Hi,

I'm thinking of using my iPad as a printer replacement option - to offset the cost of purchase by using it to print my documents to and also to try and be a little eco friendly - if that's possible - by not using up paper and toner/ink as often.

I used to have a large format eBook reader, the iRex DR1000. I could print files to a PDF on my Mac and then simply copy them to the DR1000 via USB or SD and read the "printouts" on there. This device unfortunately met a sticky end and thanks to my house insurance, I am buying an iPad to replace it - though I do have to contribute some of my own money towards it!!

Has anyone got any innovative and fast ways of using their iPad as a printer replacement?

Me too. I have a lot of PDF files that I often print and browse at my desk. I want to do away with that completely.

Omro,

Interesting... I assume you'll be doing this from home or office. A place with WiFi available. Am I correct?

Hmmm that's an interesting concept. We'd love to hear an update soon on how it's going.

LOL Cimousa, I too am intrigued. My head's moving through several scenarios now. I may try to make a rough solution for this.

Regards,

Originally Posted by john

Omro,

Interesting... I assume you'll be doing this from home or office. A place with WiFi available. Am I correct?

My iPad hasn't arrived yet, due the 28th, so this is all theoretical.

The DR1000 was straight forward, you plugged it into the computer via USB, it showed up as a hard disk and you copied the PDF "printout", disconnected and read the PDF. Or took out the SD card and slotted that into the computer and repeated the above.

As I understand how the iPad works, you can't plug it in and have a similar space show up.

I'm hearing about a program called DropBox which might allow me to sync a printouts folder on the computer with the iPad and then open the files in a PDF reader.

Alternatively I would have to email the "printouts" to the iPad, which does require wifi access.

Luckily I should never need this outside of an office/home environment where wifi is available.

Will also look into some kind of bluetooth sync, maybe.

Originally Posted by john

LOL Cimousa, I too am intrigued. My head's moving through several scenarios now. I may try to make a rough solution for this.

Regards,

Awesome, think out loud. I'm really intrigued by this idea. It used to work well enough on the DR1000, though the eInk limitations were a little tedious to live with. Am hoping that the iPad screen improves upon this.

MobileRead Wiki - IRex Digital Reader

This is the device I had. The screen size is comparable with the iPad. However the versatility of the iPad has it beaten hands down. Plus the software implementation of the DR1000 left a lot to be desired. However, for the sheer simplicity of printing to PDF and copying to the device and reading printouts, it was hard to beat.

Ya, I've almost got it working now using drop box. Funny I was thinking of a few methods... I was thinking about have the pad acces a shared folder over a local network or network share that you could joint through the browser.

Looks like drop box will be much nicer. You'll just have to manage your files so that you don't exceed your file storage limit. I'll do a write-up with screenshots soon showing how I'm doing it.

Great idea, keep thinking out loud!

Originally Posted by john

Ya, I've almost got it working now using drop box. Funny I was thinking of a few methods... I was thinking about have the pad acces a shared folder over a local network or network share that you could joint through the browser.

Looks like drop box will be much nicer. You'll just have to manage your files so that you don't exceed your file storage limit. I'll do a write-up with screenshots soon showing how I'm doing it.

Great idea, keep thinking out loud!

That would be great! I'm soooo looking forward to getting my iPad and being as productive as possible with it!

btw I like your site, though the link in your footer doesn't work properly.

Try Evernote, you send an email with attached pdf to an email address that Evernote gives you. The pdf then shows up as an icon in Evernote, you can sort them into as many folders as you want and share it with people and drop all kinds of files into it. Although it is hard to edit things you put on with a PC with the iPad. can access all the files from any computer with internet access.