Any body have info on the new Slackware book 3.0? The version out there now seems very dated. (Gnome is still mentioned and kde 3.5) Thanks for anybody who has info.

The latest news on this is very outdated too. Here it is:

http://hackerpublicradio.org/eps.php?id=0390

I believe the Slackware Essentials book is released under GPL. Any one of us could take it and upgrade it to version 3. I have the writing skills, but don't have the in depth Slackware knowledge like Alien Bob or Robbie Workman or others here. I wish I did. I'd love to contribute to Slackware in some way. If someone wants to tackle an update of Slackware Essentials and needs writing/editing help, give me a holler.

2 members found this post helpful.

Hi,

You might want to contact '+Alan Hicks+' as he is rewriting the SlackBook to Rev 3. Last I heard was http://hackerpublicradio.org/eps.php?id=0390 that Dugan provided above, my links: Slackware® Linux Essentials Official Guide + 'Hacker Public Radio Interview with Alan Hicks Hosted by klaatu on 2009-06-29'. I personally contacted Alan and did not get a response. He recently posted here on LQ. I queried in that thread for status and got no response. No idea what's going on with the Book now.

Good Luck!

1 members found this post helpful.

Thanks, onebuck. I guess we'll just see what happens. I'm sure Alan Hicks has a busy real life, like most of us.

Yeah, it might be a good idea to put up a publically editable wiki version...

That has possibilities.

Of course, Alien Bob has a good start already with his own wiki --> http://alien.slackbook.org/dokuwiki/doku.php

1 members found this post helpful.

I guess writing a good book is a lot of work and there's other priorities but it's too bad they don't have a more up to date one. That was kind of my main motivation to buy Slack 12.0 was to get disc/book package. I know you can find all the info online but it's kind of cool to have the official book, especially when you first start. And I don't think the last book had anything in it about RAID. I know it's online but it would just be cool to have all that setup info in one place.

perhaps somebody can get Alan to release the pre-beta version since the beta never made it online I'm sure more would be willing to contribute if they didn't have to do a complete update from 2.0 to 3.0... Or if they had the docbook source available.

I guess it is out of the question for just anybody to put up the slackware-book on a wiki for readers to update on the fly.

To have a real book, which is up to date would be cool indeed.
But on the other hand, the real book will be outdated again soon.
Therefore I would like to have a book online which can be edited by "everyone", so that it could be up to date all the time.
But I would like to have it in a form like a book (i.e. like the FreeBSD Handbook), instead of having just unsorted articles or topics like a "normal" wiki.
If the writers would follow some conventions (which would have to be defined before), it would eventually be possible to do a snapshot at the time of a slackware release and make a printed version out of it.
I also think that the book has not to be completely written from scratch. There are a lot of good articles and documentation available on the net. In my eyes the real work would be to collect it (with the okay from the original author of course) and put it together in a reasonable order and form.

slackbook like slackware-current is rolling release!! so can't say when slackbook3 will release.
I contacted Alan Hicks : When the book is released? , he told me : When it is ready!!

good luck

A real book, with ink on paper, can never be replaced by a digital version on a computerscreen: My honest en humble opinion.

Simple problems with a non printed version:
When was the last time you put notes on your computer screen?
How to have the pdf on your screen while installing?
Do you take your pc to bed with you?
How could you ever impress friends with an empty bookshelf, but with just a harddisk full of books?
Ever seen a signed version (by me, or Eric Hameleers ) of a eBook?

I did print out the 2.0 version in the past, but on A4 paper, without a proper cover, it really was a waste of paper. It never made it to the bookshelf, but the wastepaperbin was very happy with the bulk of pages.

Yes, a eBook reader will possibly be a solution to have a current version by hand.. but probability of the eBook taking over all printed books??


So yes please: Slackbook 3.0 (or 2.1?) to be bought,signed, stamped with 'ex-libris', written in, folded, slept-upon, and smashed some bugs with!

The ideal would be a real ink-on-paper book containing more or less unchanging stuff(?), and a updateable wiki with sections dedicated to each chapter of the book.

... and signed by Pat & the crew

The problem is that in computing some things go out of date relatively quickly.
Admittedly, a lot of slackware-related stuff have remained unchanged for a long time, but still, I am not sure I'd buy a printed version of such a book.

Arch has an excellent and up to date wiki. It'd be great to have something similar for Slackware. I am aware that Pat&Co are busy doing more important stuff, but we (ie. fellow slackers) could maintain it. Perhaps one of the Slackware maintainers could just approve the entries. IMO it would be a good way of contributing back to our favourite distro.

3 members found this post helpful.