Prime Time Freeware is pleased to announce the DOSSIER series of
topical document collections for Free and Open Source software. Each
volume covers a given subtopic (e.g., "Email: Exim 3"), including a
variety of documents (articles, man pages, papers, READMEs, ...).
DOSSIER provides diverse and timely coverage, using mechanized editing,
demand printing, and Internet-based ordering. As Peter Salus says in
The Bookworm (:login; February, 2002):
Rich Morin has begun a wonderful series, called DOSSIER
[= Documenting Open Source Software for Industry, Education,
and Research]. Rich has collected documents, placed them
into a straightforward taxonomy, and printed them in handy
400 page volumes. I spent several hours reading in the
Email: Mail and Sendmail volume. (There's also an Email:
Exim 3 volume.) It's just great! There are File Systems,
Kernel, and Text volumes, three PostgreSQL volumes, and two
Python volumes. They run just over $40 each, including
postage. A bargain.
Collect 'em all from: www.ptf.com/dossier.
Great idea, Rich.
A bargain, indeed. Many administrators and programmers would love to
have convenient sets of printed documentation, but few of us have the
time to keep them up to date. So, we "get by" with online
versions,
supplemented by locally-printed copies.
Unfortunately, online access has some failings. The resolution is low;
the viewing angle is often hard to adjust, manipulation can be difficult,
and annotation can be impossible. Printed volumes, with a millennium or
so of interface design and testing, have undeniable merits.
When you need to understand a complex package or topic, a relevant
document collection can be an invaluable resource. Having it arrive at
the touch of a button, at a reasonable price, is magic indeed.
DOSSIER volumes and sets may be purchased at BSDMall (www.bsdmall.com);
general information is available at www.ptf.com/dossier. An overview of
the motivation and rationale for DOSSIER may be found in
DOSSIER and the Meta Project (Part 1)
www.daemonnews.org/200201/meta.html
--
email: rdm@cfcl.com; phone: +1 650-873-7841
http://www.cfcl.com/rdm - my home page, resume, etc.
http://www.cfcl.com/Meta - The FreeBSD Browser, Meta Project, etc.
http://www.ptf.com/dossier - Prime Time Freeware's DOSSIER series
http://www.ptf.com/tdc - Prime Time Freeware's Darwin Collection
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