Spiral notebook or computer program?

[hporter]

I loved my Palm Pilot's. I bought my first one when it came out in 1996.

It really blew the minds of the office staff in our headquarters in San Diego when I could send in reports over the Palm Pilot modem accessory real time from the bridge of a Drill Ship in the Gulf of Mexico.

I had bought an Epson digital camera that same year. It could hold 10 or 15 images at VGA resolution on it's built in storage chip. You had to transfer them off with a DB-9 connector cable. Easy to use with your laptop and to be able to send images over the laptop in an age when 35mm cameras were normally being used - and you had to get them developed before sharing them which was hard to do when at sea. Incredible technology at the time, but laughable now. But incredibly useful doing sea trials and trying to get good information back to the software programmers. I still have that camera, I need to put some AA batteries in and see if it still works. Trouble would be finding a computer with a DB-9 connector these days.

Sorry you lost your data. I found one of my Palmpilot backup's last year and was surprised all the data from so long ago was still readable. I still have several Palm Pilot's around here somewhere in a box as well as my Palm Pilot based cellphone that I had at one time. It was good technology for it's time. I could "type" faster using the plastic stylus and it's handwriting recognition technology than I can with my stupid iPhone in which my big fingers always manage to hit the wrong buttons.

 

[Ian]

final loads go in a book.
i ain't never had a notepad crash.

Yup. Whole system costs just a few dollars, too.

 

[RBHarter]

Theme/composition books have been 25-30¢ ea in the past at and just after the back to school sales $5-10 for a case of 8-100 page books .

 

[Ian]

I bought a couple of "bargain" comp books intending to dedicate one to each rifle, but the pages are junk recycled paper. The $20 ones from the college book store were excellent. The idea died and I'm back to the 3" tabbed binder and notebook paper/punched targets.

 

[fiver]

i bought the kids each a case of notebooks back when they were in school.
paid like 10 cents a book back then and still have a few left, after all that i'm still using the same notebook i started with in the 80's it still has some old yellowed out papers stapled in the back for some of my shot shell loads from that time.

 

[Michael]

Pen and paper only for me. I have several of the large 8x11 ish comp books. 3 cartridges max per book, 2 lines and 10 columns containing pretty much eveything there I need to remember about a given load. Never plug anything in on the computer, print lots of stuff out though. I like being able to take whatever data or reference source I am using with me where ever I go, shop, sofa, bathroom, etc., and not be tied down to specific location. And yes, I too, keep my targets, which contain the same data as my log books.

 

[Jeff H]

I also use Libre Office. It is free, it reads MSOffice files and is powerful. It works in Linux and Windows. I don't think MSOffice will read Libre files though. I don't think they care....

I BELIEVE that I have opened Libre documents and spreadsheets with Microsoft by simply changing the file extension to what Word and Excel recognizes before opening it. This has been a while and MS may have headed that trick off at the pass by now.

I haven't gone that direction in a while because I keep work stuff (Microsoft/MS) on my work computer, and home stuff (Libre) on my home computer, period. I used to use MS at home, so I still have files using the extensions MS wants to see and I open them just fine with Libre.

I used MS at home back when work paid for the license, but I actually like using Libre better.

Now to find a decent CAD program that doesn't cost a fortune or require way too much personal information to use. Been through AutoCAD, DarftSight (SolidWorx) and back to AutoCAD and they're all closing the noose on cheap or free use of anything that recognizes .dwg files, of which I have MANY.

 

[dannyd]

Libre office and Microsoft are now interchangeable; if you want a fairly good cad program Librecad is not to bad. But it's not Autocad so you will have to learn different commands.

 

[hporter]

I didn't know Librecad existed. Thanks for the tip!

 

[dannyd]

I didn't know Librecad existed. Thanks for the tip!

Got my first Autocad certificate in 1988 and really do like it, but the cost for normal home use is prohibited. Librecad is a nice alternative; it is written by folks outside the US, so remember to change the format from metric to standard.

 

[hporter]

Yeah, I started with the DOS version, and I would annoy co-workers by using keyboard commands rather than picking up the mouse. But the keyboard commands stick in your head and it is way faster to use them sometimes.

 

[Jeff H]

Libre office and Microsoft are now interchangeable; if you want a fairly good cad program Librecad is not to bad. But it's not Autocad so you will have to learn different commands.

I was not able to open my .dwgs with it.

 

[Jeff H]

Yeah, I started with the DOS version, and I would annoy co-workers by using keyboard commands rather than picking up the mouse. But the keyboard commands stick in your head and it is way faster to use them sometimes.

LOL!

"DOS??" What's DOS?"

If you can't do it with pokes, pinches and swipes, no one knows how to do it anymore 'cept us old coots!



Totally agree on the keyboard commands, and your fingers remember the sequence so that you can bang out a commend with some rythm and flair to make it even MORE annoying.

 

[dannyd]

I was not able to open my .dwgs with it.

I will check and see if there is a converter; Librecad saves in DXF Drawing exchange. Always done new drawing in it never tired open an old one from Autocad.

 

[dannyd]

Yeah, I started with the DOS version, and I would annoy co-workers by using keyboard commands rather than picking up the mouse. But the keyboard commands stick in your head and it is way faster to use them sometimes.

In school we could only use keyboard commands, so they definitely got burned into the brain.

 

[dannyd]

I was not able to open my .dwgs with it.

Try: File, import, block then pick dwg on the right. That should open the dwgs

To use the old drawings need to explode them. Tools, modify, explode.

 

[hporter]

Ugh! Exploding carefully made blocks is a sin......

 

[John]

I lost some data on 5.25" floppy discs. I keep spreadsheets but things go in notebooks first.

 

[Hawk]

My stuff goes on spiral paper first.
Then, the final versions (best loads by caliber, bullet and weight, maybe more than one) on an index card to be filed.
Then into the computer on special forms that I made with scanned targets and is backed up on a flash drive.

 

[RicinYakima]

My stuff goes on spiral paper first.
Then, the final versions (best loads by caliber, bullet and weight, maybe more than one) on an index card to be filed.
Then into the computer on special forms that I made with scanned targets and is backed up on a flash drive.

I really like that! Because that is very close to what I do!