

![]() Subscribe to this news feed (RSS) Podcast About FLOSS ManualsAnne Gentle forwarded this information about a podcast published this week :
The start of their discussion of FLOSS Manuals is around the 7:30 mark.
Quotes -
06 Sep 2008 - 17:42 by AdamHyde FLOSS Manuals in the News
"We wrote seven manuals for One Laptop per Child in a week: one for Sugar, the operating system, one the XO, which is the hardware for all of the deployments for One Laptop per Child, and manuals for five Activities: Browse, Terminal, Write, Chat, and Record. I think our PDF page count is over 200 pages!" http://justwriteclick.com/2008/09/01/booksprint-results/
Brianna Laughers Blog about her Wikimedia Commons manuals : "FM is great for planned-ahead books with a small number of authors where the bulk of content is written over a known time period," http://brianna.modernthings.org/article/138/a-floss-manual-how-to-contribute-to-wikimedia-commons
Scott Able, organiser of the Doc Train conferences wrote about FM and forthcoming Keynote speech by Adam Hyde at the Doc Train event in Boston : "A collaborative, creative event does exist for technical writers - it’s the BookSprint originated and hosted by FLOSS Manuals. "
"Now that there is FLOSS Manuals, there simply is no longer a technological reason for any open source project not to have documentation. "
http://www.janetswisher.com/?itemid=184
"FLOSS could bridge the gaps between Subject Matter Expert (SME) authoring of content and true documentation. For the specific purpose of supporting open source collaborative efforts this is heaven sent."
http://charlesjeter.com/2008/08/30/floss-manuals-acrobat-killer/
03 Sep 2008 - 18:12 by AdamHyde FLOSS Manuals Finalist in AwardsFLOSS manuals is on the short list for the New Zealand Open Source Awards (http://www.nzosa.org.nz/). The news came today from Chris Daish, the founder of the awards. We are excited to be nominated! The ceremony is in Wellington, New Zealand on Sept 24. Last year FLOSS Manuals contributor JUlian Oliver won an award at the same event for Open Source and Art.
03 Sep 2008 - 17:16 by AdamHyde XO / Sugar Sprint Complete
We have 7 manuals complete. Still a little work and fact checking to be done on the XO Networking. The process is ongoing of course but there is a tremendous amount already done. Above is a image of the trial covers designed by Lotte Meijer (FLOSS Manuals Designer, MoMA - http://www.lottemeijer.com). We output the print ready PDF using our print on demand tools and then Lotte made a cover and we are testing the result through Lulu.com. When it is tested they will be available for sale at cost price or optional slightly more expensive edition for those that wish to make a donation towards the maintenance of the manuals and further XO / Sugar Book Sprints. More soon.....
31 Aug 2008 - 06:45 by AdamHyde XO / Sugar Book Sprint ProgressThe Book Sprint in Austin Texas is in its 4th day and we have done a tremendous amount of work. 7 manuals are almost done and the team is writing so we can have all the content in by the end of the day. That leaves Friday for clean up and editing. Here is a screen shot from my Desktop with the 7 PDFs generated using our print on demand tools.
It seems we have written over 250 pages of very useful material.
29 Aug 2008 - 03:52 by AdamHyde XO / Sugar Book Sprint Underway!Today (August 25) we began the XO / Sugar Book Sprint in Austin Texas. The sprint has been largely organised by Anne Gentle and Adam Hyde and is being hosted by local company Motive by invitation of David Cramer. The Book Sprint aims to create documentation to support the forthcoming 2008 G1G1 OLPC roll out. Gathered at the event are currently :
Through out the week more people will join us in real space and there are several remote contributors lined up.
Last night we kicked off with a planning meeting to outline the scope of the manuals and then met with the local Austin XO Users Group for coffee and dinner.The next day it was into writing at Motive.
We have set up the online tools so you too can contribute! To make a contribution please do the following :
1. Register To contribute to the documentation you can register at FLOSS Manuals :
Sugar :
25 Aug 2008 - 22:21 by AdamHyde OLPC / Sugar Book SprintWe are currently raising money for the OLPC / Sugar Book Sprint to be held in Austin Texas, August 24-29. The Book Sprint will bring 6-9 writers together to write several manuals on OLPC and Sugar. FLOSS Manuals is the official documentation repository for both these projects and we are aiming to build a team in Texas that will complete a series of manuals in an intensive working week and then work together remotely thereafter. The sprint is organised by Anne Gentle (FLOSS Manuals / Just Write Click) and Adam Hyde (FLOSS Manuals). Writers are mostly coming from the USA and we hope to include the following :
All manuals created are free (libre + gratis)! Currently we are looking for donations in $50 (USD) blocks or $500. $500 will get one of the writers to Austin and $50 will help cover some of the accomodation and food costs.
Please donate! (via Pledgie or direct to paypal)
01 Aug 2008 - 18:45 by AdamHyde FM Translation Zone BetaWe are testing a new FLOSS Manuals Translation Zone for the translation of manuals. It is a temporary holding zone as our preferred method for managing languages is to set up specific FM language communities rather than just translate. The translation zone enables side-by-side translation. We manage this through a plugin developed especially for FM called 'Xchange'. You can read more about Xchange and the translation workflow we have established here: http://en.flossmanuals.net/FLOSSManuals/XchangeIntro
More news when it is tested!
31 Jul 2008 - 19:21 by AdamHyde
Screencast ExperimentsI just created a screencast (a video recording of my screen with narration) for getting started editing manuals on FLOSS Manuals. It's my absolute first attempt at screencasting, so please forgive the amateur voiceover work. The file is stored for the next 60 days at screencast.com, and you can view it there (with Adobe's Flash player installed in your browser).
I think this type of communication is one of the faster methods for demonstrating how to use technology. I'd love to get your feedback on the screencast and please give me suggestions for improvement. Thanks for taking a look!
27 Jul 2008 - 10:45 by AnneGentle
Inkscape Book Sprint DoneWe completed the FLOSS Manuals / Inkscape Book Sprint. It was a tremendous success, with the team finishing 30 chapters in English and many (yet to be counted) chapters in French. In addition we pushed the FLOSS Manuals interface forward with a few new features including a status management system, and some new additions to the editor. If that isn't enough, Brianna Laugher also finished a manual on Wikimedia Commons.
In amongst it all we also managed to have some fun! Lastly, we also established a French FLOSS Manuals team consisting of Elisa de Castro Guerra, Cédric Gémy, and Olivier Gondouin Liu. More on all this in the next days.
12 Jul 2008 - 22:59 by AdamHyde
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