Back up files with a printer and scanner

[Ralf Maximus]

While it looks like I'm bagging on PaperBack I'm not really.  I am impressed with the concept and implementation, the same way I'd be impressed by a steam-powered cell phone or those guys that built a nuclear reactor into a B-29 just to see if atomic airplanes were feasible.  Incredibly cool, but seriously: WTF?

2D barcodes are a mature product.  UPS uses them on their packages for routing information.  Chances are, your drivers license has a K or two of data encoded on the back using 2D.  Assuming you have the right kind of laser gun, download one of the many 2D barcoding SDKs out there and get to work... the ability to encode naked pictures of yourself on the back of your businesscard is but a day's sweet labor!

My point in posting was to point out the absurdity of this technology for future-proofing data.  The suggested use of making durable paper backups usable by future generations was just too amusing to ignore. 

If something is so important that you worry your great-grandkids will suffer for not knowing it, then become a famous author and publish your data as an appendix to one of your works.  Millions of your books will be published, sold, kept in libraries and dusty warehouses, traded by airplane travellers and left in nursing homes and doctors offices.  Hundreds of years from now at least ONE of your books will survive, insuring your AOL password (or whatever) is safe.

[mwb1100]

My point in posting was to point out the absurdity of this technology for future-proofing data.  The suggested use of making durable paper backups usable by future generations was just too amusing to ignore.

-Ralf Maximus (October 05, 2007, 08:28 AM)

You're correct.  Though I wasn't really serious about using PaperBack to future-proof your data.

If something is so important that you worry your great-grandkids will suffer for not knowing it, then become a famous author and publish... Hundreds of years from now at least ONE of your books will survive, insuring your AOL password (or whatever) is safe.

-Ralf Maximus (October 05, 2007, 08:28 AM)

But I am serious that data longevity is a problem that needs to be thought about.

What about my will, family's genealogy, or personal papers that I may think are just great (but no one else does - yet)?  I doubt you're interested in my photos of my grandfather from WWI.  Samuel Pepy's Diary was not published until 100 years after he died.  I know that that PaperBack is not the way to archive this stuff; my point is that CD's, DVDs, Travan tapes, floppies, etc. are also not the way to preserve this stuff.

Even when something is deemed important today, if you want it to be accessible centuries from now, then some thought needs to go into deciding how you're going to ensure it will endure and be usable.

http://www.usatoday....reers/hottopic16.htm
http://www.library.y...s/0405/msg00079.html
http://blog.pacdat.n...ry=20050424115412139
http://www.popularme...ndustry/4201645.html
http://physicsworld..../article/print/26768

As for carving your important info into granite - this is exactly why Kings & Emperors have gone through the expense.

[katykaty]

If you just want to have an off chance that you'll be able to watch Shrek 2 in 50 years time, tape it off the TV and stick it in the back of a cupboard somewhere, and hope you'll be able to pick up a working VCR from an antique shop in half a century.

- legal under UK copyright law, by the way   Wink

Actually technically not. It is legal to video stuff from TV to watch it at a time other than its broadcast time. Strictly it isn't legal to keep that copy in perpetuity to watch whenever you want or to archive it. That is what purchased VHS and DVD is currently for. Not that any one in the UK takes any notice of such regulations.

-Carol Haynes (October 04, 2007, 06:16 PM)

Sorry Carol; that's what I meant - to keep it to eventually watch once. So many people wilfully read 'a more convenient time' as 'any convenient times'

[Grorgy]

Last i heard we have problems with just having a blank video tape on the premises because it COULD be used to break the law, well stupid laws shouldnt be and arent generally supported, i think at last count there are about 15million households here in Aus with a VCR and I would go so far as to suggest that more than 1/2 have a blank tape, the courts will be busy 

[Mark0]

Uhm... Considering that app like PaperBack are around, and enable one to store digital data on plain paper sheets... hope some Marjors-funded politicians don't come with some bright idea about taxing paper!

[Carol Haynes]

Last i heard we have problems with just having a blank video tape on the premises because it COULD be used to break the law, well stupid laws shouldnt be and arent generally supported, i think at last count there are about 15million households here in Aus with a VCR and I would go so far as to suggest that more than 1/2 have a blank tape, the courts will be busy 

-Grorgy (October 05, 2007, 06:05 PM)

Why do you need a blank tape - you can equally well break the law with a used tape. 

Of course we all know that the only reason blank media is sold is so that we can all use Camcorders to record family events.

Uhm... Considering that app like PaperBack are around, and enable one to store digital data on plain paper sheets... hope some Marjors-funded politicians don't come with some bright idea about taxing paper!

-Mark0 (October 05, 2007, 06:12 PM)

Didn't the media industry suggest this for blank audio cassettes and blank CD-Rs at one time. I think is was implemented in some countries. In which case they already get their 'royalty' from the blank media and so it should be perfectly legal to do what you like with it.

[Mark0]

Didn't the media industry suggest this for blank audio cassettes and blank CD-Rs at one time. I think is was implemented in some countries. In which case they already get their 'royalty' from the blank media and so it should be perfectly legal to do what you like with it.

-Carol Haynes (October 05, 2007, 06:46 PM)

Off course they have, and here we pay some money on empty tape, CD-R, HD; practically every digital media. Just to feed some parasitic entities that no longer belong to this times, obsoleted by technology, but still able to control political groups with sounding money.

Bye!

[Grorgy]

  I  don't have a camcorder lol

[wreckedcarzz]

How to restore a backup with PaperBack:
...
5. You remember that the drivers you need are encoded onto the piece of yellowed paper you're trying to scan...

-Ralf Maximus (October 04, 2007, 03:07 PM)

 

[Deozaan]

Anyone ever heard of Microfiche?

[wreckedcarzz]

Anyone ever heard of Microfiche?

-Deozaan (October 17, 2007, 12:36 AM)

Huh?
*opens google webpage*

[Ralf Maximus]

That's it!  Brilliant!
http://www.bmisoluti...er-scanner-318-p.asp

[mwb1100]

For some reason PaperBack has gotten a couple mentions recently on Bruce Sterling's "Beyond the Beyond" blog and on extemetech, so I thought I'd poke this old thread... (please forgive me)

  - http://www.wired.com...erback-paper-backup/
  - http://www.extremete...d-as-it-sounds?print

[sword]

My latest attempts at storing large amounts of data in a small space use a zoomable user interface (ZUI) and readily available or open source apps. The best I can do is fit 1200 words of text in a 156 KB bitmap file. My goals were: easy selection and viewing and fast access.

Eagle Mode (ZUI) v 0.84.0 livecd (from sourceforge) has a practically infinite desktop with file structure and names in SVG that show all drives and files. Navigation is fast and clicking on a file allows zooming in on the contents. My test file was a monochrome bitmap saved with MS Paint from a Windows PrtScr of a screen full of 'test' random letter, five letter words of 6pt Courier New, 24 words by 50 lines.

[sword]

fascinating:
video(dot)dainutekstai(dot)lt/thins(dot)html > Eagle Mode
or:
video(dot)dainutekstai(dot)lt/w(dot)php?a=G6yPQKt3mBA
examples:
zoomism(dot)com/ > ZUI websites and applications >