USERS GUIDE: I want to make one but....

I want to make a Users Guide for KNOPPIX!

I will need a few things from other people. Namely:

1.) People to review and check accuracy / typos. And make suggestions to the flow and readability.

2.) People quite familiar with the inner workings of linux (KNOPPIX in particular).

3.) Some ideas on where the book should start and where to end. (Don't let the simplicity of that fool you. After all... This is a thing I would like to use to allow M$ users to become acquainted with Linux in general)

4.) Mabey even someone to help!

Mabey I'm not the most qualified person in the world but I don't see a full guide anywhere on the internet for knoppix. That said... I was primarily a M$ user up until M$ F&^*ed my computer and 4 mos. of work. I like Linux and understand the basic principals but I was frustrated by the lack of previous-M$-user oriented "break-in" instruction available. So I think I'll make my own. Any help is appreciated and welcome.

If you want to see some of my (crappier) writing style, see my topic in the general support section entitled:

[poll] Putting stuff on your M$ C: drive and the possible pitfalls

--Feel free to scavenge my posts on this board (and the original board on Linuxtag) and use them in your book. All I ask is that you credit me properly for the posts that you use**. (And it would be a good idea to maybe GPL the book and post it online.)

8)

** Perhaps you could include a "This chapter / instruction / tidbit contributed by Dave Bechtel" or somesuch, or use a "shortcut" tag to my credit listing at the end.

i am willing to check for errors/spelling. dave's posts on linuxtag are great, we really should put them in. i can help with some tips too i guess.

This is definately needed, as Knoppix is a distro that is the best choice to introduce Linux with. Once average users have seen the power of Knoppix, they will most likely seek out how to modify it.

Having a solid FAQ and Guide are the first steps. This can be best accomplished by using confirmed submissions from the comments on this and linuxtag's board, as well as individual input. Peer review is the best editorial control as well.

I do believe this distro will achieve the gains over the everyman and everywoman populous.

Thank you, Klaus!

I had a similar idea, but I could not do this alone either. Maybe a collaborative team of authors from this forum could put together a real book like: KNOPPIX for Dummies?

Regards,

Why dont we start answering/solving problems associated with Knoppix before a manual is created.

I visit here daily looking for answers to many quirks associated with the hdinstall of Knoppix only to find there are no answers yet to my specific problems.

Roberto,

Good idea. I like FAQ here on knoppix.net but it needs a lot added and in my opinion needs some formating changes so that it has a style that is consistent and readable. Did you know that you can add to the FAQ and edit it if you have some info to share? Just click on the edit button at the bottom of the page.

I, too, think this is a good idea, and I can be of some help. Admittedly, I don't know a lot about Linux & Knoppix (yet), but as a trained and experienced technical writer & editor, I can certainly help with clarity/spelling/proofreading.

Has anyone given any thought to setting it up as a WikiWiki page with limited edit access? That would allow viewing as a work-in-progress and interactive editing by those authorized. Additions and suggestions by others could be held off-page until vetted by whomever was in charge (individual? committee?).

Should the project have a name (to indicate, among other things, that it's not "official")?

Loper,

There is already a Wiki setup on this site here http://www.knoppix.net/docs/ and it can be edited. I have edited the FAQ some myself. Just click on "edit" at the bottom of the page. It would be nice if there were a consistent style used for these pages. I lkie the indentation and bullet points used for the Samba section http://www.knoppix.net/docs/index.php/ FaqSambaQuick It's easier to quickly puruse for the proper information in this format...imho.

I think we need to make a manual WHILE fixing the problems with knoppix to try and eliminate user errors as opposed to actuall bugs. i like the wiki but i am looking to make something a little more comprehensive... mabey even something to actually put into the knoppix cd.

this work i make will definately be gpl'ed or something... i am not out to steal/ pirate other peoples work... i may use some of the stuff already written but i would definately like to attribute it to the origional authors

just so every one knows... this is not to replace the wiki... i am looking for something people can run from cd/ floppy/ hd / webserver/html etc.... mabey even a pdf... i like the: "Knoppix for Dummies" idea :)

ill write back more later... additionally we should set up a workspace on the internet somewhere and start figuring out what kind of people we do/dont have... please e-mail me at the address i have in my profile and let me know what you can help with. im serious about this...

oops ... i wonder what knopper would say about this....*hint *hint.... this should be labeled as unofficial until we get approval from knopper... additionally i would REALLY like the input from the guy himself. after all if anyone knows how or why it works it would be him... knopper if you are reading this please send me e-mail


thankx :)

Roberto,

I don't think knopper would mind. In fact I think he rather appreciates others coming alongside and helping out. He as quite a bit to do in order to maintain Knoppix just as it is. If you think so, someone should ask. I'm almost sure he would welcome the idea.

If he does include it on the cd, I would think that he would prefer a small format: html as opposed to pdf.

As for the linux for dummies idea, I don't think things need to be brought down to the lowest common denominator, but I do think that when telling someone how to do something, all the steps should be laid out -even if it's redundant to do so.

I'm sure most people wouldn't mind you borrowing from their posts. Feel free to take anything I've written. I did a howto on getting true type fonts setup in knoppix and also wrote a section in the wiki on playing dvds - contributed some info on enabling dma as well. Dave Bechtel has written a lot of helpful stuff and he has already given the ok to use it the stuff both here and on the linux tag site.

I look forward to seeing things progress on this project. I'll send you an e-mail later Be sure to talk to the folks in irc as they have a lot of info to share.

We now (thx to eadz) have a wiki page for use to start this documentation thing...

The wiki's primary use will be to make a to-do list and be able to pass information from one person to another. I am currently looking for FTP space to be able to start in on this thing... as so far the best idea yet is to use OO or some other word processing package to make the actual book.

Please send me E-mail if you would like to help in this effort. Also we are going to be keeping the guest input to a minimum for the immediate future until the groundwork is laid. for the address to the first wiki please e-mail me.

also there is a NEW IRC room for this documentation project... i will send you a response including the wiki page and the IRC chat room if you e-mail me.

THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT EADZ :)

The wiki dox page on this site is very nice. Just wondering how you found the FaqSambaQuick page, I did not find it listed on the wiki index page.

BTW, when I suggested doing a KNOPPIX for Dummies, I did not necessarily mean to dumb-down the project to the lost common denominator. Some 'dummy' books are actually quite comprehensive. What can be done in a 'dummies' format is exactly what is needed: a howto for newbies with step-by-step instructions when needed and more advanced treatments for others when appropriate.

If we put this together as a pdf, I'm sure a publisher would snatch it right up!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by A. Jorge Garcia

The wiki dox page on this site is very nice. Just wondering how you found the FaqSambaQuick page, I did not find it listed on the wiki index page.

---

Actually it is listed on the FAQ page which is part of the wiki.

Thanks eadz for lending ressources for this effort.

OOPs! OK, I see it now. Thanx aay!

This project has now been submitted to sourceforge.net for approval. Can't wait to hear back from them... I am trying to get the web-space


http://knoppix-docs.sourceforge.net


Wouldn't that be awesome!! Well anyways. As it stands we have a few people willing to review and proofread. Now we need some good technical writers.... so far there is special invitation going out to Dave Bechtel to join the efforts!!


Need some input into the polls from the readers!!!

RE: Debate over using Open Office (OO) or LaTex.

Well, I think that Latex would be good if our ultimate aim is a real book. There's a utility I've seen somewhere like TEX2PDF that would be useful here.

If, on the other hand, our aim is an on-line howto styled document then OO is good if it can be used to edit html files just as Word 2000.

Anyway, I still vote for a bona fide book we could sell to a publisher as "KNOPPIX for Dummies," or some such title. Why don't we share the authorship, credits, whatever and - dare I say it - the profits with eachother and Klaus? Have some people responsible for certain chapters, others for editting, others for type-setting. Some people have already offered to share their detailed pots on this board. I could contribute a chapter on using the CD to learn/teach/accomplish basic programming tasks,etc.

What do you all think?

I am proud to announce that we now have a sourceforge web page :)

http://sourceforge.net/projects/knoppix-doc/

Hope to have the beginnings of a users guide up soon!

Very special thanks goes to:

Tigren: For assembling our first Index page found at:
http://knoppix-doc.sourceforge.net

Eadz: for continued support and lending a patient ear

All others whom I fail to mention. And all others who have posted thank you.

Please post anything you would like to say about this project here on this post. As this is the easiest way to stay in touch! :)

Feel free to post bugs about the sourceforge page and the soon to come wiki page.

A. Jorge Garcia:
Unless you have years to spend on making a book, and you know the write people, I don't think a BOOK is the right idea. I also don't think Knoppix is big enough, popular enough, to require a BOOK. User Docs, maybe, howtos, most likely. Everything else is covered in the Debian docs.

--I tend to agree with Tigren. :( Online stuff is fine, but I don't think we'd stand to make any kind of profit from a book effort. Besides, paper-based documentation for Linux - or anything related to the Internet - is going to be out-of-date as soon as it gets published.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Tigren

A. Jorge Garcia:
Unless you have years to spend on making a book, and you know the write people, I don't think a BOOK is the right idea. I also don't think Knoppix is big enough, popular enough, to require a BOOK. User Docs, maybe, howtos, most likely. Everything else is covered in the Debian docs.

---

I have started digging into the LINUX: Rute User's Tutorial and Exposition (Version 1.0.0) by Paul Sheer at someone's suggestion and it looks to be a seriously comprehensive document about Linux systems at over 600 pages. http://rute.2038bug.com/index.html.gz
The author used LaTex to create the Doc' and is quite expressive at promoting it's virtues. I noticed Knoppix also comes with many tools for LaTeX also:

auctex 11.11-2 An integrated environment for writing TeX/LaTeX documents.
gnuhtml2latex 0.2-1 A Perl script that converts html files to latex
latex2html 2000-beta1-6 LaTeX to HTML translator.
latex2rtf 1.9.13-3 convert from LaTeX to RTF format
rtf2latex 1.0fc1-3 Convert RTF files to LaTeX
tetex-base 1.0.2+20011202-3 basic teTeX library files
tetex-bin 1.0.7+20011202-8 teTeX binary files
tetex-eurosym 1.0-3 Euro symbol for LaTeX
tetex-extra 1.0.2+20011202-3 extra teTeX library files

I,m sure Paul Sheer doesn't want it distrubuted without his consent as it is also sold on www.amazon.com but check out The Linux Documentation Project which freely encourages distribution of their content.
http://tldp.org/index.html

I just thought that with a team effort like this it wouldn't take years....

I just thought that with a team effort like this it wouldn't take years....

Thanks for all the help from various people on the #knoppix IRC chat.


We now have the first new How-to in place. It can be found at:


http://sourceforge.net/docman/displa...group_id=70773

Keep in mind: This document is under heavy construction at the moment.
Please check it out. We are still needing people affluent in both German and English to translate the document into German. If you would be willing to donate your time please contact me at the e-mail address on my profile.

I sugest OpenOffice :-) He generate a pretty goot html, inderstandable and easy to clean-up with some sed script, and at the same time, good formated documents with indices, etc. I use open office to write my books:

Here is one html version:
http://www.guiadohardware.net/livros/linux
and here is a pdf version:
http://www.guiadohardware.net/e-books/linux.asp

Both generated using my open office original.

Thanks for all the input of the forum members and for the on-going support from all here in the knoppix.net forums.


toast



P.S. Please feel free to send in written submissions at our sourceforge page.

Ok First Off... My Apologies to everyone expecting a good read or two out of me about Knoppix... Secondly... they have been messing with the network here at the internet cafe and have been up and down now for a few weeks... BUT, I'm back now and looking for any good submissions people might have for this project!


toast

okok ... so... car troubles galore!

Anyways.. I will be adding LOTS of new How To's.... also for all who is involved... i will be adding LARGE chunks to the How-To sections coming soon... i have typed them, now i just need to edit and post... I also have started typing some of the actual users guide... also just need to edit and post....

COMING SOON:

Knoppix - Booting - What to do if it doesn't work or it asks for information

Knoppix - Command Line - the basics

Knoppix - KDE - The basics

How-To: How to include F-Prot in your next re-master

How-To: How to use F-Prot to scan Your Windows computer for viri

How-To: How to include smartctl in your next remaster and how to use it

If you have any input please drop me a line!

For access to completed documentation go here:
http://sourceforge.net/docman/?group_id=70773

toast