Yes. They stop printing books and expect us to take PDF files. But I don't review all documents around a live computer, nor do I want to. So I need paper form, off and on. I need to be able to have nice, shelvable (and boxable) copies around. So they took that away from me and they haven't given me an alternative path in my control to use, either.
I get by, like most who can afford the price, by having my own duplexing printer, binders of various kinds, etc. In other words, by becoming a print shop. I didn't want that job and would gladly pay someone else to take it on. But there it is... I'm stuck with it.
Multiply that by all the engineers out there and that adds up to a nice, tidy business done in selling print shop equipment and supplies and sold to those without any kind of bargaining power that allows them to use bulk quantities to purchase printing supplies and equipment more cheaply. So higher profit margins for those selling this stuff.
I'd like to see a few businesses start up with the idea of filling this gap for engineers. The difficulty would be in negotiating with the companies for access to their documents, so that engineers would have a convenient, one-stop shop for all their PDF-to-book needs. The rest is already done, so its a well-known, well-worn path.
I'd imagine so, too. What would they care? Obviously, they didn't want to print them before, which is why they quit to begin with. Folks expected to be given the manuals, which probably explains why they don't want to print them. So they have already won that battle by getting out from underneath that expectation and that expense. Now that we are primed with the idea that we ourselves might actually have to pay for paper manuals we once expected for free, and have mentally crossed that line, they won't even bother to grease the skids for us by providing clear permissions when everything is at our own expense.
Quite a change. I hope they fix that part of this problem. I've long since gotten over the idea that I will have to pay for paper if I want it. I'd now just like to be able to get some of the manuals done up with good bindings and quality print, where I know I need it and cannot afford the truly large expenses associated with doing that in a one-off manner in my basement.
There is no longer much reason to produce entirely uncompressed pdf's (there used to be, but the processor speed to disk and network speed ratio is now so high that compression speeds up file access). About the only real reason for generating uncompressed pdfs is so that they can be better compressed by zip, bzip2, mod_deflate, or whatever.
Compression in pdfs only affects part of the file (such as images, and blocks of text) - there is actually still plenty that remains uncompressed, allowing more squashing by additional programs.
Manufacturers have "brilliantly" eliminated a cost to themselves and thrown it over the fence to the customers. Instead of spending a small amount per copy by the manufacturer to print copies, you now have many people spending several times as much per copy to print them.
Kudos to those companies that will still ship a hardcopy of their documents on request. Raspberries to those who won't -- NXP (apparently) and TI among others.
Amen! I wish the youngsters at those web design places would realize that there are areas in the world where broadband connections simply do not exist.
That's ok, but default to PDF. Users are well aware that while the datasheet for a BAV99 loads fast a PDF file for a micro processor programming guide will take a long time.
Yes, but at the end of the day what counts is what 98% or more of potential customers have on their machines. Not what they should have or could have. If you alienate only 5% of them that will result in painful accusations at one of the next board meetings after the expected numbers didn't materialize. That's when that chainsaw sound will usually re-appear in due course (a.k.a. layoff, "new leadership", restructuring etc.).
I bet they didn't. They need to talk to typical customers _before_ making drastic changes, not just do it and then have to mop up all the broken glass like right now. Well, I don't see any mopping either since the web site is as broken as it was, at least here.
Hint to NXP: Have a meeting tomorrow but then the next hardcore design out here begins Wednesday at 8:00am Pacific Time. If it ain't fixed by then I guess there won't be NXP parts in that design.
With the number of parts out there and the number of manufacturers making them, the amount of paper required becomes very large. My collection of databooks and manuals fills bookcases on all walls of all rooms (except kitchen and bathrooms) and hallways of my house. To solve the problem, I download the pdf files to a pdf directory. I file them by manufacture. I also create a shortcut directory filed by type or function. I occasionally back up the pdf directory to DVD. It still fits on one DVD.
I don't usually need the whole document to evaluate the part's usefulness. I only print those pages I need at the time. Saves a lot of paper and ink.
Hi, Don. I know you aren't responding directly to me, but this is worth a comment, anyway.
I can't speak to the "number of parts out there." While the number of certain categories of parts has certainly changed upwards over time, I can't say one way or another from experience whether the total number of parts available has changed enough to have made it impossible for companies to continue old practices. In addition, companies have smartly found better ways to reduce the total page count -- for example, by separating out common sections (peripheral docs that are common to a family) into a separate document instead of duplicating it over and over in the various detailed sections of each part. It is my opinion though, from discussions at Intel years back, that the motive for this change was primarily about the rising printing costs; coupled with the fact that there was a sufficiently useful standard set of tools for both producing and viewing documents and a growing capability among engineers to handle the viewing and printing requirements. While the motive of rising printing costs was increasing, laser printers were coming down in cost, computers with PDF readers were more readily available, etc. The "cross-over" event was probably inevitable.
Other than that, your other comments are about what I'd say. I do the same thing with directories. And, like you, I only print those parts or those entire documents where I feel I really need them. In that sense, there is another value in the manufacturers avoiding the printing costs. I used to get data books just to make sure I had them available, if and when I would need to study them. Sometimes, I very rarely looked at one -- a few, never. And sometimes, only one section of it ever got any attention. Yet, trees were being consumed all the same because the producer side really didn't know exactly how much to produce of what. The burden shifted now to those who KNOW what they need to print means that printing occurs when the need rises over the trouble involved. So perhaps folks can look upon this as good. The other side of that coin is that distributing printing equipment and supplies into nearly every office and home has its own other costs in terms of power, shipping/transportation time and fuel, etc. My guess is that all this is a net loss to the environment. But maybe not. I can't say.
I am glad there are PDF files. I wouldn't want to lose that. And I personally don't expect manufacturers to go back to manufacturing huge quantities of give-away books. But I do feel that manufacturers should take the bother and trouble with their own legal folks so that they can prepare a proper public license usable by the rest of us at print shops, when we ourselves are motivated enough to get a PDF well-printed and properly bound.
It is that single extra step that seems to have fallen through the cracks. And it needs to be remedied.
That's why being able to "Save As" is important. That moves download to the background and has least impact on the desktop. There are times when you want to get the data sheet to 'peruse later'.
My browser (Mozilla) always asks that. The only gripe I have with it is that is sometimes loads into Acrobat and other times into an add-on via that dreaded "download manager". Pretty much like the lottery.
That would be wonderful. And I've seen the comment on the web pages at TI which says "Printed versions of databooks may be obtained by contacting the Texas Instruments Literature Response Center at
1-800-477-8924, or by contacting your local distributor." However, have you actually called that number? I have. No dice for most things I asked about. I think they had exactly one of the list I had in front of me. (I've called them many more times than just once, by the way.)
A carton of office paper lasts me 1/2 year, at least. Ok, plus maybe one toner cartridge a year.
For non-restricted PDF there are such providers. Kinko's, for example. If a company restricts printing of a PDF it doesn't affect me much since I most likely won't give them my business anyhow.
I have only checked that for the MSP430 series. They offered to print something like the family guide (very long PDF) as a booklet, quite cheaply. I was contemplating that but every time I wanted to use a 430 I ended up not being able to because it is so skimpy on resources. Ran out of timers every time and went back to ye olde analog trick box.
Have you tried to get a 600 page document printed and bound? I have. There are some great places which offer to do one-offs for very reasonable rates. However, I've taken specific PDF files down and been refused, too. Not just one printer, but several. (Kinko's doesn't do what I want nor at rates I consider as good.) PDFs from more than one very well known manufacturer (TI is only one example, but this includes others of similar presence.)
I have, but not from TI. Kinko's was just one example. It's a chain, probably franchise and so there are usually less expensive mom and pop shops. Ours has never refused a job. Forgot the name but it's only a couple miles down the road. Easy enough for bicycling to stay in shape but too far away to walk the dogs, at least not on hot summer days ;-)
For printing, maybe. The MSP didn't. Still only one timer in the cheap versions (the WDT timer isn't too useful). Plus the 3.6V max doesn't allow easy drining of FETs.
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