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Mad Penguin Launches Slackware Handbook Project

Posted by timothy on from the you-can-paint-this-fence-for-a-single-apple-core dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Mad Penguin's Adam Doxtater and Narayan Newton have launched a community-driven site dedicated to bringing the power and depth of the FreeBSD Handbook to Slackware Linux users. The site allows for the community to create and edit its own content. A simple voting system is in place to make sure the content that makes it into the handbook is of the highest quality. This is something that has been needed for some time and the idea of being able to edit our own material is really nice. A very unique project. Read the press release at LinuxPR.com."

25 of 86 comments (clear)

  1. Not true.. by Turn-X+Alphonse · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Unique means "original". Not "Wiki with a moderation system similar to Slashdots".

    --
    I like muppets.
    1. Re:Not true.. by todesengel · · Score: 4, Informative

      This is definately a project I would like to see some press behind, it is far from "unique." Slackwiki has been around for quite a while.

  2. A simple voting system... by Anonymous+Crowhead · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...to keep content of high quality. Now where have I seen something like that?

    1. Re:A simple voting system... by jm92956n · · Score: 5, Funny

      ...to keep content of high quality. Now where have I seen something like that?

      Oh, oh! I know!

      You're talking about the American political system, right?

      Oh, wait. . .

      --
      An effective signature identifies a particular user amongst a base of thousands.
    2. Re:A simple voting system... by fm6 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Or maybe the focus groups that are Hollywood's excuse for mindless movies.

  3. link to the handbook by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    why wasn't it in the main article?

    http://www.slackersbible.org/

    btw. first post

    1. Re:link to the handbook by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Clicky

    2. Re:link to the handbook by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      As a slakware user, I thank you.
      And btw, the other two guys are also grateful.

  4. why? by darthpenguin · · Score: 5, Informative

    There is already an ongoing project updating the official slackware book at http://slackbook.lizella.net/. For the most part, this work provides most information about daily admin tasks that anyone would need. Why is there this new project, then?

    1. Re:why? by MadRaVen · · Score: 5, Informative

      We started work on this before we knew about that. However, we don't see the two projects as being in conflict. This is more of a community type thing and the goal is to replicate the FreeBSD Handbook, which is quite a bit bigger then the Slackware Book. Our content is all under the BSD license, so the Slackware Book can use it. We arn't trying to steal their thunder or something like that.

    2. Re:why? by Alan+Hicks · · Score: 4, Informative
      We started work on this before we knew about that. However, we don't see the two projects as being in conflict.

      Of course they're not at conflict. At worst it's only healthy competition, like a sports game.

      This is more of a community type thing

      Personally I found it very difficult to get the community involved in documentation, and most of the "New Good Book" has been of my doing when my time is available.

      the goal is to replicate the FreeBSD Handbook, which is quite a bit bigger then the Slackware Book.

      And covers a lot more topics. My project is mainly designed to be a good introduction into Slackware Linux, teach people enough about the system to get it up, running, online, and understand the basics of linux in general and Slackware in particular. It isn't meant to be as indepth as what you're starting. Drop me a line sometime though, as I'd love to work together. Nothing like pooling resources to tackle big problems.

      Our content is all under the BSD license, so the Slackware Book can use it.

      I wish I could do the same. I typically prefer the BSD license for most things. I spoke with Pat recently about possibly migrating the Slackware Linux Essentials book to the Apple Common Documentation License (which is basically the GPL only tailored for documentation), but as he explained it to me the copyright was never transfered to him, so ATM I'm stuck with the GPL, which is fine by me of course.

      We arn't[sic] trying to steal their thunder or something like that.

      You gotta watch out for those when you're doing documentation! :^)

      --
      Slackware, what else when it must be secure, stable, and easy?
  5. Gentooism! by linolium · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It's good to see that Gentoo's in-depth handbook is starting to catch on with other Linux distributions (not to say they didn't borrow the idea from somewhere else).

    It's an excellent way to document Linux instead of having to sift through a long README document or rtfm man pages.

    1. Re:Gentooism! by Prod_Deity · · Score: 5, Funny

      You mean you & the 3 other users made a book waiting for your system to compile?

  6. Good Luck! by Alan+Hicks · · Score: 5, Informative

    Let me be the first to wish them the best. I've been putting together a little "handbook" of my own (not nearly as ambitious as mimicking the excellent FreeBSD handbook, of which I own a hard copy incidently). Of course, anyone is free to contribute provided they license their writing under the GPL for inclusion. Basically it's a rewrite of the Slackware Linux Essentials book by Chris Lumens, Logan Johnson, and David Cantrell. You can find it here. I call it "The Unofficial Revised Slackware Book Project". Stop by and take a look, I think you'll enjoy it.

    Props to these guys and their project, and I'd like to point out to them that can use anything at the above site provided they do so under the GPL.

    --
    Slackware, what else when it must be secure, stable, and easy?
  7. OK, I will place my fot in my mouth.. by stephenisu · · Score: 4, Informative
    OK it is similar to a wiki mixed with slashdot.

    So much so that well... they said it best.
    "Think of it as a wiki of sorts. All of the contributors are capable of editing and adding to the work of others on the project." said Doxtater, "This will ensure that the documentation is of the highest standard". Mad Penguin says that the new site is currently in operation and ready for the general public.
    --
    Sigs? We don't need no stinking sigs!
  8. Good thing they have a voting system... by GillBates0 · · Score: 4, Funny
    Warning: mysql_connect(): Too many connections in /home/handbook/public_html/includes/database.mysql .inc on line 31
    Too many connections

    Line #31 certainly has to go.

    --
    An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
  9. Depth? by koko775 · · Score: 4, Funny

    dedicated to bringing the power and depth of the FreeBSD Handbook to Slackware Linux users

    phew. for a moment there i thought they misspelled "death".

    Jokes aside, what's so remarkable about documentation that everyone contributes that warrant s a news post? If I started a "all you need to know about open source" wiki and posted the link, would it be accepted? (if so, it's time to get some advertisers and start rehashing news)

  10. Good for Slackware... by ltwally · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This is a wonderful step for Slackware. The FreeBSD Handbook is an incredible reference and guide, and every OS should have something similar....

    But what of the 100+ other gnu/linux distributions out there? One of linux's greatest strengths (and weaknesses) is the insane number of distributions and the sometimes strikingly large differences between distros. This book will work for Slackware, and maybe help with a few of the slack-based distros... but probably won't be much help for fedora, gentoo, or the other distros.

    But what do I know... I'm just a silly FreeBSD user, and this is only my two cents. ;)

    Best of luck w/ the slackware handbook!

    --



    /dev/random
    1. Re:Good for Slackware... by BrokenHalo · · Score: 2, Insightful
      But what of the 100+ other gnu/linux distributions out there?

      What of them? Linux distros rise and sink over time, but Slackware has the distinction of being the first; and from where I'm sitting, I don't see any drop in its popularity.

      We got a bit of a scare a few months ago when Pat got sick, and some might have got spooked into defecting to other distros, but many (most?) of us stayed put and don't regret doing so.

  11. And there's the FreeBSD wiki by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    The FreeBSD handbook rules. But there's also the FreeBSD Wiki: FreeBSD wiki Which certainly needs more members.

  12. Love the FreeBSD Handbook by CypherXero · · Score: 3, Informative

    I love the FreeBSD Handbook, it's an amazing guide to help get the system up and running. I got FreeBSD 5.3 + X11 + Xorg + Gnome2 compilled and installed in less than 24 hours. (total work time was around 5-6 hours)

  13. Unique in a sense. by Penguinoflight · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The meaning of unique is pretty simple, and I think this project accomplishes nique status by the following.

    Mad penguin is almost certainly going to publish this as a book, and make sure things are organized. Looking at the main site (slackersbible.org) you can see they've already picked 4 catagories for articles.

    This work will be unique by the organization of its community based content, even though moderation is done by a community. Think about everything2, the amount of useful content is enormus but you can't learn much because the organization is lacking.

    --
    "And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the World"
    1 John 4:14
  14. CMS... by xeon4life · · Score: 4, Informative

    The site allows for the community to create and edit its own content. A simple voting system is in place to make sure the content that makes it into the handbook is of the highest quality. This is something that has been needed for some time and the idea of being able to edit our own material is really nice. A very unique project.

    Actually, it's not unique.

    The content mangement appears to be Drupal with a modified Marvin 2k theme.

    Drupal has had these features forever.

    Move along now.

    --
    Real programmers can write assembly code in any language. -- Larry Wall
  15. Re:slashdotted by MadRaVen · · Score: 2, Informative

    Someone set mysql to accept only 100 connections.....should be fine now

  16. FreeBSD Handbook in Plcuker format by hacker · · Score: 3, Interesting
    I've had the original FreeBSD handbook fetched nightly and converted to Plucker format for awhile now. Take a look, its a beautiful piece of work.

    I do this for quite a few other pieces of work (the Gentoo handbook, PHP Documentation (in 21 languages, it looks spectacular in color), the Creating XPCOM book is even available in Plucker format, as well as many others.

    These are not straight conversions, they require actual human eyes to look over them, test them, add navigation and other elements. For example, look at the Plucker version of the 9/11 Report that I did. I added a LOT of functionality that wasn't there in the original version. (I also put my pristine HTML source version online for anyone to read. You can see the additional features I've added in that copy).

    I'll be making a lot more of my stealth works public soon.

    When they're finished with the Slackware Handbook, I'd be more than happy to look it over, do the conversion, and provide it in a mobile format for our user community.