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<article>
<articleinfo>
  <volumenum>2004</volumenum>
  <issuenum>20</issuenum>
  <publisher><publishername>The Linux Documentation Project</publishername></publisher>
  <pubdate>2004-05-19</pubdate>
  <title>The Linux Documentation Project Weekly News</title>
</articleinfo>

<sect1 id="new-review">

<title>Documents submitted for review</title>

<itemizedlist>

<listitem><para>Devin Watson <ulink
url="http://lists.tldp.org/index.cgi?1:mss:7301:200405:hpddcdpgimaaaodmebkg">sent
in</ulink> a short but informative introduction into writing daemons in
Linux.  The SGML (LinuxDoc) file can be found at <ulink
url="http://www.linuxprofilm.com/articles/linux-daemon-howto.sgml">http://www.linuxprofilm.com/articles/linux-daemon-howto.sgml</ulink>.
</para></listitem>

</itemizedlist>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="new-proposed">

<title>New document proposals</title>

<itemizedlist>

<listitem><para>SPICE is a simulator for electronic circuits for use in the <ulink url="http://www.geda.seul.org/">gEDA</ulink> (GPL'ed Electronic Design Automation tool suite) environment.  Stuart Brorson wrote a <ulink url="http://www.brorson.com/gEDA/SPICE/intro.html">SPICE on gEDA HOWTO</ulink>, describing <ulink url="http://tclspice.sourceforge.net/">TclSpice</ulink> and argues thus for including it into the TLDP collection: <quote>The whole area of Linux as an engineering workstation is currently
taking off, and I think it valuable to have HOWTOs in place for
the arriving hordes.</quote></para></listitem>

</itemizedlist>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="updated-docs">
<title>Updated HOWTOs, FAQs and Guides</title>

<itemizedlist>

<listitem><para>The <ulink url="http://tldp.org/HOWTO/KickStart-HOWTO.html">Kickstart HOWTO</ulink> will be moved to the <ulink url="http://tldp.org/authors/unmaint.html">Unmaintained</ulink> directory upon request of the author, Martin Hamilton, who reasons that RedHat now provides enough documentation <ulink url="http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-9-Manual/custom-guide/part-install-info.html">in their manual</ulink> and on this <ulink url="https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/kickstart-list">Kickstart mailinglist</ulink>.</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Emma Jane Hogbin's <ulink
url="http://tldp.org/HOWTO/ACPI-HOWTO/index.html">ACPI HOWTO</ulink>
v1.4 contains info about power management with the 2.6.5 kernel.  The
update includes information on battery monitoring applications causing
touchpad lockup problems.</para></listitem>

</itemizedlist>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="tldp-world-news">
<title>News in The LDP world</title>

<itemizedlist>

<listitem>

<para>Copyright of the Linux Dictionary</para>

<para>Binh Nguyen finally found a listening ear for complaints about linuxdig.com violating the copyright on his work.  After <ulink url="http://lists.tldp.org/index.cgi?1:mss:7259:200405:kpmaoobgdanmdmkgaakl">contacting Scott Baust</ulink>, the technical and administrative responsible for the linuxdig.com domain, he was able to <ulink url="http://lists.tldp.org/index.cgi?1:msp:7273:200405:pdkghihaippeebaleahc">settle the case</ulink> without intervention of a lawyer or a court of justice.</para>

</listitem>

</itemizedlist>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="tldp-discussions">
<title>Discussions on The LDP lists</title>

<itemizedlist>

<listitem>

<para>Beautifying XML</para>

<para>Gerardo Arnaez <ulink
url="http://lists.tldp.org/index.cgi?1:msp:7283:200405:nmegdephfcmlokdpheja">doesn't
like</ulink> the standard <command>xmlto</command>-generated HTML, but was at a loss as to how to make it more agreeable to the eye.  Emma Jane suggested <ulink url="http://lists.tldp.org/index.cgi?1:msn:7282:200405:nmegdephfcmlokdpheja">the use of style sheets</ulink>, and pointed to a couple of freely available ones.  You might have problems reading her explanations for including a stylesheet, because she mentions some HTML tags which are lost in the HTML conversion.  So here is (once again) how you include a stylesheet:</para>
<para>Add a line like the following between the &lt;head&gt; and &lt;/head&gt; tags:</para>
<screen>
&lt;link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="your_stylesheet.css" /&gt;
</screen>
</listitem>

<listitem>

<para>LDAP related HOWTOs</para>

<para>In response to Machtelt Garrels mail about the maintenance of the
LDAP HOWTOs hosted by TLDP, Glen Turner wanted to be a contributor
<ulink
url="http://lists.tldp.org/index.cgi?1:mss:7286:200405:kcjllafbebiblpmpfelc">said
that </ulink> the two LDAP HOWTOs did not illustrate current best
practices. He gave pointers to <ulink
url="http://www.duke.edu/~gettes/giia/ldap-recipe/">A Recipe for
Configuring and Operating LDAP Directories</ulink> by Michael R Gettes
and a <ulink url="http://middleware.internet2.edu/">general directory
issues</ulink> resource. </para>

</listitem>

</itemizedlist>

</sect1>
<sect1 id="interview">
<title>Interview with Mark Komarinski</title>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>

        <figure>
            <title>Mark Komarinski</title>
            <mediaobject>
                <imageobject>
                    <imagedata fileref="mkomarinski.eps" format="EPS" align="left"/>
                </imageobject>
                <imageobject>
                    <imagedata fileref="mkomarinski.png" format="PNG" align="left"/>
                </imageobject>
                <textobject>
                    <phrase>Picture of Mark Komarinski: dark hair, brown eyes, beard and moustache, glasses.</phrase>
                </textobject>
            </mediaobject>
        </figure>

<para>Mark Komarinski, former event coordinator, is not as active any more 
as he used to be, at least not for the TLDP project, but certainly has some 
interesting things to say.  <quote>My secret goal in life is to be one of those 
people who gets quoted all the time in articles</quote>, he laughingly
admits. </para>
<qandaset defaultlabel="qanda">
<qandaentry>
<question><para>You've seen some people, docs and distros pass the review.  What was the most remarkable moment for you (having to do with TLDP, of-course)?</para></question>
<answer><para>The response to the HOWTO-HOWTO (now the <ulink url="http://tldp.org/LDP/LDP-Author-Guide/html/index.html">LDP Author Guide</ulink>) was really
impressive.  I get frequent emails from people who say how much it's
helped them.</para>

<para>The sad thing (but one I've come to accept) is that writing documentation
isn't the most exciting thing in the world.  Having worked previously
as a technical support person, there are similarities.  It's one
of those things that everyone needs, but is left to someone else
to do.</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>
<qandaentry>
<question><para>You've written for LinuxJournal, already in the very first issue, you've published quite some books about RedHat and other system administration, you just told me you are working on a CUPS HOWTO, ...   You're a very prolific author.  Is there one subject that you haven't written about, but that you would like to cover one day or if you would only have the time?</para></question>
<answer><para>There are two reasons I write - either I know a bit about the subject and
want to document it, or I know little about the subject and want to
figure it out along the way.  In order to write about something you do
need a good understanding of what you're writing about, which is
the logic I used when writing the LDP Author Guide - I had a great reference
guide in the ORA DocBook book, but nothing that showed how to use
the tools.  So I started writing and learned the hard way.</para>

<para>In the case of the <ulink url="http://www.ibiblio.org/mdw/HOWTO/Remote-Serial-Console-HOWTO/index.html">Remote Serial Console HOWTO</ulink> (note: not to be confused with David 
Lawyer's <ulink url="http://www.ibiblio.org/mdw/HOWTO/Serial-HOWTO.html">Serial HOWTO</ulink>), I had a bit of working knowledge
of the subject already, so it was easier for me to write.</para>

<para>In terms of things I want to see, some of my started-but-stalled
projects include a book covering the history of Linux, the CUPS HOWTO
which I may just donate to another HOWTO depending on how far I get,
and a Linux Tuning Guide project I started on two years ago and is very much
out of date.</para></answer>
</qandaentry>
<qandaentry>
<question><para>I bet a lot of authors and authors-to-be admire you.  Do you have any good advice for them, apart from the <quote>you'll need a lot of coffee</quote> one?</para></question>
<answer><para>How do you get your start?  Write and take chances.  I got started writing
for my college newspaper (a bi-weekly column where I was extolling
the virtues of Linux in 1992!).  When I heard that a Linux magazine
was going to start up (Linux Journal) I sent an email and asked if they were
looking for authors.  They said yes, and all I asked for was a free
subscription.  That publicity got me noticed by my publisher and it
went from there.</para>

<para>Coffee isn't that necessary, but it does help when you have 5 days
left to submit your manuscript and you have 100 pages to go.</para></answer>
</qandaentry>
<qandaentry>
<question><para>We took a look at your web site, in the process of researching your background a bit.  Why does it look like it has been made with a typewriter and then scanned in?</para></question>
<answer><para>Well, strangely enough, while I do a lot of writing, some coding,
and a lot of sysadmin-type work, I have no eye for web design.  Hence
the reason why all the pages look like they came from gopher.  If anyone
reading this wants to help me out, I'd appreciate it :)</para>
<para><emphasis>Later, Mark added this remark:</emphasis></para>
<para>Ha.  Your criticism of <ulink url="http://www.wayga.org/">my web site</ulink> has prompted me to install bloxsom.
Which doesn't look like the web circa 1993.</para>
<para><emphasis>;-)</emphasis></para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>
</qandaset>


</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect1>

<sect1 id="tldp-contribute">
<title>HOWTO contribute to The LDP</title>

<para><ulink url="http://www.tldp.org/">The Linux Documentation
Project</ulink> (TLDP) is working on developing free, high quality
documentation for the GNU/Linux operating system. If you want to help
TLDP, consider joining
<email>discuss-subscribe@en.tldp.org</email>.</para>

<para>Help us create this newsletter. We need volunteers who follow the
community (mailing lists, newsgroups, web channels) and report events
related to free software documentation. Write to us at
<email>feedback@en.tldp.org</email>.</para>

<para>The LDP Weekly News is compiled and edited by Machtelt Garrels and
Y Giridhar Appaji Nag with help from several other people.</para>

</sect1>

</article>
