2. Selecting A Boot Disk Slackware Linux comes with many precompiled boot disks to use during the installation process. You want to choose one that best fits your hardware.
3. Selecting A Root Disk You need to have a diskette with a root filesystem and the setup program in order to install Slackware Linux. There are several to choose from.
Surely I can't be the only one who's seen this this and thought, "Well, I've no floppy drive, so this is a non-starter for me"? Perhaps it'd be better to say "Slackware Linux comes with many precompiled boot disk images [my emphasis] to use during the installation process"?
Only later in the piece (http://slackware.com/install/setup.php) does it say that
You can install from another hard disk partition, floppy disks, an NFS mount, a pre-mounted directory, or from CD-ROM.
(/me reflects that he sometimes hears complaints like this about *our* documentation, and might now be slightly less inclined to respond to such comments with, "You didn't bother reading the next section, did you?" in future...)
What about OpenOffice.org 3? I know for the Mac version, it was a dramatic improvement (at least as far as aesthetics are concerned)...
It's an amazing improvement on Linux and Windows as well, and not just the aesthetics - it's hellaciously faster and less resource-piggy, among other things.
I'm guessing from the Overrated mod, though, that someone has an axe to grind...
KDE 3.5 is an outstanding desktop and was what finally convinced me that it was worth my time to use something other than WindowMaker. I guess what I'll do is install KDE4 so I can get updates to the KDE apps I use but go back to WM or maybe try FluxBox or BlackBox instead.
That's what I do now with the Gnome apps that I like, even though the Gnome desktop itself is fairly wretched.
Are there any current distros that are providing KDE 3.5 support? I need to get off openSUSE 10.2 as they've even cut off access to existing packages for it; I was planning to move to 11.1, but maybe it's time for a more radical change...?
My work's not generally pegged to specific client requirements, but rather to documenting software as it's developed and released. I also work in a highly (geographically) distributed environment.
Our IT guys keep the servers running so those of us in Engineering (including Documentation) can collaborate, and we maintain our own workstations as suits us best to get our own jobs done.
...simulate the behaviour of electrons around a molecule, design a mechanical machine, electronic circuit or a microchip (altough civil engineering CAD is lacking), run complicated simulations on economy and trow the world into another recession, create a complete 3D movie...
True, but your average non-techie user is not likely to be interested in doing any of these things.
I'm also a tech writer for a software company, and -- despite not being anything like a Linux g00r00 -- maintain my own Linux machines with zero help from our internal IT mob (and rarely if ever from anybody else who's not a man page or a newsgroup/forum post). And, yes, I do get my work done, too.
Opera runs rings around the built-in browser on my SonyEricsson phone. (I also have it installed on my Linux machines, but don't use it that much there.)
I call bullshit. How is this "insightful" when it's just plain wrong (or at least several years out of date)? Many if not most Linux distros aimed at desktop users (e.g. Ubuntu, openSUSE, Mandr*, etc.) have huge repositories and GUI frontends for accessing them, and these are entirely sufficient for "ordinary" users who just want to surf the web, read email, look at some photos, chat, write a term paper for school, etc. At least on my distro, there's no need to use a command line for any of this stuff.
As for dependencies -- the repos and package managers take care of these.
As for apps that need to be built from source -- puh-lease, you've got to be kidding me. This is by and large restricted to things that only developers/techies are going to be interested in -- or have any need for.
Okay, sounds like you might have our operation beat by an order of magnitude or so.
However, I would like to point out that the original question was about writing a technical book, which to my mind means on the order of 200-500 pages. I think you might even agree that DocBook is fine for a project of that size.
BTW, I should point out that some of our stuff -- used to generate stuff like changelogs and option summaries -- is not in DocBook but rather uses custom DTDs (some of which, however, leverage DocBook).
While docbook can be good for a small setup it tends to be overly simple when working with large documents.
Since we use it to maintain tens of thousands of pages worth of documentation (for example, the English version of the MySQL 5.1 Manual alone currently comes out to just under 2750 pages as a PDF/A4), I'm curious as to just what you mean by "large documents".:)
We use DocBook and SVN to author/edit/maintain the MySQL Manual and related documentation.
Most of us working on the MySQL docs team also use oXygenXML for editing - it's neither libre nor gratis, but it's not terribly expensive, and it works well on any platform with decent Java support (one of the few Java GUI apps I've seen that really works, and works well). Handles many common XML formats including DocBook, XHTML, DITA, and TEI. You can also supply your own DTDs/schemas for custom XML formats. Includes both code and visual editing views, as well as instant validation and a built-in Subversion client. Easy to produce HTML or PDF output from XML source. Also has some nice XQuery and XSLT tools if you need them.
Believing in a deity does not indicate anything wrong with critical thinking skills any more than believing in string theory. Both involve belief in things that are currently untestable.
Bzzzzzzzt. Wrong.
You have just demonstrated that you have a fundamental inability to distinguish between religion and scientific theory.
Slashdot Mirror
Hm, I'm looking at http://slackware.com/install/ which says,
2. Selecting A Boot Disk
Slackware Linux comes with many precompiled boot disks to use during the installation process. You want to choose one that best fits your hardware.
3. Selecting A Root Disk
You need to have a diskette with a root filesystem and the setup program in order to install Slackware Linux. There are several to choose from.
Surely I can't be the only one who's seen this this and thought, "Well, I've no floppy drive, so this is a non-starter for me"? Perhaps it'd be better to say "Slackware Linux comes with many precompiled boot disk images [my emphasis] to use during the installation process"?
Only later in the piece (http://slackware.com/install/setup.php) does it say that
You can install from another hard disk partition, floppy disks, an NFS mount, a pre-mounted directory, or from CD-ROM.
(/me reflects that he sometimes hears complaints like this about *our* documentation, and might now be slightly less inclined to respond to such comments with, "You didn't bother reading the next section, did you?" in future...)
Thanks for the suggestion, but I'm not sure how you'd go about installing Slackware on a laptop with no floppy drive.
It appears that you can still use KDE 3.5 with openSUSE 11.1.
Are you really that complete a killjoy, or do you just play one on /.?
As if there aren't thousands of closed-source apps that die, and once dead, cannot be resurrected. Ever.
What about OpenOffice.org 3? I know for the Mac version, it was a dramatic improvement (at least as far as aesthetics are concerned)...
It's an amazing improvement on Linux and Windows as well, and not just the aesthetics - it's hellaciously faster and less resource-piggy, among other things.
I'm guessing from the Overrated mod, though, that someone has an axe to grind...
KDE 3.5 is an outstanding desktop and was what finally convinced me that it was worth my time to use something other than WindowMaker. I guess what I'll do is install KDE4 so I can get updates to the KDE apps I use but go back to WM or maybe try FluxBox or BlackBox instead.
That's what I do now with the Gnome apps that I like, even though the Gnome desktop itself is fairly wretched.
Are there any current distros that are providing KDE 3.5 support? I need to get off openSUSE 10.2 as they've even cut off access to existing packages for it; I was planning to move to 11.1, but maybe it's time for a more radical change...?
My work's not generally pegged to specific client requirements, but rather to documenting software as it's developed and released. I also work in a highly (geographically) distributed environment.
Our IT guys keep the servers running so those of us in Engineering (including Documentation) can collaborate, and we maintain our own workstations as suits us best to get our own jobs done.
...simulate the behaviour of electrons around a molecule, design a mechanical machine, electronic circuit or a microchip (altough civil engineering CAD is lacking), run complicated simulations on economy and trow the world into another recession, create a complete 3D movie...
True, but your average non-techie user is not likely to be interested in doing any of these things.
The Socratic method also generally doesn't work and makes you look like a douchebag...
In my experience, this is true only if you really are a douchebag.
I'm also a tech writer for a software company, and -- despite not being anything like a Linux g00r00 -- maintain my own Linux machines with zero help from our internal IT mob (and rarely if ever from anybody else who's not a man page or a newsgroup/forum post). And, yes, I do get my work done, too.
Now, what was your point again?
Opera runs rings around the built-in browser on my SonyEricsson phone. (I also have it installed on my Linux machines, but don't use it that much there.)
I call bullshit. How is this "insightful" when it's just plain wrong (or at least several years out of date)? Many if not most Linux distros aimed at desktop users (e.g. Ubuntu, openSUSE, Mandr*, etc.) have huge repositories and GUI frontends for accessing them, and these are entirely sufficient for "ordinary" users who just want to surf the web, read email, look at some photos, chat, write a term paper for school, etc. At least on my distro, there's no need to use a command line for any of this stuff.
As for dependencies -- the repos and package managers take care of these.
As for apps that need to be built from source -- puh-lease, you've got to be kidding me. This is by and large restricted to things that only developers/techies are going to be interested in -- or have any need for.
or, in one syllable,
Whoosh.
You didn't bother to cut out the reference to Jon Katz before pasting that ancient thing? Lame.
(Half of today's Slashdotters probably don't even know who that is.)
And *that* has to be the most clueless comment I have ever heard about a comment about the RIAA.
So? If you have a problem with him, then don't hire him to represent you.
0. Year of Linux on the desktop!
Hello, please check the title - it's "Top Tech Breakthroughs of 2008", not "Top Tech Breakthroughs of 2004".
Because people have difficulties remembering the future
Speak for yourself. ;P
Okay, sounds like you might have our operation beat by an order of magnitude or so.
However, I would like to point out that the original question was about writing a technical book, which to my mind means on the order of 200-500 pages. I think you might even agree that DocBook is fine for a project of that size.
BTW, I should point out that some of our stuff -- used to generate stuff like changelogs and option summaries -- is not in DocBook but rather uses custom DTDs (some of which, however, leverage DocBook).
XMetal is Windows only. Thus it's not an option for us, since we have Windows, Mac, Solaris, and Linux users on our team.
It's also a 150MB download.
oXygenXML runs anywhere that a recent JVM does, and the download's 1/3 that size.
And while "author-friendly" is a relative term, I find the oXygenXML UI to be very user-friendly, responsive, and adaptable.
While docbook can be good for a small setup it tends to be overly simple when working with large documents.
Since we use it to maintain tens of thousands of pages worth of documentation (for example, the English version of the MySQL 5.1 Manual alone currently comes out to just under 2750 pages as a PDF/A4), I'm curious as to just what you mean by "large documents". :)
Scientific theory is falsifiable. Religious faith is not.
String theory is falsifiable. Q.E.D.
...God created DocBook and Subversion.
We use DocBook and SVN to author/edit/maintain the MySQL Manual and related documentation.
Most of us working on the MySQL docs team also use oXygenXML for editing - it's neither libre nor gratis, but it's not terribly expensive, and it works well on any platform with decent Java support (one of the few Java GUI apps I've seen that really works, and works well). Handles many common XML formats including DocBook, XHTML, DITA, and TEI. You can also supply your own DTDs/schemas for custom XML formats. Includes both code and visual editing views, as well as instant validation and a built-in Subversion client. Easy to produce HTML or PDF output from XML source. Also has some nice XQuery and XSLT tools if you need them.
Can I be fired for being an atheist?
No.
It would not be religious discrimination.
Yes, it would.
Freedom of religion implies freedom from religion.
Believing in a deity does not indicate anything wrong with critical thinking skills any more than believing in string theory. Both involve belief in things that are currently untestable.
Bzzzzzzzt. Wrong.
You have just demonstrated that you have a fundamental inability to distinguish between religion and scientific theory.