[sdiy] Reprinting Electronotes

[Magnus Danielson]

From: "Theo" <t.hogers at home.nl>
Subject: Re: [sdiy] Reprinting Electronotes
Date: Sat, 14 Dec 2002 10:03:33 +0100

Hi,

> </nice guy mode>
> Sorry but Bernie's "version" seems utter BS to me.
> His actions to get online EN material removed include pp who don't sell but
> just publish the stuff on line.
> 
> PD is PD.
> Bernie's past contribution do not justify for him to:
> - Impose ownership of the material.
> - Bully others who publish part of the material online.
> - Sell material others provide as PD for profit.
> 
> If the EN material is indeed so valuable to the DIY community,
> Bernie's _present_ behavior damages the community by making
> the material hard to get. I'll say he has made up for his past work :(
> 
> Maybe if I had paid Bernie $$$$ for a pile (ok, a large one) of photo
> copies,
> I would feel different too. After all we all want our money worth.
> 
> Luckily there is a very large amount of good resources available online for
> free these days,
> making live without EN a option (and save some trees in the process).
> Still IMO it just sucks that one ****** manages to prevent the spread of
> material that should be available freely.

While I do not agree with all that Theo says, or the way he says it, Theo has
a good point.

There is good material that needs to be out there. For instance, being born in
1971 I had no chance of getting into Electronotes early. Much of the Synth-DIY
material that I've got is of the web. This is how we do public domain
distribution these days. As long as you got Internet access one way or another
it is all for free.

For older people I guess it is more natural to view the Electronotes as a great
source of material, but these days it is not as good way of spreading the
knowledge. In addition, Bernie has burnt me pretty bad, which is my private
reason for not falling in love with the Electronotes.

What is really needed is a new way of acheiving the same thing. A good website
which kind of "has it all". There are several "attempts" in the forms of
schematic archives, the Synth-DIY email archive etc, all holding alot of
information, too much and too unorganized I might add. No, a site which gives
all the basic knowledge with good descriptions of theory-of-operation, insight
into different problems of implementations, insight into different forms of
realizations etc.

If this is the Electronotes put onto the web, or newly written material only,
is not for me to say. I've personally considered writing such a thing.

I personally think the Electronotes is being over-rated, and that is due to the
fact that this is not how people learn things these days and not due to what it
actually contains and what influence it has back in the days. Older guys must
realize that Electronotes references is much more obscure than they used to be.

I've only seen one Electronote, and that is the demo Electronote that was put
up on the web to advertise for the Electronotes. Now, that idea is actually
mine to start with, so maybe I should ask them to put it down or pay royalty to
me for the use of my idea? That's naturally no the way things work, but this is
how we are expected to behave in relation to Bernie Hutchins and Electronotes.

Since we so far seem unable to handle how things work with the Electronotes
the DIY community suffers IMHO.

If I had access to the Electronotes material (and I don't) AND had the right to
publish the content on the web, then I would happily put in alot of my spare
time to do it. I would never put up an Electronote on the web without the
right to do it, even if I've been falsely accused to do so. If someone think it
would be possible to do, then please tell me!

Touting the glory of Electronotes seems more and more useless for every day
that goes. We need an alternative that actually works. Releasing the
Electronotes material without propper premitions is not an alternative.

The benefit of webpages is that you can maintain them and refine material when
you so seem fit.

The real lesson is that the interest of the DIY-community (where things is in
the public domain) gets compromized by commercial interests. What at one time
seems like a good idea (like publish a little news-letter, which requires some
economical compensation for the printing and postage) for the community ends up
as a problem further down the line. One must acknowlegde that the commersial
aspect may become a problem for the community, even if these commersial efforts
stands on the shoulders on what people have put in public domain. That is in
spite of whatever good intent there was. I think I can mention more examples
here.. but avoids that in order not to divert the real issue.

Let's work on a working solution rather than slining all the mud every other
year or so. It doesn't solve the problem. We need a serious alternative since
Electronotes in effect is not the main reference anymore.

Best regards,
Magnus