MG-Cars.info

Welcome to our Site for MG, Triumph and Austin-Healey Car Information.

Parts

MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG TD TF 1500 - Beta Testers Needed

I am looking for a few techie beta testers. The purpose is to test an electronic Operator's Guide for the M.G. TD.

I built this app modeled after some current high end car apps and it is what I think the M.G. Car Company would have built if they were in existence today, but it still has the style of the era the car was in. It includes a fully electronic Operation Manual embedded in the Operator's Guide (not just scans, but a full electronic manual using the original artwork).

I need a few people who have the time to test out the functionality and inner workings to see if its anywhere near ready for public use. In this first test it will be internet based and not a installed app. That will come later if/when it passes the test.

The type of testers I need are:

Android tablet and phone of different sorts
iPhone, iPad, iPad mini in different flavors
Windows Phone

Because its internet based during this test you will need a fast internet connection (ie wifi) and I would not suggest using it on any device you have to pay a data plan on.

email me if you are interested in helping me.

Chris Couper

Chris, this is a great idea and I would love to help. However my knowledge of computers is limited to where the ON/OFF switch is... tom
Tom Maine

Chris, I founded and operated a software company for 25 years. I probably qualify. Android please.
Is this an app or a website? And can it be tested on Win 8 computer (vs. a smartphone)?
Ed
PS: Any copyright issues here?
efh Haskell

Tom, my internet/computer skills are only slightly more advanced than yours (On/Off/Get in trouble) so I think we are the perfect beta testers. T-car drivers don't waste their time on texting and facebooking (I know, that generalization will probably PO some people but I'm old enough to speak my mind).

Chris, I have a new iPad and haven't really found a use for it (it's the modern version of a corporate Gold Watch for when they put us out to pasture) so I'd be happy to test it. I have Wi-Fi (slow satellite connection) at home and can find free Wi-Fi hot spots to mooch off of so put me down as a b-tester. If an email address is needed - jchapin3 at aol dot com.

Jud
J K Chapin

Chris, count me in! I am an iPad user
David
D. Sander

All you testers need to send me an email to mgtd@mg-cars.org.uk so I have some way of communicating issues etc.

Its a web based application right now and it COULD be an app if it passes muster.

efh: I don't think there is any copyright issues with the original content as it was never copyrighted and its been in the public domain already for too long. My portion is copyrighted.
Chris Couper

I have often felt the need for a modern manual, both for operations and maintenance. Sort of a combined Ops manual and some basic mechanical stuff. So much more is known about our cars since it was "invented". I have always felt that the original 'Operators manual' was assumptive and inadequate.

I worry about the next owner of my TF; if they can operate and maintain my car without some good documentation.

Furthermore, I think each of us should be allowed to contribute useful data, whether as text, images or both.

So I can help too Chris. I have a career in computers (Z80 CPUs, S100 bus, Basic, etc) and even at 81 continue to build my own workstations from scratch. I'm too old to write code these days, so programming is limited to macros.

For text apps, WordPerfect only. Prefer no MS WORD (but I do have it - ugh!). Cellular - prefer Foxbase Pro for DOS, but can work in Access or even Quattro Pro in delimited ASCII. For graphics Win7/Adobe 6.0 CS Premium with InDesign.

But I don't feel any need for portability, hence I have no smart 'phone, no tablet and no laptop.

I can offer a digital image library I have been accumulating for 60 years. These are mostly detail pictures of parts and their application to the T-Series, and not pictures of the cars themselves.

Gord Clark
Rockburn, Qué.
Gordon A Clark

Jud,

Start using that iPad and after a while and as you discover more apps, you’ll become a believer.

When I got my first iPad it was just a curiosity, then, my second was as an Electronic Flight Bag containing at least 50 pounds of aircraft manuals including worldwide charts and approach plates, all kept up to date with a tap on the update or sync button. It actually saves me a lot of time!

I started to put auto and motorcycle manuals on it using the Goodreader app and found that while working on something and wanting a paper copy of a page, that my printer was air-print capable and a push of the print button in the shop produced a copy on the house printer that my wife delivered.

I even found the My Radar app useful in flight. The ship’s radar can only reach out a couple of hundred miles so you can only plan for the next 20-25 minutes. The plane has internet so that app can give us the big picture in near real-time.

It can’t be beat for viewing images as it allows you to enlarge the image with finger gestures only limited by the resolution of the original. I’ve found that very useful when someone on this forum shares a picture that has a detail that I need.

No, I don’t have Apple stock unless it’s in some mutual fund. It’s just a useful product.

I was going to set up an old computer in the shop using a CRT monitor and an old inkjet. I hauled that stuff to the dump.

Jim
JE Carroll

Chris,
Count me in. I have been an Apple user since their first product in the 80's and almost everyone since. I have iMac, MacBook, iPad and iPhone. I usually take the phone and pad with me on trips. The iPad has a data plan so I am on line all the time with it as I am with the iPhone.
I will e-mail you my info.
Mort

Mort 50 TD (Mobius)

I'll do windows phone betatesting for you, chris!
Geoffrey M Baker

Gordon, contributing text and pictures is an interesting idea but:

"For text apps, WordPerfect only. Prefer no MS WORD (but I do have it - ugh!). Cellular - prefer Foxbase Pro for DOS, but can work in Access or even Quattro Pro in delimited ASCII. For graphics Win7/Adobe 6.0 CS Premium with InDesign"

Wordperfect, FoxBASE, Quattro products have not been in business for many years. I too have used them years ago but I doubt anyone else could make use of any data contributed in those formats. I'm not trying to be a "snob", hope it doesn't come off that way!
Ed

efh Haskell

Sadly, I agree with Ed - WordPerfect was the best but MS Word out marketed it and now WordPerfect is a relic. I've been forced to admit that MS Word/Excel are the lingua francas of the computer world.

Jud
J K Chapin

WordPerfect is very much alive. Current version is X7. Its is the most modern of text processors, and is used by most serious writers primarily because WORD cannot display formatting codes and is comparatively slow. Current Corel Quattro is also X7.

In DOS, Foxbase runs like lightening in the uncompiled mode. Nothing, but NOTHING, comes near it.

HERE'S A CHALLENGE FOR YOU WORD USERS ...

Type any three words on a line. Now, WITHOUT USING THE SPACE BAR, align the left word flush left, put the middle word in the centre and the right word, flush right. With WordPerfect, its a snap. Not possible with WORD.

Most people diss WordPerfect because they've been brainwashed with WORD. or are afraid to try it for fear they might like it. Very few people have the simple skills to display fractions ½, ¼, ¾, ⅛, ⅝, ⅞ for example, or anything that's not on the keyboard.

Sadly, most computer users have become slaves to the GUI (Graphical User Interface, like Mac OSX and Windows). There's still a lot of power in native modes like DOS. And again sadly, in a modern CMOS, DOS is no longer native and runs only in emulation .

Anything I contribute will be in HTML or ASCII or worst case, WORD 2003. Your call.

Defender of Traditional Values
Gord Clark
Rockburn, Qué.



Gordon A Clark

Great! I'll participate, email is on the way.

BobbyG
Bobby Galvez

Gordon, I was a long time Wordperfect user back in the day and I loved it, it was FAST.
Sadly, I moved on to Word as most of my clients supply in Word. I don't worry much about formatting, typically I do that all in InDesign.
Most any database info can be exported for use in other databases; I've taken stuff from dbIII and Fox and MySQL and imported it without difficulty into MSSQL (and back), it's all just a question of matching fields well first...
Some things get worse, sometimes better. Back in 1982, I spent $3000 on a 2 mb (yes, megabytes) board of expanded (not extended) memory. I could load the entire operating system (Windows 2.0) AND my programs (Pagemaker, WordPerfect) into memory and it would run amazingly fast (even at lowly 6mhz clock speeds on a 286!). I haven't had anything run as fast until last year, when I upgraded to a Microsoft Surface Pro with an SSD, and suddenly it was all back on a memory chip and running about six times faster than my previous laptop...
Geoffrey M Baker

OK. I think I have enough beta testers now. I will get an email out to all of you that offered here or via my email shortly.
Chris Couper

Email sent so if you did not get an invite. Send me an email.
Chris Couper

Geoff,

Thanks for the lesson. I'm 81 and haven't attended any up-dating sessions for over 5 years. I'm out of touch now. But I still build a wicked WS. My latest uses a water-cooled Xeon® Processor E5-2630, Six Core, 2.3GHz, 24 Mb. and removable SSDs

I'm having difficulty switching from QuarXPress to InDesign, but I have lottsa time so patience is my ally.

I don't think I have much to offer since I don't have any portable devices, but my graphics library is good and if you'll copy me, I'll send you anything that I think might be usefull.

I think this is a great initiative - something that's long overdue. Thanks for taking it on.

Gord Clark
Rockburn, Qué.
Gordon A Clark

Gord,
Yea, I'ld prefer WordStar under Dos! Remember the "WordStar Diamond"? With one hand I could go anywhere in a word, document, paragraph, leave a placeholder, bold, underline, justify, etc. without leaving the home row keyboard position! Now it's the mouse or the unused "PgUp,PgDn, etc. keys" that nobody other than I even know exists! Although in newer Word versions Right Click does everything I could ever need! I written manuals with hundred of pages with embedded pictures, spreadsheets, even movies. Current version is Word 2014. As far as speed, on a modern (3 year or newer) machine MS Office is fastest thing on the planet. Speed is not an issue. I have made a very good living producing Access applications across networks involving millions of records. And I have never had a need to left/center/right justify 3 words on a line. If I did I would just insert a Word grid. Give it a try.

But life goes on...enough of us hijacking this thread.

Ed
efh Haskell

Guess I didn't make the cut!
David Sheward

Fear not David. You just got overlooked. Check your email.
Chris Couper

Thanks Chris! Got it!
David Sheward

Gordon, that's a tough change. I hated leaving pagemaker for Quark (probably reached my speed apex in pagemaker, I could do almost anything with shortcuts and macros), and then I hated leaving quark for indesign. But it's what the market wants. If you have indesign questions, let me know, I made the shift three years ago and have gotten pretty good in cs6 now.

Chris, this is a great product but I have to take issue with one thing - you say this is what the MG car company would have built.

The MG car company would have built a program running under CP/M, utilizing cassette tape backup, in the most obsolete format they could find (early version of COBOL maybe), with graphics stored uuencoded, and with an instruction booklet that started with "First, built yourself a simple computer, then..."
Geoffrey M Baker

Geoff. You are correct. We would have gotten the Trash 80 :-)
Chris Couper

Chris, did I make the cut? No email received from you.

Jud
jchapin3 at aol dot com
J K Chapin

Chris, email received. Thanks.

Jud
J K Chapin

Chris, great work!! I've been through most of it on my iPad and it seems to function very smoothly. Sadly I don't have internet or wi-fi in the garage so I remain relegated to paper there but having the Operator's manual on the iPad will be neat for trips and other places.

Jud
J K Chapin

Jud,

There's some attractive data plan packages available to get your iPad connected by cellular.

Jim
JE Carroll

Jim, that appeals. I'll check it out.

Jud
J K Chapin

Chris, it would definitely be great if you had an app instead of a web app for just this reason, so people can download and store the whole thing. I would LOVE to have it on my phone for easy access but I also don't have a data plan because I'm way too cheap for that. My wifi probably doesn't reach my carport...
Geoffrey M Baker

If it all works out and makes sense then it WILL become a standalone app (except for the dealer locator).

Another tester wants to see a maintenance and fuel log added and that is being considered for V2.
Chris Couper

Chris, it's not like you haven't undertaken and mostly accomplished, quite well I might add, a helluva big job already so I hesitate to make this suggestion but perhaps V.3 could include the Workshop Manual.

Jud
J K Chapin

But there already is a WSM in PDF form. Isn't that good enough?
Chris Couper

I didn't know that. After all the great work you've done I'm actually glad you don't have to take on the WSM.

Thanks.

Jud
J K Chapin

Where is the pdf shop manual you refer to Chris?
efh Haskell

I see the pdf versions on ebay from time to time.

Also isn't someone selling a CD with the WSM and other techie stuff on it?
Chris Couper

This thread was discussed between 07/05/2014 and 12/05/2014

MG TD TF 1500 index

This thread is from the archives. Join this live forum now