> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf > Of Joshua Daniel Franklin
--8<-- > > IMHO my suggestions adds just that *tiny bit* of extra info > > that makes a new user get the grip - without some of the FAQs. > > This is true, and makes me feel somewhat guilty since one of the goals I > have for the Cygwin documentation is for it to be more accessible to new > users. ;-) - Anyway; I'm glad to hear that... > However, I think it needs to be organized properly. I hate reading > Linux admin books that start out with how to use 'cp' and 'mkdir'. I can just agree with that... > Instead, I need to make a 'If you are new to > Unix' page with a link from the setup-net page. IMO; Don't _include_ the descriptions for 'cp' and 'mkdir' - instead find a relevant pointer to earlier/ better/ whatever description. This is what I wish I've had when I was a new user :-). Nor do I think the links have to be scattered all over the place. Not even a separate page for Unix-newbies should be necessary IMO; unless I'm not too mistaken there is a load of them elsewhere on the net. IMHO - just find a nice one and include a pointer to it e.g. something like this, with the link replaced with a relevant one: "If you don't understand the text that follows, you will have to look at http://linux-newbie.sunsite.dk/ for some basic knowledge." Another possibility; a nice google-search-link. Idea: Maybe define "If you're new to cygwin and/or Linux/Unix; note that the information behind links marked with the word NEWBIE might help to explain things." and then use " NEWBIE: http://linux-newbie.sunsite.dk/ " wherever apropriate. --8<-- > While there is some of the gnostic knowledge attitidue to why all "gnostic" is a new word for me, do you mind to explain it to me (my dicationary doesn't cover it). --8<-- > But I don't want to put up a page > that gives a perfunctory description that someone will try, see that it > doesn't work, and then give up or complain ("Cygwin is really crappy"). > I want it to be *right*. ... disfunctional descriptions are a pain for everybody ;-) > > Example of the last: > > With minimal Internet online-time I have to pay > > more than $100/month currently. > > I have no intention to increase the amount on those bills e.g. by > > downloading the entire cygwin. > > <mean>So why don't you move?</mean> Doesn't help much, <mean> or not. That would need to be outside of Europe. AFAIK all of northern EU, at least, has HIGH telecom fees. (I know for sure about England/UK, Sweden, Norway and Finland. Guessing: Germany and France too) > While I can't totally empathize since I've never had high Internet bills, > until recently I was on US dialup (that's 53Kb down at best). I've been around since it was 2400 bps ;-) - believe me; that is slow. > That's one > reason I got involved with the cygwin-apps discussions, since it was so > difficult to get the minimal installation I wanted. A lot of progress has > been made, but there is still a lot to do. I wouldn't mind joining, but I might end up in a "sister-project" to cygwin; the geekgadgets project for the Amiga. The idea behind it is almost the same, but there are just a handful people developing it. (No wonder; it has been decreasing since 1995 or some such - for obvious reasons). I currently have very little time for pet projects... (Undergraduate, almost done w B.Sc EE) > Thankfully, I now have a broadband connection. Until a few months back it wasn't possible to get one where I live. > > Am I that unclear in style of writing? > > I find it alarming. > > It's not you, it's me. :) > For some reason (I believe it was when I lived in Japan, since > you are often > rewarded for being vague there), I have developed a habit of throwing > hints at people when I know what I want. I need to stop. Ah... I believe I'm the type of person you need to be straight forward with ;-) that could be "incompatible types" :-]. (Many Finns and Swedes are like me, I believe.) > What I meant, is: > > Can you give some links to posts that were helpful to you? > To a lot of us on the list, how setup.exe works is much more intuitive now > than it was a long time ago. Some posts are what we would consider obvious > information, but a revelation to a newer user. Well, I'll try to look up some that might be useful - time permitting. > On Mon, Mar 24, 2003, Hannu E K Nevalainen (garbage mail) wrote: > > Well, now to the collection of words; something like this, maybe: > > Thanks for providing this. A couple suggestions from experience: > > --Provide examples I knew it wasn't perfect. ;-) IMO this kind of texts can take ages to perfect. The suggestions you had about giving examples is one refinement, quite obvious in hindsight. Using English doesn't help me either ;-) and I suppose text in Swedish wouldn't be acceptable? ;-) > I will probably add something similar when I get the chance. If you'd like > to look at the actual source used to create the Cygwin webpages, > it's here: > > <http://sources.redhat.com/cgi-bin/cvsweb.cgi/src/winsup/doc/setup > -net.sgml?cvsroot=src> > > A real 'diff -up' might be applied directly. :) Yes I know... > Because of your Internet connection misfortunes, however, I suspect that the > very large downloads of all the build tools are somewhat beyond your means. > If you're wanting to help with the documentation, send me your address offlist > and I'll mail you a CDR (with sources to comply with the GPL). Ahh... downloading packages is no problem (I have means to get it on CDR). Getting CVS contents - maybe not syncing it - might be a bigger trouble, I've never tried it. > As a final note, I want to encourage everyone to keep sending thoughts to > the list. The discussion is very helpful, and though I have a limited amount > of time I plan to work on improving the Cygwin documentation long-term. Time seems to always be a culprit... But my experience is coincident wih yours; discussions brings things forth, might it be slow and time consuming. /Hannu E K Nevalainen, Mariefred, Sweden --END OF MESSAGE-- -- Unsubscribe info: http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple Bug reporting: http://cygwin.com/bugs.html Documentation: http://cygwin.com/docs.html FAQ: http://cygwin.com/faq/