James Hanback. I remember in the early aughts, I was often seen carrying around huge certification study guides. These guides were either large enough to leave a footprint on my reference shelf or prop my bedroom door open at night. While printed books are a great way to carry information, they can be cumbersome to carry with you on your daily adventures through modern life. It’s hard enough trying to balance that act when crossing busy intersections, trying to stuff your car keys in your purse or pocket, and trying to keep yourself hydrated from the hot coffee in your travel cup.
Why not consolidate your study guide into one of your other devices? Instead of hiding it under your arm, I suggest you put that massive-page-count monster in your briefcase.
What?
Oh. Right. The e-book revolution has arrived.
You might consider consolidating your study guide onto your tablet computer. Or your laptop. If you are more concerned about portability than the preservation of trees’ lives, your laptop may be a better choice. If you are studying to become a Cisco Certified Entry Networking Technician or Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA), you can now access the ICND1 or ICND2 courseware Boson offers for a variety of electronic devices. Boson also offers spiral-bound printed versions for those who prefer to read on pulpified tree corpses. Here are some instructions for those who don’t have a computer and want to use the digital version.
First, you need to purchase the CCNA curriculum. If you are studying for the CCNA 200–120 exam, you can either purchase the 100-101 ICND1 courseware package or the 200-101 ICND2 programware packages separately. Boson’s Lab Guide is included in the basic courseware package. This allows you to practice the material you are studying. The Courseware Plus package includes the courseware, the lab manual, and Boson’s NetSim Network Simulator software. NetSim lets you practice your networking skills in a simulated Cisco IOS environment. The Courseware Complete package includes the courseware, the lab guide and NetSim. Boson’s ExSim Max Practice Exam software for ICND1, ICND2, and CCNA is also included. ExSim-Max allows you to prepare for the Cisco exam by testing your knowledge and application on Cisco networking concepts.
Next, you will need to download Javelin Reader which is a secure PDF reader that Drumlin Security provides for free. Javelin is available for Mac OS X, Windows, Android, and iPad. The Javelin installation process you use will depend on which platform you choose. Download and launch the javelinsetup.exe file for Windows from the Javelin download site. Mac OS X users will be able to download a.dmg zip file which contains a Mac OS X version. You can drag it to your Applications folder. Javelin for iPad can be downloaded from Apple’s iTunes App Store. Javelin for Android tablets can be downloaded from the Google Play App Store.
Boson will send you an e-mail receipt after you have purchased the Boson courseware. This e-mail will contain activation keys that unlock the curriculum files as well as links to download them. The file you download will have the extension.DRMZ. It can only be opened with the Javelin Reader. Depending on the platform you choose, how you open and activate courseware within Javelin varies.
Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X users may click the Download link in Boson receipt email to download the appropriate.DRMZ file di