Something I’ve been wanting to do as I’m reading my way through Origin’s books is to make them available online for anyone who wants them as either scans or ebooks. I’ve benefited enough from other people’s scans so it’s good to contribute something back in return. I also much prefer ebooks to the real thing these days so I’d be doing myself a favour in the process. The major problem with this is that my scanner is, not to put too fine a point on it, crap. Unless I’m prepared to ruin the original book, I end up with anything within an inch of the spine of the book blacked out or completely out of focus.
So, I’ve bought myself a book scanner. At the money I’ve paid, it still won’t be brilliant but it is designed to scan right to the edge meaning that I can scan a book quickly and without ruining it. At least that’s the theory as I’m still waiting for it to be delivered. I’ll see how it works out but the plan is to scan each book as I get to it. I’ll post anything that I think they will accept to replacementdocs, but host it here as well until it’s approved.
In the meanwhile, I’ve got a few ebooks and scans from various sources, most of which are available elsewhere but I’ll host them as well for the sake of convenience. I’ve created a downloads page to link all this stuff from which you should find at the top of the ever-growing menu on the right. For now, there are a load of Wing Commander ebooks, better scans of the U7 and SI cluebooks than those I put up a week or two back, the Official Book of Ultima and the System Shock cluebook.
The Official Book of Ultima and Ultima 7 Cluebook scans look familiar xD
I should look for a “book friendly” scanner because there are some guides and cluebooks I want to scan but that are quite difficult with the scanner i have.
Also, I want to scan the Origin’s Official Guide to Privateer 2 that will be not specially difficult to scan with the scanner I have. As soon as I do it I’ll let you know, biggest problem will be de 2-sided color poster. I’m also one of those that benefited enough from other people’s scans that are trying to contribute something back.
I thought you might recognise them. Thanks for both of those, if you want a credit adding let me know. You ought to submit both of those cluebooks on replacementdocs by the way. They stand much more chance of getting approved than my efforts.
If you want to scan anything in, I’ll certainly be glad of the help. As far as I know, I’ve got a copy of every Origin guide now so I’ll get round to them all eventually but it could take a while.
If you are looking for a book scanner, from what I’ve seen of this one so far you could do a lot worse. Recommended retail was around £180 but this one off Ebay was brand new for £60 which seems like a bargain to me. There is still a slight edge on the scanner so it won’t scan right to the spine but it should be fine for most books. It only took about 15 minutes to scan in the Noctropolis cluebook which is a lot quicker than I’m used to. On the downside, I’m not convinced by the build quality so it may not last much past the warranty and I also hear that the customer support is shocking.
The problem with replacementdocs is that the maximum file size is 7 MB. Anyway, I’m also waiting for the aproval of a couple of manuals uploaded one or two years ago xD
By the way, there is no need to add credit to the manuals 😉
Mirir, it was me who send the cluebooks to Pix. Hope you don’t mind.
Not at all 😉