The Personal Computer Division White Papers

[+Ksarul]

4 minutes ago, Ed in SoDak said:

For the plastic finger binders, there's a tool that spreads the fingers all at once for easily inserting and removing the pages singly or all at once. That would speed the copying process since you wouldn't have to deal with flipping each page through the binder's fingers while trying not to snag the holes. The black backing sheet could be taped to a flat surface, then just lay each page in turn on the black and click!

 

For those who are printing their own pages to build a booklet, they make a special perforator that punches all those rectangular holes in one chomp. The plastic binders come in several sizes depending on how many sheets they will hold.

I keep one of the multifunction tools at my desk that spreads the combs open and that will also perforate the pages. I get a lot of strange looks in its direction from folks coming to my cube who have no idea what it is or does. . .

[Ed in SoDak]

 

12 minutes ago, Ksarul said:

I keep one of the multifunction tools at my desk that spreads the combs open and that will also perforate the pages. I get a lot of strange looks in its direction from folks coming to my cube who have no idea what it is or does. . .

I don't blame them. It looks more like a torture device than an office tool.  I had forgotten the big perforator also did the comb spreading. Big honkin' piece of kit!

[+FarmerPotato]

On 1/24/2020 at 8:14 PM, Toucan said:

Oh shoot. Just looked more in the box and found these green books:

 

• "TI BASIC Interpreter System Documentation"....WRITTEN BY Robert B. Greenberg of Microsoft (8/24/1978).
• "Specification of a TI standard for the BASIC Language" (6/9/1978)

And another crazy thing:

 

A 9/9/1977 dated transparencies that show the TI computer. Looks more like a game system at this point. With disc controllers, like an Intellivision. Also shows some planned peripherals. All drawings of course. 

 

 

This is the thing I'm most interested in reading! We had a fruitful discussion last year, searching for how TI BASIC was written (to put the Greenberg rumor to rest). We need to bring these documents into evidence!

 

I'm with kl99 on this. 

[Omega-TI]

I've added this topic to the << BEST THREADS LIST >>

As always, if you have any favorite or candidates you think that should be in the list, please let me know and I'll include them.

[fabrice montupet]

So we can imagine that the Dimension 1 could look like to this:

 

 

 

[Toucan]

56 minutes ago, fabrice montupet said:

So we can imagine that the Dimension 1 could look like to this:

 

 

 

Awesome! I would love to see the Joysticks in color as well. Also, I didn't check, but weren't the keys slightly different? I think the question mark was next to the Enter button.

Edited January 26, 2020 by Toucan

[Omega-TI]

Looks nice, although it would look better with a 4/A keyboard.

[+Allan]

Please scan this stuff on a scanner. It's one of a kind find. Do you have access to a flatbed scanner?

 

Allan

 

[Ed in SoDak]

These days, a modern phone is about the equivalent in terms of resolution and is likely less invasive to the originals. Plus, he may not have a current flatbed, but who doesn't have a phone? Just make sure it's held parallel and not too close to avoid lens distortion. Set exposure for a decent white without bleeding out the inks.

 

I appreciate all the effort it takes to share it all, whichever method is employed.

-Ed

 

 

[+Allan]

3 minutes ago, Ed in SoDak said:

These days, a modern phone is about the equivalent in terms of resolution and is likely less invasive to the originals. Plus, he may not have a current flatbed, but who doesn't have a phone? Just make sure it's held parallel and not too close to avoid lens distortion. Set exposure for a decent white without bleeding out the inks.

 

I appreciate all the effort it takes to share it all, whichever method is employed.

-Ed

 

 

Please don't take this personally. I value anyones opinion but I have to disagree with this. I have scanned thousands of documents and although cameras on modern top-of-the-line phones are great, they are in no way a substitute for a scanner when high-res scanning of documents. These are pretty important historical documents and it would be a shame if they could not be scanned. I would even pitch in for a cheap flatbed scanner if he doesn't have access to one. A 15 year old cheap scanner will still do a much better job than the best of todays cameras.

[Ed in SoDak]

We both might have lots of experience in archiving. Mine dates back to newspaper process cameras in the '70s but my newest digital flatbed is admittedly old-tech now. It's really up to Toucan what he feels comfortable with.

-Ed

[wierd_w]

I have a few old flatbeds sitting in storage. Dug out a microtek one not that long ago.  It can be "convinced" to work even on windows 10 with some prodding.

[+chue]

With a scanner you’ll get much better lighting of the doc, as well as a near perfect angle of image. Hard to do these with a phone, imho.

[Omega-TI]

Considering their historical and educational value to our small community, he may not want to risk their loss or damage by letting such a valuable gift to him out of his sight, if only out of respect to the donor.  That's why I didn't offer my services, however if asked, I'd step up to do a document or two.

[Airshack]

Okay! Thank you from the bottom of my heart but come on! 
 

Please scan everything and post it all.

 

This conversation will be much better if everyone has a copy. Thanks in advance.

 

Seriously needs to be archived and distributed. You have a nice gift for us all in your possession. Good going!

[+OLD CS1]

There are professional archival services which can retain the integrity of the original documents (bindings, etc.)  I would be willing to pitch in for the use of such a service.  I understand the risk of loss or accident; perhaps submit to a service after the pages are photographed or otherwise digitized in whatever mean possible.

[Toucan]

2 hours ago, Airshack said:

Okay! Thank you from the bottom of my heart but come on! 
 

Please scan everything and post it all.

 

This conversation will be much better if everyone has a copy. Thanks in advance.

 

Seriously needs to be archived and distributed. You have a nice gift for us all in your possession. Good going!

I plan on scanning it, but it could be a while since it's about 100 pages. Yes, I do have a flatbed scanner, just going to take some time.

[jrhodes]

1 hour ago, Toucan said:

I plan on scanning it, but it could be a while since it's about 100 pages. Yes, I do have a flatbed scanner, just going to take some time.

Good old time;

The universal currency everyone never seems to have enough of.

[Airshack]

On 1/25/2020 at 12:12 PM, ti99iuc said:

the Colecovision also has the same connector of the power supply

Don't plug the TI charger into the Colecovision unit unless you want BAD things to happen. A little bird named Sparky told me so. 

[Airshack]

On 1/25/2020 at 5:37 PM, Toucan said:

I could start taking pics of the entire book this way as it's probably the quickest way to scan it without removing the pages and sending it through a public copier (worried about paper jams and the like).

I recommend an exceptionally easy to use app called Genius Scan to create PDFs directly from the phone camera. Much better than just taking photos as the result is a nice multi-page pdf. As long as you keep shooting the pdf grows in size. Extremely fast and simple. Produces quality pdf files. 

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.thegrizzlylabs.geniusscan.free&hl=en_US

iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/genius-scan-pdf-scanner/id377672876

[ti99iuc]

4 hours ago, Airshack said:

Don't plug the TI charger into the Colecovision unit unless you want BAD things to happen. A little bird named Sparky told me so. 

yes of course it has not the same voltages but only same connector  

4 hours ago, Airshack said:

I recommend an exceptionally easy to use app called Genius Scan to create PDFs directly from the phone camera. Much better than just taking photos as the result is a nice multi-page pdf. As long as you keep shooting the pdf grows in size. Extremely fast and simple. Produces quality pdf files. 

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.thegrizzlylabs.geniusscan.free&hl=en_US

iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/genius-scan-pdf-scanner/id377672876

i used it for some documents to send in email but i must say that the quality of the final file is not so high and also much compressed.

 

[Omega-TI]

7 hours ago, Airshack said:

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.thegrizzlylabs.geniusscan.free&hl=en_US

On your advice, I've downloaded the program, but have not yet used it.  It may come in handy some day when I need/want to make something away from home.  Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

[Airshack]

Genius scan will allow you to quickly scan a document to a single monochrome pdf. Much better than hundreds of photos. Probably less quality than a flatbed scanner. It's worth a look. You can probably knock out a 200 page document in twenty minutes.

[Omega-TI]

For documents that large (220+ pages), I'll always use my flat bed as it scans both sides at the same time, using the document feeder.

That's is how I scanned the << MULTIPLAN MANUAL >> a few years ago.  I didn't do any cleanup or adjusting, I just dropped it on and let it scan in, still, it turned out okay.  Now your little program looks like it'll come in real handy for smaller stuff.  I'll be giving it a try in the next few days.

[+FarmerPotato]

19 hours ago, Toucan said:

I plan on scanning it, but it could be a while since it's about 100 pages. Yes, I do have a flatbed scanner, just going to take some time.

If we set you up with an automatic feed scanner, would you be willing to separate all the pages from their binding?

 

I use a Xerox Documate 3220, duplex, that I got open-box for $125, and have scanned hundreds of pages of TI documents.