Help:Uploading service manuals

Uploading service manuals
How to scan, prepare and upload technical documentation

Service manuals, schematics and technical references are what most repair pages on the RTC Wiki are cited to. This page covers how to prepare them, upload them and give each one a page.

Before you upload

Copyright

Read the service manual reproduction policy first.
Most vintage service manuals are out of print and no longer sold.
The wiki hosts them for preservation and repair.
If a rights holder asks for a document to be removed, it will be removed.

Check for duplicates

The wiki already has several hundred manuals. Before uploading:

browse Category:Service Manuals and the manufacturer's own category (see below)
search Special:ListFiles for the file, since some PDFs are hosted without a page of their own
search the wiki for the document title or part number

Scanning

Setting	Recommendation
Resolution	300 DPI minimum; 600 DPI for schematics with fine detail
Colour mode	Colour for most documents; greyscale for black-and-white originals
Format	PDF for multi-page documents
Compression	Moderate, balancing legibility against file size
Page size	Match the original: usually A4 or US Letter for manuals, A3 or larger for schematics

Large documents

A flatbed scanner gives the best results.
For thick binders, use a book scanner, or photograph the pages if you cannot scan them.
De-skew the pages in your scanning software.
OCR (text recognition) helps readers search the PDF but is not required.
If a document has both A4 text pages and A3 fold-out schematics, consider splitting it into two files.

File names

Use clear, descriptive names: manufacturer, model, document type, then any revision or part number.

Manufacturer Model Document type (details).pdf

Examples:

Sega Game Gear VA1 Service Manual.pdf
Nintendo Game Boy Technical Manual.pdf
Sega Dreamcast VA0 CPU and DRAM Schematic.pdf
Atari TT030 Schematic C301762-001.pdf

Uploading

Go to Special:Upload.
Select your PDF.
Give it a descriptive filename, as above.
Write the file description (below).
Click Upload file.

The file description

Every uploaded file needs a description page. Say what the document is and where it came from, and state the licence accurately: manufacturer documentation is almost never freely licensed.

== Summary ==
Apple Computer, Macintosh Plus Service Source, 69 pages, 1995 edition.

== Source ==
Scanned by the uploader from a printed copy. (Or: the URL it was downloaded from, and the date.)

== Author ==
Apple Computer, Inc.

== Licence ==
Copyright Apple Computer, Inc. Hosted for preservation and repair reference.

Add a category, such as the manufacturer's service manual category.

Creating the document page

After uploading, create a wiki page for the document, named after it (for example Macintosh Plus Service Source). The page should say:

what the document is: publisher, title, part number, date or revision, page count, language, and whether it is official or community-made
what it contains: its chapters or sections, with page numbers where you can
what it does not contain: for example, "gives module part numbers but no schematics or component values"
which articles cite it
the embedded PDF and a download link

The '''Document title''' is a (number)-page service manual published by (manufacturer) in (year), covering (machines).

== Contents ==
* Chapter 1: ... (p. 3)
* Chapter 2: ... (p. 12)

== What it does not contain ==
...

== Pages that cite this document ==
* [[Machine name]]
* [[Machine name Capacitor Replacement Guide]]

== Document ==
<pdf width="800" height="500">File:Your Document Name.pdf</pdf>

Download: [[:File:Your Document Name.pdf]]

[[Category:Manufacturer's service manual category]]

Then cite the document from the articles that use it; see RetroTechCollection:Citing sources.

Which category?

Document type	Category
Official service manual	The manufacturer's category: Category:Apple Service Source, Category:IBM Service Manuals, Category:Atari Service Manuals, Category:Commodore Technical Manuals, Category:Acorn Service Manuals, Category:BBC Micro Service Manuals, Category:Amstrad Service Manuals, Category:Sega Service Manuals, Category:Nintendo Service Manuals
Board schematics	Category:Apple Schematics, Category:Commodore Schematics, Category:Nintendo Schematics, Category:Sega Schematics
Community-made documentation	Category:Nintendo Unofficial Service Manuals (the only such category so far)
User guides, books and programming references	Category:Apple Documentation, Category:Commodore Documentation, Category:BBC Micro Documentation, Category:Osborne Documentation

Use the top-level Category:Service Manuals only for documents that cover more than one manufacturer. Do not use Category:Schematics, which is marked for deletion.

File size limits

The wiki accepts uploads up to 2 GB.
For very large scans (over 100 MB), consider whether a lower resolution would do.
The site sits behind Cloudflare, which may refuse uploads over 100 MB through the web form. Ask an administrator to add larger files on the server.