Jump to content
Have You Played Atari Today?
2600|5200|7800|Lynx|Jaguar|Forums|Store  

Kirkland

New Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content Count

    47

  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by Kirkland

  1. Posted

    I’ve got a 710005-1A manual with the somewhat standard “flying lizards with missiles” cover..

    and a 700005-1C manual with the pterodactyl cover.

     

    Was there a “B” revision, and if so what is it? And any way to tell it apart when scrounging on eBay?

  2. Posted · Edited by Kirkland
    examples

    Thanks for the offer- we'll see where I'm at in a couple months- I've gained on my missing list the last few weeks..

    With my scanner I typically scan at 800dpi (or 1600dpi for SNES).  This allows plenty of resolution for editing and then downscaling for 4K monitors.  At 600dpi, a (roughly) 7" tall manual would translate to 4200 pixels, which is future proof for 8K monitors, plenty for printing, and scales down quite well to a pixel height of 2180.  When you scan at 300dpi, you are already fighting for resolution that is too close to the output dimensions, so any resizing doesn't have enough data for interpolating to make a high quality image.  And if you throw in jpeg compression, you've already shot yourself in the foot.

    Yes, scans can be noisy and prone to moire.  I've used Sattva descreening for ages.

    Line art and grayscale can easily shoot to 2400dpi.  600dpi is a happy medium between my overkill and preserving a quality image- I've been fighting to redo all the Atari manuals because everyone thought 800 pixel high images of stained pages was "good enough".  Now some of these manuals are impossible, and too expensive, to get ahold of- and most hardcore collectors don't want to devalue what they have for the benefit of the masses.

    For a real world example, here is what everyone has:

    http://www.thevgatv.com/resources/2600-encyclopedia/2600-Warlords-(Atari-w)-(U).pdf

    And this is what I make:

    http://www.atensionspan.com/Warlords (Atari) [REV. 2] [4k].pdf

    Not everything gets the full rebuild, but I would rather not have to do this twice.

    As for high resolution "noise".. I'm ok with this:

    http://www.atensionspan.com/Warlords (Atari) [REV. 2]_01.jpg

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 1

  3. Posted · Edited by Kirkland

    Scans of the US Odyssey 2 manuals don't seem to exist.  I'd like to help remedy that situation.

    I currently have manuals for about 2/3 the US releases, but due to other projects, I would like to avoid dropping cash to collect what others might be able to submit.

    Would anyone be interested in scanning their manuals (especially rarer ones) so I could concentrate on purchasing what needs to be bought?

    I have zero skin in the game- I am not an O2 collector by any means, but I am just flabbergasted that after all of these years nothing exists except typed up instructions.

    Sure- "just get the Europeon versions"  Really?  They suck.

    There is still some low hanging fruit on ebay on the following list (grabbed 7 after much internal debate)

     

    Looking for 600dpi scans of:

    Alien Invaders - Plus!
    Alpine Skiing!
    Armored Encounter! / Subchase!
    Baseball!
    Blockout! / Breakdown!
    Bowling! / Basketball!
    Casino Slot Machine!
    *Computer Intro!
    Computer Golf!
    *Conquest of the World
    Cosmic Conflict!
    Dynasty!
    Electronic Table Soccer! (bought)
    Football!
    Freedom Fighters! (bought)
    *The Great Wall Street Fortune Hunt
    Hockey! / Soccer!
    Invaders from Hyperspace!
    I've Got Your Number!
    K.C.'s Krazy Chase! (bought)
    K.C. Munchkin!
    Keyboard Creations!
    Killer Bees!     [scan on archive.org is fine]
    Las Vegas Blackjack!
    Matchmaker! / Buzzword! / Logix! (bought)
    Math-A-Magic! / Echo!
    Monkeyshines!
    Nimble Numbers Ned! (and Math Wizardry book)
    Out of this World! / Helicopter Rescue! (bought)
    P.T. Barnum's Acrobats!
    Pachinko!
    Pick Axe Pete! (bought)
    Pocket Billiards!
    Power Lords (yes, there is a scan out there, but I'd prefer a higher resolution one)
    *Quest for the Rings (bought)
    Showdown in 2100 A.D.
    Sid the Spellbinder! (and Word Book)
    Smithereens!
    Speedway! / Spin-out! / Cryptologic!
    Take the Money and Run!
    Attack of the Timelord!
    Thunderball!
    Turtles! (bought)
    Type & Tell!
    UFO!
    Volleyball!
    War of Nerves! [scan on archive.org is fine]
    Atlantis
    Demon Attack

     

    *=I get the sneaky suspicion I will end up having to buy these just to scan the manual/boards/extras to my satisfaction.

    On that note, if someone is interested in these remaining ones, I would consider a good discount on what I'll end up paying for it on ebay- for example, looking at that NIB Wall street for $115..

    If anyone wants it for $85, I'll gladly recoup my losses and send it on.  I don't mind paying $30 for a scan of that one, I just hate dropping $30-$40 (looking at you, Smithereens and Keyboard Creations) for something I have no use for.

     

    • Thanks 1

  5. Posted

    If you had Superman next on your Bingo card, you would be a winner...

    http://www.atensionspan.com/Superman (Atari) [REV. 2] [4k].pdf

     

    and the covershot:

    http://www.atensionspan.com/Superman (Atari)_01.jpg

     

    I've always considered this revision of the Superman manual one of the best examples of "peak Atari manual".  After this they diverged into the silver/gray versions that are a pain to clean up (still awesome inside though), but then it was posters (bleh for digitizing), the odd-sized Pengo/Crystal Castles/etc. ones, before finally devolving into black & white copies and the woefully sub-par 7800-like versions.  When I get around to those later 7800-era releases, I'm planning on doing a set with color covers based on the box art just to do them some justice.

     

    Also looking for international/multilanguage versions of Human Cannonball, Millipede (color), Miniature Golf, Othello, Pigs in Space, Snoopy and the Red Baron, Sorcerer's Apprentice, Space War

     

    image.thumb.png.d9aea5d6fd6fbb30577873b06ad3ba87.png

    Anyone know if there was international versions of Oscar's Trash Race, Flag Capture, or Home Run?

     

    Hooking the scanner setup back up tomorrow, so only progress on the backside for awhile.

     

    • Like 3

  8. Posted · Edited by Kirkland
    some clarification

    A couple quick examples of the rebuild process.  I only redo the table of contents and section headers through the manuals (and top of page headers for page alignment consistency)

    First you type over top of the original: (Note the screen printing dots of the original text- horrible for compression)

    TOC1.thumb.jpg.a38f50129804b79dcf182b8fe13bcf35.jpg

     

    Then you manually kern the text (using Alt + left or right on *each character*)

     

    TOC2.thumb.jpg.bcbf0ef116f909fb9a9c65b250563911.jpg

    Then you wiggle the black lines to match, change the text color to match the Blur->Average of the original "Table of Contents" text, then completely white out the background.

     

    TOC3.thumb.jpg.0dc24595de10a1aac9292b30ecfdc517.jpg

     

    Even just this little section of the page went from 635K to 248K as a jpg, on the original TIFFs the size difference is huge.

    I'd like to think this gets it about as close as possible to the original intent of the designers, as opposed to the results of the printing process.  I'm 99% committed to accurate preservation, but this is where I dodge a half step into these being a digital representation of the original.  We're at the mercy of scanner optics and color profiles and individual monitor brightness and ink fade and some shaggy-ass cheap pulp paper stock.  Just doing what I can with what I've got.

     

    http://www.atensionspan.com/evil/A2600-US-Missing.html

    ^^ If you've got spares you are willing to sell, this is my current "known missing" list.  There are plenty of others I need to track down cover images of to even add to this  (and I have a bunch of international I'd like to hunt down, and oddball revisions).  As long as the cover images are good, I can easily accommodate folds, tears, some writing, and ratty edges- most of times the inside of manuals are just fine.

     

    • Like 2

  9. Posted

    This is what I'm talking about...

    http://www.atensionspan.com/Video Olympics (Atari)_01.jpg

    Why yes, that sumbitch is is only 3.3MB.

    http://www.atensionspan.com/Warlords (Atari) [REV. 2]_01.jpg

    There is no font for Warlord's goofy text, and honestly I've spent too much time on just the cover already.  Wouldn't take too long to properly fix but it looked good enough when resized..

    http://www.atensionspan.com/Video Pinball (Atari)_01.jpg

    Cover was a little scruffy.  It is what it is.  But at least the cover font is Bauhaus (Yay!)

     

    If I go through and scrub the bejeezus out of a page so it's just the text and images, file sizes get *amazingly* small.  I can't imagine how functionally tiny these manuals would be if the text was retyped vs using the scanned text.  I currently select a color range of 200 on pure black in Photoshop to select text, then inverse it to white out 99% of the paper that shows up in a scan, leaving the images and text.  While this does wonders for legibility vs the original, that text itself is all over the place when it comes to compression.  Oh, and that timekill thing again...

     

    I'm always tempted to just power through my scans, do a quick mask to make them 5"x7" (on the majority of these), quick white balance using levels (cheating just like Epson scan), maybe do some quick and dirty descreening and call it good.  But when I look at all the half-assed, low-res crap out on the web I just know that while it would be better than what's out there, I would be nagged forever that no one will ever ever take the time to make them better- and I had the opportunity and skills to do it right the first time.  OCD [email protected]

     

    ..and to make it worse I have a backlog of plenty of Atari 2600, 200+ NES manuals, 700 SNES manuals (yes, all but 15 or so spendy mofos now), 1800 PS2 manuals (to scan), a bunch of Intellivision, and Colecovision, and 300+ Genesis, 130 N64,  125+ Gamecube, 300+ XBox manuals, and a bunch of oddities and other obscure systems to go.  Eventually I will just have to draw the line.  There isn't enough hours in the day and it does no good sitting in my basement (or hard drive for what I've scanned already).
     

    Playstation 2 covers

    ^^ Click if you dare.  So yes, I know it is possible.  And also yes, they get bigger if you click on them.

     

    Bah.  I'm going to bed :P

    • Like 1

  11. Posted

    So a couple free days and a couple more for the pile...

    I know this is one you've all been waiting for.

    http://www.atensionspan.com/Word Zapper (U.S. Games) [4k].pdf

     

    But then seriously, I've always thought the existing scan of Warlords done it dirty.  Finally, some due justice for this original classic.

    http://www.atensionspan.com/Warlords (Atari) [REV. 2] [4k].pdf

     

    And last, but definitely not least, is Yars' Revenge.

    http://www.atensionspan.com/Yars' Revenge (Atari) [4k].pdf

     

    On these I start out with 800dpi 48bit RAW full page scans from de-stapled manual pages.  In this case Yars was 1.89GB for the TIFFs.

    Then I chop them down into individual pages and clean them up (quite the time kill) which was then 193MB for Yars' TIFFs.

    I then resize to 96dpi and "x by 2160" (this makes for 1:1 pixels when the pdf is full-screened on a 4k monitor).  That set of TIFFs was 31MB.

    Slapped it into a pdf and it shrunk to 5.5MB.

     

    So my question is, is there interest in *jpegs* of the cleaned up 800dpi files?  In this case Yars was only 25MB.  The small pdf version makes sense because it is right-sized for emulator/front-end usage, but I know some of you are quality guys and might have an interest in the bigger images.  It's still jpegs, but resolution is king.  My only concern (petty at that) is that people will instantly repackage my originals into watermarked versions for other sites (*cough* emumovies *cough* atarimania *cough*) whereas the pdfs I make aren't watermarked in any way, properly attribute the copyright, have the model number and manual revision, and slide my name as the source (for the hours of work I put into these).

     

    • Like 3
    • Thanks 1
    • Haha 1

  13. Posted

    I never noticed a color version of the manual floating around when I was looking for it.  4K goodiness.

    http://www.atensionspan.com/Gravitar (Atari) [4k].pdf

    Cover was a little scratchy, and of course once you start touching things up then it's a "custom" manual.  At least I'm happy with the gradient at the top now so I can apply it on projects going forward..

     

    Keepin' it clean and watermark free *cough* .. and at a viable resolution 😛

    • Like 7
    • Thanks 2

  14. Posted

    Since the printed rainbow arc of "2/3/ / /6" layout closely resembles the year+month format found on later manuals, I always assumed that was just the month it was printed.  They were unlikely to do multiple full production runs within the same month, so that would be easy enough to track down which production run was which.  Would help if there was some with 7-12 prints out there as well for verification...

  15. Posted

    Minor update (aka progress report)

     

    I've sourced a decent chunk of the Atari (TM) manuals.  There are a ton of ugly placeholders, but it gives an idea of progress. (green=have, yellow=exists, red=verify/hunt, blue=bad scan- very few marked of what I actually have)

    http://www.atensionspan.com/A26/Atari_2600_Manuals-International_Kirkland-pics.xlsx

     

    Still waiting on overseas shipping for a handful, but a little sample of what has been scanned so far:

    http://www.atensionspan.com/A26/

     

    There's still a good stack to go for scanning, then it's back to the 3rd parties for awhile.

    (known) Missing:

    http://www.atensionspan.com/evil/a26/

    Doesn't include a bunch of reprints, etc- mostly for my own quick reference

     

  16. Posted · Edited by Kirkland

    Because I'm not allowed to get bored, I've begun a very preliminary listing of manual revisions I either have, have scans of, or have noticed out in the wild.  Obviously, it would be great to crowdsource some fresh eyes while all of us are experiencing a pandemic and are stuck at home with our vast collections.  I know some of you are quite proud of your collections and knowledge on these matters, and I'd love to get some feedback/assistance to fill in the blanks.  I stumbled onto Ballblazer's excellent Atari & Sears list (from another site) over the weekend, so I've slowly been plugging a bunch of holes in my data.

    Preliminary spreadsheet attached:

    If an item has a "Y", that manual exists in the wild, and should have an empty yellow placeholder under it for a part number/revision.  If the yellow is filled in with a number (or "(none)"), then I have a crappy scan of it.  If it's green, then I own it and most likely have a raw 800dpi scan sitting around. (Did I say that out loud? That's the next project *cough*)

    The "one hit wonders" and "PAL-only/Pirate" companies are mostly just placeholders for now- stick to the major 3rd parties until I can fill those sections out properly.  I'm slowly going through AtariAge, AtariMania, AtariBoxed, Atari Compendium, thevgatv.com, wikipedia, etc. to build those sections out eventually.

    Hit me up if you can assist, or are willing to part with some of your duplicates for me to buy and scan.

    My (known) missing list:

    Atari 2600 Missing list

     

    I'm also hunting for international color multi-language manuals (anything in yellow on the International Big Book/Newer columns).

    Atari_2600_Manuals-International_Kirkland.xlsx

    • Like 2

  17. Posted

    Ahh.. one of my favorite Christmas stories.  As told by my mother...  to my new wife when I was 20 (in 1994).

    Summer 1983- I was nine, and I was the video game king of the area.  I shoveled my allowance into the local arcade.  I was a sucker for the likes of Donkey Kong Jr., Roc n Rope, Time Pilot, Sinistar, Mario Bros., Excitebike, Defender, and Mr. Do.  I begged and pleaded for an Atari for my birthday (mid-June) and begged and pleaded more.  Growing up on a farm, we didn't have fancy pants electronics and were used to doing without the finer things, but I argued an investment in this would save money in the long run.  In the end, I was denied.  It was unfair to spend $300 on a system for just me with my older sister's birthday a few months away and she would merit $300 then and it was just far too much money.

    As Christmas approached, a few boxes of a familiar shape arrived under the tree.  Some for me, some for my mother, a couple for dad, and a few for my sister.  Odd.. that we would get similar sized gifts.

    And as Christmas arrived, Santa dropped a big ass box in the middle of the living room.

    I tore into my presents- Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Missile Command, and E.T.; Mom opened Sky Diver and Indy 500; my sister had Super Breakout and Slot Racers; Dad had Raiders of the Lost Ark, Berzerk, and Yar's Revenge.  (I might be off a game or two, but these are the boxes I still have in the basement).  And from Santa: a beautiful Sears Video Arcade System II.

    Holy [email protected]#!

    So my dad, a 45 year old farmer, spent time going through the manuals and fiddling with the TV until we got things hooked up.  I played all morning until mid-afternoon.  It was *glorious*.

    Then my dad, who scowled at my foolish game playing, asked if he could try playing a few.  I walked him through the controls, pointed out stuff in the manuals, put it on kiddie mode ("I think I can play as an adult"), and he proceeded to DESTROY ME IN EVERY GAME.

    [email protected]#$  I AM THE GAMESMASTER!

    And this guy who drives a tractor ran loops around me (full disclosure: he was in the Army for 4 years when he was 18, and flew a Cessna plane).  It took until the following summer to get to his level.  And by then we had Warlords, Canyon Bomber, Star Raiders, Superman, Outlaw, and later the Swordquest games and Asteroids.  The video game crash of '83 blessed our local Alco store with loads of cheap family entertainment.

    .......

    So then my mom continues on- "...and do you remember when you came home from school early once that September and I met you at the door and shooed you back outside?  That's because your Dad was busy yanking the Atari out of the living room and jamming it under our bed.  You see, we DID get you that Atari for your birthday, but Dad didn't want to look like a hick farmer to his son, so he hooked it up and tried out one of the games.  And from June 1st until December 24th, when he wasn't out working in the fields or with the livestock, he was glued to the TV playing video games the moment you kids left for school.  We started out with just Pac Man and Space Invaders, but once they started getting cheap at True Value and Alco, your Dad was all 'one more won't hurt'."

    I was stunned.  And to this day, my old man was awesome.

     

    • Like 8
AtariAge
Forums
Store
General
Follow AtariAge

Copyright ©1998-2021 AtariAge

×
×
  • Create New...