On Fri, 28 Aug 1998, Martin Schulze wrote: > > I wonder if this needs better coordination. Currently there are at least > four book[1] projects and only one has been finished. >
The Tutorial is the freely redistributable Debian Documentation Project book for newbies. I think some of the other projects have different goals - either not for newbies, or not redistributable. But if any of them have the same goals I'm happy to work with them. The Tutorial is in CVS for that reason. > I really would like to see the books appear - both printed and as package. > Me too. The Tutorial will appear, someday. :-) I am writing it very slowly, but steadily. It is actually useful enough to package now. The LaTeX output is about 97 pages. For anyone who doesn't know the tutorial is at: http://www.debian.org/~hp/debian-tutorial.html/ A status report so people know what they could work on might be useful. The main gaps are: Chapter 5, Section 6: Getting information: dmesg, /proc, syslogs. Unwritten. Estimated 5 or 6 pages. Chapter 6, Using the Shell; there is material left in the LDP User's Guide that can go here. Estimated 15 pages. Chapter 9, Customizing the Shell: .rc files, this is a short chapter really. Estimated 7 or 8 pages. Chapter 10, X: Missing the Debian X setup, a tutorial on window manager configuration, and a tutorial an using the Debian menu system. Estmated 10 more pages. Chapter 11, Text tools: Not written. Most important thing is a good regular expressions tutorial. Estimated 15 pages. Chapter 12 Section 1: Backup tools - needs fleshing out. Estimated 5 pages. Chapter 14, Using and setting up printers: not written. Estimated 10 to 15 pages. Chapter 15, Setting up Networking: Not written. Estimated 15 pages. Not meant to overlap the PPP or Ethernet HOWTOs, just discuss Debian-specific aspects. Chapter 16, Package management: Mostly not written. Estimated 10 pages. Should cover Apt and dpkg and mention dselect; just the basics and a pointer to the full documentation. Not yet in the outline: /etc/alternatives, update-*, start-stop-daemon, boot scripts, and other Debian specificities we can think of. Wishlist: Chapter 17, Advanced Topics: Section 1: Shell scripting, estimated 15-20 pp. Section 3: Compiling the kernel. We have some good stuff from Manoj to start from. 5 pp. ? Section 4: Security - the basics, just going over the available packages and pointing to more information. 10 pp. Section 5: Programming on Linux: CS 101 type stuff, or "Visual Foo++ to Emacs/gcc in 15 minutes." 10 or 20 pp. Index Reprint some version of install.txt (it's short, so why not; could be useful to have in hardcopy). I am planning to work on chapters 6 and 9 next, so I'd most appreciate help on any of the other chapters. As you can see working on a topic only commits you to write a few pages, not really that time-consuming. Contributions do not have to be marked up in SGML, I can do that. Just mail me the text. Try to use the format of the rest of the tutorial; examples and conceptual explanation focusing on core functionality. Try to supplement rather than duplicate the man pages. After filling the above gaps, a major editing session and accuracy check will be needed to create a unified whole and make everything nice. Also I am planning a "rough draft release" after finishing chapters 6 and 9. Eventually, we may need to transition to DocBook or Texinfo in order to get Texinfo output and an index; this is being postponed as long as possible. The most valuable possible contribution might be a bona fide editor or technical writer ruthlessly marking up the rough draft with a red pen. So that's the status. Working alone I predict completion by next summer. :-) But all the incomplete versions are also useful. Havoc
