New Manual for 1.7

Andrew,

I feel your pain.  I made this point last year and I was promised that in the future (maybe from now on?...)  that the manual updates would be done sectionally, so that we could just reprint the new parts.  My department, and company is not only cash-strapped at the time but also attempting to be more enviromentally conscience, which means people are counting the paper that everyone else uses around here.

We currently have manuals from early 1.4 sometime.  I think 1.7 deserves new hard copies  That's four in the building.  I'll definitely be self-conscious about it.  Are you able to print on both sides of the paper?  It makes a big difference and is easier (possible) to fit in the binder.

Anne, is there any progress on getting the manuals onto  the consoles?

B

Why, out of cureosity, are you printing the maunals?

Andrew Riter said:

I'm looking at printing 5 new copies, colour, which can add up in price REALLY quick at 400pages each.

Just thought I would throw this out there... just got a new Ion last week (my 2nd one) and the new manual is printed out in black and white. Seems that ETC has the same economic concerns with printing stuff out.

Personally I find it much more comfortable reading a manual off a page than off a screen, and how do you make notes in the margins of a pdf?

Ben, it's partly speculation ... but I suspect that a large proportion of people who have their questions (I don't refer to this forum, but to technology in general) answered with "RTFM" don't have a printed out manual at the work location. And if you (like me) have a cheap phone that doesn't display PDFs, it's not always easy to get a look at an electronic manual at the moment you need it. (I might add that I'm 57 and it's not so easy to read a manual in a phone font!) Not everyone's life is organized in precisely the way yours may be. For example, not all light booths have a computer in them.

There is no available computer at my lighting console and no space for one either.

usesafesets said:

Why, out of cureosity, are you printing the maunals?

That makes total sense. I ment no judgment by it.

That makes total sense. I ment no judgment by it.

BSmith said:

Anne, is there any progress on getting the manuals onto  the consoles?

Yes, I would as well like to see this!  It would be great for quick look ups!

Pat

Due to to scope of changes in 1.7, we thought it best to do a rehit of the manual.  If you have an experienced staff, they probably can figure out "what's different" from the 1.7 feature list.  1.8 and 1.9 will be manual supplements.

It is still our intent to do an embedded hyper-linked manual.  It is slowly making its way up the priority list.

Thanks!

a

Anne Valentino said:

It is still our intent to do an embedded hyper-linked manual.  It is slowly making its way up the priority list.

*Very* cool!!  Hyperlinked and perhaps the ability to save (or print) out to PDF!

Thanks Anne!

Pat

Replying to my own email . . .

a quick quote from Kinkos and staples: 5 copies, colour, = $900 - $1100.  Yeeeeouch!

Yes, my booths don't have computer terminals in them for web access . . .

I like margin notes in manuals. . .

I can throw the manual at the student after answering their 9th dumb question when I answer RTFM.

I'll probably end up printing the 3 main copies in colour, and 2 more in BW ($600 total).

[grump]

**** re Fan command ****

keep that clown in the box a while longer. . . air holes and feeding tubes might be recommended.

Goodnight all

Andrew Riter

The Kinko's near where I live(Honolulu) charged $37 for a b/w reprint with holes punched. (They call punching drilling.)

If I had wanted the color charts printed in color, they would have printed only those pages I specified in color and charged extra for those pages.  Maybe your Kinko's can do that for you.

Jim Takahashi