THREADS MAKE FABRIC.......AN IDEA

[Sleeping Dog]

In case some of you have not already guessed, I am an Engineer and an IT/IS guy.  I am also a bit older than most of you (except Creedon).

On this forum I have seen discussions of almost every conceivable problem that can arise with the myriad of LINUX installs and the software that is run on them.

Having spent several years of my professional life being required to do technical writing as part of my job description, it bothers me a bit to see all of this wonderful knowledge flowing past on this forum without it being stored in a truly collated, indexed and searchable form.

I am just scratching the surface of LINUX as a viable option to other OS's, and it would certainly be great to be able to log into this site and hit a "Knowledge" area where I could see the information on "how to" presented in a manner whereby a brain-dead guy like me can understand it.  Sure....there are links that everyone posts, but there is stuff here that is not available anywhere else presented in this form.

Maybe some of you can help.  Most of you are thoughtful and intelligent people.  When I did technical writing for equipment and website "how to's" and specifications, I did image and screen caps to show the potential user exactly what they should be seeing.  In Windows world, I used SnagIt from TechSmith to grab stuff off of the screen and then plugged it into a Word document with active indexed links.  Have any of you guys done this for/with any of the LINUX apps?  If so, I would love to learn how to do it.

Can you write me a document, in the way that I just described (with pictures and all) and then we can store it where it can be referenced by other folks too?

Who knows....after a couple of months or years....we could have a resource here....built from the minds of many, that can be of great benefit to all....and with REALLY usable answers to many of the LINUX questions that arise.

Just an observation, but wouldn't keyboard energies be better spent this way than typing responces to flaming little assholes who hit this site just to annoy others?

Please let me know what you think about this approach to saving and sharing knowledge and experience.

Have a pleasant evening.

Sleeping Dog

[choasforages]

GREAT IDEA, here is a man THAT CAN THINK, unlike someothers.

ok now that the praise is done, we would have to find the webmaster, and he would have to design the section, and we would have to have someone screening the posts to THE KNOWLEDGE BOX, so it doesn't get filled with drivil. wouldnt be hard, and it would be a vast resource. almost like www.unix.com, witch imho is a great place to post a stumper on, like compiling XFree86

[sporkme]

google hits deep into this forum

i like the idea of a centralized knowledge base... but just look at linuxnewbie.org and all... a lot more disorganized useful info there (though this forum is superior    )

i like the flaming little assholes comment, hehehe.

i like your idea... who is going to run it... i have a job and college already

oh, and really this could be a closely moderated forum thread

[ August 28, 2002: Message edited by: sporkme / bob ]

[voidmain]

Well, all of the messages on these forums are already stored in a database.  Problem is, the search function just plain sucks. Could write another PHP search app to hook into the existing message database but actually make it useful, and it could create indexes etc...

[Chooco]

cool, if your little project needs definitions of any commands, parameters for any commands and ways to use commands, i could help. i'm not smart but i have Linux IN A Nutshell lol

sounds like a great idea, we should make a gigantic Linux presentation thing ehehehe  

[Sleeping Dog]

We already know that there is a LINUX analogue for Word.  Is there a utility that works like SnagIt?

SnagIt lets you draw a box around ANYTHING that is on your screen and save it as a TIF, GIF, JPG, etc., etc.  It is a great little helper if you are creating technical, educational or "How To" documentation.

If you guys would like to see an example of what I am talking about, I will attempt to cook one up that is viewable on this forum.

Gotta go....my darling little woman has just prepared pre-dinner cocktails for us.  Accordingly, I think that I know what she has in mind for dessert.

Buenos Nachos

Ssleeping Dog

[beltorak0]

yes. use the gimp.
menu file: acquire -> screenshot.
you can select the whole window, or draw a box, and optionally set a timer so you can minimize the gimp main window before the screenshot takes place.

see  http://www.angelfire.com/realm/beltorak/images/screenshot.jpg

unfortunately, angelfire doesn't allow embeded images with free accounts... anyway.

-t.

[ August 28, 2002: Message edited by: beltorak0 ]