Re: I miss manuals...

In article <MPG.1e9631615c759a68989793@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Michael J. Schülke <news0601@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

thewises wrote:
Don't we all.

Actually, I don't. I binned most software manuals more or less unread
after a couple of years on my shelf; and the hardware manuals weren't
that helpful, either, because the *really* interesting stuff was in the
service manuals / technical reference manuals which you *didn't* get.

Why are most manuals on PDF today? Two reasons. 1. They didn't have PDF in
the '80s. 2. It's cheaper than an actual paper book.

3. PDFs are searchable. That's also the reason why UNIX had online man
pages from early on. ("You can't grep paper.")
4. PDFs don't take up shelf space.
5. PDFs don't weigh anything. You can put them on your laptop and take
them with you; try doing that with a gray wall of manuals.
6. PDFs can be updated more easily.

Michael

I see your point of view for pdf manuals, but there are a lot of reasons
I don't like them...

1) Kinda hard to read in the bathtub during a nice long soak.

2) Kinda hard to read when the computer isn't with you.

3) Kinda hard to refer to when you are trying to run the actual
application & read the manual on a small screen at the same time.

Just my 2 cents...I prefer spiral bound manuals, and the thicker the
better..that's why they call them MANuals because it's MANLY to read
heavy thick documents!!! (Ha Ha Ha!!!)

Douglas

:)
.

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