Q: Why isn’t my Kwik/Zim working?

A: Bottom line? I have no clue. Ask the person who put it out there.

I get probably 5-10 emails every week asking why the Kwik/.ZIM software and files they downloaded from www.xyz1234.com doesn’t work or why the software is producing error code FBA123450sa8ee0987w3e97w09er8xx.

If you are a technical Computer User then you may be familiar with Kwik Software and the technology that underlies it. It’s great software and like all software addresses some serious need for some people. All software (well most of it anyway) exists to solve a specific problem. I have no particular bias for or against Kwik.

That being said the Survivor Library exists in the format it does for a very specific reason. While the PC industry has really only been around since the mid 1970s the .PDF format is relatively OLD by PC standards. (and I use PC in it’s meaning as Personal Computer not as a Windows machine) It’s one of the oldest compressed page viewing formats around and it has stood the test of time despite it’s various problems (which are legion).

Windows suck too but it still pretty much controls the PC market just as PDF is still the standard Document Viewing format for better or worse. As a result virtually EVERY operating system that has come out in the last 25-30 years (Windows, MacOS, Linux, ChromeOS, SteamOS, Android, even the Xbox) will open a PDF file so that you can read it and in most cases print it.

Even a world which has lost the Power Grid and/or has suffered an EMP that would likely destroy most computers there WILL be some computers still around; shielded motherboards that can be built into working computers, tablets or laptops in a metal box that end up being protected and of course any equipment folks store in Faraday Cages.

So bottom line a working computer and the Library files in PDF format and you are good to go. A hard drive. A flash drive. Or as I do it… all the files copied onto an older laptop and stored in a Faraday Cage. I don’t need any more software.

Kwik and .PIM files are great I’m sure… for some applications. I don’t think they are for this one.

Here’s the thing folks. I am not involved in ANY of the .zim file collections out there. I don’t use Kwik software except to occasionally install and tinker with some to see what progress it has made. I don’t use it. I don’t support it and know absolutely nothing about the various .zim file collections that you have downloaded.

You will probably be able to get more useful information on your problem from your Great Aunt Martha who still uses a rotary telephone than by asking me.

So now I can just send a link to this page when asked why your Kwik/.zim is producing this error it is or why it doesn’t work the way it’s supposed to.

So again… the bottom line? I have no clue. Ask the person who put it out there.

The Librarian