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Preparing for the Incoming Computer Shopper Tsunami

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Re: Preparing for the Incoming Computer Shopper Tsunami

#41

Post by modriano »

mindcrime wrote: post #14

This... is fugging amazing. No, seriously. It really is. Those of you who are too young to remember the heyday of Computer Shopper won't get it (probably) but that magazine was ... well, as the article says, practically a "bible" to some of us. There was NOTHING like finding the new issue on the news-stand, buying it, and rushing home to pore over the ads, looking for a sweet new motherboard, some RAM, maybe a Sound…

I've been fully spoiled by PCPartPicker [0], which just invisibly filters out parts that aren't compatible with the components already selected for a build. The idea of having to manually keep track of every compatibility check at every component interface sounds like a path to debugging hell. On the other hand, that makes success a far stronger nerdcred signal.

[0] https://pcpartpicker.com/list/

Re: Preparing for the Incoming Computer Shopper Tsunami

#42

Post by textfiles »

coverband wrote: post #32
textfiles wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, people have already contributed thousands for this project, asking for a cutty-cutty machine is a bit much, especially when I'm really getting good with the heat gun.

So many pages were the same unchanged ads in the Shopper every month. Can't you add in some prefiltering for those to reduce the number of pages actually needed to scan? (Sorry for hijacking the thread...)

No

Re: Preparing for the Incoming Computer Shopper Tsunami

#43

Post by textfiles »

reaperman wrote: post #13
bglazer wrote: post #11

I wonder if this would be useful as a dataset for economics research. Lots you could conceivably pull from the ads: fine grained pricing, company formation and destruction, trends in standards for components, performance specs of components over time. All at the time of the Cambrian explosion of computing Also wow this is a gargantuan effort. I scanned thee equivalent of like one issue of Computer Shopper one time an…

For any moderately large scale book scanning effort: https://hackaday.com/2012/11/16/google-books-team-open-sourc...

That prototype "only" damages 70% of the pages.

Re: Preparing for the Incoming Computer Shopper Tsunami

#44

Post by noisy_boy »

textfiles wrote: post #22
noisy_boy wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That way you don't shave off 2-page spreads. A very good point

Also, people have already contributed thousands for this project, asking for a cutty-cutty machine is a bit much, especially when I'm really getting good with the heat gun.

Upvoted with extra strong mouse click on account of cutty-cutty machine.

Re: Preparing for the Incoming Computer Shopper Tsunami

#46

Post by glotchimo »

mindcrime wrote: post #14

This... is fugging amazing. No, seriously. It really is. Those of you who are too young to remember the heyday of Computer Shopper won't get it (probably) but that magazine was ... well, as the article says, practically a "bible" to some of us. There was NOTHING like finding the new issue on the news-stand, buying it, and rushing home to pore over the ads, looking for a sweet new motherboard, some RAM, maybe a Sound…

Whenever asked what period I (a proverbial young person, SWE) would go back to if I had a time machine, I always answer with roughly this period. To be alive during those days to see the development of the shoulders I now stand on would be such a treat, as I’m sure anecdotes like these only scratch the surface of all the stories to be told.

That said, if any of you oldheads have links to such things, do share - always curious to learn more about the beige age. Nostalgia is a hell of a drug and I’m here for that secondhand.

Re: Preparing for the Incoming Computer Shopper Tsunami

#47

Post by keithalewis »

mindcrime wrote: post #35
function_seven wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For those that don't know, a phone book was often about twice as thick as a Thomas Guide. That should help.

And a Thomas Guide was about as thick as 8 or 9 J.C. Whitney catalogs.

That couldn't even fit on a floppy disk. You know, that icon thing kids click on to save things.

Re: Preparing for the Incoming Computer Shopper Tsunami

#49

Post by modernerd »

noisy_boy wrote: post #15

> debinding When I was in school, there was a binding shop nearby which had a huge machine that looked pretty much like a guillotine, only shallower, that just sliced through thick books like butter. They stuck the book in a vice grip, turned a wheel which brought that beautiful sharp heavy blade down on the hopeless book stuck in the grip below and the paper shavings just blossomed out of the other side as the blade…

Hydraulic drive paper cutters are great for high-volume print finishing (I used several in print production for about two years), but I’d be wary of them for this use case:

- Waste is high. To trim off a spine, you likely have to take more of the margin than you’d like (if you trim too close to the edge of a glued spine, the risk is higher that you may bludgeon the stack of pages under pressure instead of cutting it). Not great for double page spreads or Computer Shopper’s anaemic margins.

- Failure rate is non-zero. If you’re cutting a fresh print run, no big deal, you can reprint if you screw up. If you’re cutting rare magazines, you probably don’t want to lose many to slippage or mis-cuts.

- The blade needs regular sharpening, and it’s not something you can easily do in a home workshop, or that you probably want to do (huge heavy razor blades turn out to be quite dangerous).

What _might_ help Jason more is a “thermal binding machine”, designed to bind or debind a glued spine. He could (in theory) leave each mag in the debinder for a set time to heat the glue, then pry the pages free. Not a huge improvement over a hairdryer, but at least more hands-free, especially if people could donate or loan multiple machines.

Re: Preparing for the Incoming Computer Shopper Tsunami

#50

Post by zepolen »

function_seven wrote: post #30
zakki wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think younger people understand your description of how thick Computer Shopper was. Because most likely they don’t know how thick is a phone book ;D

For those that don't know, a phone book was often about twice as thick as a Thomas Guide. That should help.

So around 6 iphones?
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