Survival of FLGS moving into the digital doc age
- Thread starter DFW
- Start date
I sometimes wonder, if a low-priced PDF PADD (used in the Star Trek sense here) that was akin to the Kindle or other ebook readers but bigger (say A5 or slightly larger) wouldn't not be a good idea for both domestic (RPG and school) and commercial (spec sheets and schematics) use.
The electronic paper screen on the Kindle is very energy efficient and clear in most lights and you don't really need colour... and it could be produced at a much lower price than an iPad or similar too, I suspect.
That would overcome one of the biggest problem of PDFs - the inability to let another player "borrow" it during a session without infringing copyright - if you're physically handing it to the other player, it's either going to be given back or it's stolen in any case (along with the reader).
Thoughts?
The electronic paper screen on the Kindle is very energy efficient and clear in most lights and you don't really need colour... and it could be produced at a much lower price than an iPad or similar too, I suspect.
That would overcome one of the biggest problem of PDFs - the inability to let another player "borrow" it during a session without infringing copyright - if you're physically handing it to the other player, it's either going to be given back or it's stolen in any case (along with the reader).
Thoughts?
rust said:
Of course - I'm not suggesting one PDF per reader - just as the Kindle (sorry to keep using it as an example, but it's the reader I own) doesn't limit you to just one book...
Of course, you'd probably have tons of bookmarks per PDF "book" too, to help you find your place quickly - since you can't flick back and forth as you would with a real book.
I think it could work, although I am not sure whether I really would want
to give such a reader with a lot of material to someone for any extended
period of time, I have made rather mixed experiences with books - it
seems there is a kind of law that the more valuable they are, the more
likely they are to "get lost".
to give such a reader with a lot of material to someone for any extended
period of time, I have made rather mixed experiences with books - it
seems there is a kind of law that the more valuable they are, the more
likely they are to "get lost".
Yeah, I'd not want to see the DRM aspect as severe as the Kindle's ebook side it - I'd just be happy with watermarking and keeping it general... that's why I suggested that it'd be useful in the technical areas in business too - a cheap means of passing round and accessing technical data in a way that can be kept with the individual.
For example, I'm self employed in IT repair right now (5 months and counting) - being able to pull up a motherboard layout or cable/pin diagram would sometimes be useful, but not 400 quid kinda useful... so if they kept it general purpose, I think there'd be a market for it.
The Android tablets would be worth a look though, although I'd love to see non-glare screens like the Kindle and some laptops become standard - it helps a lot compared to my old PDAs - they used to be practically mirrors.
I've been eyeing up the Archos units actually...
As for the watermarking not detering people - if you made them so that you had to link them to a computer via a physical USB cable to upload/download things, you'd pretty much stamp that on its head unless you're daft enough to let someone borrow it longer than a few minutes at the roleplaying table... you'd not want built in DRM or it'd be useless in a commercial setting where you'd want to upload files quickly.
I guess, with tablets finally getting reasonable in price, it wouldn't be worth doing, provided such tablets have PDF support - I might even be able to justify getting one for the business later on it I start having to do on-site repairs regularly.
As for Cloud processing, I hate the idea myself - I prefer local processing and storage - less security risk and, with broadband speeds being what they are in the UK (for the majority of the country, not the priviledged few city-dwellers), not going to be viable for a while yet anyhow. Net access of 4 or 5 Mb/s is pretty much the standard where I live... and I know of a fair few who have it worse... and a few are lucky enough to get the full 8, or close to.
For example, I'm self employed in IT repair right now (5 months and counting) - being able to pull up a motherboard layout or cable/pin diagram would sometimes be useful, but not 400 quid kinda useful... so if they kept it general purpose, I think there'd be a market for it.
The Android tablets would be worth a look though, although I'd love to see non-glare screens like the Kindle and some laptops become standard - it helps a lot compared to my old PDAs - they used to be practically mirrors.
I've been eyeing up the Archos units actually...
As for the watermarking not detering people - if you made them so that you had to link them to a computer via a physical USB cable to upload/download things, you'd pretty much stamp that on its head unless you're daft enough to let someone borrow it longer than a few minutes at the roleplaying table... you'd not want built in DRM or it'd be useless in a commercial setting where you'd want to upload files quickly.
I guess, with tablets finally getting reasonable in price, it wouldn't be worth doing, provided such tablets have PDF support - I might even be able to justify getting one for the business later on it I start having to do on-site repairs regularly.
As for Cloud processing, I hate the idea myself - I prefer local processing and storage - less security risk and, with broadband speeds being what they are in the UK (for the majority of the country, not the priviledged few city-dwellers), not going to be viable for a while yet anyhow. Net access of 4 or 5 Mb/s is pretty much the standard where I live... and I know of a fair few who have it worse... and a few are lucky enough to get the full 8, or close to.
Not seeing this - the lender doesn't have access to the rest of their own books...BFalcon said:
Notably, why would publishers care if people don't lend books because of the price of hardware? Aside from price and form factor (debatable)- this pretty much exists today - sounds like this a price reduced version of the larger sized kindle (the kindles can read PDFs, though limited - iPad also has problems with PDFs due to not licensing JPEG-2000 - many PDFs need to be re-saved on an Apple or modified in Acrobat to change image format...)
BTW: One of the most highly expected features of the iPad 2 was an A5-ish size (and Retina style 300+ dpi screen). Suspect marketing and production folks actually don't read much and assume the rest of the population doesn't either (which is sadly not far from the truth). In the end, though, somebody with 'get it'...
BP: well, maybe I'm biased on this since I don't let my books leave the table unless they're in my own care ( except one or two *very* rare exceptions) in any case, so by "lend", I mean "I hand it to another player so they can check up on something in a book they either don't own themselves, or forgot to bring". Obviously if you lend players books so they can take them home, then they'll not be able to borrow PDFs legally anyhow unless you delete all your backup copies at the same time as they take it, or you're breaking copyright in any case.
As for the devices, I guess the A5 format (a 10.1" screen is near-enough there, I guess, depending on the ratio) is large enough for the LBB, just not comfortable reading (yet) for the larger books - but they ARE large enough to take half a page at a time, I guess, without straining your eyes.
I just thought that an A4-sized, low-power unit might have been a good idea - from the comments so far, I guess that I'm the only one to think so.
Edit: just noticed that I put A5 in my post earlier... joys of typing fast, I had meant A4. Also: The Archos 101 looks to be a very nice little unit, does anyone have personal experience of it? I think I've just found my next gadget to save up for...
As for the devices, I guess the A5 format (a 10.1" screen is near-enough there, I guess, depending on the ratio) is large enough for the LBB, just not comfortable reading (yet) for the larger books - but they ARE large enough to take half a page at a time, I guess, without straining your eyes.
I just thought that an A4-sized, low-power unit might have been a good idea - from the comments so far, I guess that I'm the only one to think so.
Edit: just noticed that I put A5 in my post earlier... joys of typing fast, I had meant A4. Also: The Archos 101 looks to be a very nice little unit, does anyone have personal experience of it? I think I've just found my next gadget to save up for...
If you are just 'borrowing' books at the table - not sure I see the cost concern then... (sure, it would be nicer if they were cheaper... 
)
As to A4 vs. A5... A5 is better for hand holding and thus more in line with leisure reading material (especially paperbacks). Larger A4 is more for reference material, magazines (extremely light) and academic uses. There is also the issue of eye scan - the reason why magazines and newsprint almost always are multi-column.
Ironically, the more optimal reading/holding size for the nominal human is actually between these two sizes! This size is actually used both historically and more recently in many textbooks. A 10.5 inch display is pretty optimal - if it didn't have a huge border around it 'for holding' then it would be more comfortable for holding!
Use of 300+ pixels per inch (ppi = dpi on displays) really makes a huge difference when reading PDFs up close on a personal device. eInk (like in the Kindle) is generally lower res (167 IIRC) but more 'organic' so aliasing artifacts are less apparent.
BTW: The resting distance for the human eye is based on focus requirements for walking - so monitors are best placed more than 3 feet away (~4' for the average)! Of course, this requires a larger monitor to display any reasonable amount of text - and then there is the width issue (I use portrait monitors for this reason). Thus, reading often leads to glasses (and better near vision at the cost of astigmatism).
)As to A4 vs. A5... A5 is better for hand holding and thus more in line with leisure reading material (especially paperbacks). Larger A4 is more for reference material, magazines (extremely light) and academic uses. There is also the issue of eye scan - the reason why magazines and newsprint almost always are multi-column.
Ironically, the more optimal reading/holding size for the nominal human is actually between these two sizes! This size is actually used both historically and more recently in many textbooks. A 10.5 inch display is pretty optimal - if it didn't have a huge border around it 'for holding' then it would be more comfortable for holding!
Use of 300+ pixels per inch (ppi = dpi on displays) really makes a huge difference when reading PDFs up close on a personal device. eInk (like in the Kindle) is generally lower res (167 IIRC) but more 'organic' so aliasing artifacts are less apparent.
BTW: The resting distance for the human eye is based on focus requirements for walking - so monitors are best placed more than 3 feet away (~4' for the average)! Of course, this requires a larger monitor to display any reasonable amount of text - and then there is the width issue (I use portrait monitors for this reason). Thus, reading often leads to glasses (and better near vision at the cost of astigmatism).
rust: I've found that players using laptops get in the way - they have them constantly in front of them, so distracts them, and they block the player off from the rest of the group in much the same way as some GMs feel the GM shield does...
Laptops also suffer (often) from having too many programs on them that are running in the background - at least a tablet is usually put down so isn't in the line of sight when talking to other players or the GM when an email comes in, for example.
Laptops also suffer (often) from having too many programs on them that are running in the background - at least a tablet is usually put down so isn't in the line of sight when talking to other players or the GM when an email comes in, for example.
DFW: I've got a kindle - would the LBB PDFs work on that or will there be a problem with the PDF format? I've not bought any Traveller PDFs yet so can't tell without buying one and if I bought one, it'd be the full rulebook, not the LBB.
Edit: I mean unless it would work on the Kindle, of course...
Edit: I mean unless it would work on the Kindle, of course...
I've played with bulky monitors (and computers) right on the table - but always off to the side at an angle... laptops work better (esp. when wires not required)... but the iPad (or any like) on a lazy susan (whre did that term come from ) in the center of the table works grand!
Players with iPhone/Android style phones can track their characters well to.
As to rule books - I've never seen the need for players to have those at the gaming table (except during chargen - but then I always made programs for that). 'Shopping' I might occasionally use a book so my players could lookup items on the lists I provided.
) in the center of the table works grand!Players with iPhone/Android style phones can track their characters well to.
As to rule books - I've never seen the need for players to have those at the gaming table (except during chargen - but then I always made programs for that). 'Shopping' I might occasionally use a book so my players could lookup items on the lists I provided.
LBB (pocket digest sized) is same contents as full rulebook (except footer issue).BFalcon said:
There is no DMR on the PDFs (just watermarks) and the current Kindle supports PDFs directly (minus some features like annotations, IIRC).
If not supported directly on your Kindle or has other issues - something like PDFRead and program that convert pages to png files - but that gets big and res dependent.
GamerDude
Cosmic Mongoose
I have found players at the table with net books, laptops, PDA's, Cell phones, etc just a distraction. Texting, playing games, reading some book having nothing to do with the game at hand. One time I caught two players texting back and forth about the game planning on screwing all the other players and turning the game on its head, because it was funny. Another time I had a player just keep dominating the game. It was a Serenity game, he took the doctor, yet claimed to have some program that if you gave the date would tell you travel times between planets... even after I told him to shut it down, and then got the group to make him shut up because the doctor had no astrogation skills.BFalcon said:
So no player laptops at my table anymore when I'm GMing... I ask for it as a player but hey it's not my table.
My laptop/PC does just fine, like any Windows comp half of it is what you install and how you set it up. (I'm still looking for a good FREE utility to help me manager what loads at boot up)BFalcon said:Laptops also suffer (often) from having too many programs on them that are running in the background - at least a tablet is usually put down so isn't in the line of sight when talking to other players or the GM when an email comes in, for example.
I've mentioned my HP Tablet before. a 'TM3' Touchsmart. Plenty fast I can have pretty much all the PDFs I want open at a time and be on the internet to reference something and run several GM management programs (like "the keep") and not slow down.
BP said:
Thanks for the info - I already knew the contents, I just like the footnotes - so if the page display area was larger, it would have made sense, that's all
Thanks for the info on PDFRead. I think a PNG would melt the poor Kindle... lol
Thanks for the info on the tablets and on the PDF format guys - I just wanted to make sure that there was no formatting in the MGT PDFs that would disagree with my Kindle (3rd edition, incidently).
Good point.GamerDude said:
I've used at most two computers - one for me, one for the players as a group (recently iPad + iPod touch). Of course, I know and hand pick my players, so I know their maturity level... this is certainly not the case for pickup groups, cons, etc.
Sysinternals (autoruns) works well - assuming you aren't talking about selectively enable/disabling at boot up each time. Lots of other options in the app as well (normal disclaimer about knowing what you are about applies).GamerDude said:
A large percentage of performance hits are actually from 'Antivirus' and 'Internet Security' programs, BTW. Case of the cure being worse than the disease (and more vulnerable, to boot). But, don't try to simply uninstall these - though you can disable many runtime features with no problem (performance gain isn't as good as getting rid of them - but a slow computer is better than one that can no longer boot - referring to the uninstalls, not damage-ware).
