17 Apr
2008
17 Apr
'08
6:34 p.m.
hollunder(a)gmx.at wrote:
On Thu, 17 Apr 2008 20:25:15 +0800
"Ray Rashif" <schivmeister(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Hi,
I think we should make some short of a *attitude change* or better,
*change of perspective*. If you are a good guitarist, it is often
difficult to learn a new student to play things... You expect that some
things are easy to pick up, but than you realize that somebody can't
make a
barre chord with his fingers, or doesn't know the (most used) finger
picking technique...
I've have worked on a secondary school with children, and then you learn
to change perspective. I've learned to say things or write things down
as if my brother of 10 has to do or read it. Same thing if you do an
experiment or make a questionnaire... don't do a pilot with your
classmates, but let somebody from 'outside' read it or do it first!
Same thing for Linux (audio). If you are a programmer or work daily (for
many hours) with linux (audio), everything seems to be
'Self-explanatory' But you should take in account that not everybody is
working with linux (audio) daily, and other people can have other styles
of learning...
So make a documentation and if you make it, do it like you write it for
your mother, little brother or whatever... And examples and pictures
will do a whole lot more then (computer!) language!
It would be nice if a couple of guys could write a documentation for
such a core app on linux, qjackctl.
Where to place it? On the qjackctl page and the linuxaudio.org page!
Kind regards,
Dirk
Posted the following in your other mail:
http://w3.linux-magazine.com/issue/67/JACK_Audio_Server.pdf
Let's take a look at what QJackCtl is, before we talk about its
documentation. Someone else in another related-mail mentioned that
the need for documentation isn't that much significant since the
application - or rather utility - is a rather straightforward one. It
is afterall, a front-end to the JACK server. It lets you manage
connections, execute commands/scripts alongside, set server options
with a GUI, and err..that's about it. Your best friend indeed, but
one whom you can understand easily, given the right attitude.
Start ==
Stop == " "
Messages == " " (jack-specific)
Status == " "
Connect == " "
Patchbay == " " (you could find out what it does by just checking it
out; experimenting)
Quit == You really need an explanation?
Setup == " "
Ok so we now take a look at Setup. Sure, things need to be explained
here. That's just what the above JACK document in PDF format does.
Other things which aren't brought into detail are fairly common
knowledge, or sense. Alright now try searching for this PDF file from
Google, that way we can gauge how difficult/easy it is to stumble
upon. True enough, there isn't anything else similar out there so we
can say "proper" documentation of the program is scarce. I really
like your stance on this issue and with more people like you this
particular lack of "professionalism" can definitely be nullified. Now
I'm inspired enough to do some writing too ;)
There could be other confusing elements, the user initially doesn't
necessarily know that start refers to the server, not the transport, if
he even knows that there is a transport, or a server that needs
starting.
It's all not hard once you know a few basics, but many new users appear
to have trouble. To find working settings appears to be the most common
one.
I agree that having a nice qjackctl documentation would be a good
thing, but where to display it? Where will it be found easily?
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