Wiki pdfs

fedex1993 · 2008-02-04 05:21:59

okay since the wiki is so nice and everything and to make it more nice to users is downloadble pdfs of the guides like the beginers guide and some other ones would be help full. Also i dont know if this is the write place either

crouse · 2008-02-04 13:01:27

Couldn't you just use firefox and print to ps the ones you wanted ?

schivmeister · 2008-02-04 16:23:56

lolololol

wait that looks like binary from the 60s

fedex1993 · 2008-02-08 19:20:38

well could there be like pdfs or something atleast for some people that can download them and give them to friends who want to setup arch linux and dont have a second monitor or computer or a printer?

jacko · 2008-02-08 19:48:00

fedex1993 wrote:

well could there be like pdfs or something atleast for some people that can download them and give them to friends who want to setup arch linux and dont have a second monitor or computer or a printer?

if u don't have a second monitor it won't help u anyway, as u need a monitor to view a pdf and a pdf viewer.

Misfit138 · 2008-02-08 22:27:21

I think this is an interesting idea.
Fedex, if you can convert the Beginner's Guide to pdf, contact me and I'll talk to Dusty about including it on the site.
Open Office can easily export a text file to PDF. Then it's a question of neatening and pruning the [edit] tabs, and other unneeded stuff.

finferflu · 2008-02-08 22:52:03

How about gnuhtml2latext? Is that realistic enough? I've never tried such a thing, so I don't know to which extent it works.

tami · 2008-02-09 00:30:45

hmmm - I let myself to make quick PDF file of Beginners Guide and uploaded it to my blog.

The link:

http://tamilinux.files.wordpress.com/20 … inners.pdf

It's not edited - and does not look perfect - but it is readable. (I used elinks to dump it to .txt and then Abiword to print it to PDF - looks a bit better than direct print from Firefox).

I hope it will be of a help.

tami

Dusty · 2008-02-09 01:03:26

This is a good idea, but every time the wiki is updated, somebody will have to update the pdf, which is a lot of thankless work. (the kind of work that doesn't happen very often).

It would be better to have some sort of script that does what tami did or something similar. I don't know if our server and wiki are easily configured for this, I suspect neotuli or cactus can tell us.

Dusty

tami · 2008-02-09 01:49:07

Perhaps - this could be of a help than:

http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/halibut/

From the web page:

Halibut reads documentation source in a single input format, and produces multiple output formats containing the same text. The supported output formats are:
* Plain ASCII text
* HTML
* PDF
* PostScript
* Unix man pages
* Unix info, generated directly as .info files rather than .texi sources
* Windows HTML Help (.CHM files), or rather source which can be fed to the MS HTML Help compiler to generate them
* Windows WinHelp (old-style .HLP files), generated directly without needing a help compiler.

I used it some time ago - quite effective. It could accelerate the process. Unfortunately - I am not able to make package for Arch yet .

tami

eerok · 2008-02-10 15:36:10

I think that at least a PDF of all the network help would be a good idea ... if your network goes sour during an install then you can't get to the wiki. So before you start an install, having a PDF for networking and maybe xorg config would be very handy.

Yesterday I was stuck in an install when the archlinux server was unreachable for several hours, so I know what I'm talking about

Anyway, I was gone for a few years, and here I am back again. Arch has grown up some since I last used it. The guides on the wiki are awesome.

edit:

Actually my main problem was that the installation guide (which I did download in html before I installed) didn't give me enough detail for the post-install. Maybe just a downloadable html file for some mission-critical post-install wiki stuff would be more appropriate than PDF. Or is this covered somewhere that I missed?

Last edited by eerok (2008-02-10 15:47:55)

Misfit138 · 2008-02-10 15:59:05

eerok wrote:

I think that at least a PDF of all the network help would be a good idea ... if your network goes sour during an install then you can't get to the wiki. So before you start an install, having a PDF for networking and maybe xorg config would be very handy.
Yesterday I was stuck in an install when the archlinux server was unreachable for several hours, so I know what I'm talking about
Anyway, I was gone for a few years, and here I am back again. Arch has grown up some since I last used it. The guides on the wiki are awesome.
edit:
Actually my main problem was that the installation guide (which I did download in html before I installed) didn't give me enough detail for the post-install. Maybe just a downloadable html file for some mission-critical post-install wiki stuff would be more appropriate than PDF. Or is this covered somewhere that I missed?

Did you check the Beginner's Guide?

eerok · 2008-02-10 16:17:37

Misfit138 wrote:

Did you check the Beginner's Guide?

I didn't see it at the time -- and I still don't -- is it on the wiki?

I got the installation guide from here...

(edit: also I used the guide for installing from another distro, so I didn't do the usual install script at all -- maybe that made a difference.)

What I think would be ideal: a base package with a few mission-critical text-based guides, with a reference to them in the motd.

Last edited by eerok (2008-02-10 16:19:51)

Misfit138 · 2008-02-10 17:10:05

Check the main page of the wiki. Right at the top it says 'If you are new to Arch, you may be interested in the Beginner's Guide. '.

eerok · 2008-02-10 18:06:30

Never underestimate the noobs ability to miss the obvious

SpookyET · 2008-02-14 22:16:25

Wikipedia provides downloads of the wiki. We can do the same. They don't have to be PDF.

schivmeister · 2008-02-15 13:35:21

if you can view the PDFs why not just wget the whole thing, view HTML instead.

SpookyET · 2008-02-15 14:13:56

schivmeister wrote:

if you can view the PDFs why not just wget the whole thing, view HTML instead.

wgetting it results in horrible named files with no style

KimTjik · 2008-02-15 14:43:15

In view of what Dustry wrote, couldn't it be possible for the "willing" to just select the most crucial parts of the Wiki?

- Beginners guide
- Official guide
- Xorg
- Rescue a system with broken boot loader

Just some examples, because I doubt someone would have the time maintain the whole Wiki.

madhatter · 2008-02-16 13:16:23

Why not just an MediaWiki-Plugin like http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Pdf_Export ?

Last edited by madhatter (2008-02-16 13:16:39)

SpookyET · 2008-02-16 13:41:30

Personally, I do not for the format as long as I can search it with Beagle. I just want it locally for when I do not have WiFi.

lilsirecho · 2008-03-07 00:32:25

I have a reverse question.

Given that I have prepared a wiki and it is in pdf format, I would enjoy not having to reenter all of the detailed info in the sandbox. After trying to upload a pdf, I felt unnerved by the report that only sysops can do that.

So I need a sysop to perform the upload. I will be happy to transfer the pdf file to any sysop willing to put it in the sandbox.

Next, I have no clue from the wiki tutorial how to use the sandbox wherein I can have others tear my wiki to pieces without first reading it and understanding it completely. I haven't a clue as to how to start a sandbox even though I have registered and approached the box from the tutorial.

I do feel stupid when trying to follow the instructions and find myself on the outside with no recourse.

Any help for this old man?

lilsirecho · 2008-03-07 01:05:25

Perhaps a user cannot install a pdf complete description of a wiki file by any means whatsoever?

Arch Linux

#1 2008-02-04 05:21:59

Wiki pdfs

#2 2008-02-04 13:01:27

Re: Wiki pdfs

#3 2008-02-04 16:23:56

Re: Wiki pdfs

#4 2008-02-08 19:20:38

Re: Wiki pdfs

#5 2008-02-08 19:48:00

Re: Wiki pdfs

#6 2008-02-08 22:27:21

Re: Wiki pdfs

#7 2008-02-08 22:52:03

Re: Wiki pdfs

#8 2008-02-09 00:30:45

Re: Wiki pdfs

#9 2008-02-09 01:03:26

Re: Wiki pdfs

#10 2008-02-09 01:49:07

Re: Wiki pdfs

#11 2008-02-10 15:36:10

Re: Wiki pdfs

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Re: Wiki pdfs

#13 2008-02-10 16:17:37

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Re: Wiki pdfs

#16 2008-02-14 22:16:25

Re: Wiki pdfs

#17 2008-02-15 13:35:21

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#18 2008-02-15 14:13:56

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#19 2008-02-15 14:43:15

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Re: Wiki pdfs

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Re: Wiki pdfs

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