November 19, 2009
Linux Bug #1: Bad Documentation (part 2)
Yes Users Matter
If you want other people using your software, that is. There is never perfect harmony between devs and users, but it's much better to respond to questions with a pointer to a FAQ or a manual than to ignore them, or to crab at them for asking, or worst of all, tell them to Google or trawl mailing lists. Web, forum, and mail list searches are for edge cases and troubleshooting, not for basic howtos."Documentation" covers a lot of ground, from basic man pages to glossy four-color books. Let's take a look at the different categories of documentation, and what is reasonable to expect.
man Pages
Man pages are awesome. I love man pages. They don't require a graphical interface, which is nice when Xorg or video drivers are broken, they don't require Internet (assuming you don't have some weirdo distro that doesn't install them), and you always know how to find them-- type man commandname. Nice and easy. (We'll talk more about these, and other ways to find and use documentation, in Part 3.)Command Documentation
Whether this is in a man page or some other form, documenting all the commands and command options in an application is essential. I shouldn't even have to say this. How else is anyone going to know them, telepathy? ...Read the rest at LinuxPlanet.com
Posted by cschroder at 5:55 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
November 17, 2009
Linux Bug #1: Bad Documentation
The Internet and Google enable laziness in FOSS development because they make it too easy to abdicate the job of proper documentation to "The community." Telling users and potential contributors to use Google, mailing lists, and forums is not documentation. It's a way to guarantee having fewer users, unhappy users, and fewer contributors.
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November 11, 2009
Life on the Bleeding Edge: Installer Fails in Fedora and Ubuntu
Another week, another round of tinkering and messing around with Linux doodads. The Ubuntu Koala text installer has a years-old bug, and Fedora 11 LiveCD has a showstopping installer bug. Never a dull moment in computer-land!Continue reading "Life on the Bleeding Edge: Installer Fails in Fedora and Ubuntu"
Posted by cschroder at 12:09 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack (1)
November 4, 2009
Getting a Scanner to work in Linux
I have a Hewlett-Packard Laserjet 3050, their budget all-in-one printer, copier, fax, and scanner. According to the device matrix in the open source HPLIP project this machine is completely supported in Linux. However, I have a different definition of "support" than HP-- theirs seems to be "A determined and stubborn Linux guru can make the darned thing work if they try really hard."
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Posted by cschroder at 3:27 PM | Comments (17) | TrackBack (0)
October 21, 2009
Darl Is Out, Farewell Master Gamer
Darl McBride, to the glee of many, is out of a job. I think this signals the real end of all The SCO Group litigation, because I think Mr. McBride was hired specifically to litigate rather than run a software company. SCO (Caldera back then) had a good management team in place led by Ransom Love, and they were given the boot to make room for Darl and his henchpersons.Their cunning master plan failed, despite masterful gaming of the system and support from deep-pockets third parties who were happy to write checks, stay behind the scenes, and let Mr. McBride take the hits.
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Posted by cschroder at 4:23 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)
October 15, 2009
Linux Users Still Left Out, Why Source Code Matters to End Users
Here we go with another round of Linux Today reader comments. Let's start off with an issue that has been on my mind: Vendors who boast of the their Linux-based devices, but they only support Windows and Mac clients. It's a step in the right direction, but would supporting Linux clients be so difficult? LT readers weigh in with examples:"[Rodney] [Built on Linux, but....]
The device might be built using Linux, but can I update it and its maps from my computer running Linux? You cannot do that with their other devices.
Rodney"
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Posted by cschroder at 12:44 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (1)
October 12, 2009
I'll Use Linux When $App Magically Appears
I'm sure you've seen this is as often as I have, even from supposed Free Software advocates: "I can't switch completely to Linux now because I still need this $foo application. When a free alternative appears then I'll switch."They may or may not be sincere; they are certainly missing the point. Because it's not enough to just sit around and wait for the Magic Software Fairy to deliver your perfect applications with all the bells and whistles for free.
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Posted by cschroder at 2:49 PM | Comments (16) | TrackBack (0)
October 8, 2009
Microsoft Developing a 128-bit Windows
This PCPro story says
"Microsoft is planning to make Windows 8 an 128-bit operating system, according to details leaked from the software giant's Research department."Is this really a big deal? Are we going to need 128-bit operating systems?
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Posted by cschroder at 2:41 PM | Comments (20) | TrackBack (0)
October 6, 2009
Linux Radio Ads a Success, Not a Failure
Ken Starks reported on his experiment with running Linux ads on the Kim Kommando radio show in Austin, Texas. Ken sounds a bit discouraged, but he shouldn't be-- it was a success and it proves that advertising Linux works. Let's take a closer look at what happened, and what the goals of any advertising campaign should be.
Continue reading "Linux Radio Ads a Success, Not a Failure"
Posted by cschroder at 1:38 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack (2)
September 29, 2009
Mark Shuttleworth's Community Has No Women
A few people took Mark Shuttleworth to task in their blogs for making exclusionary and sexist comments in his keynote at last week's LinuxCon. Such as Open Letter to Mark Shuttleworth, A followup on the Shuttleworth incident, and On Keynotes and Apologies Mr. Shuttleworth has remained silent when asked for comment, saying only to watch the video and judge for ourselves. The video is now up, thanks to Linux Pro Magazine and the Linux Foundation.I watched it. I kept score. Everyone keeps saying what a nice guy Mark is. Well, maybe so, but even nice guys have their blind spots. I don't believe that nice guys belittle and exclude women, and that is what happened in this keynote. I believe that an apology is in order, both for the unfortunate thread of exclusion and sexism that runs the entire length of the talk, and for not understanding that dumb stuff like that distracts from the talk itself. That is unfortunate, because if you take away the dumb stuff it is an important and excellent presentation.
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Posted by cschroder at 3:44 PM | TrackBack (8)
- Linux Bug #1: Bad Documentation (part 2)
- Linux Bug #1: Bad Documentation
- Life on the Bleeding Edge: Installer Fails in Fedora and Ubuntu
- Getting a Scanner to work in Linux
- Darl Is Out, Farewell Master Gamer
- Linux Users Still Left Out, Why Source Code Matters to End Users
- I'll Use Linux When $App Magically Appears
- Microsoft Developing a 128-bit Windows
- Linux Radio Ads a Success, Not a Failure
- Mark Shuttleworth's Community Has No Women
