Subject: [linux-audio-dev] Re: Announce: Mstation manual now browsable online.
From: Patrick Shirkey (pshirkey_AT_boosthardware.com)
Date: Tue Jun 05 2001 - 10:05:36 EEST
Mark Constable wrote:
>
> On Tuesday 05 June 2001 14:32, you wrote:
> > Mark wrote to me with these ideas and has spurred me into action. This
>
> Geesus, you're keen to post that on LAD :-)
>
Well it is entirely linux audio related so where else should I go and
who else would want to know?
> It looks like a static hand edited page ? All that info
> info should be in a MySQL db with a PHP frontend to
> search and view the contents. There's great info on
> that page but it goes on and on with different distros
> and different kernels, new updates on various packages
> over time... endless. It needs to be a dynamic system.
>
I agree that it needs to be dynamic. But I only got told about php 6
days ago so until now I have been doing things the long way. Funnily
enough writing html has done most to reinforce the small amount of
programming that I have been taught. So I have stuck with it out of
loyalty really.
That's not to say I'm unwilling to advance my knowledge. I'm going to
have to start with php soon anyway. I need to do some research into this
whole thing. You sound like you know a lot more about it than I do so
can you give me some pointers on how to go about making this manual more
interactive. It was originally designed to be used for the mstation
distro. We tried to make it usable from a newbies point of view. That
has been put on the back burner. But I'm still going strong on the
concept.
> > Sounds good. Are you saying we have to educate each other about our
> > improvements?
>
> Well put, yes... but maybe not in a coercive manner
> but at least to not put up any barriers to sharing
> key info. Like, second tier associates of core
> developers could squirrel away precious tidbits
> and feed them into "some unified system" without
> any concious burden on the developers themselves.
>
> Siphoning off real-time info and encouraging more
> in depth articles and blending the two thru the
> same web interface... get this happening and "the
> rest of us" might stand a chance to be productive
> sooner than later.
>
You've got a good point to make here. Why not post these direct to the
list? I'm pretty sure other people will be interested in this thread.
After all Linux Audio Development can't just be about maths.
> > It's worth looking into. The new site that Benno is
> > cooking up should go a long way on this front. But This is essentially
> > the same thing as mstation so now I'm kindof confused. Is there anyway
> > that LAD/LAU can be amalgamated with mstation?
>
> Tecnically yes... politically, who knows.
>
> > A good reason for adding a LAU list.
>
> Especially so if there is a good bridge bewtween LAD
> and LAU.
>
> > In fact what you have are looking for would seem to be the mstation
> > website.
> >
> > http://www.mstation.org
>
> Excellent stuff, I've bumped into it over the years.
>
> Gut critique: it feels a bit like it's not quite
> "authoritative" enough... like, if it had more of
> LAD feel to it with an obvious sign of community
> involvement. From an alt.marketing point of view,
> "mstation" does not mean anything immediately
> obvious to me but LAD (linux audio devel) says
> it all... makes it easier to justify the time to
> zero in on that site/thing and focus.
>
John has done a brilliant job of contacting the people who are making
waves. You can't get more authority than a Jaroslav Kysela interview.
Personally I find the page layout and colors are kind of confusing to
the eyes. So I don't get drawn back for a hit of eye candy. In a way
that is kind of a problem for the site because the info is great. But I
can't recall John ever saying he is an expert in marketing and graphics
design. That is one of the biggest problems we face if we want to give
the uninitiated masses a chance to find out how good Linux is as a
platform for multimedia. Us sound guys just don't seem to do graphics
well. Although it is changing.
> I don't mean to be pre-occupied with the slashdot
> come phpnuke weblog interface, as they are really
> way overkill for whats actually needed, but that
> basic interactive ability to let anyone create
> a moderated message that can become newsworthy
> input is a core need. Then to have facilities to
> allow ongoing comments surrounding that newly
> published article... another core item. The ability
> to easily search over all articles and info is
> a must have and is reasonably easy if all content
> is in MySQL. Another core need is to have the
> ongoing thruput of news and articles tagged as
> XML/RDF files to syndicate/replicate the system
> elsewhere.
>
It also standardises yet another part of the Linux world which is
definitely more professional looking and I think that approach will draw
more interest from outsiders. Especially if they are unsure about how
they will cope using linux. It will reassure them to know that the
community is capable of organising itself in a professional way even
though we are all unpaid hobbyists (pretty much).
> I'm into PHP so for me phpnuke would be a class
> act for the job but it would still need fairly
> major surgery to be mstation/LAD specific, and
> half it is just not needed.
>
> The annotated PHP manual pages at php.net are a
> joy to use.. part of the reason is being able to
> search _reliably_ over nearly all their data.
>
> --markc
One thing is that even though Benno says there will be no paid for ads
on the site there is currently an ad. Is that just to show us where the
internal advertising will go?
-- Patrick Shirkey - Manager Boost Hardware. Importing Korean Computer Hardware to New Zealand.http://www.boosthardware.com for latest stock and prices.
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