[sebhc] naming conventions

[Dave Dunfield]

>>  #2 - It does not tell you what machine it's for. I have a number of 
>>emulators, and it's nice if you can tell what machine a file is for ...
>>".DSK" could be for any one.
>
>I was just assuming one would keep separate emulators and their associated 
>software in different locations (folders).  :-)

While this is generally true, it's not uncommon (for me anyway) to come across
a .DSK file on a floppy diskette that I've saved or transported ... It's also
not uncommon to send/receive disk images by email, and if I don't get a "round
tuit" for a while, I may have difficulty recalling what the file was for.



>>[Turns out that 1/2 or more of the documents in the archive are unreadable 
>>to me, which is VERY annoying - I've not seen this anywhere else - and I 
>>download a fair number of PDF's in my line of work]
>
>My version5 reads them but always gives the warning "may contain newer 
>information than this browser can support."   I don't think these have 
>anything fancy in them ... I wonder - is there a simple way to convert them 
>to a more universal format?

I sacrificed one of my P166 test machines this morning, and loaded the Acrobloat
5 reader on it - it reads the file but complains that it may have information
that it can't understand - It takes about 1 munite to respond to any click, which
means it takes a munite to switch to "full page view", then another minute to get
past the title page, another minute to get past each page. Add 3 munites for any
page you want to read (one to zoom in to top, one to go to bottom, and one to go
back to full page display). Since it's a 30+ (IIRC) page document, it would take
several hours just to scroll through the document once - Clearly I cannot use this.

So I decided to print it.

In all, I allowed it to print 4 pages - it took over 1/2 hour per page (yes, over
2 hours to do the four pages):

The four pages I got were:

1 - top half of title page - looks normal (except that it cuts off 1/2 way down,
    just as the image starts).

2 - top half: = top corner of disk unit picture from title page, maginified perhaps
    100 times (All you can see is a bit of the label)
    bottom: grey "blotch", probably another part of the picture.

3 - Word "PAGE 2" about 1.5 inch high.
    Part of the into, letters about 1 inch high, but overlaid on top of each
    other all in all about 12 lines overlapped - just a jumble.

3 - 1st half of heathkit logo, about 2" high. The about another 8-10 lines of
    huge text / overlapped.

So - clearly I cannot view or print it.
Btw, I normally run Acro-4 on this same machine with no trouble - in fact it has my
sheet fed scanner attached and it's where I've scanned and printed many documents -
I also download and print lots of data sheets and other info - never have I run into
this before.

All of the files I've scanned with Adobe 4 can be read with 3, 4 and 5 (and presumably
6 but I don't have it to test). Earlier this year I raised concerns about the readability
of the documents, but I was told to "get in the game".

I find it somewhat funny that a group of people who are dedicated to preserving and
using a computer from the 70's have arranged the archived information so that it is
inaccessable to anyone with a computer or software more than a few weeks old. Many/most
of the people I communicate with regarding "vintage computing equipment" seem to (like
me) have a distain for winblows, especially the more recent offerings, however you guys
appear to be embracing it with arms wide open.

Ok - enough flogging the dead horse - The emulator has reached the point where it
meets my requirements (It simulates capabilities of the actual H8 in my collection),
so I can live without a disk.

Regards,
Dave
-- 
dave04a (at)    Dave Dunfield
dunfield (dot)  Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com
com             Vintage computing equipment collector.
                http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html

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