Re: [seul-edu] Doc Project will move again!

["Ralph M. Deal" <deal@kzoo.edu>]

Hi, Bill Tihen et al,

Usually a lurker, I want to throw in my two cents on this one because
of a recent experience.   I have been trying to work with some new,
inexperienced teachers who have been given the job of administering a
system developed by a person who was asked to leave the district for good
reasons and left behind a system with more structure than service 
including LINUX mail and LINUX network servers.  I've been  trying
to find time to work with the new IT leaders (the district is too poor to
replace the full time IT person) and have been frustrated by the absence
of documentation that is reasy to read in that it makes few assumptions
about prior knowledge, avoids jargon, talks in terms of simple tasks
that need to be done.  I was therefore delighted to "discover" Paul
"Rusty" Russell's Unreliable Guide to varios aspects of LINUX operations,
including networking.  Look at
http://netfilter.kernelnotes.org/unreliable-guides/index.html

"Rusty" maintins an irreverent attitude that is charming and reminds the
reader of the attitudes from which much GNU power arose.  At a time when
LINUX is trying to grow in the commercial market and is putting on the
grey suit, this guy in jeans is making it simple and fun for the newbies
in a way that I think will be especially effective with teachers who are
having to learn a bit about system administration.

	Best,   Ralph M. Deal deal@kzoo.edu


On Sun, 15 Oct 2000, Bill Tihen -- Information Technology wrote:

> Hi Roger,
> 
> The idea of a meta-document seems like a good idea, but I also think, an actual 
> configuration useful to a school is often missing in many of these services.  
> They often assume the reader knows a lot about what they are trying to do.  I 
> found this to be a difficult and time consuming way to learn.  I have no big 
> desire to repeat everything others have said, just to make it useful with clear 
> examples and to relate that to school topics.
. . .