> On 26-Jul-99 Thomas J. Hamman wrote:
> I agree with most of your views, but there's only so much you can fit in
one
> book. A couple points to keep in mind:
>
> Using an ATAPI CDR drive in SCSI emulation is a subject that is not
applicable
> to all (or even most) users. Furthermore, even for someone who does have
such
> a drive, knowing how to use it in SCSI emulation is not required for
installing
> Linux and getting their system up and running. ATAPI CDR drives read CD's
just
> fine with default IDE drivers; SCSI emulation is only needed for burning
CDR's,
> with cdrecord. Thus a user with an ATAPI CDR drive does not need
information
> about using SCSI emulation straight from their installation guide; it's
> something they can look up later in the large wealth of documentation
written
> specifically on the subject of burning CDR's.
Thanks for your thoughtful reply. I understand your point, but I still
disagree. Costco has been selling pallette-loads of HP 8100 CDRs, and have
even sold Mandrake (briefly) and Red Hat. I admit that my neighborhood may
ba a bit atypical, but even so...
One of the points I wanted to make, and will now state as clearly as I can
is that the HOWTOs fall short as docs are concerned. I'm not a tyro; I've
been writing software commercially for over 20 years. I've also written
documentation for commercial products, and friends, the HOWTOs just don't
get it. My impression is that whereas the development of Linux is a
community effort with a town council providing control, the HOWTOs are more
like a happening. There is little consistency, and a great deal is assumed
about the reader's knowledge. This tends to make searching the HOWTOs a
circular, or at best, spiral, activity.
> The Mandrake Installation Guide is just that: an installation guide. It
is
> meant to cover installation and subjects related to helping a user get
their
> system up and running. It is not a user guide. It would be nice if it
could
> be, but it's not really possible, or at least not plausible. I don't know
how
> large the current Mandrake Installation Guide is right now, but I have the
> RedHat 5.2 Installation Guide, and it is nearly 400 pages long. It's a
very
> thick book, despite not having much beyond installing and getting the
system
> initially set up. To try to fit documentation on every subject as
non-critical
> and specific-to-certain-hardware as the subject of SCSI emulation, into an
> installation guide, would be impossible--it would require thousands of
> pages. There's no way you could pack it into one book.
The Mandrake "Install Guide" is 47 pages. The Mandrake "User Guide" is 142
pages. It should be fairly obvious that neither of those is adequate to the
roles they claim.
> Speaking of user guides though, there are several freely available guides
as
> part of the Linux Documentation Project at http://metalab.unc.edu/mdw/.
> There's an Installation and Getting Started guide, User Guide, System
> Administrator's Guide, and several more, along with the HOWTO's,
mini-HOWTO's,
> and FAQs, all conveniently accessible from one sight.
I've been to the LDP. That's where I found the hopelessly inadequate serial
programming guide. With the widespread use of Linux, now claimed to be more
than 7 million seats (and it's probably more than that), I would have
expected to find better. I expect books to be outdated. It's the nature of
the beast. One of the best features of the HOWTOs ought to be limited
inertia. Yet the serial programming HOWTO has had no rework in 18 months.
Please understand: I'm highly motivated to get out from under MS, and I find
much to like in Linux. Red Hat left me cold; Caldera was better, and
Mandrake feels pretty good. My OS experience includes CP/M, MS-DOS, SCO
Unix, Cromix, OS/2, and BeOS. My problem is that I keep tripping over new
mysteries. Given that I have to make a business case for dropping MS, that's
a bit of a problem, as it makes it more or less impossible to estimate
development time.
> With all that said, I certainly wouldn't complain if a little section on
SCSI
> emulation popped up in the Mandrake Installation Guide; but I doubt it
will,
> for the reasons I just explained.
Again, I understand, and again, I'm afraid you're right. Not because of
reasons, but because of rationale. MS gets away with it because Windows is
pervasive. Linux users hate for Linux to be compared to Windows, yet the
best excuse for the poor documentation comes from the MS example. If Linux
is going to live up to all that it could be, distributors should recognize
that documentation is an opportunity to add value.
My largest regret is that my own understanding of Linux is insufficient to
let me write the book which begs to be written. There's a golden opportunity
here.
William Meyer
