[no subject]

[Pal Domokos <pal.domokos@usa.net>]

Hi Greg and others,

Gregory Leblanc <GLeblanc@cu-portland.edu> wrote:
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Pal Domokos [mailto:pal.domokos@usa.net]

> > Perhaps I was not precise enough here. Give me another chance 
> > to explain it:
> > HOWTOs are about how to do something on Linux. It is possible 
> > (and, in some
> > cases, absolutely sure) that a certain task can be 
> > accomplished more quickly,
> > or more
> > easily, or more anything on a different OS, say Windows. 
> > However, a Linux
> > HOWTO
> > will only cover the topic on Linux. Windows users will not 
> > turn to a Linux
> > HOWTO if they have a problem.
> > The HOWTO-HOWTO is also a HOWTO, although a special one. It 
> > is not about
> > "sharing the best information about" writing in DocBook. It 
> > is Linux-oriented,
> > or,
> > if you like, Linux-biased.
> > This is what I meant by "we are doing Linux here".
> > Is this provincialism?
> 
> Actually, a great deal of the HOWTOs are not Linux specific, they tell you
> how to do something under linux.  For example, about 80% of the CD-Writing
> HOWTO is NOT specific to linux.  The only pieces that are specific to linux
> are the ones on how to compile the kernel.  Everything else works on any
> Unix-like system.  If this HOWTO was to cover ONLY the linux portions,
> nobody would be able to figure anything out from the HOWTO, as it would
lack
> all of the general information.  

Do you really think that was what I meant?

> The HOWTO-HOWTO is indeed a special HOWTO.  I do NOT believe it should be
> about howto to write a HOWTO using linux tools, it should be about how to
> write a HOWTO covering some Linux topic.  You tell them what tools are
> available, and how those tools rank it terms of features and ease of use.

> > A practical note: I do not quite see how to write about a 
> > Linux theme while
> > using Windows. For me, it would involve rebooting the machine 
> > every ten
> > minutes
> > or so.
> 
> I can think of many occasions where this doesn't apply.  I've got 4
> computers on or around my desk at home, one of them runs MS Windows,
> sometimes.  If I was writing documentation about my S/linux machine, I
could
> easily do that on the windows machine, while I was looking at the SPARC
next
> to me.  As a second example, how about what Gary did?  Take an existing
> HOWTO who's topic you're familiar with, and re-write it, or make changes.
> You might not need to have access to your Linux machine to do that,
> depending on how often you work with that topic, and how familiar you are
> with it.  There are other scenarios, but I think those are enough.
> [snip]
> Please, stop with the Holy War.

> > >>Things will definitely change when we move to XML: we will 
> > have more tools.
> > 
> > >If wishes were horses, then beggars could ride.
> > 
> > Good to know.
> > What I meant was there are much more XML editors than SGML editors.
> 
> Really?  What about processing tools, and search engines?  There are more,
> but they are largely untested with DocBook, since it's only been officially
> XML for a couple of weeks.
> 	Greg

I still think we will have more tools when we move to XML.
I did not state it would happen tomorrow.

To the point: I realize that I made a mistake in assuming that the
"preferred" OS of all LDP authors was Linux. Really, I do not know
why I thought that: it simply seemed obvious to me. Well, it does not
any more.

As to the "Holy War": it surprises me that you label my posts as such.
I suppose you know why you do.

Cheers,
Pal


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