New editor - Martin Wheeler
Martin Wheeler <mwheeler@startext.co.uk> has been added to the list of
CVS users.
With Martin's permission, I am forwarding this message to the list, as
his introduction:
------- Forwarded Message
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1998 17:41:29 +0000
From: Martin Wheeler <mwheeler@startext.co.uk>
To: Oliver Elphick <olly@lfix.co.uk>
Subject: Re: cvs update privileges
On Tue, 10 Nov 1998, Oliver Elphick wrote:
> This is a sort of informal check, since I don't remember seeing anything
> from you on the debian-doc list.
Ummm. Don't recall that I ever did send any mail in; but I've been
lurking there [and elsewhere] for a couple of years at least.
If I did, it would probably have been something horribly sarky
about spelling, or gross misuse of the English language.
Contact Andy Cater [amacater@galactic.demon.co.uk] if you would like a
personal reference -- he's a pukka developer, and is maintaining MPI/LAM
for our joint effort at promoting Debian for Beowulf.
(see: http://www.startext.co.uk/beowulf)
> Please let me know what area of the
> DDP you are interested in.
Currently -- corrections to spelling; and gross misuse of the English
language -- across all docs!
(I'm a proof-reader, among many other things; and I've got to the point
where I just can't take yet another instance of :
definately;
independant;
it's [for possessive]
etc., etc.
It's slowly driving me nuts.)
This is an important part of our primary interface with the user, and it
deserves far better presentation treatment than it's currently getting.
It's a doddle for me to correct, where it's probably hell on wheels for
non-native writers. (Or even a native-speaker who didn't benefit from the
sort of teachers I had in the 1940s and '50s -- who were themselves
trained in Victorian schools. Anally retentive nitpickers, all of 'em.)
I put together a whole load of minor corrections about a year ago, but the
mechanics of checking them against the master texts and then getting
them to the DPP team were so frustrating that I gave up in despair.
(Really.)
Eventually, I might have something to contribute in the way of "creative"
technical writing; but I have no intention at the moment of doing
anything other than general proof-reading and minor textual corrections
to existing docs.
Hence my request for update privileges.
> If you have any ideas for altering or extending the current manuals, it
> would be a good idea to publish these on the list (at
> debian-doc@lists.debian.org) to give other people a chance to comment.
Of course. And once I'm happy with the processes of downloading,
correcting/amending and committing docs (it all *seems* to work
beautifully these days) -- well, maybe I'll look at other ways in which I
can contribute. But only after public discussion, obviously.
[I also happen to be translating Anne Bezemer's Debian 2 Installation and
User Manual from the Dutch (because it's very close to one I'd started to
write for my own teaching purposes), and I feel that this ought to go into
the documentation somehow, at some point -- but not for quite a while
yet. Getting used to DDP mechanics from the start will help in any
eventual transition, even tho' my preferred DTD is TEI tech-doc, not
docbook. And -- sorry! -- certainly not QWERTZ/linuxdoc/debiandoc.]
> Could you also let me know whether you have any other connection with
> Debian
Not in any "official" [SPI] capacity, no.
I've long wanted to, but the sheer hassle of becoming a recognised
developer has always deterred me. I don't consider myself a Unix guru
anyway, even though I suppose I could be called an early adopter of Linux
(early 1994). My specialist field is language and linguistics -- and for
over a dozen years now, document engineering as well (note: *without* the
sneering prophylactic double quotes seen recently on the list).
But I do teach "Linux"; and I do always promote the distribution I always
use for my own purposes (Debian/GNU) -- which I also sell locally (CDs
from Phil Hands, CheapBytes and LSL).
(see: http://www.startext.co.uk/avalonix)
I'm also very keen on promoting Debian GNU/Linux for Beowulf architectures
- -- the RH monopolistic takeover of the field has annoyed quite a few
people, and I consider RH's use of the term "Extreme Linux"
for their own product *exclusively* to be an outrageous liberty.
I lurk on a fair number of lists on the debian side -- debian-mentors,
debian-devel, beowulf, etc., as well as a fair number on the SGML/tech.
doc side.
The only code hacking I consider I would be any good at would be in the
field of computational linguistics (not in great demand); so if I can
contribute to the Debian effort in any other area (e.g tech. doc.) then
I'm only too happy.
And I guess that's about it, really.
BTW, is there a canonically advised place to put one's own cvs working
directory when working on DDP stuff? (Not that it's likely to fit in with
my existing textbase on this machine -- but it's sometimes useful to
have an idea of where others might have stashed their local copy.)
Regards,
Martin
- --
Martin Wheeler - StarTEXT, Glastonbury, Somerset, England - BA6 9PH
mwheeler@startext.co.uk http://www.startext.co.uk/
------- End of Forwarded Message
--
Oliver Elphick Oliver.Elphick@lfix.co.uk
Isle of Wight http://www.lfix.co.uk/oliver
PGP key from public servers; key ID 32B8FAA1
========================================
"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast,
unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,
forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain
in the Lord." 1 Corinthians 15:58
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