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	Wed, 16 Sep 1998 19:01:40 -0400 (EDT)
Message-ID: <19980916190140.H317@acheron.middleboro.ma.us>
Date: Wed, 16 Sep 1998 19:01:40 -0400
From: Mason Loring Bliss <mason@acheron.middleboro.ma.us>
To: "Charles M. Hannum" <root@ihack.net>
Cc: netbsd-advocacy@NetBSD.ORG
Subject: Re: a non-original idea.
References: <199809162156.RAA08779@zygorthian-space-raiders.mit.edu>
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In-Reply-To: <199809162156.RAA08779@zygorthian-space-raiders.mit.edu>; from Charles M. Hannum on Wed, Sep 16, 1998 at 05:56:48PM -0400

On Wed, Sep 16, 1998 at 05:56:48PM -0400, Charles M. Hannum wrote:

> It's not even an issue of `sexy'.  It's an issue of *functionality*.

It's an issue of sexiness *and* functionality. After all, one of the
principal drives behind the book will be acquiring users. The NetBSD web
site and mailing lists are more than adequate for pretty much anyone,
but they're not even close to being sexy enough to draw in lots of new
users.

> We need `setting up a web server with NetBSD', `setting up a NFS server
> with NetBSD', `running Mac programs unders NetBSD', etc.  Tutorials are
> what people need.

Yes.

Okay... Here's my plan. I think a reasonable first phase of this operation
would be to gather and discuss content. The next phase might include deciding
how that content should be ordered and assigning people to generate the
initial text, but we don't have to think about that yet.

Out of curiosity, when is NetBSD 1.4 planned as a formal release? It might
be worthwhile synchronizing the book with the release, if there's enough
time for that. NetBSD is enough of a moving target that we'll have to
watch out for stale data in any event.

A note: One useful appendix might be "Historic Versions of NetBSD," in
which the principal differences between modern and old versions of NetBSD
can be examined with an eye towards allowing people to be functional with
older releases, should the need arise.

Another note: A complete history of the BSDs that summarizes the Salus book
and then picks up where Salus left off would be a nice attraction. It
wouldn't have to be lengthy to be interesting.

-- 
Mason Loring Bliss..mason@acheron.middleboro.ma.us..acheron.dyn.ml.org/mason
"In the drowsy dark cave of the mind dreams build their nest with fragments
  dropped from day's caravan."--Rabindranath Tagore..awake ? sleep : dream;