Lazarus Documentation - Lets get it together

[jginiso]

Based on the number of posts alot of us are using Lazarus as our front end. While at the same time some of us are finding it difficult to get Lazarus set up correctly on our machines.  The continued development of Lazarus has outpaced the original docs. Although these docs were helpful, they can be a little confusing which is understandable since they were written from the perspective of someone with an intimate knowledge of the program and for a version 1.0. I would like to update the docs for versions 4, 4.5 beta, and beyond including emu configuration examples, sample dat files, etc. Is the community interested in this project? Would they be willing to share their information? If the answer is yes, I am willing to coordinate the effort, work with Howard and the community, and write the docs. I will also contribute my setup information if I can get Lazarus setup correctly If anyone is interested please let me know. Thanks.

[Howard_Casto]

ok don't mean to burst your bubble but here is the deal......

First off pretty much the only person with enough knowledge of how Lazarus works is me.  This is the case for any program as only the programmer's know it's internals.  

Secondly if history serves as any indication you won't get any help.  Although people often say they will help here, it's a far cry from actually committing to help.  I hate to be sinical, because I'm sure everyone has good intentions, but you can hardly get any real help with such projects around here.   At least that's what's happened to me in the past.  
(With two or three people as SUPER exceptions, thanks guys  )

Third the lazarus documentation is very much complete.  There is a out-dated paragraph here and there, but everything you need to know is right there.  I hate to sound cold hearted, but if you can't understand it then it's your problem.  I "idiot tested" the original docs on several people who had no knowledge of how lazarus works and they all managed to set it up properly.  Although they had a question from time to time, pretty much once they got the hang of it they were ok.  It's becoming a rather expansive program and there isn't a "quick fix" on how to set it up.  

However, if you see a mistake in the docs, and know that it's done differently now, write up a snippet to replace the old info with and send it to me along with the portion that it would replace.  That's pretty much the only way anyone could help.  Even then all it does is bring it to my attention as I still have to check their submitted info.  

Third party, more "user friendly", setup guides are always welcomed and I'll be glad to link to them and if reccomend them if I think they are helpful, but every single word of the official documentation will have to be written or verified by myself.  

Quite frankly I HATE doing documentation and it's ALWAYS going to be slightly out of date.  Don't take this as a mean posting, but just be glad that I've taken the time to make such a large readme.

Just be patient and when I am super bored I might just update a bunch of stuff.    

[jginiso]

I read your other post about usability and expecting people to work to set up their front end and I dont have a problem with that. When I posted I thought this project would benefit you as well as the community. Revisiting the docs and centralizing all of the little tidbits of info in these posts would help reduce the number of recurring posts and offload some of the troubleshooting from you. I also think you described 90% of the people who post on this board, myself included. Ive got Lazarus up and running but despite reading and following the docs some parts are not working correctly. I know the configurations I am struggling with have been addressed on this board somewhere at sometime. The readme you provided was helpful and appreciated, but if it can be improved then I dont see why  the community, with your blessing,  shoudnt try to improve it.

[)p(]

Ive got Lazarus up and running but despite reading and following the docs some parts are not working correctly. I know the configurations I am struggling with have been addressed on this board somewhere at sometime.

Personally i found setting up lazarus very easy...but then it's structure is very similar to mine  


peter

[Howard_Casto]

As I said, third party aids are welcomed, but they won't be included in the offical doc.

Also it might benefit YOU, but not me.  I will always get countless questions because some people simply have trouble with software and technology in general.  Updating the docs would only mean more work for me, which I don't have the time or desire to do right now.  

What your not understanding is I have to check it because thinking you know something about a program and actually knowing it are two different things. I'm not opposed but I dont' have the time to go over docs right now.