Topic: Are there PDF's of the manuals ?

[rrkelly]

The manuals (admin & User) used to be available as PDF's -- is this not the case anymore or did i just miss
them? i looked
rob

[cactus]

The manuals (admin & User) used to be available as PDF's -- is this not the case anymore or did i just miss
them? i looked
rob

AFAIK they are not.

[rrkelly]

Is it a resource issue? (no one to do it)  If so i can work on it. The pdf manuals were very handy.
rob

[jjcuk]

go for it Rob , nobody will complain

[cactus]

Is it a resource issue? (no one to do it)  If so i can work on it. The pdf manuals were very handy.
rob

You could do so, but one of the drawbacks would be that the wiki might be updated regularily, with minor or major changes. You will have te regenerate the PDF's at such a moment...

[rrkelly]

Not a problem -- is there CVS for the wiki manuals? it would make it easy to pick up on changes
 
right now i'm going to have do it manually nothing seems to be able to bring it down cleanly adobe distiller  firefox plugin  or any of the usual cmd line programs.  Is there another source for the manuals other than the wiki page html from the web?
any suggestions?
 

rob

[cactus]

Not a problem -- is there CVS for the wiki manuals? it would make it easy to pick up on changes

There is a history of changes in the wiki of every page, there is no CVS or other versioning system.
 

right now i'm going to have do it manually nothing seems to be able to bring it down cleanly adobe distiller  firefox plugin  or any of the usual cmd line programs.

I suggest you first contact admin[AT]contribs[DOT]org as you will most certainly be banned by the protection system that is in place to prevent mass download stuff in order to keep the site available to everyone and I do not think you really want that. Furthermore I doubt if they would encourage the maintenance of manuals in PDF or any other format other than the wiki as the wiki is a pretty suitable to the desires I think.

Is there another source for the manuals other than the wiki page html from the web?

No, as the goal of the wiki was to have all relevant stuff in one place, with the possibility to easily make changes (by lots of people) and additions without having to regenerate documentation, something you are trying to implement again. Having to keep up-to-date has proven to be hard in the past resulting in outdated and invalid information being in the manuals.

May I ask what is the reason to (re)generate documentation in an other form, does the wiki not suit your needs?

[jjcuk]

just out of interest can the wiki be downloaded and read offline ?

[byte]

Or why not if you really want it in PDF is click on the link to allow the wiki to read it on one page (for the whole manual) then using the printable version link then send it to your pdf printer i.e pdf creator and hey presto 

[rrkelly]

Believe it or not there still is a place for  well formed printed documentation. It use to exist as a PDF for E-smith, while Mitel had it and under SME for a while.  As manuals go they were very good manuals. I fully realize that maintaining a printed document for a moving target requires a fair amount of effort.

Grabbing the printable version of a HTML page is not a well formed document; it is a start however.
No it does not have to be a PDF.  I would prefer a ODF format that could be printed as a PDF, --it might prevent the iceweasel/firefox syndrome.

I started with E-smith a long time ago and have introduced it to many people and small companies.
SME is a great way to introduce the functionality of Linux and has as much to offer as Nitix, (IBM's new acquisition). Feature wise Nitix and Sme are very similar.You don't want to know what they charge for Nitix, however they do have a nice manual and have provided some very nice software under the GPL license, basically if it has a wv prefix it is theirs. (wvdiall was in E-smith)

The manual is used when you are trying to gain someones interest. Not everyone wants to poke
around wiki for a basic orientation.  After you have installed it and are looking for  more arcane info or you have the technical  background a wiki is fine. A PHB might know what the word wiki means and then again he might not.

A common source for the manual and wiki pages with CVS would be nice. I don't think some templates or a parser is out of my realm. My day job is embedded design and firmware and has been for several decades.   

rob




 

[Jáder]

I think you might be interested on this: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Wikis_Go_Printable
Or this one when launched: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Image:Pediapress.png

For developers/wiki owners: There are also a wiki2pdf plugin http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/PDF_Export and I also saw a patch for it.

From all above PediaPress (as seen on picture) appears to be easier/simpler/better, but CAN be charged... no sure.

So you can get the manual from wiki on a physical format.

[jjcuk]

excellent links jader thanks, bookmarked