Programs or apps. To keep track of inventory.

[JimKrol]

My slant on this. Using a spreadsheet works good for 'not many items', but gets out of hand if you have more than a few 100 inventory items. I went down this road when I decided I needed to log model railroad items for insurance and maintenance purpose: Engines, Cars, Buildings, Track, Switches, Signals ... etc. The thing got really big really fast and was hard to find specific items. Ya, you can create a database in Excel kinda, but why go there. If you have it, use Access from the get go. The learning curve is a little higher but after you get the hang of it, not to bad.

Note that it has been quite a few years since I played with this sort of Micro$oft stuff - probably Cloud based now of which I do not go there: 3rd party is in charge of your data and at their whim. No idea what licensing $$$ are.

For those brave at heart - resurrect that old PC in the basement/garage and load Linux on it with Apache, PHP and MySql and is free. You can now have a database you can view from any computer on your local network. There is a learning curve, but this stuff is not earth stopping stuff - use Micro$oft while learning and playing with Linux.

Later

I use Openoffice on windows. Works like MS office, but it is free. It from OSF and I believe Apache supports it. No need to delve into the Linii, and it is free.

 

[JimKrol]

Started myself in '72 with COBOL and Assembly on IBM360's. That was enough of 'getting feet wet' for me to continue off and on throughout the Years. Now do mostly Assembly on AtMel devices.

I started in 1969. Took an accounting systems class (Accounting Major), wrote in Basic. Loved programming and started taking classes in the CS school, IBM Assembler Cobol Frotran, and an Operating system class. Been doing IT professionally since 1971. First Job was at Southern Pacific RR, writing Asm.

 

[GGNInNScale]

I think we are dating ourselves... But, I started on an RCA Spectra 70 and then a CDC 6500 (two 6400s in parallel). It was exciting when you put the new page skip instead of line advance...

 

[timlange3]

We used 1401 systems to read the student's card deck to tape to take to the 7094. We had CIO and SIO decks that would play music on the printer.

 

[ctclibby]

I think we are dating ourselves... But, I started on an RCA Spectra 70 and then a CDC 6500 (two 6400s in parallel). It was exciting when you put the new page skip instead of line advance...

Spectra 70 - 1st Andromeda Strain movie computer if you want some trivia. The 70 did not have a large lifetime as RCA, Sperry Rand either bought out RCA or just rebranded it. Then sometime in 72 it became an Univac LDMX 7045. Most of the major Command bases also installed this beast for the Logical Digital Message Exchange - the LDMX part. FMFPAC/CINCPAC one I played with besides the console had 3 drum printers, 2 high speed card readers, paper table reader. mass mag card storage system, 8 mag tape drives, 12 Disks and to many digital terminals to count. CINCPACFLEET also got one, but 2nd MAW did not.

Stock photo do not remember the source.

Picture has degraded even though it had been kept in a photo book. That is me sitting cross legged with the reset of the shift crew. 1972 to now - what 52 years?

Sure brings back memories!

Later

 

[dgrafix]

Excel or "libre office calc" (a free and open source version of "office") are probably your easiest and most compatible option, as they can be used as is and also export many standard formats that can be read into most apps.

 

[ONR FAN]

I use Woodland Scenics app on my phone. It’s a pain in the rear to enter everything but once it’s done it’s great for reference at train shows or the club.

 

[Canalligator]

Rather than separate sheets, I’d use one table with columns for road, number, decoder address, etc. Then filter for what you want to see.

 

[ironmaster15213]

Well I made an excel spreadsheet and have been putting the cars and locomotives in for the last 4 weeks while healing from a left hip replacement. I think I'm up to around 2900 items, almost half way through. I forgot how cool some of these items really are and how few are the duplicates.

 

[Bruette]

I made an excel spreadsheet and have been putting the cars and locomotives in for the last 4 weeks

I also use Excel. I like how easy it is to customize, and I didn't have to buy dedicated software.

while healing from a left hip replacement.

I hope your recovery goes well.

I forgot how cool some of these items really are

I've let my inventory fall behind. I look forward to finding the surprises I forgot about.

how few are the duplicates.

I have not done so well with that. Before I started the inventory I bought more than a few duplicates.

 

[GGNInNScale]

Spectra 70 - 1st Andromeda Strain movie computer if you want some trivia. The 70 did not have a large lifetime as RCA, Sperry Rand either bought out RCA or just rebranded it. Then sometime in 72 it became an Univac LDMX 7045. Most of the major Command bases also installed this beast for the Logical Digital Message Exchange - the LDMX part. FMFPAC/CINCPAC one I played with besides the console had 3 drum printers, 2 high speed card readers, paper table reader. mass mag card storage system, 8 mag tape drives, 12 Disks and to many digital terminals to count. CINCPACFLEET also got one, but 2nd MAW did not.
View attachment 207726
Stock photo do not remember the source.

View attachment 207727

Picture has degraded even though it had been kept in a photo book. That is me sitting cross legged with the reset of the shift crew. 1972 to now - what 52 years?

Sure brings back memories!

Later

OMG I used to play 3D startrek on a Spectra. My buddies' dad used one to run a cyclotron. We skipped out of school and ran over to the lab to play the game.... too funny! This was back in about 1969 sometime.