Martin Wheeler <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> has been added to the list of CVS users.
With Martin's permission, I am forwarding this message to the list, as his introduction: ------- Forwarded Message Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1998 17:41:29 +0000 From: Martin Wheeler <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Oliver Elphick <[email protected]> Subject: Re: cvs update privileges On Tue, 10 Nov 1998, Oliver Elphick wrote: > This is a sort of informal check, since I don't remember seeing anything > from you on the debian-doc list. Ummm. Don't recall that I ever did send any mail in; but I've been lurking there [and elsewhere] for a couple of years at least. If I did, it would probably have been something horribly sarky about spelling, or gross misuse of the English language. Contact Andy Cater [EMAIL PROTECTED] if you would like a personal reference -- he's a pukka developer, and is maintaining MPI/LAM for our joint effort at promoting Debian for Beowulf. (see: http://www.startext.co.uk/beowulf) > Please let me know what area of the > DDP you are interested in. Currently -- corrections to spelling; and gross misuse of the English language -- across all docs! (I'm a proof-reader, among many other things; and I've got to the point where I just can't take yet another instance of : definately; independant; it's [for possessive] etc., etc. It's slowly driving me nuts.) This is an important part of our primary interface with the user, and it deserves far better presentation treatment than it's currently getting. It's a doddle for me to correct, where it's probably hell on wheels for non-native writers. (Or even a native-speaker who didn't benefit from the sort of teachers I had in the 1940s and '50s -- who were themselves trained in Victorian schools. Anally retentive nitpickers, all of 'em.) I put together a whole load of minor corrections about a year ago, but the mechanics of checking them against the master texts and then getting them to the DPP team were so frustrating that I gave up in despair. (Really.) Eventually, I might have something to contribute in the way of "creative" technical writing; but I have no intention at the moment of doing anything other than general proof-reading and minor textual corrections to existing docs. Hence my request for update privileges. > If you have any ideas for altering or extending the current manuals, it > would be a good idea to publish these on the list (at > [email protected]) to give other people a chance to comment. Of course. And once I'm happy with the processes of downloading, correcting/amending and committing docs (it all *seems* to work beautifully these days) -- well, maybe I'll look at other ways in which I can contribute. But only after public discussion, obviously. [I also happen to be translating Anne Bezemer's Debian 2 Installation and User Manual from the Dutch (because it's very close to one I'd started to write for my own teaching purposes), and I feel that this ought to go into the documentation somehow, at some point -- but not for quite a while yet. Getting used to DDP mechanics from the start will help in any eventual transition, even tho' my preferred DTD is TEI tech-doc, not docbook. And -- sorry! -- certainly not QWERTZ/linuxdoc/debiandoc.] > Could you also let me know whether you have any other connection with > Debian Not in any "official" [SPI] capacity, no. I've long wanted to, but the sheer hassle of becoming a recognised developer has always deterred me. I don't consider myself a Unix guru anyway, even though I suppose I could be called an early adopter of Linux (early 1994). My specialist field is language and linguistics -- and for over a dozen years now, document engineering as well (note: *without* the sneering prophylactic double quotes seen recently on the list). But I do teach "Linux"; and I do always promote the distribution I always use for my own purposes (Debian/GNU) -- which I also sell locally (CDs from Phil Hands, CheapBytes and LSL). (see: http://www.startext.co.uk/avalonix) I'm also very keen on promoting Debian GNU/Linux for Beowulf architectures - -- the RH monopolistic takeover of the field has annoyed quite a few people, and I consider RH's use of the term "Extreme Linux" for their own product *exclusively* to be an outrageous liberty. I lurk on a fair number of lists on the debian side -- debian-mentors, debian-devel, beowulf, etc., as well as a fair number on the SGML/tech. doc side. The only code hacking I consider I would be any good at would be in the field of computational linguistics (not in great demand); so if I can contribute to the Debian effort in any other area (e.g tech. doc.) then I'm only too happy. And I guess that's about it, really. BTW, is there a canonically advised place to put one's own cvs working directory when working on DDP stuff? (Not that it's likely to fit in with my existing textbase on this machine -- but it's sometimes useful to have an idea of where others might have stashed their local copy.) Regards, Martin - -- Martin Wheeler - StarTEXT, Glastonbury, Somerset, England - BA6 9PH [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.startext.co.uk/ ------- End of Forwarded Message -- Oliver Elphick [EMAIL PROTECTED] Isle of Wight http://www.lfix.co.uk/oliver PGP key from public servers; key ID 32B8FAA1 ======================================== "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." 1 Corinthians 15:58
