HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: kdc5072@ultb.isc.rit.edu (K.D. Colagio)
Subject: Having to do with the price of books....
Followup-To: alt.books.technical
Originator: kdc5072@ultb
Reply-To: kdc5072@ultb.isc.rit.edu
Organization: Rochester Institute of Technology
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1993 23:26:13 GMT


OK, maybe this will be flamage material, but that is life...

Why can't the publishers keep the books on computers, and allow people to
get them at reasonable prices.  Then if the customer wants to print it out
(on a printer) it is their problem.  I think this would be much more
reasonable than the present situation.  And it would be easier to take the 5
or 10 pages you are going over in a class on a given day than the whole
book.

What about that person giving copies away?  people do that now, they either
resell the book, or lend it, or what ever...  but if a book costs $5.00 over
the computer, why wouldn't everyone who needed it get their own copy?  And
at $5.00, if someone wanted to borrow my copy, I would tell them to go get
it themselves, it's cheap enough.

(you say)  But $5.00 doesn't pay for much! 
(I say)    But what would you have to pay for?  The publishers already have 
           the computers, have the material on the computers, etc...  
(you say)  "to pay the author"...  

Well, how much does he/she actually get from a single book now?  If $5.00
isn't enough to cover that, then raise it to $10.00 .  That is still cheap
enough...and EVERYONE can still get their own copy.

Can you guess that I don't like spending $55.00 for the average text book?


    -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
    =   Kevin Colagio...student at large - Bear code?  You think I   -
    -                aka                 -   know what that is???    =
    =       KDC5072@ultb.isc.rit.edu     -    B2/4 w g++ K s- h+ r   -
    -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
    If RIT even knew I had an opinion, let alone that I was expressing 
     one that they agreed with (or that people thought I was agreeing 
              with), I shudder to think of the consequences.


Newsgroups: alt.books.technical
From: an1060@anon.penet.fi
Subject: Book Binders
Organization: Anonymous contact service
X-Anonymously-To: alt.books.technical
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 20:06:35 GMT

X-Anon-To: alt.books.technical


Hello,

I hope this is not an FAQ...anyhow....I have a few books that I would like
bound/re-bound, are there any book binderies that deal with the public??
Please send company names and addresses (and cost, if known) to:

mantell@ams.sunysb.edu

Many thanks in advance!!!

Abe

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Newsgroups: alt.books.technical
From: tleylan@pegasus.com (Tom Leylan)
Subject: Re: Why tech. books cost so much
Organization: Pegasus,  Honolulu
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 93 05:25:34 GMT

bathurst@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Bruce Bathurst) writes:

>Certainly I don't mean to antagonize the reader, but when the East
>European, pissed about the new price of bread, complains on a soap
>box, his fellow citizens can interpret this in one of two ways:
>believe that he is simply unaware that he is poor, and scientifically
>explain to him why bread costs so much; or realize that his cries are
>that bread is a necessity that is now priced beyond peoples' abilities
>to buy it.
>
>What happens to a civilization in which the people can no longer afford
>to own books?

If the guy on the soapbox works for the government and gets paid more
than the baker he is crying to the cries should go unanswered.  Let the
pissed among us bake the bread if they are truly concerned.

What happens when somebody tries to regulate the price of books to an
amount less than books cost to produce... no books.

It is unlikely that "books" will ever be priced beyond people's abilities
to buy them... "a book" perhaps but one must purchase the ones that one
can afford and not just the ones one wants.  Civilization has succeeded
upon that principle for ages.

tom
From: phoffman@orac.holonet.net (Paul E. Hoffman)
Subject: Re: American books in foreign countries
Organization: HoloNet National Internet Access BBS: 510-704-1058/modem
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1993 01:26:27 GMT

Computer Literacy bookstore ships overseas, no problem. My Japanese
clients use them all the time. They are even available by email!
Try them at info@clbooks.com. Their tele is (408) 435-1118.
FAX is (408) 435-0895.

>>Paul Hoffman
-- 
||  Why quote someone else?  ||
Newsgroups: alt.books.technical
From: jammer@eskimo.com (Lyle Harwood)
Subject: The Stock Market, Futures, and questions
Organization: -> ESKIMO NORTH (206) For-Ever <-
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 10:10:46 GMT


Hey, guys, I want to buy and sell futures and stocks through the
little curly wire on the back of me Mac.
Does anyone know where I can look for a newsgroup, a book, information,
take a class?
Thanks!

Jammer
Newsgroups: alt.books.technical
From: an1060@anon.penet.fi
Subject: FRACTAL Book for sale...
Organization: Anonymous contact service
X-Anonymously-To: alt.books.technical
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 20:30:57 GMT

X-Anon-To: alt.books.technical



Hello,

I have the following book I wish to sell:

FRACTALS, by Jens Feder, hardcover, 1988.

"Coherent and clearly written...an excellent starting point for
 students of fractals."
                            -- American Scientist

"This lovely little book will take off and fly on its own power...
 To write such a book is no easy task, but Jens Feder meets the
 challenge head on."
                            -- from the forward by
                               Benoit B. Mandelbrot


The book is like new (hardly ever opened)...

Publishers price:  $49.50 --  I ask:  $30 + shipping costs

Please respond to:  mantell@ams.sunysb.edu

Thanks

Abe


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From: sabrams@desire.wright.edu
Newsgroups: alt.books.technical
Subject: Medical Embryology text needed
Date: 6 Jan 93 22:44:07 EST
Organization:  Wright State University 

I'm a c second year med student searching for a copy of Review of Medical
Physiology by Ben Pansky. It just went out of print in the last year or so. 
Does anyone know how to get a hold of a copy? Please respond by e-mail to: 
SABRAMS@DESIRE.WRIGHT.EDU.  Thanks!
Newsgroups: alt.books.technical
From: keithl@klic.rain.com (Keith Lofstrom)
Subject: Why tech. books cost so much
Organization: KLIC
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 04:36:31 GMT


As someone who spends $3000 a year on books, I would sure like to
see them get cheaper.  As someone who understands a little economics,
I can understand why they cost what they do.

Technical books are the epitome of specialized.  Press runs are small,
compared to popular fiction.  The editors usually have a poor idea of
the salability of what they have got, so they often print too many.
Most books sit on publisher's shelves, and are treated as assets (at the
wholesale price) under the current tax code.  Books are heavy to ship
and easy to damage.   Authors are often a pain in the ass.  For every
title that sells and makes a profit, something like 5 or 10 don't.

With all the downsides, it costs nearly as much to produce "Foundations of 
Analysis in the Complex Plane" as it does to produce "Clear and Present
Danger" by Tom Clancy.  Clancy gets the tooling for the embossed cover,
and the math book gets typeset integrals.  The math book sells 10,000
copies, and the thriller sells 10,000,000.  

If anyone really thought that technical books were too expensive, they
would be investing in publishing startups.  Publishing is probably the
easiest global venture available.  No major R&D costs, no liability,
established distribution and marketing channels.  Startup costs are
probably well under a million dollars.  So why so few takers?

Anytime you think somethings costs too much, ask yourself this question:
"Is the price so high for X that I will stop doing what I am doing and
start making X instead?"  If the answer is no, than you have found out
why the price is "too high".  There are economics books that explain this
in great detail.

We are on the verge, however, of electronic books and print-on-demand.  
Those technologies aren't quite here.  However, they will appear a lot
faster if books sell for $150 rather than $5.  The high prices will help
the new technology get established; after that, prices will fall.  Not
by much, though - when this stuff really catches on, we will all become
authors, the number of titles will skyrocket, and we'll pay people lots
of money to sort through the 18,000 available books about Lotus 1-2-3
to find the one we want.

In the interim, if you are looking for inexpensive technical books, look
at Dover books and the english editions of MIR press.  Not as good, or
as current, or as specialized as the most recent thing from Plenum
Press, say, but a lot cheaper.


Keith
-- 
Keith Lofstrom         keithl@klic.rain.com       Voice (503)-520-1993
KLIC --- Keith Lofstrom Integrated Circuits --- "Your Ideas in Silicon"
Design Contracting in Bipolar and CMOS - Analog, Digital, and Power ICs
Newsgroups: alt.books.technical
From: bathurst@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Bruce Bathurst)
Subject: Re: Why tech. books cost so much
Originator: news@nimaster
Organization: Princeton University
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 11:33:34 GMT

In article <1993Jan12.052534.6174@pegasus.com>
tleylan@pegasus.com (Tom Leylan) writes:

>What happens when somebody tries to regulate the price of books to an
>amount less than books cost to produce... no books.

Students aren't the only group I'm concerned about, though in them I
see the future of society.  Scholars work in one of two forms of
employment (sometimes alternating).  Some teach or perform basic
research, and others support their work with small grants and
minimum-wage jobs, living on the edge.

This isn't the group to discuss these matters.  But because I appear
to have proposed political solutions from Socialism to pulling bread
from the mouths of assembly line workers, I should clarify myself.

When I taught I tried the following.  Rather than reduce the book
requirement to a paperback or two, with their superficial treatments,
I tried to chose one or two outstanding books that would serve the
students well throughout college and into their professional careers.
To make these affordable, I selected books that could be used in more
than one course.  This reduced cost, over a year, of each book; and
left the student with a useful personal library.

The reason this failed was because most of the students worked part-
or full-time (to support their families), and could not afford such
immediate investments that were less expensive in the long run.

Only two individuals proposed ways of helping deal with this problem,
which is worse in most countries other than the States. (I chose to
discuss only things I've experienced.)  Other suggestions appear to be
only personal attacks upon me or the university that has been so kind
in providing me a guest account on their computer.

I suggest this thread be discontinued.

Bruce

-- 
Department of Geological and Geophysical Sciences
Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544
bathurst@phoenix.princeton.edu bathurst@pucc.bitnet !princeton!phoenix!bathurst
Newsgroups: alt.books.technical
From: jammer@eskimo.com (Lyle Harwood)
Subject: Re: Why tech. books cost so much
Organization: -> ESKIMO NORTH (206) For-Ever <-
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1993 12:25:40 GMT

Bruce Bathurst (bathurst@phoenix.Princeton.EDU) wrote:
: 
: What happens to a civilization in which the people can no longer
afford
: to own books?
: 
: Bruce (Gypsy Geologist)
: -- 
.
Nothing.
You're confusing the book with what the book contains.
Society will advance as long as the knowledge can be retrieved.

There is also two things neccessary to make the contents of a
book valuable.
Normally, I wouldn't bring this up, but I see you are from a 
college, and facts such as these should be taught.
:)
(My old lady says I'm arrogant. But she's not in a position to know...)

It is the way of the world, has always been, is now, and will be for
the forseeable future, that knowledge, by itself, is useless.
History is full of brilliant failures.
One must possess the knowledge, AND THE MEANS TO USE IT.
One without the other accomplishes nothing.
In this society, "the means to use it" ually means hard cash.
Knowledge and no cash won't get you very far, unless you can sell what
you know.
Money without knowledge, well, this is not a long term proposition.

I agree with the first answer. If you can make books available cheaper,
you could certainly do so.
You can't. For whatever reason. (I suspect lack of means.)
If you could do so with the means you have, I assure you, the preassures
of the marketplace would have driven someone to do so before this, and
the book you want would be available at the price you want.
If A then B. Not B, then Not A.
The book is not available at your price, therefore it can't be.
 [A[B
Again. The book is not whats important.

Jammer
From: aras@intercon.no (Arne Asplem)
Newsgroups: alt.books.technical
Subject: Re: NEED A GOOD DATA STRUCTURE BOOK IN C, C++
Date: 4 Jan 1993 16:55:58 +0100
Organization: Asplem Intercon, Oslo, Norway
NNTP-Posting-Host: kirov.intercon.no

In article <2aT=02LB307a01@JUTS.ccc.amdahl.com> fmk10@amail.amdahl.com writes:
>Can anybody recommend me a good practical data structure book with C or C++
>examples. Something that has concepts as well as practical examples for
>cut and paste.
>

I've recently bought Robert Sedwick's "Algorithms in C++", Addison Wesley,
1992, ISBN-0-201-51059-6, hardcover, 656 p.

Unfortunately I haven't studied/read the book yet, so no personal 
comments, but the book came highly recomended by fellow C/C++ programmers.

From the contents:
  - Fundamentals
  - Sorting Algorithms
  - Searching Algorithms
  - String Processing
  - Geometric Algorithms
  - Graph Algorithms
  - Mathematical Algorithms
  - Advanced Topics

  -- Arne

-- 
Arne Asplem             Office:           Parkveien 79, N-0254 Oslo, Norway
Asplem Intercon         Phone/Fax:        +47-2-556316/+47-2-831290
                        NUUG/EUnet email: aras@norway.eu.net
                        Other email:      aras@intercon.no
Newsgroups: alt.books.technical
From: bathurst@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Bruce Bathurst)
Subject: Re: Why tech. books cost so much
Originator: news@nimaster
Organization: Princeton University
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 14:39:33 GMT

Why technical books cost more than fiction (usually) was described
nicely in this article.  (I'm not sure anyone has said, though, that
paperbacks cost little less to produce than books bound in cloth.)

Certainly I don't mean to antagonize the reader, but when the East
European, pissed about the new price of bread, complains on a soap
box, his fellow citizens can interpret this in one of two ways:
believe that he is simply unaware that he is poor, and scientifically
explain to him why bread costs so much; or realize that his cries are
that bread is a necessity that is now priced beyond peoples' abilities
to buy it.

What happens to a civilization in which the people can no longer afford
to own books?

Bruce (Gypsy Geologist)
-- 
Department of Geological and Geophysical Sciences
Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544
bathurst@phoenix.princeton.edu bathurst@pucc.bitnet !princeton!phoenix!bathurst
From: kzt50@DUTS.ccc.amdahl.com (  911  Kevin Thomas)
Newsgroups: alt.books.technical
Subject: voice synthesis
Date: 9 Jan 93 18:20:46 GMT
Reply-To: kzt50@DUTS.ccc.amdahl.com (  911  Kevin Thomas)
Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale CA


   Hi,
Could somebody please send my some information on voice synthesizers,
I need alot of information quickly.
Kevin.
Newsgroups: alt.msdos.programmer,comp.msdos.programmer,comp.os.msdos.programmer,comp.sys.ibm.pc.programmer
From: istuart@nyx.cs.du.edu (Ian Stuart)
Subject: Re: IRQ2 or IRQ5
X-Disclaimer: Nyx is a public access Unix system run by the University
	of Denver for the Denver community.  The University has neither
	control over nor responsibility for the opinions of users.
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix at U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Date: Sat, 9 Jan 93 12:46:33 GMT

In article <1993Jan7.122713.17450@walter.cray.com> kelly@spyro.cray.com (Matt Kelly) writes:
>I built a home-brew MIDI interface for my synthesizer setup.  When
>I built it, I had an old PC-XT clone.  I hooked up the receiver
>section of the interface's UART chip (8250) to IRQ2.  This worked
>just dandy.
>
>Now I have a 386-SX system.  IRQ 2 doesn't work anymore.  All docu-
>mentation I have read has said that IRQ2 is a "cascade" interrupt.
>WHAT DOES THIS MEAN, AND HOW DO I MAKE IT WORK????

The PC and XT had one IRQ controller chip, driving the interrupt pin on the
CPU. The AT uses a second IRQ controller, fed through IRQ2 of the first
chip, to signal the CPU. IRQ5 (formerly the HDD controllers IRQ) is now
used by LPT2 (normally!)

>
>In an effort to speed up my success, I rewired the interface so
>that it would use IRQ5 instead of IRQ2.  Still no interrupt response.
>
>I took the software I was using on the old system (which I wrote),
>and re-compiled the .ASM files which handle the interrupts so that
>they would use IRQ5 instead.  Total death.
>
>Any help would be appreciated.  The system I have is a Goldstar with
>2 serial, 1 parallel, 1 game port, 40 meg HD, 2 floppy drives, VGA.

What IRQ is the game-port on?


--
--- Kiz (aka Ian Stuart) istuart@nyx.cs.du.edu
	{ Chivalry is not dead! - Just the Horse }
Newsgroups: alt.msdos.programmer
From: koenig@boole (KOENIG gerald)
Subject: debuger
Organization: University of Grenoble (France)
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 07:18:41 GMT

which debugger do you use in spite of debug and TD debugger of Borland
send me e.mail if you can 
thanks

-- 
*********************************************************
**             Koenig gerald/Wendigo                   ** 
**     koenig@ufrima.imag.fr                           **
*********************************************************
Xref: sparky alt.msdos.programmer:3117 comp.os.msdos.programmer:11909 comp.sys.ibm.pc.programmer:754
From: jaysen@bsu-cs.bsu.edu (Jason A. Brotherton)
Newsgroups: alt.msdos.programmer,comp.os.msdos.programmer,comp.sys.ibm.pc.programmer
Subject: Changing the Mouse Cursor to Larger-than-standard-sized Images
Keywords: mouse, ibm, programming
Date: 8 Jan 93 14:40:56 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: CS Dept, Ball St U, Muncie, Indiana


Hello fellow programmers,

Obviously, I have a question.  :)

What I want to do is change the mouse cursor, not to a hand or anything, I
can do that, but rather to various LARGER objects than the standard
mouse pointer allows.  The easiest way to explain this would be your
standard joe-paint program...when you click on various icons, the mouse
cursor changes to say, a pencil, or some other paint-oriented object that
is larger than the standard 16x16 pixels.

I've been using int33, function 9 to change the cursor, but as you know,
that's limited to 16x16.

Is there some way to create larger cursors, or will I have to turn off
the regular mouse cursor and manually move a sprite by reading the mouse's
x-y coordinates and drawing/erasing it at that position?  (sprite
being my terminology for a small bitmapped image...from the C-64 days!)
I haven't tried doing that, but it's gotta be SLOW...

I'm programming in Borland C++ v3.0 using a 386-25, using the standard
VGA modes, running and programming for DOS, and using as a reference,
"Microsoft Mouse Programmer's Reference"

Any suggestions/ideas would be appreciated.  :)

Jason Brotherton
jaysen@bsu-cs.bsu.edu
Newsgroups: alt.msdos.programmer,comp.os.msdos.programmer,comp.sys.ibm.pc.programmer,comp.lang.c++,comp.lang.c
From: daled@cadence.com (Dale DePriest)
Subject: Re: Newbie Wants Advice on C-Programming
Organization: Cadence Design Systems
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1993 18:51:31 GMT

From what I have been following in this thread you have been given
good advice for the most part.  I would like to add a few comments
that may help you get on your way.

The discussion mentions Borland C++.  You may not know that this is
also known as Turbo C/C++.  The Turbo version is adequate to learn on
and is quite a bit cheaper.  The full Borland version provides a full
environment for professional programmers.  The Turbo C can often be
had inexpensively in the used market, going rate about $25, by people
that are moving to C++.  Version 2 is excellent and supports all that
you need to get going.

Of course if you want to think about things as objects you'll need to 
grab Turbo C++.  In this case buy a new one.  You probably don't want
the down level versions.  The Borland/Turbo products have an integrated
programming environment that is excellent for beginners.

With regard to Fortran.  When you code in C you will find that some
math expressions are not deterministic since the optimizer may rearrange
things.  You may have to break the statement into pieces to get the 
answer you want.  Other than that they should both be equally accurate.
Fortran is probably easier to learn since you don't have to deal with
pointers and scoping problems which are the most difficult C issues.

To speed up your learning buy a book that has an available disk of the
programs in the book and then buy the disk.  It will save you lots of
time.  Also read the manuals that come with the software that you buy.
Don't buy used software without full manuals.

--
    _      _     Dale DePriest  		San Jose, California
   /`) _  //     daled@Cadence.COM		voice: (408) 428-5249
 o/_/ (_(_X_(`
From: s0r1282@zeus.tamu.edu (RAVET, STEVEN)
Newsgroups: alt.msdos.programmer
Subject: About GCC...
Date: 4 Jan 1993 12:24 CST
Organization: Texas A&M University, Academic Computing Services
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: zeus.tamu.edu
Keywords: GCC, protected mode, 32 bit
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    

The problem with getting GCC from barnacle is that it only allows 5 anonymous
users at a time.  The documentation I have says that GCC is also available
from:
  iros1.iro.umontreal.ca   132.204.32.21  /pub/Internet/gnuish
  vulcan.phyast.pitt.edu   130.49.33.16   /pub/gnuish
  wuarchive.wustl.edu      128.252.135.4  /systems/msdos/gnuish
  wsmr-simtel20.army.mil   192.88.110.20  pd1:<msdos.gnuish>

for all these, login anonymous password anything

Yes, it is true that the debugger is assembly only, but it does read in
symbolic information *ducks head*  Hey, it's free! :)
These sites contain the GNUish MSDOS ports, which are common unix programs
from the free software foundation (compress, emacs, grep, awk, tar, etc).
The GCC port was made by DJ Delorie, and may or may not actually reside in
the directories specified above.  It should, however reside on the server
somewhere, in a directory called djgpp.  Also look for the file qddvx101.zip,
which is the developers kit for Desqview/X from Quarterdeck.  If you have DV/X,
this will allow you to write/compile X windows programs on the PC.
Enjoy!           s0r1282@zeus.tamu.edu
Organization: The American University - University Computing Center
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 12:55:11 EST
From: <KSADEGH@auvm.american.edu>
Newsgroups: alt.msdos.programmer
Subject: list of DOS interrupts

I know it is a FAQ, but could somebody tell me where I can find a complete
list of the DOS interrupts?

thanks in advance
k1
---
------------------------------------------------------------------------
PUSH, if that doesn't work
PULL, if that doesn't work
we're probably CLOSED
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kayvon Sadeghi                    k.sadeghi@ieee.org
Voice:202/244-0789
Xref: sparky alt.msdos.programmer:3125 comp.msdos.programmer:112 comp.os.msdos.programmer:11947 comp.sys.ibm.pc.programmer:759