Article Comment: ExplorOz Traveller

You can teach an old dog new tricks!
Well done Chris

Every manual I have is in electronic form. saves space and its just a matter of opening up the file

Woof Woof.

Chris the manual is in the app already offline so you dont need to store it separately.

Thanks Michelle. No I do not have the Traveller manual in my manual directory for the very reason you mention. However I do have a few things other than manuals. The most notable one is the terms and conditions of RACV Total Care. If you ever ring your motoring organisation regarding using their Total Care package or its equivalent a wise person reads the T & C's BEFORE ringing them so you do not say anything that might disqualify you. It is quite common for people to be a bit casual about how they talk and end up not qualifying for assistance.
Chris

As Michelle said, the manual is in the app so it's there for reference if I need it.

But I find it difficult to do the initial learning from an electronic manual on a screen. I prefer a book, where I can have the app or device or whatever in front of me and the book open at the relevant page so I can work step by step if necessary.

My camera came with a comprehensive manual on a CD. Totally useless for me in the training phase, I had to print it.

Horses for courses, I guess, or is it tricks for dogs? :-)

Cheers

Isn't it great that we are all different. Frank places more importance in the readability of the manual and can manage the physical storage. I do not want to have to cope with the physical storage of manuals and can manage with electronic copies. As Frank says "Horses for Courses"
Chris

Exactly Chris, this is why we offer the manual both in-app and online via the website (so its easy to download and/or print).

I think there's a good case for having a paper copy as a backup - as phones have a habit of dying, getting run over, getting dropped, even catching fire!
Hard drives have been known to crash with total failure, and a huge loss of data - and anyone who thinks that Cloud storage is completely foolproof and 100% reliable lives in La-La Land.
I have major reservations about trusting any global corporation with my data and storage.

Many years ago, I stored all my images on ImageShack (for free) for forums, and put up a link to the images.
Then ImageShack decided free was not the way to go, and started asking serious dollars annually for storage.
If you didn't pay them they deleted your images. I wasn't inclined to pay their (substantial) annual charges, so my images disappeared into the ether - making the historical forum posts useless.

Servers and computers get hacked - despite all the best security systems. I was registered with Manheim Auctions, they got hacked by ransom pirates, who demanded $30M and who took down Manheims website totally.
Manheim refused to pay and they had to rebuild their website from scratch. It's still a very poor website.

Manheim claimed that all customer details were secure and hadn't been stolen - which is 110% corporate BS, as we all know, nothing is secure.
Funnily enough, almost immediately Manheims site was hacked, I have started receiving about 30 or 40 spam emails a day - Viagra, Bitcoin, Bunnings/Woolworths vouchers fraud, and a pile of related utter garbage.

These electronic downfalls are annoying, and frustrating, and it's not something I have to put up with, when I have information on paper!
Maybe I'm just an old electronic dinosaur - but I prefer not to think I am, because I build my own computers and I know a lot more about computers than many "elders".
But I'm also experienced enough to know not to "put all your eggs into one basket".

Cheers, Ron.

Frank P likes a hard copy because he believes it is easier to use, which is personnel choice, which is fair enough.

Ron N has lost data stored electronically because he did not have enough copies and used an unreliable service. Ron, you say you are experienced but you put all your eggs into one basket.

As Ron N pointed out every storage medium has risks, full stop. Ever a paper copy could be lost, stolen, burnt in a fire etc. If you do not want to lose data you need multiple copies in multiple locations.

I use Onedrive which is Microsoft which would be as close to 100% safe as you could get. The Onedrive is mirrored on my home computer, my phone, my old phone with the badly cracked screen, and my laptop. That is 5 copies. Even if I have no internet connection and I am away from home travelling, I still have access to at least two of those copies.

Yes indeed. Multiple copies on multiple devices, and a paper copy in an atlas as well. Really doesn't take up much room.
What to take when walking is always a question. Surprising how quickly you can get lost.

Cheers
Jim