The manual is buried in junk... /M

kunkel321 · Post by **kunkel321** » 2012 Feb 17, 17:23

fyi: Just tried to get the big x2 manual from http://zabkat.com/alldown.htm and both mirrors are pointing to those commercial junk sites. Mirror 2 looked like it was going to give me the download, but it wanted to package it with a bunch of other stuff.
Nikos, you might want to look into this before some poor sap becomes victimized...

Also, I see that one of my shortcuts to launch x2 has an "/M" switch. I don't remember putting it there. Is that default? What does it do?

Post by **nikos** » 2012 Feb 17, 18:21

/M is default, check the command line options in the quickstart guide

the 2nd help mirror should work fine, you just need to be careful what to download, the button is top right somewhere. There are no junk included there!?

ps the PDF manual is dormant and stuck at v1.8 but narayan may revive it after all!

kunkel321 · Post by **kunkel321** » 2012 Feb 17, 18:34

nikos wrote:the 2nd help mirror should work fine, you just need to be careful what to download, the button is top right somewhere. There are no junk included there!?

You're right. I was getting distracted by the big green "Download Me" advertisement. I guess you don't have much control over what the file host does with their site. Still it bugs me when all that extra stuff is there... I don't want to wade through a pile of potential malware. I just want what I want

nikos wrote:ps the PDF manual is dormant and stuck at v1.8 but narayan may revive it after all!

That would be very cool. If Narayan were to post a thread about it, he might even get some help from forum members, making screenshots and such.

narayan · Post by **narayan** » 2012 Feb 18, 02:20

The new manual is well under way.

That is to say, I had a disk crash, and all I had was an old version (1.7.0.0) of the source file (odt). So I had to re-write the manual from v1.7.0.0 till 1.8.0.0.

Now I am writing the text for all new features from 1.8.0.0 till 2.0.0.8.

Then I will be adding new screenshots, and replacing some ancient screenshots that were taken on Windows NT4.

The new manual will be 450+ pages (slightly smaller than an average post from Kilmastead.)

Kilmatead · Post by **Kilmatead** » 2012 Feb 18, 07:46

narayan wrote:The new manual will be 450+ pages (slightly smaller than an average post from Kilmatead.)

<Harrumph!>

<Cough> <Cough>

<Spitting fire and phlegm and other morning goo>

At least I keep important things in my head where they belong, and not on some dodgy crashing hard disc.

<Grumbles about Bloody Humans and their short attention-spans>

<Oh look, a Pony!>

<Cough>

Did the Wiki-idea die or something? I guess my unsung grammar/spelling correction on the old manual wasn't enough to buy me a seat on the council - my manual would have tried to have meaning, not just "a bunch of humdrum information". And yes, it would have been 1,450 pages. Still shorter than Proust.

I would have also skipped over the boring bits: "<Ctrl-F>? Does what it says on the tin. 'Nuff said."

<Poof>

All of the other reindeer
used to laugh and call him names.
They never let poor Rudolph
join in any reindeer games.

Post by **nikos** » 2012 Feb 18, 07:53

narayan i think there are people willing to help, just split up some jobs and pass them on to other volunteers, then the manual won't end up like the wiki!

Kilmatead · Post by **Kilmatead** » 2012 Feb 18, 07:56

nikos wrote:...then the manual won't end up like the wiki!

Then it did die! I'll bet it was that German fella that killed her - they're always guilty of something...

narayan · Post by **narayan** » 2012 Feb 18, 08:22

Well, here is just an idea. Whether we will proceed or not depends on how many volunteers we get as writers and illustrators.

Check it out!

****
I need help in two different ways (the pdf of v1800 is reference):

1. Replacement of old screenshots.

Go through the pdf manual, and wherever the Windows NT4 screenshots are used, replace them with new screenshots. I can share the ppt file for that purpose, so that the annotations remain the same. (Just replace the underlying screenshot; not the text boxes.)

2. New text for the new changes since v1800.

I can post the TODO list in a separate thread.
I need the new text for each topic (which may require editing existing stuff or writing new description). I will also need a instruction about where to insert it in the existing manual.

We may need some new screenshots and/or diagrams to explain these changes. So the writer and the illustrator would have to collaborate through the forum.

**************
Note that I do not expect all the work in one shot: Keep sending installments as you go along. That would also keep me busy.

Also, avoid duplication of work by declaring what you would like to do. Divide the work explicitly.

If you want to volunteer, please declare fast (say, next two days), because waiting would break my momentum.

Finally, please keep in mind that different writers have different styles, and their work may NOT be compatible. So if your style does not match mine, I may request you to stop without meaning any offense whatsoever.

***********
So let us have the self-nominations first, please!

Tuxman · Post by **Tuxman** » 2012 Feb 19, 15:53

Kilmatead wrote:I'll bet it was that German fella that killed her - they're always guilty of something...

I'd plead not guilty!

Concerning lost files: Tried a backup? Once set up correctly, it'll save a lot of trouble.

narayan · Post by **narayan** » 2012 Feb 19, 16:11

Yes, but the backup was on another partition of the same disk, which fried together!

Tuxman · Post by **Tuxman** » 2012 Feb 19, 16:14

Now here we have the reason for Dropbox, haven't we?

kunkel321 · Post by **kunkel321** » 2012 Feb 19, 17:08

narayan wrote:The new manual will be 450+ pages (slightly smaller than an average post from Kilmastead.)

Love it!

Tuxman wrote:Now here we have the reason for Dropbox, haven't we?

It does seem that Dropbox would be a good idea. What about Office Webapps? I haven't used them much, but I think you can work collaboratively on Office files.

I'll help with converting some of the app screenshots from Windows '65, or whatever that is you have there. I should warn you that I'm very undisciplined though, and my wife yells at me if I'm on the computer too long. (She thinks you guys a bunch of Spring Break party girls or something.) Oh.. Also, I plan on sneaking in at least a couple images of my cats.

My home computer (which I'll be using) is Win Vista... I'm guessing we should use lowrez of the default icon skin (rather than the far-superior kunkel321 Custom Hirez set)?

I do recommend working off the same PowerPoint file, that way other folks can help too. Obviously, you'll want to keep a backup of the original, and not post the share link publicly.

Do you want me to try and set up a shared "sample" PowerPoint file and send you a link? I'm also a Dropbox user, but I've almost maxed out my 2 gig limit already.

EDIT: Should also point out that I'll probably go offline for a while in May.. Am expecting daughter. See pic of Rocker Baby...

At 40 years old I'm a bit old, but it's all good. At least now I can pass down my wisdom (Most of with came from Kilman's forum posts--obviously!)

Tuxman · Post by **Tuxman** » 2012 Feb 19, 17:11

I am on 5.6 GB currently, they have some "add free space" campaigns every now and then, like now.

Why should Office Webapps be a better storage? If you want collaboration, use Etherpad...

narayan · Post by **narayan** » 2012 Feb 19, 17:39

When I said "collaboration", I didn't mean live simultaneous editing, as in Google docs. My idea is to still continue with the (resurrected) odt file, which yields the final pdf file.

The contribution from others will come indirectly:
1. I will share the ppt template (just one page with a sample callout, which needs to be copied.) The points come from a TODO list.

2. All volunteers split up the work in the TODO list

3. Every volunteer composes article for the chosen topic(s), and suggest where to insert it in the manual v1800 (refer to the current pdf help file).
(Most preferred method is to send material for each topic separately).

The annotated screenshots should fit within the available paragraph width. If the original image is too large, then it is OK to occupy the full width of the page, including the left margin. Remember that resizing always makes the image blurred.

So who volunteers?

*****
P.S. Kunkel,

You are 40, you think? Well, that's just from reading Kilmastead's posts. It will pass soon. Sometimes I feel like 100 (or 1000, depending on the number of posts). :twisted:

Tuxman · Post by **Tuxman** » 2012 Feb 19, 18:00

narayan wrote:The contribution from others will come indirectly:
1. I will share the ppt template (just one page with a sample callout, which needs to be copied.) The points come from a TODO list.

2. All volunteers split up the work in the TODO list

3. Every volunteer composes article for the chosen topic(s), and suggest where to insert it in the manual v1800 (refer to the current pdf help file).
(Most preferred method is to send material for each topic separately).

Maybe github would be a good place to do this then? Saves time.