forums.xandros.com

[Spawn]

I know xandros comes with a pretty decent users manual. This manual does not address a lot of the little issues that can occur within the os. I was wondering if anyone is or has started compiling the wealth of knowledge in this forum into a troubleshooting manual for the little problems? I know this would be a huge task, but I think it would help a lot of us new users, and it might help reduce redudant questions being asked in the forum. I would be willing to pay for such a manual or offer donations for xandros development. The manual itself would have to be something that is well written and easy to follow. With all the information and different ways of doing things with linux it would be nice to have a central reference to help with trouble shooting. Rather than reading 20 different posts with 20 different solutions. Well thats my 2 cents.

[papabearak]

[Spawn]

I like this setup and it is great. Once I become a lot more proficient with this Xandros I will whatever I can to it.

[geekydude]

[Davepet]

[Spawn]

What I was thinking either a third party or Xandros themselves would be able to create something. Then make it available for purchase or inlude it with a new purchase of the OS. I understand that doing this would probaly be a full time job, and it would require a team of people to get it done. This I don't think would be a bad thing. It would create jobs for a time help make Xandros more friendly to new users. Maybe in the long term actually create some competion for MS (Big goals are the best). I love using the forums and finding what I need, but a guide with easy to follow and grammaticly correct instructions might alleviate some the reduncy on the forums.
I was just wondering who came up with Xandros and how is it doing in the retail world? Reading through the forums it's been around for like 4 years and was just curious how the company was doing.

[redrum]

Anything is possible, but it takes a someone to do it.. If the someone exists, it happens, if the someone doesn't exist, it doesn't.

Not to be harsh (as that is not my intent here) but I see a lot of folks come into the forums wanting things, but few are willing to put any effort into realizing their wants. The beauty of Linux is that almost anything's possible if there is a someone to make it possible. But it does require that someone to expend the effort in order to meet the need..

When I first started to contribute I initially started for very selfish reasons... I wanted something and I saw something I thought was horribly wrong and needed to be fixed... Basically I found a proprietary program included in Xandros that I found handled things in an inappropriate way, and so I started the way most people do, by complaining about the problem. Even though I'm sure there were many who were just as disenchanted with the situation as I was, instead of getting supportive and affermative responses for my complaints, I got nothing but retaliation and disdain.. To say the very least, I was upset... Upset enough to consider leaving the forum for good.

Finding that I was making no headway in my argument, and finding a suitable alternative to the proprietary program I so strongly despised, I set to work on packaging that alternative program, hoping that it would accomplish the same task with the same dependencies as the the proprietary application, but be free to all and be more morally in line with what I felt was the purpose of distributing those dependencies was in the first place...

I tested the package on a few other computers, then hosted it on my site and posted that I had an alternative to the program I so despised, and that it was available to all at no cost by visiting my website... In a complete reversal, I got nothing but praise for it... Not one person dissented from that point forth, even though I was still expressing the same feelings about the proprietary program.. The only difference from before was I was now expressing my feelings in terms of action instead of idle disenchantment.

That is the beauty of Linux.. If you don't like something you have the power to change it... In that and many other situations, that's what I did, and now both I and the community are better for it... Soon I was finding all kinds of other things that needed to be addressed, and before posting anything about the problem I began working on addressing them... I now have a pretty decent library of third party packages that not only the community, but I, myself benefit from... It's hard at first, but it gets easier to be a contributer over time... Its also really nice to have a need solved by something you or someone else built, and with a few clicks have that need met.

The best part about this community here is the fact that you don't have to do anything special to make a difference.. You just have to find something that needs fixed and fix it... Whether its helping others on the forum, or making a wikki, or providing webspace for other users' projects or simply greeting newcomers in a friendly way-- all of these things are important and it is what makes us a community...

So you've seen a need for something in our fine community.. Now that you've seen that need, the only question is: Are you that somebody?
_________________


Beware of the man who would deny you access to information,
for in his heart he dreams himself your master.

[woodsmoke]

Well if I'd known anythng about I would have volunteered.

And, being a published author and an english teacher...I could help on syntax sentence structure, etc.

contrary to popular opinion about my breaking information up into seperate sentences

AIN't XANdros GrEAT!
woodsmoke
_________________
If the eco-ists would only shut up, I wonder if the sound of their droning would be replaced by the sound of normal people fitting solar panels and making soup from nettles and twigs.(J Clarkson)

[Spawn]

Alright it looks there is an action plan already started here. Redrum seems to have put alot of work into compiling info and packets and programs. Woodsmoke is willing to edit things for us. I can write the how tos and such. I can even put some time into searching forums. What we need is a list of the most common problems thus far. Anyone willing to do that and help with combing the forums for info? Some of the forums have 100 plus pages of posts thats alot of info to go through. What do you guys think? If we get enough of the forum community involved is this possible?

Woodsmoke, I have an essay due in a two weeks on "Bastard out of Carolina" think you could help with it?.... It's a college essay...

[Davepet]

My suggestion is that anyone who wants to help put a manual together work on geekydude's wiki project.
A wiki is ideal for a community project like this & if it ever gets to the point where it makes sense to publish the info, it will be ready to go, proof read for both grammar & accuracy by the entire community. Also, everyone can contribute as they have time & desire.

We are basically trying to round up the same info, might as well all work on one project...

Dave
_________________

Friends don't let friends use windows
GLPW
Registered Linux User #301200

[redrum]

I agree... I'll be willing to rework my howto's into geekydude's wikki for sure. I just gotta find out how to enter stuff in
_________________


Beware of the man who would deny you access to information,
for in his heart he dreams himself your master.

[papabearak]

[redrum]

My pleasure
_________________


Beware of the man who would deny you access to information,
for in his heart he dreams himself your master.

[redrum]

To spawn:

I'd say the most lacking area in the howtos are on the installation part. More specifically, how to get into the boot menu, and once there, what each install option means, etc... If nothing else, one could create a stub and have others fill in the rest. Most other things can be robbed from the forum, but I've yet to see a clear explaination of each boot option.

Much of this info might actually even exist in the official Xandros manual, but since I have never read it, I wouldn't know.
_________________


Beware of the man who would deny you access to information,
for in his heart he dreams himself your master.

[bryantrv]

Something I always forget about- Mike has a Xandros Wiki at http://www.archlug.org/kwiki/XandrosKwikis
_________________
--
Chris Bryant
http://www.kindofpeckish.com
http://opensourcemachine.org
http://bryantrv.com
http://rx4rv.com