Re: [gNewSense-users] Re: gNewSense Documentation

[Kevin Dean]

On Nov 14, 2007 5:36 PM, Mark William Darbyshire <address@hidden> wrote:
> Thanks Don.
>
> I've put your structure proposal on the Proposed Structure page. I'll
> have a look at it and see what other sections I can think of. I'm
> thinking that Using gNS should probably go before Administering gNS. But
> then, on the other hand, I suppose it's a good idea to instill people
> with good habits as soon as possible.

I questioned that myself too, how advanced is "advanced". I say "Users
and Groups" and instantly said "If they don't know they shouldn't mess
with it" but then realized that a lot of people share a single
computer and they want to have "My" account and "The Wife's" account.
This is, in my mind, a pretty basic task and would explain why they
need that information in the beginning. That's why I'm wondering if
breaking things into "advanced" might be a bad idea; just ensure the
documentation maintains a good mesh of ideas (i.e. Reference "Command
Line Basics" before delving into how to write a BASH script that
mounts remote NFS shares, rsyncs the user's home directory while
exluding ~backup files) :)

>
> I suppose one big question is: "How advanced is advanced?" Basic use of
> the command line? Shell scripting?

Perhaps not judging "advanced" or not. Personally, there are some
things I do on CLI that are so basic (IMO) that I'd be upset if they
were deemed "advanced" and some things on the GUI that would baffle me
if I had to use them as text only. My solution?

1. How to install additional software on gNewSense

gNewSense includes Synaptic/Adept to manage software. You can use this
program by going to the menu... Here's a screenshot...

ALTERNATIVELY you can use the command line tools

sudo apt-get install some-package

***

Don't make the command line "advanced", just put it as an alternative.
After all, GNU/Linux isn't "harder" to use than Windows in most cases,
it's just different.

> I suppose it would be a waste of time
> writing that sort of thing, since there are plenty of other tutorials
> that cover that ground, but we could still offer links to such
> tutorials.
>
> In addition to the normal documentation, we'll need some sort of section
> that provides help for specific hardware. This sort of thing can't all
> be structured into the main documentation. There is such a collection of
> pages, currently at http://wiki.gnewsense.org/UserExperiences/ but it
> needs a bit of work. Some of the articles on that page would actually
> belong in the main Documentation. So I suppose that is a major part of
> "Configuring Funky Hardware".
>
> Please put your name or user name with a link to your profile in the
> appropriate column at http://wiki.gnewsense.org/Main/CurrentProjects
>
> Thanks again,
> Mark.
>
>
>
> On Wed, 2007-11-14 at 17:09 -0500, Don Parris wrote:
> > On Nov 13, 2007 5:24 AM, Mark William Darbyshire <address@hidden>
> > wrote:
> >         Hello Don and the gNS list,
> >
> >         I haven't really done all that much for the documentation so
> >         far. This
> >         is partly because I'm rather busy at school (I'm in my last
> >         year at high
> >         school, with my final exams coming up) and partly because I'm
> >         rather
> >         lazy. I intend to contribute more heavily after my exams.
> >
> >         I think it is important to have the documentation structure
> >         worked out
> >         before we start writing the documentation itself; existing
> >         documentation
> >         is rather incoherent and unstructured, and this can be avoided
> >         by
> >         planning how to structure and integrate the documentation
> >         before it's
> >         written. This will also make it easier to coordinate, because
> >         we'll be
> >         able to allocate people certain pieces of documentation to
> >         write.
> >
> >
> > I agree with determining the structure in advance.
> >
> >
> >         When I first "took charge" of the documentation I made a
> >         contents page
> >         at http://wiki.gnewsense.org/Documentation/ and that is the
> >         only
> >         structure I've planned so far. I haven't really done anything
> >         since
> >         then. The structure certainly needs some improvements, or a
> >         complete
> >         rewrite.
> >
> >         A bit of discussion on how to structure the initial
> >         documentation, and
> >         what topics to have, is therefore needed. Please share any
> >         suggestions
> >         you may have. Then I'll be able to put together a final
> >         documentation
> >         outline. Once this general plan has been worked out people
> >         wanting to
> >         help will be able to put their names by the sections they'd
> >         like to
> >         write and then start writing.
> >
> >         I've made a page at
> >         http://wiki.gnewsense.org/Documentation/ProposedStructure
> >         which can be
> >         used to show the work-in-progress structure. I suppose a
> >         traditional
> >         contents type structure with sections and subsections would be
> >         better
> >         than the table structure currently in use.
> >
> >
> > O.k., How about this?  I propose the following:
> > Building on your sections and subsections:
> >
> > <> Installing gNS
> >   <> Standard Installation
> >   <> Partitioning your hard drive manually
> > <> Administering gNS (with basic advice on sensible settings where
> > feasible)
> >   <> Security
> >   <> Users & Groups
> >   <> Remote desktop
> > <> Using gNS
> >   <> GNOME
> >   <> KDE
> >   <> Common Applications (Burning Dog, OOo, etc.)
> >   <> Working With the Command-Line
> > <> Advanced Topics
> >   <> Configuring Funky Hardware (title ain't important, but having
> > such a section is)
> >   <> Networking
> >   <> E-Mail & Spam stuff
> >   <> RDBMSes
> >   <> Etc.
> >
> > Well, this is a start.  If this looks like something we can work with,
> > I'll add it into the wiki, under proposed structure.
> >
> >
> >
> >         It would be a good idea to have an "Overall Documentation
> >         Deputy" listed
> >         at http://wiki.gnewsense.org/Main/CurrentProjects so if anyone
> >         (such as
> >         Don) is interested, feel free to volunteer!
> >
> >
> > I'll play deputy.
> >
> > Don
> > --
> > D.C. Parris
> > Minister, Journalist, Free Software Advocate
> > https://www.xing.com/profile/Don_Parris
> > http://www.linkedin.com/in/dcparris
>
> > _______________________________________________
> > gNewSense-users mailing list
> > address@hidden
> > http://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/gnewsense-users
>
>
>
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