Reading alarm manuals on a pocketpc

[Chris Pratt]

Is anyone doing this? I currently have approx. 10 binders of paper manuals
that I haul around in the van. I would consider buying a Palm or Pocketpc if
the manuals were functionally readable. Is the Adobe reader software
preferred for this kind of thing? Any comments on good/bad experiences are
appreciated.

 

[Crash Gordon®]

I doubt that they'd be readable on handheld.

I used to carry the pdf's on my laptop...that works well...till you drop a generator on the laptop.

 

[Mark Leuck]

I've been wanting to do that for ages, the problem ends up being that
current screens aren't big enough to display the pdf very well without
zooming in and panning the image all around

A laptop or tablet PC works better

 

[alarman]

Crash Gordon® wrote

I used to carry the pdf's on my laptop...that works well...till you drop a
generator on the laptop.

Ouch. I wouldn't mind getting a new laptop anyway. I need to find one with a
really good battery though. Mine's dead again, and I'm not about to spend
another $200 for a new one. Even new I only get about an hour, and the
damned things only lasted a year. I thought I heard a blurb this week about
Gateway laptops with a 10-hour battery.
js

 

[Jim Rojas]

Get yourself a car adapter and use an 4-8 AH alarm battery...screw the
laptop battery. Just make sure the laptop case can accommodate the battery.

Jim Rojas

 

[Frank Olson]

Crash Gordon® wrote

I used to carry the pdf's on my laptop...that works well...till you drop a
generator on the laptop.

Ouch. I wouldn't mind getting a new laptop anyway. I need to find one with
a
really good battery though. Mine's dead again, and I'm not about to spend
another $200 for a new one. Even new I only get about an hour, and the
damned things only lasted a year. I thought I heard a blurb this week
about
Gateway laptops with a 10-hour battery.
js

There's a company in Vancouver that rebuilds lap-top batteries and in most
cases can fit lithium-ion batteries in the same package as your ni-cads. We
had them rebuild a few for us a couple of years ago. No problems to date.

 

[Jim Rojas]

There's an idea...

Jim Rojas

There's a company in Vancouver that rebuilds lap-top batteries and in most
cases can fit lithium-ion batteries in the same package as your ni-cads.
We had them rebuild a few for us a couple of years ago. No problems to
date.

 

[alarman]

Jim Rojas wrote

Get yourself a car adapter and use an 4-8 AH alarm battery...screw the
laptop battery. Just make sure the laptop case can accommodate the

battery.

My laptop AC adapter provides 19.5 volts. Not sure a car adapter/12 volt
battery will do it. Bastards.
js

 

[Bob La Londe]

While far from complete I have Tech-Help on my laptop.

 

[[email protected]]

here are a couple other mobile options....

http://www.dynamism.com/cv50/

http://www.dynamism.com/u71/

http://www.flipstartpc.com/

http://www.panasonic.com/toughbook.

http://www.bsquare.com/products/powerhandheld.asp

http://www.tiqit.com/specs.shtml

 

[Mark Leuck]

I've tried it with my Ipaq, but Mark is correct, to get large enough
resolution to read the PDF, you end up scrolling all over the place.

What about one of those ebook readers? The advantage would be no boot up
time, and just dedicate it to PDF's or whatever format you need. Most times
you don't need your laptop out, just want a couple of program locations.
Anyone have any experience

Graeme McKenzie

I could be wrong but I think those ebook's use an Adobe's proprietary format
which isn't pdf, in other words you can't load anything but ebook material

Those things don't really have much memory so even if you could load
something you couldn't load much

 

[Mark Leuck]

While far from complete I have Tech-Help on my laptop.

Same here and 4 or 5 gigs of pdf's

 

[Aegis]

I have all the pdf's I need on my HP 5555 pocket PC... works great, but
takes a little getting used to due to the small screen size.

 

[jamie-]

I used to carry around manuals -- it takes up a lot of valuable weight
and space in the back of the truck.
I have just about every PDF i need on my laptop, and when the
computer's handy it's nice (easier to search through a pdf than a 500
page manual.

But here's some advice and a suggestion that perhaps we can work on as
a group.

Part of my job description is to write concise (1-3 page) manuals for
the main devices we use -- current panels, local door alarms, DVR etc.
I find i can get 85-90% of the information that is really needed for a
given piece of equipment into 2 pages of info, and for the rest, if I
can't figure it out, i'm willing to wait on hold with tech support to
get an answer to. In addition the likelyhood of one of my crews in the
field flipping through a mounsterous manual is not slim, it's simply
none.

Here's my proposal:
I have some of my documents written, and obviously as i have the spare
time I plan on writing up some more. If the ASA community is willing
to participate maybe we could make better use of the comunity website
then just posting pictures -- that's not a shot at the website, just a
suggestion. My lines currently consist of Radionics, GE (CCTV), and
panasonic (kxta systems). I have about 5 of these docs done.

Tell me what you think. jack s?

 

[alarman]

jamie- wrote

I used to carry around manuals -- it takes up a lot of valuable weight
and space in the back of the truck.
I have just about every PDF i need on my laptop, and when the
computer's handy it's nice (easier to search through a pdf than a 500
page manual.

But here's some advice and a suggestion that perhaps we can work on as
a group.

Part of my job description is to write concise (1-3 page) manuals for
the main devices we use -- current panels, local door alarms, DVR etc.
I find i can get 85-90% of the information that is really needed for a
given piece of equipment into 2 pages of info, and for the rest, if I
can't figure it out, i'm willing to wait on hold with tech support to
get an answer to. In addition the likelyhood of one of my crews in the
field flipping through a mounsterous manual is not slim, it's simply
none.

Here's my proposal:
I have some of my documents written, and obviously as i have the spare
time I plan on writing up some more. If the ASA community is willing
to participate maybe we could make better use of the comunity website
then just posting pictures -- that's not a shot at the website, just a
suggestion. My lines currently consist of Radionics, GE (CCTV), and
panasonic (kxta systems). I have about 5 of these docs done.

Tell me what you think. jack s?

I had to read that twice before I realized you meant my crummy little web
site. Sure, send me what you have and I'll put them up.
js

 

[Frank Olson]

I would think these should be coming down with the advent of organic led
displays coming out.

I'm still waiting for the "orgasmic" ones... The things one could do on the
"Enterprise" (Star Trek TNG) holo-deck... )

 

[Jackcsg]

I'm still waiting for the "orgasmic" ones... The things one could do on the
"Enterprise" (Star Trek TNG) holo-deck... )

Something would tell me not a lot of alarms would get serviced. "Honey, why
has the alarm guy been sitting in his van at the end of the driveway for the
last three hours?"