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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Marketplace => Topic started by: OSS542 on July 08, 2005, 12:37:40 PM

Title: Can an Amiga book be so valuable ?
Post by: OSS542 on July 08, 2005, 12:37:40 PM
I find this a fascinating auction.  Can an Amiga book really be so valuable ?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=4598&item=5217056791&rd=1
Title: Re: Can an Amiga book be so valuable ?
Post by: on July 08, 2005, 12:48:31 PM
Things are "worth" what someone is willing to pay.  If the book is rare as the poster implies, and if you NEED such a book, the value to you is intrinsically higher.  You should note however that no one has bid on this item.

Wayne
Title: Re: Can an Amiga book be so valuable ?
Post by: Tomas on July 08, 2005, 12:53:25 PM
http://www.webworldinc.com/transdata/INFOTX17.HTM (http://www.webworldinc.com/transdata/INFOTX17.HTM)
heh..
Title: Re: Can an Amiga book be so valuable ?
Post by: ChaosLord on July 08, 2005, 01:46:18 PM
In order for it to be worth so much,
The Amiga Inc. Developer CD would have to really suck.
Title: Re: Can an Amiga book be so valuable ?
Post by: Elwood on July 08, 2005, 02:14:58 PM
Last week I sent an email to the guyes at
www.webworldinc.com

I asked them if they had it in stock. They didn't bother to reply. Shame on them :-(

Maybe this is why they started this auction. They are not Amigans for sure.
Title: Re: Can an Amiga book be so valuable ?
Post by: xeron on July 08, 2005, 03:47:33 PM
$80 is about what the Guru book goes for in auctions that i've seen.
Title: Re: Can an Amiga book be so valuable ?
Post by: Lemmink on July 08, 2005, 03:51:45 PM
Well, have a look at here

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=8142&item=5192366585&rd=1
Title: Re: Can an Amiga book be so valuable ?
Post by: boing on July 08, 2005, 06:53:34 PM

Do ya think Ralph himself is the one selling it?  At these prices you kind of have to wonder...


and also wonder if he wouldn't be wise to print a few hundred up.  
Title: Re: Can an Amiga book be so valuable ?
Post by: J-Golden on July 08, 2005, 07:47:07 PM
Quote

Elwood wrote:
Last week I sent an email to the guyes at
www.webworldinc.com

I asked them if they had it in stock. They didn't bother to reply. Shame on them :-(

Maybe this is why they started this auction. They are not Amigans for sure.


Who do you mean by "THEY"?  It's not the book company your pointing to thats doing the auction, it's a friend of mine that is also our Amiga club president...

J-Golden

PS- I also thought it was odd that the person who put this book onto E-bay had his thread stoped.  The buyers interested would have had a a clearer line of communication and the answers from the seller would be seen by all within our community....
Title: Re: Can an Amiga book be so valuable ?
Post by: lopos on July 08, 2005, 08:12:34 PM
One must be very stupid to pay $80 for a book.
Quote

J-Golden wrote:

Who do you mean by "THEY"?  It's not the book company your pointing to thats doing the auction, it's a friend of mine that is also our Amiga club president...

J-Golden

PS- I also thought it was odd that the person who put this book onto E-bay had his thread stoped.  The buyers interested would have had a a clearer line of communication and the answers from the seller would be seen by all within our community....

Why didn't he offered it to your Amiga Club first? And, why didn't he offered it first to the members on this board? He obviously after BIG BUCKS.  :getmad:
Title: Re: Can an Amiga book be so valuable ?
Post by: x56h34 on July 08, 2005, 08:24:45 PM
For crying out loud, let the man sell the damn book. Why does stuff go to eBay anyway? Yes, so that the seller could earn some cash! (insert cash register sound)
Title: Re: Can an Amiga book be so valuable ?
Post by: J-Golden on July 08, 2005, 08:28:38 PM
Quote

lopos wrote:
One must be very stupid to pay $80 for a book.

Why didn't he offered it to your Amiga Club first? And, why didn't he offered it first to the members on this board? He obviously after BIG BUCKS.  :getmad:
Quote


That's funny, the way I knew it was his is because he DID offer it first to us....  I hate to call names but I was only defending my friend who DOES try to do the right thing and then to have massive jerks like yourself try to:

A) call anyone who sees the need for this book stupid (aparently you don't need it or want it)

B) You can label someone so quickly as "obviously after the BIG BUCKS." when you have NO IDEA who he is.

Please, if you feel the need to rip on someone, make sure you go after someone who deserves it (Doommaster for starters) and NOT one of my good friends...

BTW, I now live two times zones away from My original Amiga group but am still a part of it and this "money grubber" is a big part of my connection.  So again, back off unless you have something REAL to say with SUBSTANTIAL evidence.

J-Golden

PS- No doubt I'll get an E-mail from my friend saying that I should have just let this go, THAT'S the type of guy he is...
Title: Re: Can an Amiga book be so valuable ?
Post by: lopos on July 08, 2005, 08:36:54 PM
Quote

J-Golden wrote:
Quote

lopos wrote:
One must be very stupid to pay $80 for a book.

Why didn't he offered it to your Amiga Club first? And, why didn't he offered it first to the members on this board? He obviously after BIG BUCKS.  :getmad:
Quote


That's funny, the way I knew it was his is because he DID offer it first to us....  I hate to call names but I was only defending my friend who DOES try to do the right thing and then to have massive jerks like yourself try to:

Quote
A) call anyone who sees the need for this book stupid (aparently you don't need it or want it)

I didn't say that. I said, to pay $80 for book one must be stupid.:lol: Reading and understanding can be very difficult, isn't it.

Quote
B) You can label someone so quickly as "obviously after the BIG BUCKS." when you have NO IDEA who he is.

Why didn't he put it up on eBay for $1 then if he isn't after big bucks? :-?

Quote
Please, if you feel the need to rip on someone, make sure you go after someone who deserves it (Doommaster for starters) and NOT one of my good friends...

I am so sorry but your friend posted it, not Doomy.

Quote
BTW, I now live two times zones away from My original Amiga group but am still a part of it and this "money grubber" is a big part of my connection.  So again, back off unless you have something REAL to say with SUBSTANTIAL evidence.

Is this a threat?:-o Or, should I feel soory for you.

J-Golden

Quote
PS- No doubt I'll get an E-mail from my friend saying that I should have just let this go, THAT'S the type of guy he is...

PS: Maybe you should.    :-D  :-D
Title: Re: Can an Amiga book be so valuable ?
Post by: odin on July 08, 2005, 11:38:00 PM
Now now, children, bickering won't help. I think people who moan about stuff being sold on ebay at high prices are just jealous because they obviously can't afford it or something %-).
Title: Re: Can an Amiga book be so valuable ?
Post by: lopos on July 08, 2005, 11:43:17 PM
Do you mean I am poor Amiga git? :-?
Title: Re: Can an Amiga book be so valuable ?
Post by: sprocket on July 08, 2005, 11:54:37 PM
Geeeeez folks,

I never thought so much would come of my little auction...

I initially had trouble posting my ad to the ebay forum because of my firewall settings.  If this resulted in multiple postings, I apologize.

For the record....

I am an individual amigan, not an Amiga retailer.
The auction page shows me in Baltimore.
The webworldinc page is ancient and they have not responded to queries for these in years.  You will not find this book in any retailer's stock.

The price that page lists is what the book originally retailed for in the U.S.  ...and yes, used copies routinely sell for more than this.

Ralph has been approached about doing a PDF version for inclusion in compilations and new Amiga software products but he is too busy to do a revision and he is on to other things.

...if you get the chance to look at one of these you will find it an IMMENSE source of technical information on compilers and coding specifically for the Amiga.

While there is now one bid for $80 and several "watchers" and the hit counter is now at 293 I expect this item to sell for quite a bit more than it's current price.

I put it up first in hopes it would attract attention to other Amiga hardware items I'll be listing in the next few days.

Thanks for your interest.
Title: Re: Can an Amiga book be so valuable ?
Post by: sprocket on July 09, 2005, 12:10:07 AM
...and by the way.  The user's group I was part of is one of the oldest in the U.S.

NCAUG (http://www.ncaug.org/)

It is a shadow of its former self with a hand full of members coming to meetings.

Of these those that are hard core programmers have a copy of this book.  Those that aren't couldn't use it....it's just too technical.

Title: Re: Can an Amiga book be so valuable ?
Post by: on July 09, 2005, 03:44:30 AM
Quote
I also thought it was odd that the person who put this book onto E-bay had his thread stoped. The buyers interested would have had a a clearer line of communication and the answers from the seller would be seen by all within our community....


Oooh.. here we go.. Another conspiracy theory..  I guess I'm  just a horrible person for enforcing the posted rules. *shock*  :)

If the item's owner would have noticed that his book was already being discussed, he wouldn't have opened a duplicate topic.  As it stands, the owner was more than welcomed to join the appropriate thread (this one) to answer any and all questions which he has, and is.

Duplicate threads are closed.  That's the rule, and this topic existed first.  I agree with whomever said "you put things on ebay to make money.  I truly hope he gets his price because that's the whole point.

Wayne
Title: Re: Can an Amiga book be so valuable ?
Post by: sprocket on July 09, 2005, 03:51:12 AM
My buddy seems just a little defensive based on some of the heat in this thread.

As for me, I apologize for not noticing this thread first and posting the ad.

Fact was that I had posted the listing on ebay so recently it hadn't occurred to me that anyone would be discussing it here.

Frankly, I've found this quite amazing.
Title: Re: Can an Amiga book be so valuable ?
Post by: J-Golden on July 09, 2005, 03:54:53 AM
Hey Wayne,

Sorry, reading back over my "PS" I realize I was being a bit snippy.  I was going from the point that this thread was leaning towards the negative side of his auction while he was trying to put out a FYI...

Again, my apologies and thanks for all you are doing to keep this site running smooth...

J. Golden
Title: Re: Can an Amiga book be so valuable ?
Post by: Doobrey on July 09, 2005, 04:39:51 AM
Quote

lopos wrote:
One must be very stupid to pay $80 for a book.


Technical books like this are worth their weight in gold to serious programmers.
 Yes, there are pdf and text file versions of both the Guru book and all the RKRMs (also on the Dev CD) available on the net,but nothing beats a proper printed version to refer to.
Title: Re: Can an Amiga book be so valuable ?
Post by: Pyromania on July 09, 2005, 07:24:47 AM
I'll be picking this book up, noone will outbid me.

 :-D
Title: Re: Can an Amiga book be so valuable ?
Post by: sprocket on July 09, 2005, 10:13:58 AM
Quote
Yes, there are pdf and text file versions of both the Guru book and all the RKRMs (also on the Dev CD) available on the net,but nothing beats a proper printed version to refer to.


I do not believe the Guru book has been included in any online or digital compilation.  I have the 1.2 and 2.1 dev CD.

The Guru book was self published by Ralph Babel in limited number.  It was not any sort of official Commodore release.

I had been in touch with Ralph a few times over the past couple years about the potential of converting this to PDF.

I think he was contacted by a noteable software developer who has included lots of nostalgic material on the CD of their product too.  His response has been that he just didn't have the time to do any sort of conversion or revision of the material.

The original version of the hard copy of this book is 736 pages long with several code snippets tables, etc.

Doing a proper conversion to a digital format would be a daunting task.  At this point Ralph still maintains full copyright on his work.

Finding a used printed version is the only option I'm aware of for having this information at this time that I'm aware of.
Title: Re: Can an Amiga book be so valuable ?
Post by: Doppie1200 on July 09, 2005, 11:56:51 AM
I would not mind paying some for a good book. Since I would like to take up programming the amiga (just for fun ofcourse) and know nothing about it's internals a good book is essential.

I got myself a few books in the meantime (for free)
The Amiga Rom Kernel reference manual (libraries & devices) which I think is for the 1.3 kernel.
And a book called 'the grand amiga c-book' (in dutch) for a c compiler no one has probably ever heard of. And last but not least 'Amiga intern' which is in german (and I can't read german so good).

But if anyone has got the latest versions of developers books and live near me drop me a line.

Title: Re: Can an Amiga book be so valuable ?
Post by: sprocket on July 09, 2005, 03:50:29 PM
The RKMs are essential, the developer's CDs are good choices because they have all that stuff.

Some good Amiga programming books are out there, some good C books.

If you aren't a Super geek programmer type the Guru book is probably a bit beyond you but because it is sooooo rare it might be worth picking up when you find one for sale to save for the day when you might be able to make sense of it.

Just trying to be clear on this thing....it's pretty deep stuff, compiler weirdness, optimizing things at a low level.
If you aren't pretty good at the basics first this isn't going to do much for you until you are.
Title: Re: Can an Amiga book be so valuable ?
Post by: avanham on July 09, 2005, 04:06:15 PM
When you consider how expensive any good computer book worth these days (35 - 75 US$)  it isn't really all that out of line.  Books are everything in computer programming.  If you don't know how the OS works internally, you can't possibly write software.
Title: Re: Can an Amiga book be so valuable ?
Post by: Vicotnik on July 09, 2005, 05:44:52 PM
I noticed a thread somewhere about this book being able to find online.

cheers

Title: Re: Can an Amiga book be so valuable ?
Post by: Doobrey on July 09, 2005, 08:13:41 PM
Quote

sprocket wrote:
Quote
Yes, there are pdf and text file versions of both the Guru book and all the RKRMs (also on the Dev CD) available on the net,but nothing beats a proper printed version to refer to.


I do not believe the Guru book has been included in any online or digital compilation.  I have the 1.2 and 2.1 dev CD.

The Guru book was self published by Ralph Babel in limited number.  It was not any sort of official Commodore release.


Sorry, it was late when I posted that.
What I meant was that Ralphs Guru book is on the net in the form of a badly scanned and OCR'd conversion, done without his permission...the same goes for the RKRMs too.
I didn't mean to imply that it was included on/with any official developer information, just that the RKRMs are also on the Dev CD.
Title: Re: Can an Amiga book be so valuable ?
Post by: sprocket on July 10, 2005, 03:29:56 PM
Quote
What I meant was that Ralphs Guru book is on the net in the form of a badly scanned and OCR'd conversion, done without his permission


Considering the length of the book, how dense this material is and the precision necessary for programming snippets I would think this sort of "documentation" would make the material pretty near impossible to get through.

After browsing for roughly 4 years looking for this book I hadn't found this and was glad to finally get hold of the real thing.  Only after I did could I find that it was a bit more than I needed for my occassional programming.  A real Guru deserves to own a copy.

(sniff) sadly admitting I am not in that catagory.
Title: Re: Can an Amiga book be so valuable ?
Post by: sprocket on July 11, 2005, 02:03:18 PM
For those interested...

Auction ends tomorrow
at 1:36 Pacific time.
2:36 Mountain time
3:36 Central time
4:36 Eastern time

I'll be adding a few hardware items to my listings today and tomorrow.

My ebay listings (http://cgi3.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=charmfx)

thanks for your interest...
Title: Re: Can an Amiga book be so valuable ?
Post by: Hyperspeed on July 11, 2005, 07:43:16 PM
I remember buying Deluxe Paint 5 only to find Deluxe Paint 4 AGA's
manual had been replaced by a naff AmigaGuide file or something.
Doesn't make reading it very easy. Disk based manuals should be HTML
at the very least so you can view pictures of the menus etc. that the
chapter is covering.

I'd like to get into programming for the Amiga too. I haven't
got a clue about the system or AREXX but one day I took would like to
experiment with Storm-C or equivalent.

I'd pay highly for a rare book - disk based manuals are a pain in the
assembly.

;-)
Title: Re: Can an Amiga book be so valuable ?
Post by: sprocket on July 11, 2005, 09:06:30 PM
Just for the record...

current price is $91 with 6 bids and an opening bid of $80 with just a little more than a full day to go and the counter has broken 600!

...not bad considering those who weren't sure an Amiga book could be worth much.

; )

...going, going?????

Anyone, anyone???
Title: Re: Can an Amiga book be so valuable ?
Post by: sprocket on July 12, 2005, 04:15:47 AM
...more stuff going up!!!

hardware!!!

check for listings...
 
My listings are here!!! (http://cgi3.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=charmfx)

Thanks for your interest.
Title: Re: Can an Amiga book be so valuable ?
Post by: sprocket on July 12, 2005, 04:46:13 PM
...nearing $140 with about 4 hours to go on the Guru book!

My ebay listings (http://cgi3.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=charmfx)

Thanks for your interest...
Title: Re: Can an Amiga book be so valuable ?
Post by: sprocket on July 12, 2005, 08:06:48 PM
Price is at $182.50 with a about an hour and a half to go in the auction for the Guru book!!!

I guess the speculation that started this thread has been answered by the marketplace.

I'm glad to see there are still Amigans out there who are aware of products like these that, while released several years ago now, are still valid and useful resources.

Thanks to everyone for their interest in my auction(s) and please keep an eye on my "about me" page to see more hardware listings go up this week.

My listings can be found here. (http://cgi3.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=charmfx)

Title: Re: Can an Amiga book be so valuable ?
Post by: on July 12, 2005, 08:13:30 PM
See?  Amiga.org advertising works!  :)

Wayne
Title: Re: Can an Amiga book be so valuable ?
Post by: sprocket on July 12, 2005, 08:48:34 PM
Quote
See? Amiga.org advertising works! :)


subtle hint acknowledged...

; )

At the risk of annoyance I'll mention the subsequent auctions I'm hoping to put up as I do.

When I've settled up and shipped to everyone I'll drop a bit in the bucket for ya.

...publicity is much appreciated!!!