Subject: Re: Another Manual ???
To: Andrew Crossley <toast@iinet.net.au>
From: Brett Lymn <blymn@baea.com.au>
List: netbsd-users
Date: 01/20/2000 12:13:12
According to Andrew Crossley:
>
>- Should I really do it ?

Yes, please do it.  We desperately need information aimed at the
starting user.  I am often accused of gibbering in some odd language
so I do know who easy it is to confuse people.  As Mr. Kachel has
pointed out what an experienced person may consider easy can be
totally incomprehensible to a starting user.

We have documents written by techos for other techos to follow.  We
need something more accessible.

>- Things you think should be documentated

The installation is a good start, especially helping with multi-boot
installs which can be a bear to get right.  I have shoe-horned NT &
NetBSD onto a machine and it took me a few goes to get it right.

>- Proof-reading my text and suggesting fixes

Sounds fine.

>- Can you put up with the odd silly question now and then (as occasinally
>whist "in-depth" one can't see the wood for the trees)

If we can get the answers to the silly questions down in a single
place then it may save them being asked again so it benifits everyone.

>- Should I post stuff as attatchments to the list, or would that bog down
>the server (See * below)
>

I am not sure about this - perhaps it would be better to call for
volunteer reviewers (I am willing) and just mail the reviewers instead
of the whole list.  I would hope that you would get a mixture of
experienced and non-experienced users to help with both technical
content and readability.  Here is an opportunity for people who have
just joined the NetBSD flock or are still learning their way around to
contribute positively to the project by improving the documentation of
the bits that gave them trouble.

>
>Because I intend to keep a copy of NetBSD locally, I am quite prepared to
>ship (in Australia) custom based CDs (in regards to the packages & distfiles
>included etc) for a nominal work & shipping fee (I reckon about $8 to $10 a
>CD total cost - custom built remember!).  i386 arch only (unless you want
>just the distfiles)
>

I can do this for -current on i386.  I will investigate costs if
people are interested.

-- 
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Brett Lymn, Computer Systems Administrator, British Aerospace Australia
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