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
[edit source]Copyright
[edit source]- Complete manuals and schematics may be uploaded, including ones still under copyright, as long as they are cited. See the service manual reproduction policy.
- Citing a document means giving its source, its author or publisher, and its copyright holder on the file page (see the file description below), and citing it in the articles that use it.
- If a copyright holder asks for a document to be removed, it will be removed.
Check for duplicates
[edit source]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
[edit source]| 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
[edit source]- 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
[edit source]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.pdfNintendo Game Boy Technical Manual.pdfSega Dreamcast VA0 CPU and DRAM Schematic.pdfAtari TT030 Schematic C301762-001.pdf
Uploading
[edit source]- 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
[edit source]Every uploaded file needs a description page. Say what the document is, where your copy came from, who wrote or published it, and who holds the copyright. Manufacturer documentation is almost never freely licensed; for it, name the copyright holder under Licence. If the holder cannot be established, write "copyright holder unknown".
== 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
[edit source]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?
[edit source]| 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:Commodore Schematics, Category:Nintendo Schematics, Category:Sega Schematics; otherwise the manufacturer's service manual category |
| 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. There is no general schematics category: Apple schematics, for example, go in Category:Apple Service Source.
File size limits
[edit source]- 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.