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<article>
<articleinfo>
  <volumenum>2003</volumenum>
  <issuenum>15, 16 and 17</issuenum>
  <publisher><publishername>The Linux Documentation Project</publishername></publisher>
  <pubdate>20030819</pubdate>
  <title>TLDP Weekly News</title>
</articleinfo>

<sect1>
<para>
This is a combined edition for issues 15, 16 and 17. We also have an
interview with the LDP review coordinator Tabatha Marshall.
</para>
</sect1>

<sect1>
<title>New documents</title>

<sect2>
<title>Proposed new documents</title>

<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Saqib Shaikh is the maintainer of a document called the <emphasis>BLinux</emphasis> Software Map, which is a guideline for blind people who want to use Linux.  He <ulink url="http://lists.tldp.org/index.cgi?5:mss:5436:200308:pedfgheipkemgjaehgio">proposed to submit it</ulink> and awaits your comments.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Tobias Reif has a draft for a <ulink url="http://lists.tldp.org/index.cgi?5:mss:5467:200308:jkcmdfngjbkdlmikmhpk">Vim as XML Editor HOWTO</ulink>.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>We also received a draft from Scot W. Stevenson, for a document which he would like to call the <ulink url="http://lists.tldp.org/index.cgi?5:mss:5471:200308:ohcibkfannekdlhembkb">Mock Mainframe mini-HOWTO</ulink>, describing how to centralize small computer systems in order to save time and money.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Mustafa El-Sheikh has a beta version of what he would like to call the <ulink url="http://elsheikhmh.20m.com/mount-mini-howto/">Windows Partitions Mount mini-HOWTO</ulink>, and awaits your input.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Adam <ulink url="http://lists.tldp.org/index.cgi?1:mss:4909:200308:eocaiogdchaleaemgcmo">posted his intent</ulink> to write a Whole Disk Encryption HOWTO which will instruct the reader how to encrypt a computer hard disk (such as in a laptop) with an external key (such as on a USB flash drive) using Linux 2.4 and the <ulink url="http://sourceforge.net/projects/loop-aes/">loop-AES</ulink> program.</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>

</sect1>

<sect1>  
<title>Updates</title>

<sect2>
<title>HOWTOs</title>
<para>We received updates for a whole bunch of documents:</para>
<itemizedlist>

<listitem><para>The <ulink url="http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Apache-WebDAV-LDAP-HOWTO/">Apache based WebDAV Server with LDAP and SSL</ulink>, v4.0.1, by Saqib Ali.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>The <ulink url="http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Linux-Gamers-HOWTO/">Linux Gamers' HOWTO</ulink>, v0.9.34, by Peter Jay Salzman.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>The <ulink url="http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Kernel-HOWTO/">Linux Kernel HOWTO</ulink>, v6.7 was sent in by Alavoor Vasudevan.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>David Lawyer is still updating the <ulink url="http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Modem-HOWTO.html">Modem HOWTO</ulink>, in order to help all those who can't have fast access yet; it's now at v0.29.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>And Håvard Stranden's <ulink url="http://tldp.org/HOWTO/XFree86-R200/">ATI R200 + XFree86 4.x mini-HOWTO</ulink> is now available in v1.3.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Miroslav Skoric updated his <ulink url="http://tldp.org/HOWTO/FBB.html">FBB mini-HOWTO</ulink>.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Eric S. Raymond sent in an update for the <ulink url="http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Linksys-Blue-Box-Router-HOWTO/">Linksys Blue Box Router HOWTO</ulink>.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Gerardo Arnaez presented v2.2 of the <ulink url="http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Medicine-HOWTO/">Linux Medicine HOWTO</ulink>.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>The <ulink url="http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Printing-HOWTO/">Printing HOWTO</ulink> by Grant Taylor is now at v1.8.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>The <ulink url="http://tldp.org/HOWTO/User-Group-HOWTO.html">Linux User Group HOWTO</ulink> by Rick Moen has been updated twice over the past two weeks and it is now v1.6.6.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>What with wireless access becoming ever more popular, you might be interested in reading the <ulink url="http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Wireless-Link-sys-WPC11/">Link-sys WPC11 mini-HOWTO</ulink>, v2.2.3, updated by Gerardo Arnaez.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>We also got hold of v34 of the <ulink url="http://tldp.org/HOWTO/BogoMips.html">BogoMips mini-HOWTO</ulink> by Wim van Dorst.  From the FAQ: BogoMips is <quote>the number of million times per second a processor can do absolutely nothing.</quote></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>The Quota mini-HOWTO v0.5, by Ralf van Dooren can be found at <ulink url="http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Quota.html" />.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Aaron Isotton sent in v1.03 of his <ulink url="http://tldp.org/HOWTO/C++-dlopen/">C++ dlopen mini HOWTO</ulink>.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>The <ulink url="http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Vim-HOWTO/">Vim Color Editor HOW-TO (Vi Improved with syntax color highlighting)</ulink> by Al Dev (Alavoor Vasudevan) is at v19.2.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>David S.Lawyer's <ulink url="http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Plug-and-Play-HOWTO.html">Plug-and-Play-HOWTO</ulink> has been updated to v1.07.</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>

</sect2>
</sect1>

<sect1>
<title>People - Tabatha Marshall</title>
<para>This is Tabatha Marshall, TLDP Review Coordinator.  She describes
herself as the proud mother of three sons, registered Linux user 170785,
partly Canadian and Italian, but mostly Geek.</para>
<figure><title>Tabatha Marshall, Review Coordinator</title>
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<para>Tabatha volunteers for assigning reviewers to newly submitted documents,
and when other volunteers are awed because of the size of a guide, she reviews these herself if necessary.  She frequently contributes to
discussions on the mailing lists, and while she has a strong opinion of
her own, she is always friendly and open to new views.</para>
<para>The Weekly News team had the occasion of asking this marvelous woman a
couple of questions.</para>
<para>Q: We did our homework, and read that you started volunteering for TLDP
about a year and a half ago, and that you started experimenting with Linux
twice as long ago.  This leaves us wondering: how do you rise from Linux
Newbie to coordinator of one of the main Open Source initiatives in such a
short time?</para>
<para>A: <quote>Persistence!  (grin)...When I first learned about Linux, I relied on the
LDP to learn how to do everything.  In early 2002 I decided to jump back
into fiction-writing with both feet, and sought volunteer work that
would help me hone my skills.  I remembered the LDP, and by March 2002 I
was reviewing, thanks to the initial help of Joy Goodreau and Dave
Merrill.  I stayed active, always accepting new documents for review,
and in November 2002, Joy asked if I would accept the position of Review
Coordinator.  I did, and I'm grateful, because I think it's made me a
better writer, and a heck of a lot of friends!</quote>
</para>
<para>Q: What was the most remarkable event at TLDP while you have been contributing?</para>
<para>A: <quote>You mean besides being offered the position of Review Coordinator?  That
was MOST exciting for me!  Actually, the best thing so far was seeing
the pictures from the recent Metz trip.  It's wonderful to put faces to
the names of the people I work with, and I wish we had pictures of
everybody!
</quote></para>
<para>Q: Do you think that you will still be Review Coordinator in 5 years?  In 10 years?</para>
<para>A: <quote>Wow, good question!  Well, as I mentioned, I recently made a leap of
faith with my writing, and my goal is to become America's answer to JK
Rowling.  I completed my first manuscript on July 15.  The novel is a
middle-grade/young adult adventure which I plan on developing into a
series of books, hopefully extending them to film or television.  I'm in
the editing stages right now (you can imagine how much I must love that
part!), and will begin writing the next book in the fall, when the kids
start school.</quote></para>
<para><quote>In the meantime though, I do plan on continuing my work with the LDP,
and I do see myself doing it for some time to come.  I believe
wholeheartedly that I'm a stronger writer for it, so why stop now? :D
</quote></para>
<para>Q: What do you think is the single most needed improvement for TLDP?</para>
<para>A: <quote>I'll stand my ground and say it would have to be an online editor for
authors.  It should provide a simple way for authors to choose the
version of markup they wish to use, and help them progress through
creation of their document in a logical format, based on the LDP
documentation templates.  Ideally, this system would parse and validate,
provide suggestions for errors, and allow for a browser preview no
matter how much of the document has been created.
</quote></para>
<para><quote>Why?  Right now there are numerous Linux distributions, various types of
markup and output formats, and far too many editing programs that just
don't quite cut it for the new user.  It is difficult for many people to
put the tools together on their machine.  This system would encourage
more authors to write.  Just think - if a new author can create a
document online without having to worry about all the other issues, she
is able to give much more focus to the content, now isn't she?
</quote></para>
<para><quote>Though this idea has been brought to the table, there has been some
resistance...concerns that this means yet another system to learn.  But
I believe if it was designed with the author's needs first, it would be
valuable to everyone.  Dream big!</quote></para>
<para>And right she is...  Read more at <ulink url="http://www.merlinmonroe.com" />, Tabatha's home site.</para>

</sect1>

<sect1>
<title>Happenings in the LDP world</title>

<sect2>
<title>We make free documentation</title>

<para>A very long and at times tiresome discussion about (1) SCO servers storing the LDP documents with <quote>extra</quote> clauses (2) Who can or can not use TLDP documents dominated the past two weeks.  You can read the entire thread <ulink url="http://lists.tldp.org/index.cgi?1:mss:4905:200308:nndilkkmnocimdnhjmkm">here</ulink>.  Summarized, it comes down to this: everybody can read our docs and store them on their servers, in accordance with the license of the document.  This includes also people we don't like. Guylhem Aznar <ulink url="http://lists.tldp.org/index.cgi?1:mss:4906:200308:fjghdeinimkjhbapdmej">said that</ulink> license violations of the documents released under a free license by the LDP can not be tolerated. He later posted <ulink url="http://lists.tldp.org/index.cgi?1:mss:4920:200308:hghecligfeoadbjiedal">RMS response to SCO use of our documents</ulink>.</para>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>Bibliographies in DocBook XML/SGML</title>

<para>If like Martin A. Brown, you are searching for information on how to do Bibliographies in DocBook XML/SGML, <ulink url="http://lists.tldp.org/index.cgi?2:mss:508:200308:ojenlikbehfnljafjfmh">here</ulink> is a piece of information from Tabatha.</para>
</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>Document Disclaimers</title>

<para>Adam <ulink url="http://lists.tldp.org/index.cgi?1:mss:4909:200308:eocaiogdchaleaemgcmo">posted his intent</ulink> to write a Whole Disk Encryption HOWTO and <ulink url="http://lists.tldp.org/index.cgi?1:mss:4916:200308:eocaiogdchaleaemgcmo">wanted</ulink> a disclaimer boilerplate. David Lawyer, however, <ulink url="http://lists.tldp.org/index.cgi?1:mss:4917:200308:claiepedajakajhoajgg">doubted</ulink> if there was any case law for a document provided for <quote>free</quote>.</para>

</sect2>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="feedback">
<title>Feedback and Contributions</title>

<para>
You can help The Linux Documentation Project by:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Reviewing one of the draft versions of the <ulink url="http://www.tldp.org/authors/inprogress.html">documents in progress</ulink>.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Picking up one of the <ulink url="http://www.tldp.org/authors/unmaint.html">unmaintained documents</ulink>.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Providing assistance with <ulink url="http://www.tldp.org/authors/markup.html">markup</ulink>.</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>

<para>Please help us create this weekly newsletter. Seen a site putting
in a story with a link to the LDP? Completed the translation of any
HOWTO?  Know of any articles about the LDP published in newspapers or
magazines? You can update us by sending in links and information at
<email>feedback@en.tldp.org</email>.</para>

<para>LDP Weekly News is edited by
Machtelt Garrels, Torsten Schlabach and Y Giridhar Appaji Nag
with help from several other people.</para>
</sect1>
</article>
