On Fri, 2008-06-06 at 14:38 +1000, Alasdair McAndrew wrote:
> Aside from killing flies and spiders, I don't think a printed manual
> of nearly 900 pages, most filled with console output, is of much use.
Some people have expressed in this lists their interest in having a
printed version for better purposes than killing flies :)
Since it doesn't cost anything to have our current PDF file published on
demand, I'm going to go ahead and publish it. The only extra work
implied has been that we've had to sort out the copyright of the manual,
which is tedious, but will be a benefit for the project independently of
the publication process.
While pursuing this task, I've also realized that the price per page for
the printed on demand manuals (0.02 euro) is half of what I currently
pay here for printing; therefore, I have already ordered some manuals
that I already had in PDF, and I will order a few copies of the Maxima
Manual when it is available; even if it becomes obsolete quickly, it
would be nice to show it to the audience next time I do a public
presentation on Maxima.
> I would much rather see a really good introductory book on Maxima
> being written, along the lines of "The Maxima Book" but written from
> scratch to take into account current versions of the software. I also
> think such a book would be very warmly received. ?
> If this was to become a team effort, I would be happy to be involved.
There are some very fine manuals being written. You can join one of them
or start a new one. In my view, it would be nice to have several books
available, from different perspectives and for different levels.
Publishing the reference manual can be a starting point to encourage
other to publish.
Regards,
Jaime