On 11/23/20 10:08 PM, boB wrote:
On Sun, 22 Nov 2020 17:44:32 -0800, Jeff Liebermann <je...@cruzio.com
wrote:
On Sun, 22 Nov 2020 12:42:21 -0800, boB <b...@K7IQ.com> wrote:
Not bad ! My problem is space... space... space......
I do buy books online sometimes too in PDF form as well as printed
sometimes though.
Trying to downsize. I can\'t throw away or recycle good material that I
\"might\" need to look at some day
Try this exercise. Pick an \"important\" book at random from your shelf
and search the interknot for a free scanned or PDF version of the
book. If you can\'t find those, search for an eBook version in one of
the more common formats. My guess(tm) is that I can find about 75% of
what is on my bookshelf. The nice thing about the electronic versions
is that I can usually search the text for buzzwords. For printed
books, I have to use an index or table of contents. The problem with
scanned books is that the pictures and graphs all look like garbage.
Like everyone else who has spent a lifetime collecting reference
books, recycling them is painful. I\'ve tried to donate them to worthy
organizations, give them away on Freecycle.org, sell them for the cost
of shipping on eBay and Craigs List, and donate them to the local
charities. Nobody want old technical books. So far, I\'ve had the
best luck leaving them in a \"free\" box in front of my office door to
be grabbed by the homeless and possibly university students.
I\'m also trying to downsize. I look online for the book to buy or
downloads. After I determine that the downloaded book is adequate,
the original book disappears from my shelves.
Incidentally, I used to collect technical books from between the start
of WWI and the end of WWII. It\'s not a huge collection, but it does
make interesting reading. Many of the de facto standards used in
today\'s electronics were established during this time. These will be
the last books to be purged from my shelves.
One of my old books that still have and the PDF version is the
Radiotron Designers Book... That is one of the hardback books I just
have to keep.
Good idea to take one at random and look though. I just might try
that !
Of course, paper books last a great deal longer than electronic devices.
Most SED denizens may not be expecting to outlast their latest
e-reader gizmo, but it\'s worth mentioning.
On Tuesday, November 24, 2020 at 11:05:07 PM UTC-8, Phil Hobbs wrote:
On 11/23/20 10:08 PM, boB wrote:
On Sun, 22 Nov 2020 17:44:32 -0800, Jeff Liebermann <je...@cruzio.com
wrote:
On Sun, 22 Nov 2020 12:42:21 -0800, boB <b...@K7IQ.com> wrote:
Not bad ! My problem is space... space... space......
I do buy books online sometimes too in PDF form as well as printed
sometimes though.
Trying to downsize. I can\'t throw away or recycle good material that I
\"might\" need to look at some day
Try this exercise. Pick an \"important\" book at random from your shelf
and search the interknot for a free scanned or PDF version of the
book. If you can\'t find those, search for an eBook version in one of
the more common formats. My guess(tm) is that I can find about 75% of
what is on my bookshelf. The nice thing about the electronic versions
is that I can usually search the text for buzzwords. For printed
books, I have to use an index or table of contents. The problem with
scanned books is that the pictures and graphs all look like garbage.
Like everyone else who has spent a lifetime collecting reference
books, recycling them is painful. I\'ve tried to donate them to worthy
organizations, give them away on Freecycle.org, sell them for the cost
of shipping on eBay and Craigs List, and donate them to the local
charities. Nobody want old technical books. So far, I\'ve had the
best luck leaving them in a \"free\" box in front of my office door to
be grabbed by the homeless and possibly university students.
I\'m also trying to downsize. I look online for the book to buy or
downloads. After I determine that the downloaded book is adequate,
the original book disappears from my shelves.
Incidentally, I used to collect technical books from between the start
of WWI and the end of WWII. It\'s not a huge collection, but it does
make interesting reading. Many of the de facto standards used in
today\'s electronics were established during this time. These will be
the last books to be purged from my shelves.
One of my old books that still have and the PDF version is the
Radiotron Designers Book... That is one of the hardback books I just
have to keep.
Good idea to take one at random and look though. I just might try
that !
Of course, paper books last a great deal longer than electronic devices.
Most SED denizens may not be expecting to outlast their latest
e-reader gizmo, but it\'s worth mentioning.
I think the PDF, or DJVU, EPUB, or ______, will pretty much last forever.
On 11/29/20 5:44 PM, Simon S Aysdie wrote:
On Tuesday, November 24, 2020 at 11:05:07 PM UTC-8, Phil Hobbs wrote:
On 11/23/20 10:08 PM, boB wrote:
On Sun, 22 Nov 2020 17:44:32 -0800, Jeff Liebermann <je...@cruzio.com
wrote:
On Sun, 22 Nov 2020 12:42:21 -0800, boB <b...@K7IQ.com> wrote:
Not bad ! My problem is space... space... space......
I do buy books online sometimes too in PDF form as well as printed
sometimes though.
Trying to downsize. I can\'t throw away or recycle good material that I
\"might\" need to look at some day
Try this exercise. Pick an \"important\" book at random from your shelf
and search the interknot for a free scanned or PDF version of the
book. If you can\'t find those, search for an eBook version in one of
the more common formats. My guess(tm) is that I can find about 75% of
what is on my bookshelf. The nice thing about the electronic versions
is that I can usually search the text for buzzwords. For printed
books, I have to use an index or table of contents. The problem with
scanned books is that the pictures and graphs all look like garbage.
Like everyone else who has spent a lifetime collecting reference
books, recycling them is painful. I\'ve tried to donate them to worthy
organizations, give them away on Freecycle.org, sell them for the cost
of shipping on eBay and Craigs List, and donate them to the local
charities. Nobody want old technical books. So far, I\'ve had the
best luck leaving them in a \"free\" box in front of my office door to
be grabbed by the homeless and possibly university students.
I\'m also trying to downsize. I look online for the book to buy or
downloads. After I determine that the downloaded book is adequate,
the original book disappears from my shelves.
Incidentally, I used to collect technical books from between the start
of WWI and the end of WWII. It\'s not a huge collection, but it does
make interesting reading. Many of the de facto standards used in
today\'s electronics were established during this time. These will be
the last books to be purged from my shelves.
One of my old books that still have and the PDF version is the
Radiotron Designers Book... That is one of the hardback books I just
have to keep.
Good idea to take one at random and look though. I just might try
that !
Of course, paper books last a great deal longer than electronic devices.
Most SED denizens may not be expecting to outlast their latest
e-reader gizmo, but it\'s worth mentioning.
I think the PDF, or DJVU, EPUB, or ______, will pretty much last forever.
In the sense of from now till the first large EMP event or other
disaster. See e.g. Alexandria, Constantinople, etc.
Maybe Jeff can send some of his old books to https://worldradiohistory.com/.. They\'ll scan them, and they do a *great job* of it. (See https://worldradiohistory.com/Scanning-for-American-Radio-History.htm to see their setup for scanning. It is primo.) While the scans some people do suck, they don\'t need to. I clean my scans up with Paperport.
And I agree with Jeff that the text search of the PDF, after OCR, is a very useful feature, and easier than the manual use of the Index. Plus, with e-search you can find stuff that isn\'t even in the index. I searched my scan of Motchenbacher and Fitchen for \"roller coaster effect\" -- it wasn\'t in the index, but I immediately got it with search and stepped through the different \"finds\" with ease.
I really like my paper books. I make notes in them, and I don\'t like reading books on the computer. But I like the PDFs too. I can take the PDF with me on travel. I can\'t do much of that with paper.
OCRed PDFs as a backup for paper are excellent, I agree. As a
replacement, not so much.
On Sunday, November 29, 2020 at 3:19:11 PM UTC-8, Phil Hobbs wrote:
On 11/29/20 5:44 PM, Simon S Aysdie wrote:
On Tuesday, November 24, 2020 at 11:05:07 PM UTC-8, Phil Hobbs wrote:
On 11/23/20 10:08 PM, boB wrote:
On Sun, 22 Nov 2020 17:44:32 -0800, Jeff Liebermann <je...@cruzio.com
wrote:
On Sun, 22 Nov 2020 12:42:21 -0800, boB <b...@K7IQ.com> wrote:
Not bad ! My problem is space... space... space......
I do buy books online sometimes too in PDF form as well as printed
sometimes though.
Trying to downsize. I can\'t throw away or recycle good material that I
\"might\" need to look at some day
Try this exercise. Pick an \"important\" book at random from your shelf
and search the interknot for a free scanned or PDF version of the
book. If you can\'t find those, search for an eBook version in one of
the more common formats. My guess(tm) is that I can find about 75% of
what is on my bookshelf. The nice thing about the electronic versions
is that I can usually search the text for buzzwords. For printed
books, I have to use an index or table of contents. The problem with
scanned books is that the pictures and graphs all look like garbage.
Like everyone else who has spent a lifetime collecting reference
books, recycling them is painful. I\'ve tried to donate them to worthy
organizations, give them away on Freecycle.org, sell them for the cost
of shipping on eBay and Craigs List, and donate them to the local
charities. Nobody want old technical books. So far, I\'ve had the
best luck leaving them in a \"free\" box in front of my office door to
be grabbed by the homeless and possibly university students.
I\'m also trying to downsize. I look online for the book to buy or
downloads. After I determine that the downloaded book is adequate,
the original book disappears from my shelves.
Incidentally, I used to collect technical books from between the start
of WWI and the end of WWII. It\'s not a huge collection, but it does
make interesting reading. Many of the de facto standards used in
today\'s electronics were established during this time. These will be
the last books to be purged from my shelves.
One of my old books that still have and the PDF version is the
Radiotron Designers Book... That is one of the hardback books I just
have to keep.
Good idea to take one at random and look though. I just might try
that !
Of course, paper books last a great deal longer than electronic devices.
Most SED denizens may not be expecting to outlast their latest
e-reader gizmo, but it\'s worth mentioning.
I think the PDF, or DJVU, EPUB, or ______, will pretty much last forever.
In the sense of from now till the first large EMP event or other
disaster. See e.g. Alexandria, Constantinople, etc.
Maybe Jeff can send some of his old books to https://worldradiohistory.com/.. They\'ll scan them, and they do a *great job* of it. (See https://worldradiohistory.com/Scanning-for-American-Radio-History.htm to see their setup for scanning. It is primo.) While the scans some people do suck, they don\'t need to. I clean my scans up with Paperport.
And I agree with Jeff that the text search of the PDF, after OCR, is a very useful feature, and easier than the manual use of the Index. Plus, with e-search you can find stuff that isn\'t even in the index. I searched my scan of Motchenbacher and Fitchen for \"roller coaster effect\" -- it wasn\'t in the index, but I immediately got it with search and stepped through the different \"finds\" with ease.
I really like my paper books. I make notes in them, and I don\'t like reading books on the computer. But I like the PDFs too. I can take the PDF with me on travel. I can\'t do much of that with paper.
OCRed PDFs as a backup for paper are excellent, I agree. As a
replacement, not so much.
I\'ll give an example. I recently found, after 15-20 years of looking, Darlington\'s 1939 paper \"Synthesis of Reactance 4-poles.\" This little Bell pamphlet is on acid paper, very yellowed, and is very fragile. It also seems to be rare in any form. So I scanned-in the whole thing at either 300 or 400 dpi BW. I then cleaned up my scan work further with Paperport, and also copied the 6x9 pages onto 8.5x11 pages (also with Paperport). (I need to re-do the centering--I have a better method now, but it is good enough as-is.) Then I printed it double-sided with a laser printer, comb-bound it, and it came out pretty nice. I mean, the laser printer smoothed out most all of the pixelation that can be seen on screen, but even that is not bad. It is as good as a decent \"print on demand.\"
With the 6x9 pages now on 8.5x11 pages, I can make easily make notes in the margins, as the margins are now nice and wide... kind of like legal court decisions. (I have speculated that the reason for wide margins in court decisions was exactly for the purpose of those who come later to make their own notes. But what do I know? It is just my guess.) If I mess a page up, I can reprint it and then re-insert it into the comb. The PDF is searchable, of course.
On Sunday, November 29, 2020 at 3:19:11 PM UTC-8, Phil Hobbs wrote:
On 11/29/20 5:44 PM, Simon S Aysdie wrote:
On Tuesday, November 24, 2020 at 11:05:07 PM UTC-8, Phil Hobbs wrote:
On 11/23/20 10:08 PM, boB wrote:
On Sun, 22 Nov 2020 17:44:32 -0800, Jeff Liebermann <je...@cruzio.com
wrote:
On Sun, 22 Nov 2020 12:42:21 -0800, boB <b...@K7IQ.com> wrote:
Not bad ! My problem is space... space... space......
I do buy books online sometimes too in PDF form as well as printed
sometimes though.
Trying to downsize. I can\'t throw away or recycle good material that I
\"might\" need to look at some day
Try this exercise. Pick an \"important\" book at random from your shelf
and search the interknot for a free scanned or PDF version of the
book. If you can\'t find those, search for an eBook version in one of
the more common formats. My guess(tm) is that I can find about 75% of
what is on my bookshelf. The nice thing about the electronic versions
is that I can usually search the text for buzzwords. For printed
books, I have to use an index or table of contents. The problem with
scanned books is that the pictures and graphs all look like garbage.
Like everyone else who has spent a lifetime collecting reference
books, recycling them is painful. I\'ve tried to donate them to worthy
organizations, give them away on Freecycle.org, sell them for the cost
of shipping on eBay and Craigs List, and donate them to the local
charities. Nobody want old technical books. So far, I\'ve had the
best luck leaving them in a \"free\" box in front of my office door to
be grabbed by the homeless and possibly university students.
I\'m also trying to downsize. I look online for the book to buy or
downloads. After I determine that the downloaded book is adequate,
the original book disappears from my shelves.
Incidentally, I used to collect technical books from between the start
of WWI and the end of WWII. It\'s not a huge collection, but it does
make interesting reading. Many of the de facto standards used in
today\'s electronics were established during this time. These will be
the last books to be purged from my shelves.
One of my old books that still have and the PDF version is the
Radiotron Designers Book... That is one of the hardback books I just
have to keep.
Good idea to take one at random and look though. I just might try
that !
Of course, paper books last a great deal longer than electronic devices.
Most SED denizens may not be expecting to outlast their latest
e-reader gizmo, but it\'s worth mentioning.
I think the PDF, or DJVU, EPUB, or ______, will pretty much last forever.
In the sense of from now till the first large EMP event or other
disaster. See e.g. Alexandria, Constantinople, etc.
Maybe Jeff can send some of his old books to https://worldradiohistory.com/.. They\'ll scan them, and they do a *great job* of it. (See https://worldradiohistory.com/Scanning-for-American-Radio-History.htm to see their setup for scanning. It is primo.) While the scans some people do suck, they don\'t need to. I clean my scans up with Paperport.
And I agree with Jeff that the text search of the PDF, after OCR, is a very useful feature, and easier than the manual use of the Index. Plus, with e-search you can find stuff that isn\'t even in the index. I searched my scan of Motchenbacher and Fitchen for \"roller coaster effect\" -- it wasn\'t in the index, but I immediately got it with search and stepped through the different \"finds\" with ease.
I really like my paper books. I make notes in them, and I don\'t like reading books on the computer. But I like the PDFs too. I can take the PDF with me on travel. I can\'t do much of that with paper.
OCRed PDFs as a backup for paper are excellent, I agree. As a
replacement, not so much.
I\'ll give an example. I recently found, after 15-20 years of looking, Darlington\'s 1939 paper \"Synthesis of Reactance 4-poles.\" This little Bell pamphlet is on acid paper, very yellowed, and is very fragile. It also seems to be rare in any form. So I scanned-in the whole thing at either 300 or 400 dpi BW. I then cleaned up my scan work further with Paperport, and also copied the 6x9 pages onto 8.5x11 pages (also with Paperport). (I need to re-do the centering--I have a better method now, but it is good enough as-is.) Then I printed it double-sided with a laser printer, comb-bound it, and it came out pretty nice. I mean, the laser printer smoothed out most all of the pixelation that can be seen on screen, but even that is not bad. It is as good as a decent \"print on demand.\"
With the 6x9 pages now on 8.5x11 pages, I can make easily make notes in the margins, as the margins are now nice and wide... kind of like legal court decisions. (I have speculated that the reason for wide margins in court decisions was exactly for the purpose of those who come later to make their own notes. But what do I know? It is just my guess.) If I mess a page up, I can reprint it and then re-insert it into the comb. The PDF is searchable, of course.