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Building a Large Linux Knowledgebase

Posted by michael on from the bookmarkable dept.

linuxfan writes "It looks like LinuxQuestions.org is aiming to build the largest independent Linux-related knowledgebase using a Wiki. They are using the same software as Wikipedia (MediaWiki), are using a Creative Commons license and look to be off to a good start."

10 of 251 comments (clear)

  1. Eh? Largest? Huh? by Dark+Lord+Seth · · Score: 5, Informative

    What about The Linux Documentation Project? Provides plenty of knowledge to me about pretty much anything Linux related...

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    Hate me!
    1. Re:Eh? Largest? Huh? by Daytona955i · · Score: 3, Informative

      I agree... LDP has gone down in quality over the years as linux has gotten more popular. Outdated stuff stays up and their site is a pain to navigate and search. I mean, how many different kinds of tutorials do you need? You have HOWTOs in both regular and mini sizes though authors really don't do anything different. (like making the mini ones shorter and to the point) Then you have Guides which are more like books. While they may have their use, I have never really found one on a topic I need an explanation for. (Especially that in-depth) Therefore I'm more likely to look at a book for information of that scale first as they are usually better. And again, a lot of times if you do find something that might be useful, it's mostly out of date. Then you have FAQ's... There aren't that many and I doubt questions obout the topics listed are really asked all that frequently.

      I mean it's a nice idea and most of the guides that were around when I first started using linux (about 9-10 years ago) were excelent. In fact, some of them are still useful but they need updating!

      TLDP also needs a redesign of their site. Maybe have a section for newbies and then other sections based on what you want help on instead of just grouping all the HOWTOs together. It's a beast to look through. If I want to find information on an editor I need to know to look for vi or Emacs.. it would be nice to click on an Editors section and see all the documentation relating to editors.

  2. Re:To clarify! by boarder8925 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Crap I meant http://www.google.com/linux.

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    Keep your eyes to the sky.
  3. Re:They have that.... by JungleBoy · · Score: 3, Informative

    You just need to click on the 'groups' tab in google. :) So many linux mailing lists are piped onto usenet, that just about every question asked shows up there. Essentially google groups lets you globally search nearly all linux mailing lists.

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    "You never know when some crazed rodent with cold feet might be running loose in your pants."
    -Calvin
  4. linuxquestions not just linux by bbowers · · Score: 5, Informative

    I'm a contributing member of the linuxquestions site, and I personally thing Jeremy (the owner/admin) is doing a wonderful job of keeping the site up to date and adding new things. Most recently they showed their support at linuxworld with other companies and .orgs. THe addition of the wiki will further increase what they're trying to get across. I've found threads on there that I havn't found anywhere else on google or mailing lists, and most everyhting I've needed has a solution. Responses are fast, and the people are very nice, I'd reccomend it to anyone with questions.

    Now keep in mind they don't just do linux, theres Solaris forums, Programming forums, AIX, distro forums, and many many more such as hardware forums, networking and a very nice HCL. I guess this is turning into an ad but I'm just trying to help out cause a little bit I guess. You'll find me there as the user Astro

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    Even a stopped clock gives the right time twice a day.
  5. Re:rats! by bersl2 · · Score: 3, Informative

    A few extra things:

    The Loki installer for Unreal Tournament is still freely downloadable, for those with the Windows version. You can play that.

    The binaries for Quake and Quake 2 are still linked to glide (I think). Fortunately, both games' source is under the GPL, so you can recompile for GLX.

    There are many ATI drivers (XFree86, ATI's binaries, DRI, Gatos), but none of them do everything well (or so I've heard). NVidia's drivers are wonderful, but binary-only ([sigh]... NDA...). I wish they were able to let us help with the drivers. XFree86's nv driver is still pretty good.

    You can use WINE to play many games non-native to Linux, like Half-Life (Damn You, Valve!(TM)), but it usually takes some tinkering. There is WineX, a commercial fork of WINE that specializes in getting games to work.

    Finally, just have a look around; you'd be surprised at what's available.

  6. Then you'll like Wiki by lawpoop · · Score: 5, Informative
    The great thing about wiki is that it's very open. If you see redundant or meaningless data, delete it! Yes, you! It's very empowering.

    But wait, hold on! Did someone write trollish nonsense all over a beatiful how-to? Just roll back the changes.

    If this scares you (and it should, it's very powerful, very new), check out wikipedia.com. It's totally self-policing and very well-kempt. You will quickly move from scared to excited.

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    Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.
    -- Pablo Picasso
  7. Re:Selective Intelligence by justMichael · · Score: 3, Informative

    I think you may be confusing your search engines. I have yet to see any search on google where AdWords has any effect on the actual search results.

    Since they are listed down the side of the page and not mixed in with the search results and the "Sponsored Links" at the top, it's kind of hard to mix them up.

    And if you can buy better results from google, please let me know. Google surfers convert at a much higher rate than all of the other PPC options.

  8. Re:Question by Xabraxas · · Score: 4, Informative
    Does it strike anyone as a bit of a negative attribute that you have to have a massive knowledgebase to use your operating system?

    You don't need a massive knowledge base to use Linux. The main difference is that documentation for Linux usually covers a lot more than just the kernel. It usually covers a ton of popular programs in addition to the kernel, including two entirely different desktops. Not to mention the fact that you can change so many more parameters in Linux than you can in Windows or MacOSX. For example, it is fairly simple to install another kernel if you want to on most Linux distributions but you also have the ability to compile your own kernel. This will take more documentation than either Windows or OSX but it hasn't made anything more difficult.

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    Time makes more converts than reason
  9. Thoughts from someone who's done it by Plug · · Score: 4, Informative

    I don't know how LQ's wiki will end up, but if the answers from questions posted to the forums make their way into Wiki entries and are regularly maintained, then it has potential.

    Almost two years ago, a resourceful hacker at our Waikato Linux Users Group set up a Wiki, and it has been a phenomenal success. We'll be surprised how often we google looking for something, and find the Wiki as the first hit!

    What did we do differently? For starters, Perry imported the man pages and howtos, meaning people could link to a man page in the Wiki just by naming it (ie fstab(5)). This encourages both reading man pages and editing them, marking them up to be more useful to everyone. Another point is that now you can see which pages (and other man pages) refer to a given page, an invaluable tool that man itself can't provide!

    We're thinking of dropping the HOWTOS because it's amost impossible to get changes sent up stream, and our own locally developed content tends to be better and more up to date.

    Good luck to the LQ people, but there exist a number of Wikis that have the knowledge growing nicely outside of this. If you're looking for something, come check us out.