chances are fairly good that there would be no
major problems. Especially if due diligence was not previously followed.
Cases can also be made that a double indirect linking through the
wayback machine might also somehow reduce your exposure.

Also, a properly done web presentation involves a tremendous amount of
new value added. It is not clear how far a "derivative work" concept
would allow a previous IP rights owner to go. Or whether anything beyond
"cease and desist" could normally result.

Your mileage may vary.

--
Many thanks,

Don Lancaster
Synergetics 3860 West First Street Box 809 Thatcher, AZ 85552
voice: (928)428-4073 email: [email protected]

Please visit my GURU's LAIR web site at http://www.tinaja.com
 
T

Tim Shoppa

Jan 1, 1970
0
I carefully retained copyright and reproduction rights
on many of my publications.

You were much wiser than me. Much of the stuff I wrote was essentially
"ghost written"/"ghost designed" for better known technical authors.
So not only do I not have the rights, but I don't even get the credit.
(Or the blame, maybe that's a good thing!)
has been carefully cleared with the current PE/RE IP
rights owner

I'm impressed that they tracked down the rights owners - I was
singularly unsuccesful when I tried in the late 90's for Gernsback.

Realistically most of the stuff published in that era (or any era!) was
pure drivel. It's nice to see that the good stuff has been preserved!
I still ocassionally refer to the TV Typewriter books...

Tim.
 
D

Don Lancaster

Jan 1, 1970
0
Tim said:
You were much wiser than me. Much of the stuff I wrote was essentially
"ghost written"/"ghost designed" for better known technical authors.
So not only do I not have the rights, but I don't even get the credit.
(Or the blame, maybe that's a good thing!)




I'm impressed that they tracked down the rights owners - I was
singularly unsuccesful when I tried in the late 90's for Gernsback.

Realistically most of the stuff published in that era (or any era!) was
pure drivel. It's nice to see that the good stuff has been preserved!
I still ocassionally refer to the TV Typewriter books...

Tim.

I am curious who you ghost wrote for.
Was is Lou Garner?


--
Many thanks,

Don Lancaster
Synergetics 3860 West First Street Box 809 Thatcher, AZ 85552
voice: (928)428-4073 email: [email protected]

Please visit my GURU's LAIR web site at http://www.tinaja.com
 
T

Tim Shoppa

Jan 1, 1970
0
Was is Lou Garner?

Oh, no, I was way later than that. When I was in college in the late
80's I worked with some kit companies and often what I wrote got
published under some fictional names they used for their "articles".
Most of the circuits were not my design (although one was and even made
the cover - it was a pretty crappy UHF TV transmitter), I was just
casting about in the "technical writing" world, eventually I decided
that there were better ways to make a few hundred bucks (although I did
learn some lessons!)

I never did really comprehend the economics of the electronics kit
world. Maybe the companies I worked with didn't either - none lasted
very long, some not long enough for me to get a check!

Tim.
 
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