Introducing NAUTILUS-In Cab
Posted on Sep 30, 2007 - 10:59am by Porter Corn in Business, Technology, Trucking
UPDATE: Nautilus in Cab has apparently been having problems with support. For more detail, see this post: http://lifeontheroad.com/2010/01/12/nautilus-in-cab/4982.html
I’ve been sitting on pins and needles waiting for the debut of this great new piece of software written for truckers by truckers.
Over the years, I’ve used just about all the software which advertises itself to be the best of the best and promises to make our life easier. From Hammerlane to Truckers Helper, they all done too little, were too complicated or simply wasn’t suited for the application.
Introducing Nautilus In Cab! 
I’ve been involved in the beta testing of this for sometime and it was interesting and kinda cool to see my suggestions incorporated into the final product.
Tech support is superb and intensive. The learning curve of this program is minor. You’ll be up and running in no time.
I’ll let the words of the developers take over.
Just like you, we were trying different software to manage our finances, keep track of our maintenance, state miles, fuel purchases and any other expense we would incur out here.
After spending a lot of money on software that did not do what we needed out on the road we ended up using simple Microsoft Spread Sheets. With time it grew to an unwieldy pile of files and a nightmare at the end of the year.
At first we have tried a number of trucker products of the shelf, but all were to cumbersome to use, did more then we ever needed and to achieve the task we would have to have several of them running. Granted some of the trucker accounting software packages provided a thousand reports but had no trip sheet, others cost low to begin with but had a four digit price tag to add all the features that we would want to use. One thing was true for all of them the data entry was such a complex procedure that nearly required a full time secretary in the truck with us. In the end we had a choice to either reverted back to Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet or write our own accounting software for truckers.
So we set out for a gargantuan task to write the trucker software to do all that work for us. The bulk of the software was written on the road on my laptop in my truck. Now this became a full time activity.
This software is intended for InCab use, not for the office. The is why we call it Nautilus InCab. We were using it every day and kept all our records in it. Most of it was written in the truck while we are taking a break, sitting at a dock waiting to get loaded/unloaded or home or any other time we had a moment to discuss the features and to write a line of code.
In November 2006 we published the first Beta version and from then on it was tested with real data, real trips and real people it was and still is being improved with your suggestions and findings on daily bases.
This software allows you to keep track of your state miles, finances, including anything from fuel purchase and maintenance to food and whatever else without jumping thru hoops. It is designed from a trucker view point rather then a corporation and is made for use by a driver rather then by an office. It is easy to use and does not punish you in any way. If you make a mistake, go back and change the record.
The software has been in development from July 18, 2006, 2:49 PM and has been in beta test since November 24th 2007 to August 2007
This release candidate of this trucker friendly software is now available for download. On October 1st the 1.2 the official commercial release will hit the streets and highways
This is the next great program to hit the pike. I’ve been using it and loving it. Give it a try. They offer a free 20 trip trial which can be downloaded HERE
I have not been compensated for this endorsement other than receiving a perpetual license to one copy of the program as compensation for participating in the beta tests.
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Like you, I’ve tried them all. Most weren’t able to fit the way my company did things. Some required way too much information then I wanted to spend typing into it. I downloaded this and it looks pretty flexible.
The one thing I’ve noticed so far is that it looks new. Where the others have had improvements over the years, but still look the same way they did when they ran on DOS.
And you can put in as much or as little information that you want.
Wayne,
I agree with you. I have tried all the big names, Hammerlane, Truckers Helper, Trucking Pro, Truckbytes, and they were all to full of things you didn’t need, didn’t want or could not figure out to configure.
I stumbled across this quite by accident when I was looking for an alternative, got involved in the beta testing and was continually impressed with the improvements, some of which I suggested, and with the overall ease of use.
The tech support and customer service is outstanding. During the beta period, my emails were answered within minutes usually. Buggy things or suggestions for improvement resulting in the reply containing a .zip file with the corrections inside which would appear in the next upgrade.
The icing on the cake though, was the other day when I spent an hour and a half on the phone with Alex and his father, the developers, discussing this release and future plans, which include a home version. This will be for O/O’s who wife sits home and does the books and finds loads.
The two programs will communicate with 128 but encryption. This program is the future I believe
[...] Reviewed here. Even as a company driver you need to be keeping track of your income, expenses, trips and a customer contact database is nice to have. If you’re online and inputting an address, hit a button and Nautilus looks up the address on Google Maps in your browser. How sweet is that? [...]
[...] We talk to Alex and David of Largo software, the developers of Nautilus InCab. Reviewed on Life on the Road here. [...]
i already have this software…but when i upgraded to vista it says “postgress” wasnt created..or something to that effect. how can i fix this and continue using this awesome software!
Go to Largo Software (dot com) I know Alex has a work around and a procedure for Vista. Here’s the page for a Vista install here. They are real easy to contact for support. At largosoftware.com Their phone number is on the contact page and they usually answer the phone themselves for support if you need extra help.