Request for retired or discontinued product documentation and datasheets

WBA Consulting

Parallax,
From a recent thread about Stingray documentation, the consensus of the participants on the thread is that it would be beneficial to have a publicly accessible repository of documentation for retired and discontinued product. Many people still have items that are no longer sold and in some cases it is difficult to find documentation for them. It would be nice to have an available zip file including the original product web page, any PDFs from that page, and any code examples that were not in the OBEX or elsewhere. In my opinion, it wouldn't be an involved process for any of the retired products.

As an example, attached is what I would like to see for the 28500 GPS module if it were to be discontinued.

Here is a list of inactive products that should be considered to have available documentation packages:

1. Original Stingray Robot Kit, 28980, that includes the MSR1 control board.
2. MSR1 Control Board, 28230. Should also include schematic.
3. Penguin Robot Kit, 27313, 27314, 27315, 27316. CAD files for metal would be nice.
4. Propeller RPM Board, 32202
5. Quadrover, 28195
6. Original EMIC Text 2 Speech, 30006
7. Say It Module, 30080

thanks!

Publison

I'll add my two that I put together last night.

Quadrover-28195
Propeller Control Board-28205

It's kinda' strange that these archives don't exist since there is a page on the Parallax web site for "Discontinued Product Documents"

Maybe a new Sticky that is fed by users? I have a bunch I'd be willing to contribute.

RobotWorkshop

Keeping the PDF documentation online for older products in some sort of archive is something that I've asked about in the past as well. I've run into this issue many times over the years and that can be very frustrating for people (myself included) that are looking for details on a product that may now be obsolete. If those docs are pulled it ends up adding support for Parallax since in many cases we need to e-mail Parallax support to ask if they still have it, can find it, and then send us a copy. It also add a lot of time chasing down docs and delaying projects. Just keeping all the old product docs and files online via website or FTP would be a great idea. I think it should contain the documents of ALL the discontinued products.

The other suggestion I would like to make is that if Parallax makes major changes to a product that it should probably get a new part number. My case in point is the Stingray. When Parallax changed the Stingray kit to only be the chassis and no longer as a complete robot (w/propeller board) it should have had a new part number. The old part number should have remained just for the full Stingray kit. Reusing the part # makes it very confusing for someone looking for details on the Stingray robot. Reusing the part number on this particular product was a bad idea. When I went searching by product # for the original I could only find the latest which is a completely different kit now....

Robert

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)

I'll add my voice to the chorus in favor of retaining documentation for EOL'd products online. It's simply irresponsible not to.

-Phil

RobotWorkshop

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) wrote: »

I'll add my voice to the chorus in favor of retaining documentation for EOL'd products online. It's simply irresponsible not to.

-Phil

One reason this is extremely important is that a lot of the Parallax products don't ship with printed documentation. They just have a sticker that says to search their website for the product number so you can download the docs. What good does that do when either the docs have been pulled or a Product number is re-used (as in the Stingray case) so that it is now basically a different product?

I'd settle for just having the discontinued product page with just a bunch of raw links to download the PDF files. That shouldn't be too hard to configure or maintain.

Robert

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)

Also, the docs for EOL'd products should be available via the same part number search as docs for active products.

-Phil

WBA Consulting

Publison wrote: »

It's kinda' strange that these archives don't exist since there is a page on the Parallax web site for "Discontinued Product Documents".

I did not see that page before, but after reading the text on it, I see that the current stance is to NOT publicly store discontinued documentation, but rather direct you to look for the support of the forums or email tech support. That changes my views on what documentation I should store locally for my Parallax products. I already download as much code as possible from the product pages so I have it handy when learning the product, but I don't save documents unless I plan on doing some development while off the grid.

So maybe a better request to Parallax is: Would they be opposed to someone storing the files in a public manner offsite? I haven't allocated the main domain space of spinmyprop.com yet.........

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)

I just read that webpage. IMO, that policy is misguided. I hope Parallax has a change of heart and endeavors to maintain a public archive of documentation for EOL'd products.

-Phil

prof_braino

This is a good idea. +1

Zoot

Thanks for calling attention to what has been a pet peeve of my own. As of 2006 or '07 I've assiduously downloaded and archived the PDF docs/manuals/sheets from Parallax for any products I've have an interest in, whether or not I purchased them. I've always been baffled as to why the EOL and discontinued product info vaporizes. It seems it would be *more* work to delete than to just leave it up online.

Ken Gracey

OK, OK. Give us the morning to sort this out and we'll be back with a solution. I agree with all of the complaints about this issue.

Lauren Davis

Hello Everyone,

We are aware of this issue and agree that old/discon documentation needs to live on. Unfortunately with the current website structure there is no easy way to do this without leaving up all products in our store, cluttering search results, or creating a repository where it's hard to find anything. We have tossed around ideas on how to best accomplish this on our current website and decided to focus on making it happen on the new site. The new site will have a legacy products area where you can easily search for discontinued products and documentation. Our efforts are going into making this happen on the new site now. Lots of work behind the scenes has been put into the new Parallax.com.

For immediate needs we can republish some of the old discontinued products. If I have a list of those you want to see, I can go through and publish. All products still live on in the background. No information has actually been deleted.

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)

Thanks, Ken and Lauren! I suspected that the Right Thing^TM must surely be in the works, since it's so unlike Parallax to leave its customers in the dark.

-Phil

Ken Gracey

The "Right Thing" might be in the works, but I'm sure our priorities for managing products will be to list those that we sell.

Would everybody be happy (!) if we had a sticky thread on the General Forum entitled "Discontinued Product Documentation" and posted all of our old product docs in that place?

Zoot

Yes. But also maybe just put in a link to it from Parallax.com somewhere?

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)

Ken Gracey wrote:

Would everybody be happy (!) if we had a sticky thread on the General Forum entitled "Discontinued Product Documentation" and posted all of our old product docs in that place?

I guess that's better than nothing. The problem comes when a person saves their packaging and is directed by the label to "search" for <product number> on the parallax.com website. If that search could redirect to the appropriate forum post pertaining to the particular product in question, that should be adequate. But short of that, I'd be less than enthused.

Ken, the companies that garner the most customer satisfaction are those that continue to provide information, if not full technical support, for obsolete products. Abandonment is a horrible feeling to experience -- in life or as a client. The unilateral decision to EOL a product should not be accompanied by a suspension of support. Perhaps a clearly-stated five-year extended policy of support would be the way to go for EOL'd products, after which a customer is invited to consider an equivalent replacement. Heck, I can still get factory parts for my '82 Benz. Thank goodness, because I have no plans to replace it.

-Phil

WBA Consulting

I think that any sort of single point repository will work as long as it can be found easily like Phil stated. You could leave the product page up, but remove the content except for the product image and description. Then just add a blankent statement regarding it being discontinued and a link to the sticky thread for the documentation.

RobotWorkshop

For now just getting all the docs for retired products in one place where we can get them would work. I don't expect Parallax to provide long term support for obsolete products (perhaps direct people to the forums for that) but at least keep the docs available since that is often all we need to handle it ourselves.

Will the search on the Parallax website only search product pages or would it find those product numbers on a page of retired products too? If it will then just posting all the docs on your discontinued item page is fine.

Thanks for listening to our concerns!

Robert

prof_braino

Ken Gracey wrote: »

a sticky thread on the General Forum entitled "Discontinued Product Documentation" and posted all of our old product docs in that place?

This is a great start. Good work.

It might not be an optimal solution, but will certainly help till a better one arises.

Genetix

Hello Ken,

I've been on the forums for several years but not as an active user.

Another solution would be to place legacy products, as most tech companies call these, on the FTP server (ftp.parallax.com).

Also, what is Parallax's policy on discontinued products should anyone be interested in their drawings, BOMs (Bill of Materials), or any other technical documents?

Brian

Publison

Ken Gracey wrote: »

Would everybody be happy (!) if we had a sticky thread on the General Forum entitled "Discontinued Product Documentation" and posted all of our old product docs in that place?

Yes Ken! Please do for the time being. I can start tonight with uploads.

Jim

PS Thanks Ken and Lauren for the great reponses.