Question about PDF manipulation

[Tony Duell]

> I have plenty of S100 memory boards that would take more than a day to 
> figure out without a manual.  Many boards use programmable logic devices 

To be brutal, you have no idea how long it would take me to work it out. 
Not having worked on an S100 system for some years, the first one would 
take me a fair time (becuase I'd be forever looking up the pinouts, etc), 
the second one would go a lot quicker...

> where you can't tell what they do by looking at them.  I have several 
> MacroTech RAM cards that would take days to figure out but only take minutes 
> with a manual (they have around 30 jumpers spread around the boards).

But if that manual takes a couple of days to print out, it may not be 
worth it. particularly if that manual _doesn't_ contain real technical 
info like schematics. If I worked out the details for myself, I would end 
up with full schematics.


> 
> The point to a PDF document is that for almost everyone with a computer on 
> this planet they can view the document on the screen.
> 
> PDF's being posted by people like myself is not meant to please everyone, I 
> am happy knowing I help some.

True enough, and I am sorry if my message came over as a flame aimed at 
those who spend a lot of their time sharing manuals. I _am_ very grateful 
for bitsavers and similar sites, I do make use of them.

Practically, I have 4 choices : 

1) Get somebody else to provide a machine to download/print the manual. 
Either in an internet cafe, or by asking a friend to burn it onto a 
CD-ROM in exchange for me doing some repairs for them.

2) Obtain the manual some other way, e.g. by buying a paper original

3) Finding some way to download/print it myself. Unlikely to be practical 
(if only becuase of the download time, and because I am nowhere near a 
good enough programmer to write pdf viewer/printer), but you never know

4) Manage without the manual and figure out the info for myself.

Which I do depends on the manual, the product, how much I already know 
about it, etc.

-tony