Logbook Software

check out the bigroad app.

you can't get any better then that. and it's free.

oh wait, i haven't played with it much so i don't know about actually printing it out.

 

Prints and emails great. Loving the app. Great customer service also. I called and got right through to a english speaking human who could clearly answer all my questions.

 

I use the Bigroad app as well... Its pretty user friendly and from what I have read it can take the place of regular paper log books as long as you have a way to print it out in the truck. I just downloaded it on my Razr Maxx a few weeks ago and I am still learning how to use it. Once I get a printer set up in my truck I will probably toss my paper log and use Bigroad. The big bonus is its free and the developers are constantly updating it to make things better. Check it out... http://www.bigroad.com/fleet-home

 

Had my logs inspected 2x by DOT, they loved the BigRoad app. Very easy for even them to use. We do have a printer in the truck but neither asked me to print the logs out

 

So what do you do about the logs that have to go back to your carrier?

You print them out and then sign them?

 

logs are signed digitally in the app, daily inspection reports also. There is a button to email or print the log.

 

The BigRoad e-log app is very good.
It works well on smart phones and tablets, and is easy to read and understand.

 

Kind of late seeing this by a year, but will add my own positive Eclipse use on a Mac experience for the few others that might care about it.

My travel laptop is a 2011 Macbook Air. When I bought it, I went with the most burly version available mainly to get 4GB ram and the 256GB SSD. I previously had a 2010 basic model (the one that was the least expensive at the time) and spent too much time juggling apps to control memory use, as well as constant storage management as the smaller drive fills up really fast. Attempting to run Parallels on a 2GB system with a 64GB ssd, especially while using other Mac apps, just doesn't work. Moral of the story is: you won't do this on an Air unless you spend on the best hardware options. What you get is a laptop that has the size and form benefits of a tablet, but with a real keyboard and the horsepower to run more than overgrown cellphone apps.

I am using a Windows 7 Home Premium virtual machine in Parallels 7. I won't be upgrading either of those for the near term out of concern for storage size and, frankly, no compelling reasons to do so. The Mac is on OSX 10.7.5 (Lion). I slide across 4 desktops: One with browsers, another for just email, a third for other Mac apps (Numbers, Pages, Finder, scanning, and whatever else, and a fourth for Windows.

I leave the Windows 7 VM running all the time, with Eclipse open on it, also all the time. It functions perfectly with the Mac sleep function. When I'm driving I pull the MBA out of my briefcase and flip it open on the steering wheel. It starts up immediately, making for a logbook update that takes about 10-15 seconds total. When done, close the lid, drop it in the bag, and go.

For small carriers who might also do the back office stuff, it's also worthy to mention that the Eclipse admin functions are designed to only work reliably on Windows Internet Explorer for the dashboard features, or a Windows RDP/Citrix app for the RapidLogs tools. Those also work flawlessly in a Parallels install of Windows, both the version I have on my travel laptop, as well as an older Vista version I run on a MacPro at home. With one small catch: you need to configure the VM on a shared network interface, not a virtual one (default). I can't remember exactly what the virtual interface broke, but I'm pretty sure it was the authentication on the RDP/Citrix tools.

Personally, I could care less about Android or IOS apps for logbooks. I find tablet/cellphone touch screens are just too tedious for any sort of precision pointer work and extended typing. By the time you add a bluetooth keyboard and mouse/trackpad, you may as well whip out a laptop. I suspect it's got a lot to do with my transformation into an Old Guy, but unfortunately everyone will get there eventually LOL.