Re: tech proposal to make manoj somewhat happy.
On Mon, 27 Jul 1998, Marcus Brinkmann wrote:
> On Sun, Jul 26, 1998 at 07:10:09PM -0700, David Welton wrote:
> >
> > However, I needed a book to really get me through a lot of things
> > (hrmm actually, it was one of those online books that was also printed
> > - so I was able to read it with Mosaic:-).
>
> Everyone needs a driver license to be allowed to drive. Every kitchen tool
> has a documentation about 20 pages with it.
>
> I don't think it is too much requested if one should read a 100 pages book
> to get started with a computer.
>
As the author of such a book, (maybe even the one David read "on-line"?)
is must provide a bit of caution.
Depending on documentation alone to "get you through" is bound to failure
in a complex system such as Debian. Documentation *can* guide you around
the major quagmires that lie ahead. Beyond that you still need a level
head and the ability to apply rigid logic, if you expect to get through an
install of Linux on the first try.
When I first discovered Debian I had been an SLS user for a year, and had
installed Slackware both before and after my SLS experience. In every case
it took at least three tries before I could get a system installed (even
with the Debian first install) and this usually included intensive reading
of the "available" documentation. It was not the challenges of the install
that caused me to stick with Debian. I was searching for a better "layout"
because I kept downloading software off the net that would not build, for
one reason or another, usually because a library wasn't where it was
expected to be, or wasn't named the expected name. While these "problems"
could be fixed at times with links or copied files, sometimes they just
didn't build. The Debian I started with didn't even have PPP working yet,
but would build almost every package I had that had failed on the other
systems. I only had to find the debian-user/devel lists, and haven't seen
a better place to be since.
While I am not insensitive to the needs of the end user, the needs that
keep me with Debian are functionality based. I don't want to see Debian
sidetracked from this road by the "needs of the ignorant user". This is
the venue of the "third party vendor". In the case of my book, that is the
publisher, and we get paid for reducing the ignorance of potential Debian
users. These are the areas in which "money" is expected to be made, and as
such, has little to do with the development project I work on.
We have always wished for a third party to base itself on Debian, and I
submit that this too shall come to pass. Doing the job of that third party
is not our task.
On the other side of the coin, we have many contributors who work very
hard to make sure that the useful documentation is kept up-to-date and
accurate. This is a perpetual job that has no visibility and gets no
thanks or reward. Anyone who is thinking of complaining about the state of
the documentation should, instead, look for the group working on them and
offer some assistance. (Patches work for documentation as well as source
code)
Waiting is,
Dwarf
--
_-_-_-_-_- Author of "The Debian Linux User's Guide" _-_-_-_-_-_-
aka Dale Scheetz Phone: 1 (850) 656-9769
Flexible Software 11000 McCrackin Road
e-mail: dwarf@polaris.net Tallahassee, FL 32308
_-_-_-_-_-_- If you don't see what you want, just ask _-_-_-_-_-_-_-
--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-devel-request@lists.debian.org
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org
Reply to: