[HN Gopher] Manx - a catalog of manuals for old computers
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       Manx - a catalog of manuals for old computers
        
       Author : Lammy
       Score  : 83 points
       Date   : 2024-12-23 19:59 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (manx-docs.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (manx-docs.org)
        
       | zellyn wrote:
       | For Apple II, this has hardly any. If you're looking for some,
       | good places to start are:
       | 
       | * Internet Archive
       | 
       | * http://mirrors.apple2.org.za and especially
       | http://mirrors.apple2.org.za/Apple%20II%20Documentation%20Pr...
        
       | jmclnx wrote:
       | Too bad no Wang Labs manuals were saved. They were quite nice,
       | came in binders and easy to replace pages. Even the PCs were like
       | that.
       | 
       | I had a few but they went into the trash when I moved.
        
       | siltcakes wrote:
       | Missing the absolute greatest of all time:
       | 
       | https://www.manualslib.com/manual/959633/Commodore-Vic-20.ht...
        
         | atorodius wrote:
         | What makes this the greatest?
        
           | tdeck wrote:
           | It's a real computer, for the price of a toy.
        
           | philistine wrote:
           | The VIC-20 manual is regarded as the best manual ever written
           | to turn a user into a programmer.
        
       | neilv wrote:
       | Is this site the best starting point for all brands?
       | 
       | The brands I looked at, this site has on the order of 1% (or
       | less) of manuals that existed. And the manual I tried to open was
       | just a placeholder entry, saying that there is no known copy
       | online.
       | 
       | For some niches (like for particular brands, or for a category
       | like terminals), there are much more manuals already collected in
       | a single place online.
        
       | neilv wrote:
       | Idea: some public interest or government library project should
       | reach out to companies and get good source digital copies of
       | historical manuals that no longer have commercial value.
       | 
       | Not just random so-so scans with OCR. Sun, HP, and IBM, for
       | example, had good online digital copies of many manuals,
       | including made accessible to customers. Others looked like they
       | might've produced their manuals entirely electronically, often
       | using well-known tools that are still available today.
       | 
       | Some notable companies that no longer exist were acquired by
       | companies that still exist, and who have customers of the kind
       | that make you retain stuff.
       | 
       | For example, Boeing used Apollo Domain systems, and then HP
       | acquired them, and now maybe HPE(?) has all those assets and
       | didn't just throw them away? (Or, for that matter, Boeing might
       | still have a lot of Apollo Computer stuff archived itself.)
       | 
       | For another example, Oracle might still have all of Sun's stuff.
       | I recall at one point the manuals looked like they came out of
       | FrameMaker, and then Sun was pushing NeWS (building on
       | PostScript) so maybe getting "archival" PDF today would be easy?
       | 
       | DEC manuals are very noteworthy, but started much earlier, and
       | there was quite a series of acquisitions journey, but maybe some
       | of the document source survived?
       | 
       | I don't know about IBM mainframe and minicomputer manuals, but
       | IBM was great about documentation in other areas, so hopefully
       | that isn't being lost.
        
       | MaximilianEmel wrote:
       | What are some of the most beautiful manuals you've seen?
        
         | remoquete wrote:
         | I love old manuals. I partially answered that question here:
         | https://passo.uno/why-collect-read-old-computer-manuals/
        
         | jazzyjackson wrote:
         | While I don't have a collection, I'm quite partial to the
         | manual that came with my Nikon Rangefinder. It's surprisingly
         | pithy and practical for someone who's never loaded, focused,
         | and metered a camera before, with helpful graphics and photos
         | and diagrams throughout.
         | 
         | DON'T FORGET TO REMOVE LENS CAP!
         | 
         | https://www.cameramanuals.org/nikon_pdf/nikon_sp.pdf
        
         | zellyn wrote:
         | It's ugly as anything, with xeroxes of mismatched assembly
         | listings, but the Apple II Red Book is one of the most
         | beautiful manuals ever. It told you so much about the ROM
         | routines, and inside the back cover was a fold-out circuit
         | diagram of the entire board.
        
       | dtagames wrote:
       | Bitsavers[0] is a known source for these kind of documents.
       | 
       | [0] https://bitsavers.org
        
       | b800h wrote:
       | ...based on the Isle of Man?
        
       | pfdietz wrote:
       | No chineual? Sad.
        
       | iancmceachern wrote:
       | I was hoping they had one for a Tandy RLX 1000, I may be mis
       | remembering the number
        
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       (page generated 2024-12-24 23:01 UTC)