The Ubuntu Manual Project needs your help!

[humphreybc]

We are working on a new Ubuntu project that you may have heard about, The Ubuntu Manual Project. It is a complete beginners manual for Ubuntu, featuring comprehensive guides, How Tos and information on anything you need to know after first installing Ubuntu.

We need help from the community to give us some more information. We would prefer responses from beginner Ubuntu users, but if you are a seasoned Ubuntu user and can recall when you first started using Ubuntu, we would appreciate your input as well.

Feel free to answer each question in as much or as little detail as you like.

To view what content we have at the moment, visit the Table of Contents.

Questions:

1. If you could choose one Ubuntu-specific thing to be included in an Ubuntu Manual, what would it be?

2. Do you believe a manual like this should be included in Lucid Lynx by default?

3. If it was to be included by default, do you think it should be on the desktop?

4. Would you be interested in printing such a manual?

5. Do you think PDF is a good format, or would you prefer HTML or another format?

6. We are including a section on using the default applications. Which do you think should have the most detail?

Rhythmbox
F-Spot
Open Office
Tomboy
Empathy
Firefox
Evolution
Totem
Ubuntu One

7. Out of the following hardware categories, which one should have the most detail?

Printing/Scanning
Display
External devices
Webcams
Sound
Disk Drives
Wireless/Infrared


Thankyou for taking the time to respond. With your help, we hope to be able to create something that will make the transition to Ubuntu easier for newcomers.

For more information about the project, and to see how you can help, visit our wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-manual

Benjamin Humphrey
Ubuntu Manual Project Leader

[f-teem]

#2 yes,
#3 it doesnt have to be right on the desktop,but it should be eassily accessible by a new ubuntu user
#5 yes,I think the best format would be pdf

my 2 cents

[cbabbage]

1 - How to use Synaptic and the software repositories to the best advantage.
2 - yes
3 - yes
4 - yes
5 - PDF
6 - Open Office and Firefox
7 - Printing, external devices and sound.

[tom.swartz07]

Def talk about Grub and Partitioning.
Ive answered many questions about how to dual boot and set up ubuntu.

How WUBI should be implemented and maintained. Again, a number of my posts are helping those who have broken WUBI installs because they use them improperly.



Perhaps you could include a guide on how to set up an install after its installed. How to update, how to install packages, tour of software center and synaptic, how to install important compatibility- Java, DVDs, Flash, etc.

[juancarlospaco]

1)The ubuntu way of installing things, .deb and dependencies
2)Yes
3)Yes, but using a SymLink, not the file itself.
4)Yes
5)HTML is more reliable, it can include HTML5 ogg audio/video, javascript, and more
6)OpenOffice
7)Extenal Devices/Printing (i mean a printer is an external device)

Please use APT:/URL links on the Manual,
then if you are talking about an application you can install it clicking the name.

[k3lt01]

Not being a smarty here but why are you trying to re-invent the wheel?

This guide which is posted in this thread is already freely available. Plus there is the also readily available Official Ubuntu Documentation which already covers most things.

[humphreybc]

Not being a smarty here but why are you trying to re-invent the wheel?

This guide which is posted in this thread is already freely available. Plus there is the also readily available Official Ubuntu Documentation which already covers most things.

Perhaps you should see the wiki section on justification:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-manual#Justification

[Mornedhel]

Why not both PDF and HTML ? If you write your manual in something like ReST, or Emacs' Muse publishing mode, or some of the other markup plain text formats, you should be able to generate a variety of outputs from a single source. Plus it's easier to maintain version control on plain text files (in case you were planning to publish PDFs with OpenOffice or something with binary files), and the sources are more human-readable.

A GNU info manual would be a nice touch too. Easier to navigate when you don't have an X server for whatever reason.

[humphreybc]

We are using LaTeX so yes, we will be able to output to multiple formats.

We just want to see what would be the most popular.

[houseworkshy]

Excellent Idea. I'm not quite a noob nor yet seasoned. One of the first things I did on-line in Ubuntu was seek for such a thing and thanks to advice from this forum got this http://www.ubuntupocketguide.com/index_main.htm It was , and still is, invaluable. However, it is not comprehensive and there is certainly room for one which goes with the live CD.

1 I'll cheat on this one and choose installing in general. As this guide would be the first thing people see on their new system I'd suggest the examples would be the first things people need to do anyway so they can work through as they set up. So, easiest first, add/remove or whatever it is called in Lucid for a game perhaps. Then remove it. Then hardware drivers. Then synaptic and software sources, explain that and have them enable, then install something and point out the properties tab ( when one is new “but where is is?” can be a puzzle. If you choose something which does not add a link entry that would be an opportunity to show main menu. Then explain that the GUI is only that and introduce the terminal and apt-get. This would be after a basic tour of the GUI of course.

2 Yes. It is important to remember that many people are not on-line. With that in mind a basic into to .deb files and maybe aptoncd would also be useful. When I first used Ubuntu I was off line and depended on what I could download on friends machines ( the library didn't allow the use of recordable media ). Besides what use is an on-line guide when what's wrong is ones internet connection? In fact, much later in the book, go big on connecting. Whilst it does itself for most routers it can be a noob nightmare for dial up users.. If you only have one detailed section make it that one as once on-line there is plenty of help available for anything else.

3 Sort of. You could have a “welcome read me” document on the desktop which points at places>documents>manuals. This would encourage orderly habits and could also function as a disposable item to use when you explain renaming, deleting recovering etc. I know “manuals” doesn't exist as a folder by default but you could show them how to make it.

4 I don't have the capability unfortunately.

5 No preference

6 The needs of users vary so I don't know, which ever has the least good built in help I suppose.. Mentioning built in help at the start of the sections would be good. .I wish I'd known about /user/share/doc earlier so point that out. I found it so useful so often for some programs, some only put in the change log and copyright unfortunately, that I made it one of my bookmarks.

7 Display probably as if that is too wrong one can't do a thing.

This is a very good idea, the important things to do are to pitch at noobs but at a higher level than what is there already and do not assume they are on-line as so many application helps do. When I wasn't, that assumption was a real barrier.