Michael: Right. Wiki it is. I couldn't agree more that there should be *one* main source for the basic manual. Advanced folks know how to search forums and wikis. The manual is necessary for people new to the system, and more than one choice creates nothing but confusion in that case. Believe me. I know. ;-)
There are only two "basic manual" suggestions I'd like to strongly urge: 1) Include a printed "map" of the keyboard, ports, and external features *with the machine when it arrives*! This might be a good idea everywhere. Kids will figure it out by playing around, that's true, but they may also try plugging in that old cell phone charger that's lying around with perhaps not-so-good consequences. Also include a *printer friendly* version on the web site. The current mouseover pages have all the info and look great, but you should see what my scribbled reference printout looks like. 2) Include, in bold type, in the flyer that ships with the machine, the URL of the wiki basic manual. Maybe it's there somewhere, but I, for one, was way too excited to see it, and only found the wiki later, almost by accident. That's also why I didn't realize that it was intended to be the main manual, rather than just one of many possible attempts. (See above about many choices being confusing ... ;-) ) (The big problem with a purely web-based manual is that you have to get on the web first. So that info should *also* be included in the printed materials with the machine ... including the instructions for WPA-secured wireless until a newer build solves that problem.) Re: olpcnews: There does seem to a tendency to lack of coordination, which, as you say, is unfortunate, and a waste of energy! Wayan's redesigning the web site, and one of the suggestions I was going to make was that he be sure to link prominently to the main olpc sites. My sense is that we users are all too excited to coordinate. For once, I'm not sure that it's ego tripping! Cheers, quixote. -- http://molvray.com/acid-test _______________________________________________ Olpc-open mailing list [email protected] http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/olpc-open
