Re: Introduction to Debian flyer
Jaldhar H. Vyas said:
> Please go to http://people.debian.org/~jaldhar/debianintro/ and take a
> look at a flyer (double-sided US letter size) I made up for Linuxworld.
>
> The flyer itself is in PDF format. The source is in DocBook XML and a
> customized XSL stylesheet based on Norm Walshes DocBook XSL FO stylesheets.
> If you want to recreate the PDF, you will need xsltproc and FOP 20.4 or
> higher which currently is not in Debian. I NMU'ed it today and there is a
> copy of the deb in this directory.
>
> I'd be greatful if people looked at it and corrected any spelling/grammar
> mistakes or incorrect facts as I need to make they flyers for the show
> very soon.
A very nice brochure. Well done. I have attached a patch against the
XML document which (I think) catches all the typos and makes a few
adjustments to some grammar. I've also suggested some different DocBook
tags in some places.
In short: several possessives were either apostrophed incorrectly (IBMs')
or inappropriately (its'); I've replaced "etc." with "etc" except when
the "etc." ends a sentence; periods before a closing bracket have been
moved to outside the closing bracket except for when a complete sentence
is enclosed within said brackets.
I know that "etc." is better than "etc" and there is a school of thought
that ".)" is always correct, but I think the end result is more readable
to the intended audience.
Andrew.
--
Andrew Shugg <andrew@neep.com.au> http://www.neep.com.au/
"Just remember, Mr Fawlty, there's always someone worse off than yourself."
"Is there? Well I'd like to meet him. I could do with a good laugh."
--- debianintro.xml.orig Fri Jan 17 15:53:38 2003
+++ debianintro.xml Fri Jan 17 16:31:19 2003
@@ -27,13 +27,13 @@
<title>Debian Project: History & Aims</title>
<para>The Debian project was started in 1993 by Ian Murdock to create a
Linux distribution which was community-based, comprised entirely of free
- software and technically excellent. The name Debian (pronounced 'deb-ee-an'
+ software and technically excellent. The name Debian (pronounced <quote>deb-ee-an</quote>
with stress on the first syllable) is a contraction of the names of Ian and
his wife Debra.</para>
<para>Debian was at one time sponsored by the Free Software Foundation
- (<ulink url="http://www.gnu.org"/>) and still shares many of its' aims. As
- the FSFs' GNU project provides much of the core software that makes up
- Debian, the distribution is referred to as Debian GNU/linux.</para>
+ (<ulink url="http://www.gnu.org"; />) and still shares many of its aims. As
+ the FSF's GNU project provides much of the core software that makes up
+ Debian, the distribution is referred to as Debian GNU/Linux.</para>
<para>In 1997, the Debian Project decided to formally state their goals in a
social contract with the Free Software community. A set of guidelines as to
what the project considers to be free software was also issued. The Debian
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@
Community.</emphasis> When we write new components of the Debian system,
we will license them as free software. We will make the best system we
can, so that free software will be widely distributed and used. We will
- feed back bug-fixes, improvements, user requests, etc. to the "upstream"
+ feed back bug-fixes, improvements, user requests, etc to the "upstream"
authors of software included in our system.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
@@ -173,17 +173,18 @@
<para>At any given time, there are actually three Debian
distributions-stable, testing, and unstable. Each distribution is made up
of software packages (in a special format that makes them easy to install,
- uninstall, and upgrade.) and their source code. Each distribution has a
- name (taken from characters in the Pixar animated film, Toy Story which a
- former Debian project leader worked on.) Publicly released distributions
- also have a version number.</para>
+ uninstall, and upgrade) and their source code. Each distribution has a
+ name, taken from characters in the Pixar animated film <citetitle>Toy Story</citetitle> which a
+ former Debian project leader worked on. Publicly released distributions
+ also have a version number, with subversion numbers (X.Y or X.Y.Z) to indicate
+ updated versions that are not complete new releases.</para>
<para>Currently the three distributions are:
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>Stable: (Woody or 3.0)</term>
<listitem>
<para>This is the version usually found on CDs. It is the most
- recent offcially released Debian distribution and is suitable for
+ recent officially released Debian distribution and is suitable for
production servers and other environments where high reliability is
essential. No new code is added to a stable release except for
fixes of security vulnerabilities which are backported from newer
@@ -198,7 +199,7 @@
<para>This is where new development takes place. Although there
might be occasional breakage, unstable refers to the fact this
distribution is constantly in flux with new packages being added,
- bugs fixed etc., not to the quality of its' software. Developers
+ bugs fixed etc, not to the quality of its software. Developers
and other power users tend to use unstable.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
@@ -206,7 +207,7 @@
<term>Testing: (Sarge)</term>
<listitem>
<para>This distribution attempts to fall between stable and
- unstable. When packages in unstable are deemed sufficently
+ unstable. When packages in unstable are deemed sufficiently
bug-free, they are added to testing. When testing itself is bug-free
and any other release goals are met, it becomes the next stable
distribution. It is a good choice for desktop users.</para>
@@ -241,9 +242,9 @@
packages is available at <ulink url="http://www.apt-get.org/"; /></para>
<para>Debian has been ported to many different architectures:<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
- <term>1386:</term>
- <listitem><para>Intel and clones. Binaries optimized for Pentiums,
- Athlons etc are not provided.</para>
+ <term>i386:</term>
+ <listitem><para>Intel's 80386 and its decendents and clones. Binaries optimized for Pentiums,
+ AMD's Athlons etc are not provided, but can be created by the user.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
@@ -254,17 +255,17 @@
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>sparc/sparc64:</term>
- <listitem><para>Sun 32 and 64 bit SPARC processors.</para>
+ <listitem><para>Systems based on Sun Microsystems' 32 and 64 bit SPARC processors.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>alpha:</term>
- <listitem><para>Compaqs' (formerly Digitals') alpha processors.</para>
+ <listitem><para>Compaq's (formerly Digital's) Alpha processors.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term>Powerpc:</term>
- <listitem><para>PowerPC chips used in Apple Macintoshes.</para>
+ <term>powerpc:</term>
+ <listitem><para>IBM and Motorola PowerPC processors used in IBM servers and newer Apple Macintoshes.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
@@ -274,23 +275,23 @@
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
- <term>mips/ mipsel:</term>
- <listitem><para>MIPS processors which can big-endian (as used in SGI machines) or little-endian (DECStations.)</para>
+ <term>mips/mipsel:</term>
+ <listitem><para>MIPS processors which can big-endian (as used in SGI machines) or little-endian (eg DECStations)</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>hppa:</term>
- <listitem><para>Hewlett-Packard PA-RISC architecture.</para>
+ <listitem><para>Hewlett-Packard's PA-RISC architecture.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>ia64:</term>
- <listitem><para>intels' 64-bit Itanium processor.</para>
+ <listitem><para>Intel's 64-bit Itanium processor.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>s390:</term>
- <listitem><para>IBMs' S/390 Mainframes.</para>
+ <listitem><para>IBM's S/390 mainframes.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
@@ -306,7 +307,7 @@
</section>
<section>
<title>Obtaining Debian GNU/Linux</title>
- <para>Debian makes its' distribution available for free on the Internet for
+ <para>Debian makes its distribution available for free on the Internet for
all to use as they wish without licenses or royalties. You can download it
as a set of software packages by rsync or anonymous FTP (See <ulink
url="http://www.debian.org/distrib/ftplist"; /> for servers) or as ISO9660
@@ -314,8 +315,9 @@
url="http://cdimage.debian.org/"; />) If you don't have Internet
connectivity or it is too slow for large downloads, you can get Debian by
purchasing a CD set from a third-party vendor. Here is the contact
- information for two of the bigger ones in the United States. (Note: the
- Debian Project does not endorse these nor any other CD vendor.)</para>
+ information for two of the bigger ones in the United States.
+ <note><title>Note:</title> the Debian Project does not endorse these nor
+ any other CD vendor.</note></para>
<para>
<address>
<corpname>Cheapbytes</corpname>
@@ -415,7 +417,7 @@
url="http://www.openprojects.net/"; /> )</para>
<para>The World-Wide Web: Some websites focusing on Debian are Debian
Planet (<ulink url="http://www.debianplanet.org/"; />) and DebianHelp
- (<ulink url="http://www.debianhelp.org/"; />)</para>
+ (<ulink url="http://www.debianhelp.org/"; />).</para>
<para>Maintainers: You can contact the maintainer of any Debian package by
using our public bug-tracking system at <ulink url="http://bugs.debian.org/";
/> or by sending email to <email>packagename@packages.debian.org</email></para>
@@ -426,7 +428,7 @@
<section>
<title>How To Help The Debian Project</title>
<para>Debian is a community project without paid staff. It depends on the
- help of volunteers and well-wishers to further its' aims. There are several
+ help of volunteers and well-wishers to further its aims. There are several
ways in which you can support the activities of the project:
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
@@ -439,7 +441,7 @@
<term>Help With Support And Quality Assurance:</term>
<listitem><para>You don't have to be a Debian developer to help
improve our operating system. See <ulink
- url="http://qa.debian.org/howto.html"/> for instructions and a todo
+ url="http://qa.debian.org/howto.html"/> for instructions and a TODO
list. Or you can assist users by answering questions on the mailing
lists or sharing a copy of Debian with them.</para>
</listitem>
@@ -447,7 +449,7 @@
<varlistentry>
<term>Donate Of Money Or Resources</term>
<listitem><para>Debian relies on donations of cash, servers,
- bandwidth etc. for its' operation. You are under no obligation to
+ bandwidth etc for its operation. You are under no obligation to
contribute but if you would like to do so, a nonprofit organization
registered in New York state called Software In The Public Interest
Inc. has been set up to accept donations on behalf of the Debian
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