[Coco] Re: NitrOS-9 Level 3!?

Frank Pittel fwp at deepthought.com
Fri May 19 16:10:02 EDT 2006


On Fri, May 19, 2006 at 12:23:08PM -0500, Boisy Pitre wrote:
> 
> On May 17, 2006, at 6:23 PM, Leon Howell wrote:
> >I think there is a "Change Log" in the zip file, but there are *no*  
> >specific
> >details, so it doesn't do much good. also, it should be on the  
> >disk. There is
> >some additional info on changes in the /defs directory, but again,  
> >nothing
> >specific.
> 
> I can look into copying the ChangeLog file somewhere onto the disk  
> image (probably on disk #2 of the 40 track DSDD disks).

It would be very helpfull if you could. Any chance of getting a link
to the file on the nitros page as well? The more places the file is
published the better.
 
> >Computer manuals are as notorious as acts of congress for lack of  
> >clarity. When
> >upgrades as big as these are distributed with absolutely *no*  
> >documentation,
> >espesialy with as os as complicated as OS-9, you have an exelent  
> >excuse to go
> >bananas.
> >
> >So, programmers, how about a little help here? Please remember that  
> >not only do
> >some of us out here find C unreadable, but all those pathnames and  
> >scripts too.
> >While you're at it, see if you can add some nice easy new features  
> >to GShell,
> >please? Here's a hint: borrow a Commodore 64/128 and play with Geos  
> >for a
> >while. Or an Apple IIe with MouseDesk. Multi-Vue is great, as far  
> >as it goes,
> >but it could go a lot farther in simplifying NitrOS-9.
> 
> I can understand your frustration regarding the lack of  
> documentation.  There are a couple of PDF documents online at  
> www.nitros9.org, but there is more documentation that is ready for  
> processing, just not enough hands to do it.

Processing?? Does this means the text is written but not yet converted
to a pdf file?
 
> I can speak for myself here -- maintaining the source code to the  
> NitrOS-9 Project is a "full-time" endeavor in and of itself.   
> Documentation does exist, but it is in a state of flux.  I've posted  
> on this forum numerous times over the past several years, asking for  
> someone to help with documentation.  There has been some success  
> (Richard Crislip and Greg Law have done some work) but there is no  
> one person that has stepped up to be THE person to update the docs on  
> a per release basis.  That is what is needed, IMO, to get the  
> documentation to the point where it is reliable, up-to-date and  
> usable by individuals.
> 
> So I'll ask one more time:  if anyone out there has (1) CVS and (2)  
> Microsoft Word and wants to take up the challenge of getting the  
> documentation up to date and give it a clean, spiffy look, email me.   
> I'll be frank:  it's a LOT of work, so don't waste your time or mine  
> if you aren't dead serious about taking this on and sticking with  
> it.  I'll help get the person up and running with CVS, and give them  
> some ideas on where the documentation is and where it needs to be.   
> Of course, the person needs to show some initiative and knowledge  
> about NitrOS-9 to even begin doing this task.  Frankly, I won't spend  
> my time babysitting someone and asking them constantly to do  
> something.  That's why SUSTAINED INITIATIVE is absolutely required to  
> do this documentation project.


While the events of the last week should make it clear that I need to read
nitros doucmentation not write it. I am will to do what I can. If someone were
to write the text I can proof read it for technical readability, clean it up
and convert it to a word doc format.

Frank



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