??? 03/06/10 00:20 Read: times Msg Score: +2 +2 Good Question |
#173896 - Has any effort gone into documentation? Responding to: ???'s previous message |
I've found, over the years, that open-source materials generally have lots of information about hot-rodding, installation, configuration, modification, etc. A simple, clear, concise user-manual is often among the missing.
I've yet to see a document that actually tells you how to use LINUX, for example, yet there are terabytes of info about how to make it do this or that, yet nothing to tell you the basics about how to make it do useful work. Example ... (re: LINUX) ... I recently had a colleague set up a LINUX box for me. Purpose: Run the XILINX ISE software under LINUX. Result: There's no doc on how to adjust the display configuration so it can operate in native mode for the LCD monitor I use. Further, there's no way to determine how to get the OS configured back to the way what little doc exists says it should. It's the same way with SDCC. There are volumes dealing with various installation/configuration options, yet not one that clearly tells you how to use SDCC in order to produce useable output, simulate it, and install it in your target environment without clobbering you with countless configuration options. Yes, open-source stuff needs to be installed and, sometimes, further configured, particularly under LINUX, but why does that have to take up 999 pages of the 1000-page user guide? Why can't they be segregated? I only need to configure it once. I need a thorough and complete user guide every day. RE |