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OMG.. iPad as a install manual!!

P

Pinger

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 12, 2010
177
0
Northeast
Never saw this coming but damn! I bought a new garage door opener, unpacked it and pulled out the install manual and thought what if.. Checked online and found it on my iPad, instead of flipping pages I can't believe how convenient and enjoyable it is using the iPad as the manual, I can blow up illustrations and enlarge print with a flick of my fingers.. This iPad just gets better and better :)
 
So long as there is a PDF or webpage online you can read any manual.
 
Open box, grab manual.

Open box, see no manual, go locate iPad, search online for manual, get manual.

I don't know if this would be useful for me, as it seems numerous additional steps are required.

Definitely the 'whoa' factor is there. And maybe for reading up on it later but I don't see how this helps in the building or assembly of something.
 
I could see it as an option, but there had better be a hard copy in the box.
 
Pinger said:
Never saw this coming but damn! I bought a new garage door opener, unpacked it and pulled out the install manual and thought what if.. Checked online and found it on my iPad, instead of flipping pages I can't believe how convenient and enjoyable it is using the iPad as the manual, I can blow up illustrations and enlarge print with a flick of my fingers..
Click to expand...
Yup! Doing that made life soooo much easier when I put a lift on my Jeep a few months ago.

The instructions that came with the lift were b&w, and were a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy (x10), so the text was blurry, and the included pictures were small and blurry to the point of being pretty much useless.

Downloading the PDF, I was able to see everything in color, and able to "flick" the pictures to full-screen size. Not to mention the PDF was more up-to-date than the included instructions.

Definitely knocked hours off the install!!!
 
I thought you meant for installing computer components or an OS or something - where the instructions come electronically and the machine you're working on can't be on to view them.
 
MistaBungle said:
Definitely the 'whoa' factor is there. And maybe for reading up on it later but I don't see how this helps in the building or assembly of something.
Click to expand...

You must not have encountered something that only has instructions available online. Just as an example, I recently bought a pickup for an acoustic guitar that had a small paper manual. It pointed you to an online PDF for permanent installation. I also have an automatic thermostat that only had detailed wiring instructions available online. It's getting more and more common as companies use less paper.
 
Not all work...

Well I use PDF's at all times for reading almost anything.
However I received this manual for REDCine X (RED camera software) and noticed that the pictures dont show up on any iOS device.
The only fix was to open in Preview then save as PDF.
It works but the formatting got screwed up :p
I tried a few PDF reader apps and they too had probs.
 
mBox said:
Well I use PDF's at all times for reading almost anything.
However I received this manual for REDCine X (RED camera software) and noticed that the pictures dont show up on any iOS device.
The only fix was to open in Preview then save as PDF.
It works but the formatting got screwed up :p
I tried a few PDF reader apps and they too had probs.
Click to expand...

Either open it in Acrobat and use the Tool: Reduce File Size.

Or open it in Review and instead of saving it, Print it to PDF.

The file you have must have some incompatible objects in it, so when you print, you remove them all.
 
Pinger said:
Never saw this coming but damn! I bought a new garage door opener, unpacked it and pulled out the install manual and thought what if.. Checked online and found it on my iPad, instead of flipping pages I can't believe how convenient and enjoyable it is using the iPad as the manual, I can blow up illustrations and enlarge print with a flick of my fingers.. This iPad just gets better and better :)
Click to expand...

Now imagine doing this with an eInk display that keeps the information on screen even after the device is powered down. And then... you get a Kindle! Yes! When you unpack your Kindle, you first think that some idiot has glued a printout of the user manual to the screen of the device. And then it dawns on you: This is what eInk displays are about! Awesome. Magical. Beautiful. Revolutionary. And in this case, truly amazing. Somebody understood his own product.

But I agree that the iPad is a better reader for PDFs than the small Kindle 3. The iPad also is a better comic book reader than the Kindle 3.

But I wouldn't use either device while installing a garage door opener.
 
Winni said:
When you unpack your Kindle, you first think that some idiot has glued a printout of the user manual to the screen of the device. And then it dawns on you: This is what eInk displays are about! Awesome. Magical. Beautiful. Revolutionary. And in this case, truly amazing. Somebody understood his own product.
Click to expand...

It does look impressive, but I wonder how many people have damaged their Kindle's trying to take the "sticker" off :)
 
pMad said:
Where can you get strategy guides in .pdf form?
Click to expand...

I can't answer that specific question however what I normally do is just load up gamefaqs in Safari. That gives me plenty of help to get past the trickier sections.
 
nospeed411 said:
If you want to impress me , make the iPad OPENthe garage door:D:D
Click to expand...

Not only does my ipad open my garage doors but it also disarms my security system adjusts the lights and thermostats unlocks my doors all while I'm watching the security cameras on the ipad
 
Yeah, I've got as many of my manuals I could find in PDF, which was most, saved in Goodreader. It's been great having them when I need them, and not having o look all over to find them.
 
I was actually able to save the manual in my iBooks Library and yes the garage door opener works just fine lol. :)
 
I'm holding out till they start including an iPad in the box with the garage door opener.
 
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