Wanted: Vectrex manual scans

[SiLic0ne t0aD]

Great work! Thanks for recreating these!

[shilmover]

In the meantime 17 out of 29 Vectrex manual²s are created.

 

I am progressing more slowly than expected - from today it will still take about 2 years until all manuals are ready.

 

Do you happen to have the list of fonts that you used? I find that the ones I downloaded are named differently, so I have to manually go through every page

[hcmffm]

Do you happen to have the list of fonts that you used? I find that the ones I downloaded are named differently, so I have to manually go through every page

Fonts used in the Vectrex manual²s are Helvetica, Avalon, Golden Old Style, and Gill Sans in various weights. Edited November 22, 2018 by hcmffm

[hcmffm]

By now I could complete 21 out of 29 Vectrex manual²s. Tony H. did most of the logos - thank you very much for this excellent effort!

[hcmffm]

I've just finished and uploaded the manual of Mail Plane. By now, 25 out of 30 Vectrex manual²s are done.

[gtoal]

Could you add the 3D imager one day please? ... http://dk.toastednet.org/Vectrex/Manuals/Hardware and Others/3D Imager.pdf

 

[hcmffm]

15 hours ago, gtoal said:

Could you add the 3D imager one day please? ...

Yes, I'll put the 3D imager leaflet onto my list.

[gtoal]

I needed to print a Clean Sweep manual today, and since that is the single one that Helmut hasn't finished yet, I had to hack out a quick scanned version of it myself.

 

If they're of use to anyone, the files are in

 

Full scan, regular format:

  https://gtoal.com/vectrex/print-manuals/MISSING/Clean_Sweep_Manual_Scan.pdf

 

As above but optimised a little for screen viewing:

  https://gtoal.com/vectrex/print-manuals/MISSING/Clean_Sweep_ScreenRes_Manual_Scan.pdf

 

And the one I actually needed, for printing 2-up double-sided (landscape, flip on short edge) to create a booklet: 

  https://gtoal.com/vectrex/print-manuals/MISSING/print-Clean_Sweep_Manual_Scan.pdf

 

If the scans are helpful to you Helmut, you're welcome to them.  Copies of your own manuals are temporarily in the parent directory https://gtoal.com/vectrex/print-manuals/ where I've been experimenting with writing a program to re-page the pdf files so that they can be printed as proper booklets (2-up, portrait, flip on short edge).

The software is not quite perfected yet but when it is I'll send you the sources if you want them.

 

(I haven't actually printed the 2-up version yet as I just finished this around 5am and need to head for bed now, but they look OK to the Mark-1 eyeball...)

 

Graham

 

Edited October 25, 2022 by gtoal

[gtoal]

On 11/22/2018 at 11:20 AM, hcmffm said:

Fonts used in the Vectrex manual²s are Helvetica, Avalon, Golden Old Style, and Gill Sans in various weights.

"Golden Old Style" is a modern clone of Goudy Old Style which is what the original would almost certainly have been.  I'd have to see the original to know which foundry's version was used - there are often very small differences in one or two glyphs that distinguish them.  Occasionally the only detectable differences are in the kerning. Similarly, Avalon is likely to be a clone of ITC Avant Garde. (The Q is very distinctive.) Given the use of Gill Sans I suspect they're all Monotype fonts, though it could actually be Humanist which is Bitstream's clone version. Most foundries would have reasonable clones of Helvetica, Avant Garde, Goudy Old Style and Gill Sans, but seeing them all together strongly hints of Monotype fonts.

[hcmffm]

1 hour ago, gtoal said:

"Golden Old Style" is a modern clone of Goudy Old Style which is what the original would almost certainly have been.  I'd have to see the original to know which foundry's version was used - there are often very small differences in one or two glyphs that distinguish them.  Occasionally the only detectable differences are in the kerning. Similarly, Avalon is likely to be a clone of ITC Avant Garde. (The Q is very distinctive.) Given the use of Gill Sans I suspect they're all Monotype fonts, though it could actually be Humanist which is Bitstream's clone version. Most foundries would have reasonable clones of Helvetica, Avant Garde, Goudy Old Style and Gill Sans, but seeing them all together strongly hints of Monotype fonts.

Thanks for your explanation and posting real names of the fonts, Graham. I use Corel Draw which comes with variations of the original fonts. And you're right: There are slight differences to the original fonts but these are hard to see unless you know what you're looking for.

[gtoal]

Since I needed a clean copy of the Clean Sweep manual to print, I tidied up the above scans in Photoshop and recreated some of the text similar to the way Helmut does - this should tide anyone over until Helmut adds Clean Sweep to his collection. I did use one of Helmut's graphics (of the computer) which was cleaner than my scan.  (Sorry it was created in Photoshop, Helmut, I don't have and wouldn't know how to use Corel Draw.  Nevertheless if you want the PSD files for each page let me know and I can upload them for you.)

 

I redid the cover so that when printed two-up, the two cover sheets join up seamlessly - and rather cheekily I tweaked the page colour a tiny bit to yellow the paper and make it look more like my own original.  I've been using this paper to print on and it's pretty close to the real thing: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JZ7Q6CD

(when you guillotine the booklet to size, the edges of the paper will look bright white compared to an original old copy - one way to disguise that is to dip your finger in tea or coffee (no milk!) and run it along the edge to stain it darker!)

 

The manual prints to almost the exact right size on US letter paper if 'fit to printable area' is selected.  You need to print double-sided and centered, with 'flip on short edge' selected.  I don't know if it will print the same size on A4.  (I'm still learning how to put together pdf files but haven't yet mastered setting absolute size/resolution yet.)

 

The file https://gtoal.com/vectrex/print-manuals/MISSING/rebuilt-print-Clean-Sweep-two-up.pdf is pre-built for booklet printing so you can fold the double page in the middle and staple and trim it.  A regular copy for viewing on-screen or assembling into a booklet some other way is at https://gtoal.com/vectrex/print-manuals/MISSING/rebuilt-Clean-Sweep.pdf .  It ends up very hard to distinguish from an original!

 

The 'old paper' tint was done by trial and error on my laser printer.  It's quite possible that an inkjet or some other laser might render it differently! If the colours come out weird then just print in black and white mode.

[gtoal]

Here's another 2-up manual for printing and center-stapling.  This one has a couple of extra pages for a gatefold pull-out.  Identify the place in the manual where they would go, cut off the single page that is to be replaced by the fold-out, and attach with 'invisible tape' on one side.  Obviously do all this before stapling.  There are two pages (30 and 31) where the fold-out is a 2-page sheet; but page 32 folds out a 4-page sheet (which you can trim down to about 3.5 pages).  You want the folded pages to fold down to a little narrower than the regular pages so that when you trim the stapled booklet you don't accidentally cut off any of the fold edges and lose most of the fold-out!

 

                       https://gtoal.com/vectrex/print-manuals/MISSING/vectrex-service-manual-print.pdf

 

The first page should be on better quality paper and in colour, for the cover. The rest can be in black and white.

 

Print centered with 'fit-to-printable-area' and double-sided, with the flip on the short edge.  I've oriented the images for portrait mode so don't worry about selecting landscape. All the pages print as double-sided, even the ones that just have printing on one side - it should make it easier for you to print without messing about with multiple files or printing subranges with different options.

 

I've straightened as much as I can but have not photoshopped the images at all and it is all bitmap from a scan, there's no re-typed text so it's not up to Helmut standard.

 

I've tested it as a 'mini-manual' on US letter using the printer driver's down-scaling.  But it should work at the original size on A3/11x17 too, though I haven't tested it yet.

Unlike the previous post of a Clean Sweep manual, I've finally worked out how to set the absolute size in a pdf file 🙂

 

Graham

 

[hcmffm]

Thank you for your effort in creating and providing printable PDFs.

 

The Vectrex manual²s are designed in Corel Draw; Corel Draw can create and print booklets or export PDFs.

An example: Dark Tower Manual (Print, DIN A4) This PDF is optimized for printing on DINA4 paper. First you print the front sides (pages 1, 3, 5, ...) and then the backside. Cutting marks allow for easy cutting.

 

If wanted, I could provide printable PDFs of all the Vectrex Manuals² that I've created so far.

[gtoal]

5 hours ago, hcmffm said:

If wanted, I could provide printable PDFs of all the Vectrex Manuals² that I've created so far.

That would be great, thanks! It's unfortunate that booklet printing is no longer a feature of Windows printer drivers - it used to be many years ago! I'll take my temporary versions down when you add that option.

 

You'll notice when you create them that the front and back checker patterns on some of the manual covers won't align - for Clean Sweep I had to create those as a two-page spread which I then split so that they joined up again when printed as a booklet.

 

Having done a crude version of just 2 manuals recently, I appreciate more than ever how much effort you put into recreating the entire suite of manuals!  It's much appreciated.

 

Does Corel Draw offer the option of creating a print version on a printer that does double-sided printing automatically?  It's quite awkward to have to do two runs of the same file, selecting half the pages on one run and the other half on the next run, while ensuring that you put the output of the first run back in the printer tray in the proper orientation.  I remember how we had to do that years ago before the printers handled the flipping for you and it would inevitably lead to at least one wasted run when I put the papers back in the wrong way round or the wrong way up!

 

Graham

Edited November 26, 2022 by gtoal