I am re-directing, (cloning!), the thread topic "Documentation" as a "Development" topic, (viewtopic.php?f=8&t=18341), to this location so that we can discuss this intelligently in the topic where it belongs. (Since the topic of the other thread has been granted by creating this sub-forum - thanks!)
stuart wrote in Mon Nov 19, 2012 1:22 pm:Hi Jim,
Welcome!
Having Documentation as a Development topic sounds like a great idea. I'll see what I can do to add it - I don't have permission myself.
I'm one of the maintainers of the official FlightGear Manual, which is distributed with each release. If you'd like to contribute to that you would be very welcome.
The source is in Latex. You can either download the source from gitorious (https://gitorious.org/fg/getstart) and compile it yourself, or just email me updates.
The other major source of documentation is the wiki (link at top of page).
-Stuart
Stuart,
Thanks! Giji has stepped in and is helping to move this along too.
Though I do a certain amount of work in Linux, (primarily file server configs, etc.), my favorite documentation tool is Word Perfect in Windows, if for no other reason than I know it well having used it for years. (. . . .and the fact that it is a pretty darn good "DTP" application doesn't hurt.) I'm not knocking LaTex, I just have not used it and, (at least for now), I would rather contribute something useful instead of banging my head against yet another writing tool.
Is there some common format that these two tools share, such as Rich Text, that we can use to collaborate effectively? (I don't think that WP can create LaTex "source" files, but I could be wrong - I'll have to go check.) It would be damn handy if I could produce output that you can import directly, and you likewise to me.
I also agree that the Flight Gear Manual is a great place for us to start. It's 99% of the way there, primarily needing updating, so this will be a good way for us to sync our efforts. We can tackle other, more daunting, projects later when we've gotten the kinks worked out.
Of course, the REAL "rock in the road" that I see is that we keep misspelling each others words. ( )
Ideas?
Thanks!
Jim (JR)