Re: An *idea* that *might* put Debian on top (?)
D-Man <dsh8290@rit.edu>
> On Sun, Jun 24, 2001 at 12:24:10PM -0700, Jack Pryne wrote:
>
> [suggestion for community-wide sharing of config info and experience]
>
Well, I understood that wat he actually wanted, was to create a kind
of automatic install utility.
> This all sounds like a nice idea, but consider that we already have
> most of that. There are projects like LinuxDoc, NewbieDoc, and others
> that provide lots of good information about how to install and setup
> various portions of a system. Also just listen on debian-user for a
> while and you will learn alot about different hardware configurations
> and how to get them to work (or which ones just don't work well).
Maybe the problem is, that there is too much
documentation. Furthermore, the documentation has been written by
expert users, who do not always have a feeling about what newbies find
trivial and what not (this is not meant to criticise. I am amazed,
that so many experts are willing to spend their time in writing
accurate documentation for the Linux community, and the documentation
is certainly indispensible). As a result, for a non-expert user it is
very hard to keep up.
What I imagine would be a helpful addition to the existing
documentation, is a database of simple "installation sheets", that do
not really explain things, but just contain a step-wise list of
actions to perform the installation of the part (no more than one-two
sheets), supplemented with config files. For explanation, at most
pointers to the existing howto's should be added. The database should
be organized according to hardware parts (motherboard, network
connection type, peripheral bus (IDE/SCSI) etc.) and software versions
(e.g. Debian version, kernel version).
When a user buys a new part, she can query the database and obtain
(hopefully) one or a few installation sheets that describe how the new
part can be installed in a computer and installation that is at least
similar to what she has. If she is lucky, she does exactly what one of
the installation sheets tell her to do, and she ends up with a working
system. In that case she can attach a "worked for me too" note to the
installation sheet in the database, so that it may gain confidence
from other users. If she has to modify steps or config files, she can
attach a note tot the installation sheet that describes the
modifications and the reason that they had to be made). If it turned
out, that for some reason, none of the obtained installation sheets
worked for her, she has to investigate why not, and then she has to
find out by herself how to perform a successful
installation. Afterwards, she can write up what she has done, and
contribute this as an installation sheet to the database.
To contribute an installation sheet into the database would pay back. It is
always wise to write down for yourself how you installed things. When
a database like the one proposed exists, you are more urged to do so,
because you also help the Debian community. Moreover, the burden to
manage your own documentation has been taken over by the database manager.
Regards,
Paul Huygen
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