June 2006 - gutvol-d - lists.pglaf.org

New DVD ISO feedback sought
by Greg Newby 06 Jul '06

06 Jul '06

I've been working, slowly, on some new CD/DVD images (ISO files) for our use. As many people know, we've given away many thousands of free CDs and DVDs, and added the ISO images (along with BitTorrent, RAR and other formats) to the main PG collection. You can peruse the images I've been working on here: http://snowy.arsc.alaska.edu/gbn/pgimages actual ISOs are at: ftp://snowy.arsc.alaska.edu/pub/gbn/isos These are not completed....I'll be adding stuff like GUTINDEX.ALL, donate-howto.txt, and a README.TXT You can see the nifty tool for creating such images here: http://snowy.arsc.alaska.edu/pgiso/ Here are the main two CD/DVD collections for you to consider: 1) "As many titles as possible." In the tool, I specified these numbers: 1-2199,2225-3500,3525-11774,11800-20000 with "no copyrighted", "txt/zip" format, and any language. The result is all of the zipped eBooks in plain text format, minus our copies of the Human Genome. (No, we don't go up to #20000 in the main PG collection, which the tool uses...only 18683 as of right now. I'm just using a high enough number that I don't need to look up the actual number.) This should be similar to our eBook #11800, the PG 2003 "10k special." For that, we tried to add as many as possible, resulting in ~9300 titles including .txt and .html (also Genome), all zipped. Surprisingly, we can fit *all* 17454 of our non-copyrighted text/zip titles with space to spare in a DVD: about 3.5GB. In case you're wondering (I was!), including as many HTML titles as possible (including their images) in html/zip, then filling in the rest with text/zip, yields about 3.25 DVDs (14.5GB). 2) "Best of Redux." Our Best Of CD image was made by human selection (on this list!), resulting in just under 600 titles. Many are HTML. Since #11220, we've added lots of great stuff. So, what would go on today's "Best Of"? I went ahead and recreated the image in the new tool, and also made one emphasizing HTML (since some titles have been moved to HTML that were previously just text). I've uploaded (to the /pgimages URL) the list of the "Best Of" eBook numbers, as well as the list of "best of" public domain that Amazon did last year (remember that?). GOALS: - confirm viability/suitability of the "allzipnohgp" collection (#1 above); make any suggestions. This is basically the densest way of getting people all of the PG collection, fitting easily on a single DVD. (Yes, I plan on filling it up with some of our nice HTML & multimedia. Your ideas are solicited.) - consider ways forward for a new "Best of" - either CD or DVD. The only thing I feel strongly about is showcasing some of our beautiful HTML titles with nice images. Yes to all the classics, and yes to plain text or HTML...but consider "best of" in terms of PG's best work, not just the classic titles. If anyone would really like to run with these idea and create some new images, go for it! The snowy tool makes it easy to share your own collections, and we have many places to distribute ISOs you create. I do think it's time to create some new "primary" giveaway images, though, and appreciate any ideas you might have. -- Greg

4 8

Re: [gutvol-d] ftp.archive.org
by Tony Baechler 04 Jul '06

04 Jul '06

My understanding of rsync is that you had to mirror the entire PG archive. That was based on the PG FAQ and my attempts to read the help and man page. I couldn't figure out the command line options and experiments I tried gave me errors. I think the PG FAQ gives a sample command line but that's for everything which isn't what I want. Besides it's nice to manually look at and download each file. I often like to stop every few files and look at a book of interest. So, to answer your question, all of rsync confuses me since I never got it to work. Also, another problem might be that I'm primarily on Windows. I know rsync is common in Linux and I have it installed on the Debian server that I run but I'm not sure if it's available for Windows or not. I have Cygwin so I might have it, but again I have no idea how to get it to only get the files I want. That's nice about getting them manually, I can skip those I don't want as I see them in the newsletters. At 07:10 AM 6/28/06 -0400, you wrote: > I'm sorry... what? You can rsync exactly what files you wish, >recursively or not, pick and choose, with rsync... using the right >options. I mirror Gutenberg here with rsync, skipping the DVD files, >.mp3 files, .rar files and a few others, getting only the useful >copies of books. > > What part of rsync's usage is confusing you? -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.1.394 / Virus Database: 268.9.7/379 - Release Date: 6/29/06

3 4

ftp.archive.org
by Tony Baechler 03 Jul '06

03 Jul '06

Hi list, I know that often ftp.archive.org is down for a few days at a time, but it has been down now for almost all of June. Is this permanent? Is ftp access via ftp.archive.org ended? I prefer it over ftp.ibiblio.org for PG files because it is significantly faster. If ftp access is no longer available, can anyone recommend a fast mirror that is kept frequently up to date? I tried snowy.arsc.alaska.edu but it wasn't as current as I would like. I'm planning to download several thousand zip files so a fast mirror is appreciated. I'm sure http is faster but I would prefer ftp if possible. Besides http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/ isn't really much faster than metalab.unc.edu, AKA ftp.ibiblio.org. Is there a chance that ftp.archive.org has moved to a different host or ip address? I'm running ncftp for Windows so I don't think it's a caching or dns problem. I think I tried under Linux as well with similar results. It tries for about a minute and times out. I tried with and without passive mode but it doesn't matter since I can't connect. I am in California, US. -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.1.394 / Virus Database: 268.9.4/375 - Release Date: 6/25/06

6 10

re: [gutvol-d] a tool for your grandma to download p.g. e-texts en masse
by Bowerbird＠aol.com 29 Jun '06

29 Jun '06

jeroen said: > Although not a nerd, he certainly knows how to use the machine... so, have you got him hard at work proofing for you? ;+) -bowerbird

1 0

Re: [gutvol-d] a tool for your grandma to download p.g. e-texts en masse
by Bowerbird＠aol.com 29 Jun '06

29 Jun '06

dave said: > What have you against Grandparents? it's just an expression, dave. it indicates "not technically inclined". and, like most such stereotypical shorthand, it's got a grain of truth, and not much more. hey, two of my best online e-book buddies -- nicholas hodson and meyer moldeven -- are technically astute (nicholas especially), and they're both into their eighties now... i'm old enough to be a grandparent myself. :+) -bowerbird

2 1

!@!Re: [BP] Re: EXTRA! Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter
by Michael Hart 29 Jun '06

29 Jun '06

By the way, as we have continually offered, if anyone would like to write up a different catalogue, counting system, or whatever, we would be only too happy to include it the Newsletters, and in the various archives. I am sure that people could come up with counts both higher, and lower, than whatever method is chosen, and we would be very glad to repost those counts each week, each month, or even each year, if anyone would be willing to put them together in pretty much a free fashion, as long as there was some internal consistency. Nothing like 100% accuracy would be required, and we should have the capability of averaging all such counts, hopefully to see in some manner an average count that reflected what people are used to seeing in library catalogues. As I will be away for a month, now would be a perfect time to do this sort of thing, and if it catches on, perhaps I won't have a Newsletter that I have to do so much of personally when I return after this trip. . .perhaps I won't have to do it at all. . . . Thanks!!! Give the world eBooks in 2006!!! Michael S. Hart Founder Project Gutenberg Blog at http://hart.pglaf.org

1 0

Michael Hart is on the Road
by Michael Hart 29 Jun '06

29 Jun '06

I will be rather slow with my email responses for the next month, and I presumed, already correctly show, that some messages of the somewhat negative kind would come at such a time and I appreciate the way our list members have allowed me the opportunities for an easier time with such message as I don't have to respond alone. I really can't tell you how much I appreciate all the support for the work I have been doing, and hope will continue, with the very wonderful help of perhaps as many as 50,000 volunteers. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Give the world eBooks in 2006!!! Michael S. Hart Founder Project Gutenberg Blog at http://hart.pglaf.org

1 0

re: [gutvol-d] How to digitize SRR's Five Laws?
by Bowerbird＠aol.com 28 Jun '06

28 Jun '06

mike said: > Despite being out of print > (a reprint is planned for later this year > by Ess Ess Publications of India > <http://www.essessreference.com/servlet/esgetbiblio?n=000313>), > Five Laws is arguably the most important work in library science to date. that's quite a sad commentary, isn't it, that what is arguably _the_ most important work in library science to date is _out_of_print_... so congratulations on bringing it back to life. the .pdf versions you've made are not as useful as they could be, however, because you've just wrapped the scans into a .pdf. that means that the text cannot be searched or copied out of it, and those are two of the big benefits of e-books. so yes, you are right they would be better with digital text. but there's no need to transcribe. instead, o.c.r. the scans, correct the results, and then wrap that digital text into several formats: plain text could be one, .html could be another, and even .pdf (except this time with text that is searchable and could be copied out of the .pdf). further, the scans could also be used themselves. (but you should strive for higher-quality scans.) here's a rough sketch of how to proceed: 1. scan the book's pages. 2. clean up the scans. (straighten, crop, etc.) 3. perform the o.c.r. 4. clean up the text. 5. proofread the text against the scans. 6. auto-convert the text to .html. 7. auto-convert the text to .pdf. i'd be willing to help guide you on any of the steps. (especially the last couple, which some people might try and tell you are "impossible". don't believe them.) distributed proofreaders would probably also help if you could donate the text to project gutenberg. since there will be one copy in cyberspace anyway, tell the publisher there might as well be lots of 'em. (online copies don't really cannibalize print sales; indeed, there are some indications they feed 'em.) besides, _books_are_for_use_, are they not? :+) for some pretty "digital reprint" examples to look at, see: > http://www.ibiblio.org/ebooks/Mabie/Books_Culture.pdf > http://www.ibiblio.org/ebooks/Cather/Antonia/Antonia.pdf > http://www.ibiblio.org/ebooks/Einstein/Einstein_Relativity.pdf for a look at a system that enables volunteers to proofread, see: > http://www.greatamericannovel.com/mabie/mabiep001.html > http://www.greatamericannovel.com/myant/myantc001.html > http://www.greatamericannovel.com/ahmmw/ahmmwc001.html > http://www.greatamericannovel.com/sgfhb/sgfhbc001.html -bowerbird

1 0

How to digitize SRR's Five Laws?
by Michael May 28 Jun '06

28 Jun '06

Hi all, I am Michael May, new "Classics Editor" at dLIST, the Digital Library of Information Science and Technology: http://dlist.sir.arizona.edu/ dLIST has received written permission from the copyright owner of works by S.R. Ranganathan to post electronic copies of several of SRR's books at the dLIST site, including the original 1931 edition of The Five Laws of Library Science, the main premise of which is "Books are for use!" Despite being out of print (a reprint is planned for later this year by Ess Ess Publications of India <http://www.essessreference.com/servlet/esgetbiblio?n=000313>), Five Laws is arguably the most important work in library science to date. We have experimented with PDF by posting the prefatory pages and Chapter 1 here: http://genie.sir.arizona.edu/1115/ However, Five Laws is over 500 pages and includes numerous illustrations. I believe a text or html version would be much easier to access and preserve. What advice do you have about how to proceed? I was thinking about starting by recruiting volunteers from the LIS community to transcribe the text. What should I think about or plan for before asking people to help? Does Project Gutenberg already have resources available that could help us? I'd very much appreciate any suggestions or advice. Thanks. Mike

2 1

a tool for your grandma to download p.g. e-texts en masse
by Bowerbird＠aol.com 28 Jun '06

28 Jun '06

what are the feelings here on releasing a tool for your grandma to download p.g. e-texts en masse? although it seems in line with "unlimited distribution", it will also mean people scraping texts indiscriminately. would someone who has a stake in the bandwidth used please give me a definite answer? thanks. -bowerbird

2 1