Does anybody wanna help me make .pdf's of Amiga magazines?

[Giorgio_de]

The jpg thumbnails would be also a very good idea, we could keep each page numbered and each issue in a particular folder (can we upload to Aminet, Hyperspeed?).  That way it would be accessable to all us Amiga lovers.

 I want to take action because my first ever issue of The One has gotten rather tatty from so much use, and I don't want to see the others ending up the same, it would be great to have a resource for viewing them all in good condition.


Again though before we decide on anything, we have to remember that other people have done this (see the earlier link I posted) so we'd best check to see if it hasn't already been done (perhaps on a smaller scale with just one particular magazine scanned and PDF'd).  Is there any other main Amiga forums we can contact?

[Brian]

Anyone thought of the copyrights? If I was to do something like this I'd contact and get the aproval from the ppl behind the mags before I started.

[Holley]

Mmmm, dunno about the others but I can imagine Future Publishing would give permission for Amiga Format, for ages it was their pet production!

As for how to translate 'em, making PDFs isn't hard (but will result in big files), re-creating in HTML would be really tough (especially for the fancy layouts used in newer mags).  Getting the original quark files and putting them to PDF would be the best solution, though it's unlikely.

As for the ads, in European mags they're a must, one of the best parts of reading old mags!

For my part if someone coordinates it I'm happy to scan some of my AFs and make PDFs.

[terminator]

BoingBoss wrote:

I personally enjoy looking through the AmigaWorld issues that were released between 1986 to 1989.  I am using an HP scanner to scan the pages, but I first have to very carefully cut each magazine binding off, so that I can lay each page flat on the scanner.  The scanned pages look really good and are easy to read.  Right now I am trying to decide if I want to scan each magazine or just the articles.  American magazines contain about 80% advertisements, this is why I only buy European magazines.  I do not waste my hard-earned money on American magazines.  Anyway, since each issue of AmigaWorld contains about 80% advertisements, do I really want to scan all of those ads?  Did any of you guys actually read those old ads?  Or did you buy the magazines to read the articles and skim past the ads?   :roll:

Actually it's good to leave the ads in, as they give you an idea of what was available, who was making it, and how much it cost in those days.  People don't remember that an Amiga external floppy cost several hundred dollars new in the late '80s.

OR how much ad space GVP bought in AmigaWorld...  Sadly Amiga World sucked up most of the ad budgets, making it difficult for other magazines to get by in the North American market.

Sometimes those ads can tell alot about the time.  I have a videotape with a Ford ad, offering a special deal: buy a truck and they'll give you a 10% interest rate. And a limited time offer too.

[guest1955]

How about using a bit of normalisation here: Scan the ads once and archive them separately (And even credit their appearance). That way you only download the ads once, if and when you want them.

[JimS]

terminator wrote:

Actually it's good to leave the ads in, as they give you an idea of what was available, who was making it, and how much it cost in those days.  People don't remember that an Amiga external floppy cost several hundred dollars new in the late '80s.

I've though that too, but those big ads full of small print translate into large jpegs. So I just kept them once in a while for reference... like once every 6 months or so. Those GVP ads, they were the same from month to month usually. I didn't see the need to keep more than one of each.

Sometimes those ads can tell alot about the time.  I have a videotape with a Ford ad, offering a special deal: buy a truck and they'll give you a 10% interest rate. And a limited time offer too.

I came across an old bank ad on an ancient tape in my collection... offering a 13% interest on a certificate of deposit!

[melott]

I think this is a great idea......
I don't have the equipment to help but I have
several years of AmigaWorld and Amazing Computing
and some other mags. In fair to good shape.
I would be willing to contribute them (I'll pay shipping)
to whoever is going to run this show.
I do refer to them once in a while.
If you do this, I would think an Aminet type thing where
all this data would be on line for all to access and with
a search engine when looking something specific.
Seens like a tall order, but I for one would like to see it.

[The_Power_of_the_Ginger]

I'd love an idea of this, minor copyright issues pending, as I'd like to read issues of Amiga Power pre-issue 44. There were some golden eras back then.

I also have a healthy collection of Amiga Format issues (don't forget, all the covers to them can be found on AFCD52), a non-stop collection from issue 89 to 136.

[minator]

yes, but that means making a pdf for every page!
yes, I know you can import pdf's INTO a pdf (eventually making one pdf for an issue), but what I'm saying is that this will take up more space.

i think it's better to scan to jpgs (pdf's like jpgs) and then load up the jpgs into one pdf.

You can always load the Jegs into a word processor or presentation program (powerpoint / keynote) and press print from there.  That'll create a multi-page PDF.

There could be a problem though with the size of the PDF.  I created a 1.5GByte PDF last year but no PDF reader I tried could display it!

[minator]

I also have a healthy collection of Amiga Format issues (don't forget, all the covers to them can be found on AFCD52), a non-stop collection from issue 89 to 136.

Hmm, I just remembered there's some form of database of Amiga Format stuff on the Walker.

There's a picture here.

Hmm, doesn't seem to say much...