Chris wrote:

> See, here's the funny thing about the Handbook.  We can never please
> everybody.  The Handbook used to be a single document.  There were many
> problems with new users being confused by all of the choices presented
> to them in the Handbook, so the arch-specific items were moved into
> arch-specific files and the networkless Handbook was split from the
> networked Handbook.  Now people are talking about merging them again,
> which seems like a serious step backwards.
> 
> Why not just rename the "2007.0 Handbook" into the "2007.0 Networkless
> Installation Guide" or something similar?  After all, the versioned
> Handbooks are only good for the release they correspond to and it won't
> mean going back to having a single and confusing Handbook.  All that is
> really needed is a link to the networkless guide for people to follow if
> they're planning on a networkless install, assuming it isn't there
> already.

My position on why newbies have never been pleased with the Handbook in any of
its forms is that the Handbook was never designed specifically for Linux
newbies.  Since the content in the Handbook is not designed for Linux newbies,
it doesn't matter whether this content is placed into one large document or
split into separate documents, it is not going to meet their needs :-)

This is why I created a completely separate set of Gentoo Linux installation
instructions that are specifically designed for Linux newbies.  These materials
patiently explain what each step of the installation process is doing and why. 


The materials have already been tested with 25 high school students and they
represent a solid, proven solution to the Gentoo newbie problem that is ready
to use right now.

Anyway, here is a link to these materials again in case anyone is interested in
taking a closer them:

http://206.21.94.60/tkosan/distancelearning/etec150/lectures

Thanks :-)

Ted
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