Denial

So I won that VIC-1001 auction last fall.

One of the more interesting aspects of the package is the VIC-1001 manual. It's in Japanese of course, with pockets of English technical terms and BASIC mixed in - pretty fascinating. Plus, it's significantly more detailed than the North American manual - it's closer to the Programmer's Reference Guide in many ways.

So I'm wondering, how rare is the manual? i.e. Are there lots of copies out there, or are there some VIC-1001s without one?

And the big question: Would the community like to have it scanned in (i.e. as PDF) for study/amusement/posterity?

I'm willing to loan the book out to be scanned by someone who knows what they're doing. I've been in touch with scanning wizard DLH and he says he can't scan it properly without damaging it (it's 238 pages). The manual is in excellent condition so I'm really hesitant to do that.

So I'm looking for some community input. What's the demand level? Does someone have the equipment/patience to scan it without damaging it? Or has it been scanned already?

I would like to see it scanned for posterity. It's definitely going to be a chore to manually scan that many pages though.

Is the book ring-bound (like the regular VIC manual)?

ral-clan wrote:Is the book ring-bound (like the regular VIC manual)?

Sadly, no - it's bound like a regular book which is why scanning it's so tricky. Here are some pics:

http://www.jammingsignal.com/vic/1001/

That manual is in great shape for its age.

I can't really think of a way to scan that on a flatbed scanner without stressing the spine. I think archival services have scanners in which the book rests on an inverted "V" or roof-shaped scanning bed. But an archival scanning service would be expensive.

Yeah, for precisely these reasons (and that my manual is in just as good a condition), I've been severely reluctant to attempt any scanning on it

So what we need is a VIC-1001 owner with a badly mishandled manual, preferrably one where the pages are almost loose but all remaining.

At least there are a couple of manuals in the hands of people who recognise their worth in a historical sense and they are safe. I would like to see a scanned copy for my own selfish pleasure but I totally understand why nobody would want to destroy one.

As carlsson says we need a mishandled manual in the hands of someone who would think to scan it - here's hoping!

Use your resources at work there Leif to build one of these:

http://www.nesteduniverse.net/2008/09/i ... -book.html

Stay late after work, they'll never know

You could use one of those hand-held scanners that you sweep across the page. That way you do not need to open the pages so widely as you would in a flat-bed scanner.

Centallica wrote:Use your resources at work there Leif to build one of these:

http://www.nesteduniverse.net/2008/09/i ... -book.html

Stay late after work, they'll never know

Hi Schema,

I just finished scanning my Vic Games book last night and got it to DLH today - it took me about 6 hours altogether on my flatbed - unfortunately I can already hear the rails going dry inside.

Ummm, there is a way - thing is I got an old (and I mean old) hand scanner over 10 years ago when I was heavily into 2D Animation - I'm fairly sure that it would scan your book without damaging it - trouble is its extremely time consuming and tricky...considering the goods it'd be worth it.

There's only two problems I need to be upfront about -

1) I don't even know if the scanner still works- its been sitting boxed up for almost 10 years now but I have taken excellent care of it.

2) I couldn't even begin to tell ya how long it'd take using the thing.

On the flip side, I'm local to you so that's not a problem

Watch out though. Those hand scanners have "margins" on either side of the scanning area. This margin is made up of the chassis of the hand scanner (hard to describe without seeing one). If the text of the book is too close to the spine of the book, you won't be able to get into that area.

I think you can scan it horizontally to get into those hard to reach places...
but you are right about the margins and chassis though...I think it's pretty slim at the top so the type would have to be unusually close to the spine to make it not feasible.

Come to think of it - I wonder how much room I do have in the front of my hand held?

Museums may have people and equipment for handling this sort of thing.

These guys:

http://www.bookscanning.ca/

Have given me a quote for $225 Canadian (about $176 US) to scan the manual as a PDF, harmlessly.

That's certainly doable, if not the cheapest approach. Would others be interested in chipping in?