Amiga.org

Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga community support ideas => Topic started by: tasmanian guy on June 08, 2011, 02:51:50 PM

Title: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: tasmanian guy on June 08, 2011, 02:51:50 PM
Hi everyone,
 
I have now managed to get issues from 1 to 96 and 136 (last issue) of Amiga Format.
 
I also have every special edition of Amiga Format except for Amiga Format Special 3 and 10, one is the Beginners Guide to the Amiga and the second was the one that was packaged in the Dynamite Amiga 1200 package!  So if anyone can help out with those two that would be great!
 
I think it is fitting first of all to scan issue 1 of Amiga Format and the very last issue 136.
 
Now I don't know how this will work, but is there anywhere on www.amiga.org (http://www.amiga.org) that this could be hosted for people to download for nostalgic reasons?
 
I was going to get hosting for my amigaformat.com domain, but I can't really afford the $$$ at the moment.  I've also tried contacting Future Publishing asking for permission to host these magazines, but so far no response.
 
Anyway I'm up for some ideas perhaps people may want to make a small donation to my paypal account to help me with my time in getting almost 100 issues scanned in along with the price I've had to pay to purchase these in the UK and get them sent to Australia.
 
Let me know your thoughts and if there are specific articles you're after let me know and I'll see what I can do to scan them.  Preference of course would be given those who care to donate some a dollar or two.
 
 
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: jj on June 08, 2011, 02:56:52 PM
Istnt there already a site with loads of scans of amiga magaiznes hosted on it ?
 
Cant remember the URL at the moment
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: tone007 on June 08, 2011, 03:05:22 PM
http://www.bombjack.org/commodore/
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: jj on June 08, 2011, 03:11:15 PM
Thats the one, thouigh I have seen a different site as well.
 
Seems you might have quite a lot of scan you could contribute to them tasmanina guy
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: runequester on June 08, 2011, 03:41:24 PM
maybe a torrent or something would be easiest?
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: zipper on June 08, 2011, 05:42:39 PM
Amiga Magazine Rack:
http://amr.abime.net/
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: Digiman on June 08, 2011, 06:22:20 PM
AMR is incomplete scans of AF issues and I don't just mean missing adverts, which is pointless really.
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: Matt_H on June 08, 2011, 07:08:24 PM
Quote from: Digiman;643543
AMR is incomplete scans of AF issues and I don't just mean missing adverts, which is pointless really.


Most of AMR is incomplete - their primary focus is games, so most magazines don't include non-games pages.
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: tasmanian guy on June 08, 2011, 10:26:35 PM
Quote from: tone007;643477
http://www.bombjack.org/commodore/

That site has some covers, but no scans of them.
 
Anyway over the next few weeks I'll scan issues 1 to 12 (August 1989 onwards) and find somewhere to host them.
 
;-)
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: Starmax on July 06, 2012, 09:34:51 PM
Hi Tasmanian Guy. Did you manage to scan in those Amiga Formats? If so have you hosted them somewhere?

Many thanks
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: motrucker on July 06, 2012, 10:24:39 PM
Wouldn't it be beneficial to work together with DLH to get all of these magazines out and available? That is an awful lot of work, scanning all those pages. I realize other problems may enter into this idea, but hey - it's an idea.
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: jsixis on October 09, 2012, 01:58:07 AM
I admire your dedication.
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: Digiman on October 09, 2012, 03:19:35 AM
Most of these issues are already scanned, there are about 130 (some duplication) ZIP or PDF files on USENET right now. They have been there for nearly a year.

But nobody ever bothered to download them from alt.binaries etc and stick them on a HTTP accessible site like archive.org AATT.

So there is the solution, if I had a newsbin compatible service I would do it myself :)
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: AndreasM on October 09, 2012, 08:14:25 AM
Quote from: tasmanian guy;643475
Hi everyone,
 
I have now managed to get issues from 1 to 96 and 136 (last issue) of Amiga Format.
 
I also have every special edition of Amiga Format except for Amiga Format Special 3 and 10, one is the Beginners Guide to the Amiga and the second was the one that was packaged in the Dynamite Amiga 1200 package!  So if anyone can help out with those two that would be great!
 
I think it is fitting first of all to scan issue 1 of Amiga Format and the very last issue 136.
 
Now I don't know how this will work, but is there anywhere on www.amiga.org (http://www.amiga.org) that this could be hosted for people to download for nostalgic reasons?
 
I was going to get hosting for my amigaformat.com domain, but I can't really afford the $$$ at the moment.  I've also tried contacting Future Publishing asking for permission to host these magazines, but so far no response.
 
Anyway I'm up for some ideas perhaps people may want to make a small donation to my paypal account to help me with my time in getting almost 100 issues scanned in along with the price I've had to pay to purchase these in the UK and get them sent to Australia.
 
Let me know your thoughts and if there are specific articles you're after let me know and I'll see what I can do to scan them.  Preference of course would be given those who care to donate some a dollar or two.
 
 


We can host it. But we need the permission from the right holders
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: mfilos on October 09, 2012, 09:15:24 AM
Why not on Archive.org where "Amiga Computing" and "Amiga World" are already hosted?
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: tasmanian guy on October 09, 2012, 10:45:37 AM
The reality of life is holding me up, have a 14 month old baby, a pregnant wife, full time job and uni.
 
I've got every issue of Amiga Format from 1 through to 136.
 
I have every issue of ST / Amiga Format as well.
 
I have every Amiga Format annual except one.
 
I have spent probably over $600 on this so far.
 
It is a boring job scanning them and is something people will have to be patient with.
 
Perhaps I'd be tempted to release them in 12 issue blocks.
 
issues 1 to 12
issues 13 to 24 etc.
 
136 issues is almost 12 years worth of magazines!
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: asymetrix on October 09, 2012, 12:12:24 PM
I have most Amiga Format magazines, i looked on usenet - they dont have all issues.
all different quality and resolution unfortunately and no way to verify all pages complete.

i scan some myself, but need help - if a team could be setup it would go faster.

I dont mind scanning - if someone else formats them.

sample quality :
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?p=836392#post836392
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: paul2004v on October 09, 2012, 12:28:30 PM
Quote
I have every Amiga Format annual except one.


If you're talking about the special editions, there's some question over the numbering of Issue 10/11..

http://www.retro-kit.co.uk/page.cfm/content/Amiga-Format-Special-Editions/ (http://www.retro-kit.co.uk/page.cfm/content/Amiga-Format-Special-Editions/)

http://amr.abime.net/issue_1044 (http://amr.abime.net/issue_1044)

Paul
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: mechy on October 09, 2012, 06:00:10 PM
Quote from: mfilos;710876
Why not on Archive.org where "Amiga Computing" and "Amiga World" are already hosted?

now this is a great idea!
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: Digiman on October 14, 2012, 09:02:57 AM
Yes it was a good idea I came up with ;)

Why are people scanning them again? They've been done!!

Can someone HELPFUL go on USENET and download all issues available (about 75%) and just upload them directly to Archive.org so EVERYONE can view them.

Scan issues never scanned before first and then go back to replacing unacceptable scans. Unlike the C64 era where we needed to have 600DPI scans to see the control codes in the program listings of games to type in it's fine at even 150DPI for now (more important to have the pages flat 100% on scanner glass....an issue with many CU Amiga scans making them useless to read)
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: asymetrix on October 14, 2012, 11:45:42 AM
Quote from: Digiman;711384
Yes it was a good idea I came up with ;)

Why are people scanning them again? They've been done!!

Can someone HELPFUL go on USENET and download all issues available (about 75%) and just upload them directly to Archive.org so EVERYONE can view them.

Scan issues never scanned before first and then go back to replacing unacceptable scans. Unlike the C64 era where we needed to have 600DPI scans to see the control codes in the program listings of games to type in it's fine at even 150DPI for now (more important to have the pages flat 100% on scanner glass....an issue with many CU Amiga scans making them useless to read)

My thoughts exactly, have been downloading for such this reason, question is do I upload as is or spend the time cleaning them up ?

I have a copy of AF Annual 1995 (black cover) and it does in fact show a few issues, but just showing select issues does not guarantee a missing/mislabeled issue.

If and when PDFs uploaded they need to be checked and validated - ie QC.

If only I had the issue before it, sigh ...
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: SirGraham on October 14, 2012, 11:52:35 AM
I'd love having every issue of Amiga Format even if I have to donate a couple of bucks. Wonderful!!!

As Digiman said, 150 DPI should be enough but I'd like to add something.

I'm tired with reading scanned PDF comics because, when scanning a page, a white card should be put at the other side of the page you are scanning. Otherwise, it is very likely, in every page, to see portions of the next one because, don't forget, the light of the scanner passes through the whole sheet (two pages).

The card should be white for comics because that's the colour for pages. I wonder which should be for AF. It could be white but some page could need another color.

I know this makes even harder the scanning process but the result I believe could be much better. I have never tested that.

What do you think?
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: asymetrix on October 14, 2012, 08:23:44 PM
Quote from: SirGraham;711389
I'd love having every issue of Amiga Format even if I have to donate a couple of bucks. Wonderful!!!

As Digiman said, 150 DPI should be enough but I'd like to add something.

I'm tired with reading scanned PDF comics because, when scanning a page, a white card should be put at the other side of the page you are scanning. Otherwise, it is very likely, in every page, to see portions of the next one because, don't forget, the light of the scanner passes through the whole sheet (two pages).

The card should be white for comics because that's the colour for pages. I wonder which should be for AF. It could be white but some page could need another color.

I know this makes even harder the scanning process but the result I believe could be much better. I have never tested that.

What do you think?


I know what you mean, Its a common problem, which i have resolved myself by sticking a black rubber sheet on the underside of the scanner lid - it works perfect.

I use 240 DPI, it gives high enough quality without sacrificing scanning speed.
Take a look at the links i gave earlier, that I scanned myself - the quality is far better than anything.

1 magazine would take 1-3 hrs scanning and processing eg crop, restore,clean etc 1-3 days.

Even if someone did 1 magazine in 3 days it would take a year or so and alot of sleepless nights and loss of sanity.

This is a multi year project as once scanning is done and pdfs made, in future all text needs to be extracted and magazine layout in HTML done - with full DB search is the ultimate goal.
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: orange on October 14, 2012, 09:15:27 PM
but its easy to solve that problem with photo editing software, presuming comics are black&white. Its called 'auto tone' or similar (better if done manually).
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: tenleftfingers on October 16, 2012, 10:55:07 AM
Quote from: tasmanian guy;710881
The reality of life is holding me up, have a 14 month old baby, a pregnant wife, full time job and uni...

Perhaps I'd be tempted to release them in 12 issue blocks.
 
issues 1 to 12
issues 13 to 24 etc.

Ouch, I'm in the same situation and it's tricky. The child is 5 now though so it's getting easier.

I think releasing them in 'packs' is a great idea. It would be cumbersome to manage them individually and you should be reimbursed for all that work ... not sure I'd do it myself! But I'm looking forward to the results.
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: som99 on October 16, 2012, 08:01:20 PM
This is a great idea, I can pitch in what I got.

I got all floppies in ADF also I got 89 of the 136 magazines scanned and saved in PDF.
I also got some supplement issues and subscribers newsletters scanned and saved in PDF.

I got the following Amiga Format issues:
1-3, 12, 17-21, 23, 26-27, 29-38, 40-63, 65-85, 87-94, 97-98, 102, 105, 108, 120, 136.

So I am missing 47 issues I would love to have.

I got the following supplement/subscribers newsletter issues:
AF Backstage (sub newsletter): 58-68
Amiga CD Format: Supplement issue: 51
AF Buyer's guide: Supplement issue: 54
AF Comic Relief: Supplement issue: 43
The Best Of The Amiga: Supplement issue: 27
Exploring Real 3D: Supplement issue: 77
Get Into the Net With Your Amiga: Supplement issue: 65
Get Into Your CDROM With Your A1200: Supplement issue: 65
Get the Most Out Of Your Amiga: Supplement issue: 42
Sound & Vision: Supplement issue: 30

That's what I got and can share, I would love to get the missing issues!
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: djos on October 16, 2012, 11:27:39 PM
Depending on the size of the collection I'd be happy to host it in my Dropbox for a few weeks. :)
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: DLH on October 17, 2012, 01:05:19 AM
Quote from: som99;711721
I got the following supplement/subscribers newsletter issues:
AF Backstage (sub newsletter): 58-68
Amiga CD Format: Supplement issue: 51
AF Buyer's guide: Supplement issue: 54
AF Comic Relief: Supplement issue: 43
The Best Of The Amiga: Supplement issue: 27
Exploring Real 3D: Supplement issue: 77
Get Into the Net With Your Amiga: Supplement issue: 65
Get Into Your CDROM With Your A1200: Supplement issue: 65
Get the Most Out Of Your Amiga: Supplement issue: 42
Sound & Vision: Supplement issue: 30
 

Nice website you found those on... :)
 
DLH
www.bombjack.org/commodore (http://www.bombjack.org/commodore)
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: som99 on October 17, 2012, 01:23:32 AM
Quote from: DLH;711737
Nice website you found those on... :)
 
DLH
www.bombjack.org/commodore (http://www.bombjack.org/commodore)

I got the supplements of Underground-gamer but they are the same as the one on bomberjack yes.
To bad bomberjack do not have many issues of the magazine.

Im still in need of missing Magazine issues :)
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: asymetrix on October 17, 2012, 04:11:34 AM
Quote from: som99;711738
I got the supplements of Underground-gamer but they are the same as the one on bomberjack yes.
To bad bomberjack do not have many issues of the magazine.

Im still in need of missing Magazine issues :)


It would be great if you can share the magazine pdfs you have. torrent ?

I also have alot of physical magazines and PDFs which i will probably upload to mirrorcreator.com.

Only by working together can we get a complete Amiga Format magazine collection set up.

Im thinking add to the list on EAB with a complete list, listing any missing issues.
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: XDelusion on October 17, 2012, 04:31:59 AM
I'm all for the Archive.org idea as well. That site is just awesome, that's all there is to it! :)
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: som99 on October 17, 2012, 06:55:27 AM
Quote from: asymetrix;711748
It would be great if you can share the magazine pdfs you have. torrent ?

I also have alot of physical magazines and PDFs which i will probably upload to mirrorcreator.com.

Only by working together can we get a complete Amiga Format magazine collection set up.

Im thinking add to the list on EAB with a complete list, listing any missing issues.


Great idea!

I am thinking of setting up a file server containing all my TB of Amiga related material, I just have to organize it before it go public, also I have to sort out the software that still are being sold to avoid getting hate ;)

Im also in process of switching ISP for higher upload speed since my servers and seedboxes are quite heavy used atm and I got little to none bandwith over (the biggest thief is my seedboxes, damn you retro oriented torrent sites) ;)

So give me time and all I got will be avaliable to Amiga.org :)
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: orange on October 17, 2012, 07:32:38 AM
Quote from: SirGraham;711389
I'd love having every issue of Amiga Format even if I have to donate a couple of bucks. Wonderful!!!

As Digiman said, 150 DPI should be enough but I'd like to add something.

..


I'd try to go for at least 300 DPI. It would be noticeably better on a good screen. Also, one day, someone might do proper OCR.
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: asymetrix on October 17, 2012, 03:21:08 PM
Quote from: som99;711758
Great idea!

I am thinking of setting up a file server containing all my TB of Amiga related material, I just have to organize it before it go public, also I have to sort out the software that still are being sold to avoid getting hate ;)

Im also in process of switching ISP for higher upload speed since my servers and seedboxes are quite heavy used atm and I got little to none bandwith over (the biggest thief is my seedboxes, damn you retro oriented torrent sites) ;)

So give me time and all I got will be avaliable to Amiga.org :)


Great - cant wait.

In the meantime I will upload what I have to Mirrorcreator.com, I will announce here when its done.
 
If anyone can contribute missing PDFs, upload it and post a link here.

@orange

We dont need 300 DPI for OCR. 150-150 DPI is fine.

It would be interesting to know what people plan to do with OCR versions.
I could OCR the PDFs, but to search multi pdfs for text is something we dont have.
A better solution would be to rip the text out as raw text.

This raw text people could use in some database/structure for data stream to apps or export to other file formats.

For now :

1, Amiga Format issues to be uploaded
2, validate, check all pages correct
3, note poor quality issues/ pages and reupload
4, OCR
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: Digiman on October 17, 2012, 05:18:25 PM
Quote from: tasmanian guy;710881
The reality of life is holding me up, have a 14 month old baby, a pregnant wife


No electricity in your house or are you just very enthusiastic Catholic couple :)
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: Digiman on October 17, 2012, 05:23:40 PM
Quote from: som99;711721
This is a great idea, I can pitch in what I got.

I got all floppies in ADF also I got 89 of the 136 magazines scanned and saved in PDF.
I also got some supplement issues and subscribers newsletters scanned and saved in PDF.

I got the following Amiga Format issues:
1-3, 12, 17-21, 23, 26-27, 29-38, 40-63, 65-85, 87-94, 97-98, 102, 105, 108, 120, 136.

So I am missing 47 issues I would love to have.

I got the following supplement/subscribers newsletter issues:
AF Backstage (sub newsletter): 58-68
Amiga CD Format: Supplement issue: 51
AF Buyer's guide: Supplement issue: 54
AF Comic Relief: Supplement issue: 43
The Best Of The Amiga: Supplement issue: 27
Exploring Real 3D: Supplement issue: 77
Get Into the Net With Your Amiga: Supplement issue: 65
Get Into Your CDROM With Your A1200: Supplement issue: 65
Get the Most Out Of Your Amiga: Supplement issue: 42
Sound & Vision: Supplement issue: 30

That's what I got and can share, I would love to get the missing issues!


I also have a huge collection of AF magazines in the loft too but but no idea exactly what is on usenet and what quality is of the mags already scanned (I don't have a usenet subs) plus I am just a bit let down with the whole Amiga community in general this last year or so and never really thought about scanning them. Did do some extra special CVG supplements for the community though as for some reason 8bit groups do not fight like the ST/Amiga groups :)
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: djos on October 17, 2012, 10:42:52 PM
Quote from: Digiman;711788
No electricity in your house or are you just very enthusiastic Catholic couple :)
lol, im in a similar position, my daughter is 17 months old and the wife is 2 months pregnant - it's intentional for us tho as we dont want a big gap between our 2 kids like some of our friends have done, as their kids are just to far apart in age to play with each other.
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: tenleftfingers on October 17, 2012, 11:42:02 PM
Quote from: djos;711819
lol, im in a similar position, my daughter is 17 months old and the wife is 2 months pregnant - it's intentional for us tho as we dont want a big gap between our 2 kids like some of our friends have done, as their kids are just to far apart in age to play with each other.

My partners daughter is 5 and we're trying to decide whether to have a child now so they'll be close enough age-wise, or to wait until we finish college in three years. What age gap are you seeing that causes that problem? If you don't mind sharing :)

Thanks,
Ten
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: djos on October 17, 2012, 11:53:39 PM
4-7 years seems to be problematic in the sense that the older child just isn't interested in playing with the "baby" - there's no antagonism, it's just that the older child has very different interests.

I can recall myself being 7 years older than my little sister and I almost had no idea who she was until she became an adult. with my brother there was 5 years difference and I just found him annoying for the most part but my sister that is only 14 months younger than myself, we got on great. :)

Now that we are all adults it's a different story tho, we all get along very well.
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: asymetrix on October 18, 2012, 02:40:16 AM
Here is an updated list of Amiga Format Magazines from USENET and other places.

I hope to complete the collection with your help.

Any remaining issues I will scan more myself to hopefully have a full set.

If you do download, please contribute and mention errors or bad scanned pages.

cheers and have fun

http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?p=834166#post834166
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: tenleftfingers on October 18, 2012, 08:00:12 AM
Cheers djos. That's what I'm thinking - she says she'd love a baby sister/brother but I can see her developing very fast and I doubt it will last.
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: djos on October 18, 2012, 08:06:02 AM
Quote from: TenLeftFingers;711847
Cheers djos. That's what I'm thinking - she says she'd love a baby sister/brother but I can see her developing very fast and I doubt it will last.
No worries, strike while the irons hot mate! :D
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: Snowii on October 24, 2012, 02:08:11 AM
We now have the most complete Amiga Format Collection in pdf available on our website. If anyone has any of the missing issues we don't have please contact us (http://awesome.commodore.me/contact/), thankyou.

http://awesome.commodore.me/?pagename=magazine&pathname=magazine&displayname=&picsperpage=20&searchterm=Amiga_Format

Enjoy :D
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: FatAgnus on October 31, 2012, 01:05:58 PM
NICEEEEEEE
On behalf of me and my scanner, we thank you.
I can now recycle all that papper in the house-storage-room.
I was digitizing everything, but it's just too slow and painfull.
:)
Now I have more storage space to address
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: SirGraham on October 31, 2012, 09:44:11 PM
Thank you very very much for having carried out the huge task about scanning our lovely Amiga Format. I can now read so many issues I missed (and so does my brother).

On that WEB, download instructions are not correct but it's easy to download them.

Life is wonderful!!!!!

:roflmao::):cool:

PD: pls, he who has any missing issue, upload. Thx.
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: orange on November 09, 2012, 06:56:24 PM
Quote from: asymetrix;711833
Here is an updated list of Amiga Format Magazines from USENET and other places.

I hope to complete the collection with your help.

Any remaining issues I will scan more myself to hopefully have a full set.

If you do download, please contribute and mention errors or bad scanned pages.

cheers and have fun

http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?p=834166#post834166


if one already has these in .jpg, there is no point in downloading .pdf as they are (exactly) same quality.
Title: Re: Amiga Format time to PDF them!
Post by: DLH on June 08, 2014, 04:13:23 AM
Checking to see what Amiga Format Issues (1 to 136) still need scanning.

I took a look and I am only missing issues 13, 14, 15, 16 & 28 (5 issues)

 
thanks

DLH