Adventures for your BBC micro BOOK on eBay

[evert67]

Can I ask you guys which OCR software you use? It seems pretty good.

[Commie_User]

Not much use for an OCR test but this is a screen grab of the one for sale in Oz.

CD5DD1F3-6FAB-44FE-865D-1A66332A0186.jpeg

Same font?

That brings back memories of the Usborne books. Great to read as a human though. Very 'printery'.

Though I'm intrigued. What's all this SOUND 17, 18 and 19 business?

[lurkio]

So, it seems that my scans of Tarkus were fairly workable, then? If so, I'll get on with scanning the rest of the book ASAP.

Yep, Tarkus and Bugbuster OCRed okay so you're good to go with the rest of the book.

Uploaded pages 61 - 69. These were done with a different physical instance/unit of the same type of scanner, so I hope the scans are still okay.

[lurkio]

Uploaded pp. 70 - 80.

[dv8]

Uploaded pages 61 - 69. These were done with a different physical instance/unit of the same type of scanner, so I hope the scans are still okay.

Thanks. Both sets of scans have converted okay.

Can I ask you guys which OCR software you use? It seems pretty good.

Nuance OmniPage. I've also had good results from ABBYY FineReader.
When dealing with listings though, OCR will only get you so far. I still have to manually proofread each listing and fix a bunch of errors.

Though I'm intrigued. What's all this SOUND 17, 18 and 19 business?

If you add 16 (&10 in hex) to the channel number it means 'start playing the sound immediately' instead of waiting for the current sound to finish.

[dv8]

Game number three.

Bugbusters.zip

(3.87 KiB) Downloaded 110 times

BUGBUSTERS

In this original game you have the chance to explore the innards of your computer, for it has started to go wrong! You can now discover what really makes your computer tick and what can cause it to malfunction.

Fortunately, your great aunt has just given you one of her strange inventions — a shrink beam: Once you have shrunk to the right size you must carefully find your way into the computer; then, using all your faculties, you must repair it.

This is an example of how adventures need not always involve dungeons!

[lurkio]

Game number three.

Thanks!

Uploaded pp. 81-98.

[lurkio]

All unique non-blank pages scanned.

Provided that dv8 is happy with my scans, where's the book off to now, Lardo?

[Lardo Boffin]

Off to pau1ie if he is still ok to have a go at rebinding it I guess? I will pm him.

[pau1ie]

I have PMed you and lurkio, but I want you to be clear that I will finish my first ever book tomorrow, so I am as inexperienced as you can get. Anything could happen, but all the pages getting stuck together will be more likely than it looking like a masterpiece!

I will take what I think might be a similar book tomorrow, plus some photos if Lurkio can take some for me and see what they say.

[dv8]

Here's the fourth game.

PearlDiver.zip

(2.87 KiB) Downloaded 104 times

PEARL DIVER

As you drain your last pint of the night at the pub you hear talk of pearls down in Bight cove. Disappointed with your meagre catch of fish in the straights of Dogger, you had come to the Seamen’s Arms to drown your sorrows in ale. But this news of pearls has given you an aim — to go out early the next morning to see what you can find; who knows, you might return with a boatful of riches!

When you arrive at the cove you must retrieve each oyster separately — the oysters are of such a size that you must collect them one by one. As you are only a poor fisherman you must make do with a small oxygen tank — enough just for 90 minutes of searching. Avoiding hazards costs time, but you may be lucky enough to find an old air tank on the sea bottom which will add a few extra minutes to your dwindling strength.

In order to recover all five oysters you should map your journey through the deeps, or you may never see the sun again. The cove holds many dangers for the unwary diver . . . Good luck!

[lurkio]

I will take what I think might be a similar book tomorrow, plus some photos if Lurkio can take some for me and see what they say.

Photos showing the current state of the book -- attached.

[bakoulis]

Here are some more scans:

• Front and back covers
• Pages 01-17.zip
• Pages 18 - 42
• Pages 43 - 60.zip
• Pages 61 - 69.zip
• Pages 70 - 80.zip
• Pages 81 - 98.zip
• Pages 101 - 127.zip

Let me know if I need to rescan any pages.

The link for pages 18-42 is broken. Where is the zip file?

[pau1ie]

The link for pages 18-42 is broken. Where is the zip file?

It is Arkham.zip on the post that opens when you click the link.

[bakoulis]

The link for pages 18-42 is broken. Where is the zip file?

It is Arkham.zip on the post that opens when you click the link.

Thank you
I have rotated the pages, converted as jpg and merged to a complete book as pdf.
The size of pdf is about 70MB. I wonder if someone can produce a smaller size pdf from this scans.
Maybe the OCR file from dv8 is the most small possible.

[pau1ie]

I had a similar problem with the educational archive. You can either compress the images before creating the PDF, which is probably better, or use a tool to compress the pdf itself (Which is a more heavy handed way to do the same thing). I suspect the dpi can be reduced significantly, as it was scanned at a high resolution to give the OCR the best information.

I had some success with the following:

Code: Select all

convert -density 200x200 -quality 60 -compress jpeg input.pdf output.pdf

https://askubuntu.com/questions/113544/ ... d-pdf-file. Or there are any number of websites which will resize it for you.

Did you make the PDF searchable? Worth considering since we have the text available.

[bakoulis]

I had a similar problem with the educational archive. You can either compress the images before creating the PDF, which is probably better, or use a tool to compress the pdf itself (Which is a more heavy handed way to do the same thing). I suspect the dpi can be reduced significantly, as it was scanned at a high resolution to give the OCR the best information.

I had some success with the following:

Code: Select all

convert -density 200x200 -quality 60 -compress jpeg input.pdf output.pdf

https://askubuntu.com/questions/113544/ ... d-pdf-file. Or there are any number of websites which will resize it for you.

Did you make the PDF searchable? Worth considering since we have the text available.

I have created the pdf with convert and pkpdf commands on Linux Mint, so probably is not searchable.
Anyway, I believe the OCR file will be under 3MB and of course searchable.
Crossed fingers!

[dv8]

I have rotated the pages, converted as jpg and merged to a complete book as pdf.
The size of pdf is about 70MB. I wonder if someone can produce a smaller size pdf from this scans.

The conversion to jpeg will have bloated the size of the file. The original tiff images are only 1-bit deep and are already very compact (about 60K each). A PDF of the whole book using TIFF or PNG images should only be a few MB.

Did you make the PDF searchable? Worth considering since we have the text available.

I've been putting together a PDF of the book as I've gone though each game. It's not a complete reproduction (I've left out the listings and the glossary) but everything else is there and is searchable. It also contains maps and solutions for each game.

[pau1ie]

I have created the pdf with convert and pkpdf

I use OCRFeeder which is a bit fiddly, but allows creation of searchable PDFs. It is quite a lot of work though. It would benefit from some work in automating placing and sizing the text. I suspect the commercial offerings are much better, but my budget is a bit of fluff and a bent paper clip!

I've been putting together a PDF of the book

Wow - sounds fascinating.

[iamaran]

I've been putting together a PDF of the book as I've gone though each game. It's not a complete reproduction (I've left out the listings and the glossary) but everything else is there and is searchable. It also contains maps and solutions for each game.

Please will you consider submitting the maps and solutions to http://solutionarchive.com/. It's great having six new games, but it does mean that the proportion of unsolved ones has increased

[jonb]

Disappointed with your meagre catch of fish in the straights of Dogger...

Don't ask me why, but that made me laugh

[dv8]

Here's the next one.

NightSchool.zip

(4.26 KiB) Downloaded 88 times

NIGHT SCHOOL

Just when you thought you had the school computer to yourself an underling of the headmaster calls you to his office. He accuses you of programming the computer system to randomly print smutty language on the terminals while the first years were having an Information Technology lesson. Although you are innocent your protestations fall on deaf ears. You are sentenced to a three-hour detention for the next three nights.

As you have been a model pupil you have never stayed after school before — had you any inkling of what really went on at the school you would never have stayed until the end of the day. After dark your school undergoes a horrible transformation. Familiar objects turn nasty. Death stalks the school corridor. Will you escape with your life?

Instructions are included in the program — your commands should be entered in lower case.

[bakoulis]

It remains one last game to completed the listings of the book.

I've been putting together a PDF of the book as I've gone though each game. It's not a complete reproduction (I've left out the listings and the glossary) but everything else is there and is searchable. It also contains maps and solutions for each game.

where is this PDF book?

[lurkio]

Here's the next one. NightSchool.zip NIGHT SCHOOL

Again, many thanks!

I've been putting together a PDF of the book ...

where is this PDF book?

Give him a chance..! He's working on it.

[bakoulis]

Sorry, I just misunderstood, because English isn't my mother language.

[dv8]

It took a while, but here it is... the last game from the book.

This is the most complex of the six games, and the most likely to contain errors, so if anyone is willing to help out with testing it would be appreciated.

When I've finished creating the map and solution for this game I'll release the PDF document, along with an SSD containing all the games on one disc.

TroubleInParadise.zip

(7.96 KiB) Downloaded 90 times

TROUBLE IN PARADISE

‘Z’ has sent you on your most deadly mission yet; as the Service’s top agent you are the only one capable of handling the situation. You must go to your hotel room in Zakynthos and then discover what your mission is.

This complicated adventure is set on the Greek island of Zante, where mysterious plots are afoot. If you do not act ‘normally’ you will be found out immediately and shot as a spy. There are many red herrings; you must piece together the messages or you may end up dead. Watch your time and your strength closely — you will need both!

[lurkio]

It took a while, but here it is... the last game from the book.

This is great, thanks! I'll try to check it out later.

I guess I can now safely send the book off to pau1ie for re-binding?

[dv8]

Finally, here is the PDF containing the text from the book, plus maps and solutions for each game.

Adventures For Your BBC Micro.pdf

(150.05 KiB) Downloaded 125 times

As mentioned before, this is not intended to be a complete reproduction. There are no front and back covers, no illustrations, no listings and no glossary. It's just the text and the new content.

If you spot any mistakes in the maps let me know and I'll fix them and re-upload.


EDIT: And here is a single disc image containing all the games.

Adventures_For_Your_BBC_Micro.zip

(29.11 KiB) Downloaded 95 times

[lurkio]

Finally, here is the PDF containing the text from the book, plus maps and solutions for each game.

This is outrageously good!

[bakoulis]

Finally, here is the PDF containing the text from the book, plus maps and solutions for each game.

Adventures For Your BBC Micro.pdf

As mentioned before, this is not intended to be a complete reproduction. There are no front and back covers, no illustrations, no listings and no glossary. It's just the text and the new content.

If you spot any mistakes in the maps let me know and I'll fix them and re-upload.

If you had included the listings it would be a very complete OCR reproduction. No matter for covers.
Could you please include now the listings?
It will be very nice if you do.