[Coco] DW4 on MAc & Linux

Aaron Wolfe aawolfe at gmail.com
Thu Sep 26 10:59:38 EDT 2013


On Thu, Sep 26, 2013 at 10:38 AM, Bill Pierce <ooogalapasooo at aol.com> wrote:
>
> Aaron,
> Maybe I worded it wrong about the installation page. I think the real problem is TOO MUCH information. There is a lot of discussion of the RTX libraries but it's stated that they are include in Windows and Mac.
> This info is really only useful to Linux and "other" users so put all that in the sections for those machines as to not confuse the user from the start. This is really programmer's jargon and 9 out of 10 Windows and Mac users will have no clue as to what the RTX libraries are (I don't). Windows and Mac users are (for the most part) point and click oriented and usually never encounter "extras" that are needed for software.
> Those who setup and use Linux are used to these kinds of instructions as they go through it on a regular basis when just adding software to their system.
>
> It seems to me that a lot of the instruction borders on the "technical" side of things. It needs more of a "KISS" attitude. This should apply to the whole Wiki. Leave the specs and details to the "Specification" Wiki.

Ok.. the existing Wiki says:


"Windows:

Simply unpack the tar or zip file's contents wherever you'd like. The
rxtxSerial.dll file for you platform is included in the root
directory, no need to do anything beyond unpacking.

OS X:

Simply unpack the tar or zip file's contents wherever you'd like. The
librxtxSerial.jnlib file included in the root directory should work on
both 32 bit and 64 bit intel systems."


How do you suggest we change this section to be more clear?  Include
tutorial on how to unzip a file?  Where do you draw the line between
providing information on the DriveWire software and instructing the
user on basic computer operation?

Maybe I am blinded by being too close to this project, but I just am
not seeing a huge problem here.  DriveWire 4 has been "out" for nearly
three years, and until this past week I've not heard of many people
having trouble getting started.  There have been some issues here and
there, but these were more system specific than documentation things.



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