yellowdog-newbie digest, Vol 1 #955 - Message 2: Gentoo too new

[Clinton MacDonald]

Ms. Suzy:

Suzy wrote:
> Total newby here and I have YDL running on a G3 266 MT
> SCSI HD just fine.

A venerable machine, and a fine platform for Yellow Dog Linux (in my 
humble opinion). Welcome aboard!

> The machine has been struck by lightening twice and
> just keeps on ticking. I swapped out the original 3
> gig ATA (IDE) HD for a bigger one and it was reformatted
> and placed in my daughter's much younger Gateway when
> her HD failed. The Apple branded drive is running just
> fine.

Whoa... that's a great story (you might consider getting a high capacity 
surge protector/uninterruptible power supply for the G3 -- a third 
lightning strike might take out more than just the one computer...).

> The install for YDL, once I figured it out, only
> took about two hours. The problem is the install
> instructions. They are very poorly written. I
> write this type of stuff all the time and can see
> how the manual might be very confusing to someone.
> It needs to be rewritten by some one, with more
> experience than me, that is an instructional
> designer/technical writer.

You are right about that. Although the correct instructions are there in 
the YDL installation booklet, they must be written in some ambiguous or 
confusing way. I know it took me two or three tries to get it right, 
though I distinctly remember that the solution was there, if hidden. The 
single most common question that arises on the Yellow Dog Newbies list 
is about installation on older Macs.

We (on this and on the companion Yellow Dog General list) have 
occasionally discussed creating our own list of Frequently Asked 
Questions and their answers. The discussions always seem to falter due 
to lack of server space to host such a Web site, lack of time on the 
part of those of us who are interested, and lack of writerly talent. You 
probably should not have mentioned that you have technical writing 
expertise -- you just might have volunteered! ;-) (If we ever get this 
project off the ground....)

> If you are really getting rid of those machines
> I'm sure there are people around just itching to
> put together a cluster ...

Ooooh -- that sounds like a fun project!

Best wishes,
Clint

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-- 
Dr. Clinton C. MacDonald | <mailto:clint DOT macdonald AT sbcglobal DOT net>