Manx – a catalog of manuals for old computers | Hacker News Reader

Manx – a catalog of manuals for old computers

manx-docs.org

98 pointsLammy16 comments

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.

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...

Bitsavers[0] is a known source for these kind of documents.

[0] https://bitsavers.org

Missing the absolute greatest of all time:

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/959633/Commodore-Vic-20.ht...

What makes this the greatest?

It's a real computer, for the price of a toy.

The VIC-20 manual is regarded as the best manual ever written to turn a user into a programmer.

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.

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.

What are some of the most beautiful manuals you've seen?

I love old manuals. I partially answered that question here: https://passo.uno/why-collect-read-old-computer-manuals/

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

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.

I was hoping they had one for a Tandy RLX 1000, I may be mis remembering the number

No chineual? Sad.

...based on the Isle of Man?

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