Re: Books (was Re: tlug: TLUG Finances)

[Jonathan Byrne - 3Web <jq@example.com>]

On Fri, 16 Oct 1998, Totoro wrote:

>Is there any difference between the ps file (free) and the book
>Maximum RPM? Otherwise just d/l it and print it up. If there are

One I can think of is that the book is nicely bound and is easy to deal with,
whereas the PS file will get you hundreds of looseleaf pages that you have to
punch holes in and put into multiple binders, and then some of them will tear
out of the binders every so often, unless you put them in those plastic sheet
binders.  Then you wind up with a Maximum Maximum RPM that's half a meter high
and weighs about 10 kilos :-)  Maximum RPM is a *big* book, and we can avoid a
lot of PITA factor by buying a bound copy.  With big books like this, I think
the cost-effectiveness of printing them out is also marginal.

That's why I've yet to attempt printing the GIMP manual - it's 600 pages!  I'm
waiting for the book to come out, and I'll buy it for myself whether or not
TLUG also buys one.

As long as we're talking shopping spree here, I was also thinking that we
might want to get the Samba book for the library :-)

I'm really glad to be getting some feedback on books all of a sudden.  So much
of the library material is old and outdated, and K've really been thinking
that we need to get some modern stuff, so it's good to hear from people.

I'm also wondering if we shouldn't remove some of the stuff from 95 and 96
from the regular circulation and just leave it in a "library archive" box or
something.  A great deal of it is pretty obsolete and could really get a
newcomer off to the wrong foot on Linux if she/he happened to check it out
from the library.  Ditto for some of the ancient distributions.  Even if
somebody installed one of those, any recent software they added to it would
be in danger of failing depencies, there's a lot less hardware support,
security holes that aren't fixed, etc.  Opinions on this?

Jonathan Byrne
Media and Content Section
3Web - Your Internet Solution! <URL:http://www.threeweb.ad.jp/index.en.html>
3Web Channel <URL: http://www.3web.co.jp/index.en.html>

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