[OLPC library] Laptop Manual deadlines

[Samuel Klein]

Anne,

Copying the library list.

I'd like to put a single-file version of the simplified manual into our 
joyride builds tomorrow.  A pdf or single-page html version would be 
perfect; and worth linking from the main [[manual]] page.

Seth, if you have suggestions for UI changes, please note them on 
[[talk:library]].  Nikki, as rep of the art team, copying you on the 
discussion of illustration of these docs (and since I hope to see you 
tomorrow...)

Cheers,
SJ


On Thu, 6 Dec 2007, adam hyde wrote:

> hi Anne,
>
> Very nice to be in touch with you.
>
> Anne Gentle wrote:
>> Hi Adam,
>> I've been working on the Simplified User Guide at
>> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Simplified_users_guide but I'm also
>> interested in writing for the other Groups described on the Manual
>> page
>
> I have looked through the documentation and can see there is already a
> lot of good material. You worked on the Simplified pages by yourself?
>
>> Currently I also take the wiki content over to an Author-it instance
>> to get a PDF out of it. Well, and Author-it is used because of an
>> Idiom WorldServer setup for translation as well. But what we could do
>> with the FLOSSManual site has so much potential, I'm excited to read
>> more. I have been studying wikis for documentation (couple of
>> representative articles here and here).
>
> I am very glad you see the potential for FM in this context, it is good
> to hear this from you as you are clearly very experienced with different
> documentation and wiki systems.
>
> FM is building a toolset that I think could be of use to OLPC as it is a
> wiki that is built with collabortive online, digital, and book
> publishing in mind. I really researched a lot before building it and was
> surprised that nothing was out there so we built custom widgets for
> TWiki and its now a pretty tight system with remixing, automatic PDF
> generation, inline image editing, credit tracking, drag and drop index
> generation, and soon an integrated translation system, and a nice RSS
> publisher.
>
> So the feature set is rich and there is more to come. If there is
> anyway FLOSS Manuals can be of use then please let me know. We are also
> open to building features that could help (eg new export formats etc),
> so if you think of something you need then we can discuss how it could
> be integrated into FM.
>
>
>> I love that you have a print option and that the contributors are
>> output as a page in the PDF out put as well. You've set up a great
>> wiki-based documentation process to get PDFs and I can't wait to peel
>> away the layers and see how it works. I've been blogging about wikis
>> for documentation and constantly on the lookout for examples, and this
>> site is such an excellent example. (see www.justwriteclick.com for
>> more about me). I can't wait to write a blog entry about
>> FLOSSManuals.
>>
>
> Great! I am excited to hear this. I am happy to explain more about it.
> There is also a manual on FLOSS Manuals here:
> http://en.flossmanuals.net/FLOSSManuals
>
>> So, welcome, and your insight and experience with wikis for
>> documentation will be very valuable.
>
> Thank you for the welcome, I am very happy to have been introduced to
> you and the OLPC doc team.
>
>> I don't know how much background knowledge you have about the XO but I
>> have been emulating it on Windows to write the docs from the
>> end-user's perspective and to capture screenshots easily.
>
> Mel gave me a tour of the laptop and I borrowed one for a couple of
> nights at Wikimania this year. I was really excited about the
> possibility of helping with some documentation. At that point it was a
> bit tricky as I could not access a machine but I had never considered
> emulating it. I have since looked through the forums and the wiki and
> can see there is a lot written about how to do this. Is there any
> specific method you think is easier under windows or linux for building
> the image and emulating it?
>
>> For ongoing conversations about doc related to the XO project, we're
>> using the http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/library list.
>
> Just subscribed.
>
>>
>> Please, feel free to ask me any questions or use the library list if
>> you feel so inspired. I haven't yet gotten myself on IRC (I must
>> admit, I haven't been on an IRC channel for about six years, ha) but
>> will do so as needed.
>>
>> Thanks, and I'm looking forward to learning from you.
>
> Thanks. I am also looking forward to learning from you and the OLPC doc
> team.
>
> adam