Beginners wiki page

On a recent thread that was started by me not reading the instructions properly ¹ it was mentioned that the wiki page for beginners could do with being split into a series of pages. I’m happy to take this on, but also very aware that it wasn’t me that created this page in the first place, so don’t want to go wading in with both feet before at least asking.

So – would anyone be upset if I dived in and started reformatting this information?

¹ https://www.riscosopen.org/forum/forums/5/topics/1625?page=2

So – would anyone be upset if I dived in and started reformatting this information?

It’s a Wiki isn’t it? If somebody is upset by the modifications they can always be reverted by an administrative user; though I’d hope there would be a pretty good reason for such a thing – we’d be crazy to turn down offers of help or annoy somebody in the process of helping (Wiki Wiki, I’m looking at yooooou!).

After all – is this the sort of documentation we want to show the world?

Q: I want to program! How do I get started?
(Point us to the two good example books provided with the RPI distro.)

I’ve just looked at the page, and – yes. I can see two things it needs:

1. To be split up into topic related pages, not all squashed together.
2. Better use of whitespace. What is there looks like quite a mouthful. Everything should be separate, clear, and friendly (admittedly the Textile-wiki markup sucks which makes it harder, but not impossible).

Oh, and:

Using “!ChangeFSI” from the ‘$.Utilities’ drawer

Drawer? Drawer? The first and last time I saw a directory/folder referred to in that way was a weird sort of semi-animated introduction to ADFS on the Master Compact Welcome Disc.
I would suggest using “folder” as that seems to be the norm in Windows and Unix, though I personally prefer “directory” (one site suggests that “folder” is where the file is, and “directory” is the parts of the path to get there). In either case, we should be aware of using archaic or obscure terminology unless it is the phrase that is used under RISC OS [heck, we don’t even use the word “drawer” – if you don’t believe me, use the forum search to the upper-right!]. Likewise, we should probably try to avoid being too British. Colour and favourite are fine, but that thing prefixing application names should probably be called an “exclamation” and left at that as most people will know what that means. Pling, bang, shriek (etc) are more regional; using them risks making the document harder to understand.

Worth noticing, we have a fan of RISC OS around obscure corners of Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exclamation_mark#Computers
;-)

Just my €0.0239 worth.

A useful bit of info to have near the very top of a beginners page might be a pointer to where to get RISC OS for their machine. When explaining how to RISC OSify a Pi a week or so ago I had to rediscover how I did it myself and was astonished to realise that the necessary download was most definitely one of the downloads on the downloads page but rather one from the raspberry site. Then the most readable instructions for setting up an SD card were on the eLinux site!
Now it is true that Martin Hansen has a nice explanation on his pilearn.com site BUT refers to a very out of date RISC OS package. Perhaps if the ‘proper’ package for the pi could be put onto the ROOL site and Martin were asked to update his page it would be simpler to explain to newcomers.

Good idea – I’ll add it. Is there a tool that can be used in RISC OS to create an SD card from the downloaded image? If so, I’ll add those details at the same time.

OK – I’ve added the bones of a page here – as can be seen, it’s clearly not complete, as I have no experience of installing on anything other than a Pi. I’ll be adding to these Beginners FAQ pages as and when the application of tea stimulates my creative juices, and I can grab the childrens PC to do the edits. (Can’t do it from my pi, as I can’t get NetSurf to edit the RISC OS wiki. Yes, the irony hasn’t been lost on me). If anyone would like to add details to this page for other platforms, please go and do so.

Ta

Then the most readable instructions for setting up an SD card were on the eLinux site!

Hmmm – did you think to try Youtube? My video creation skills are not so hot (I don’t have software for fancy effects (any suggestions?)), however I have a step by step tutorial and also cover what to do if you are using a PAL television and also for using video output (as RISC OS defaults to an HD mode).

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2Y51qf8-Yo

Actually no, it never occurred to me to try youtube; perhaps it’s my advanced decrepitude. I’m not so keen on video tutorials for many things anyway, preferring something I can read along as I work on something unfamiliar. But I understand that many people would prefer videos, too, and if you are willing to do the work to produce one or more that can be referred to on neil.r’s page then definitely go for it. It’s probably a good alternate route to attract some eyes to this site and gain some more interest.

…can be referred to on neil.r’s page…

I can take no credit! I just reformatted what was already there, which I think was by Raik, and added a couple of bits. I’ve got some more stuff lined up to add to it, and to expand what is already there, including hopefully some screenshots. These pose a particular problem, as I need to be on my Pi to take the screenshots, but then can’t edit the wiki from here with NetSurf. Haven’t tried with Firefox, mainly because life is just too short :)

I just reformatted what was already there, which I think was by Raik,

Credit goes to a RISC OS newcomer who had questions, many he found answers to on his own and others he gathered from questions here and elsewhere.
Like many wiki starters he had an idea and some time and the idea has grown (in just 20 days)

If you look in the wiki history:
Revision 1
by Marko Oette (1828)? at January 1, 2013 17:45:04 from 217.234.150.150

Is there a sandbox page??

Each user gets a page linked to their user ID – if you take a look at any page, at the bottom you’ll see the user that last edited it. If you click on that link, it will take you to that users page if it exists. So although it’s not a sandbox in the truest sense of the word, it gives you a reasonably safe area to play around with.

It does take a bit of getting used to. I use Dokuwiki extensively at work and home, and it’s taking a bit of work to switch between the two systems. The good thing about a wiki though is it’s always easy to go back and edit what you’ve created, and very difficult to break things so badly that they can’t be recovered.