Hey Jane, Not much time to comment at the moment, so I'll reserve the right to come back to this :) 1. I agree; start small and let it snowball. 2. I'm willing to help with the documentation, things I'm especially good at are proofing and clarifying the meaning of language. 3. I am part of the Distributed Proofreader's (<a href="http://www.pgdp.net">www.pgdp.net</a>) project which takes printed books through the process of getting them scanned, ocr'd, proofed, and formated for etext and placed into the archive library that is Project Gutenberg (<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>). It occurs to me that a similiar process to what has been created with Distributed Proofreader's could be created to faciilitate the creation/editing/revision of Documentation like this. I.E. it seems that a mechanism to update/revise existing etexts to comply with new standards or new situations that is distributed among several authors is needed/desired. If anyone agrees let's discuss how to make that happen. Anyway, I've got to go, so thanks for your work and I'll be back later, Jeff <div>On 7/28/05, Jane Weideman <<a href="mailto:janew@hbd.com">janew@hbd.com</a>> wrote:<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"> Hi all. As already discussed with some of you: The Shuttleworth Foundation's tuXlabs project has produced a fantastic and comprehensive how-to manual for setting up an OSS computer lab, based on their wealth of knowledge and experience with this. See: <a href="http://www.upfrontsystems.co.za/Members/jean/cookbook/docbook/cookbook.html">http://www.upfrontsystems.co.za/Members/jean/cookbook/docbook/cookbook.html</a> We have been exploring the possibility of utilising this invaluable source of information to the benefit of Edubuntu as well. The thinking being that Edubuntu may be more widely and successfully adopted, if there is an instruction manual with it. Especially in the case of new adopters who have little/no experience with OSS, or possibly even ICT in general. The tuXlabs team have done a lot of work around formulating a solid, repeatable, and supportable OSS lab implementation model. This includes all aspects from a Linux Introduction to Power Requirements and Physical Security considerations, right through to Networking and Server & LTSP configs etc. The tuXlabs project <a href="http://www.tuxlabs.org/">http://www.tuxlabs.org/</a> , is a non-profit project, which up to now has focused on school installations within the boundries of South Africa, however the model they have formulated can be applied where ever an OSS computer lab is required. Once edubuntu is released, the tuXlabs are intending to adopt edubuntu in their lab build as well. However for now the cookbook is angled towards the current architechure which is a little different. The cookbook also currently contains some tuXlab and Shuttleworth Foundation specifics. For Edubuntu's purposes the cookbook would therefore require a revision and possibly some editing to make it a bit more generic, as well as giving edubuntu installation and configuration specifics. We will need some help with this, and have already approached the ubuntu doc team, but if anyone would like to volunteer to assist it will be greatly appreciated. We then also need to decide how to distribute the cookbook: * Whether to make it available for download via our website and /or * Available in printed format (possibly distributed with the CDs) Further to this the Edubuntu launch target audience needs to be decided. After discussions with various people, I am of the opinion that we should take a conservative approach to the first launch, and possibly not aim for world domination in the first release ;) The reason for favouring this approach now, is that we have decided to keep things simple and contained for the first release, and to build on that with the next couple of releases. It seems to make sense to me to stick to the enthusiasts and those really keen to try Edubuntu for this round, and once we have a tried and tested product with successful installations, to then start targeting a broader market? I don't want to be pessimistic, but I think we should take small steady steps rather than promising the world, and then not being able to meet expectations? So my vote is for a small targeted release, rather than a big bang. Comments, suggestions? Thanks JaneW </blockquote></div> <snip>