Floss manuals
Encyclopedia
The FLOSS Manuals is a non-profit foundation founded in 2006 and based in the Netherlands
. The foundation is focused on the creation of quality documentation about how to use free software
.
Its web site is a wiki
(previously using the TWiki
software, now developed as an autonomous platform with Booki) focused on the collaborative authoring of manuals. The documentation is licensed under the GPL. Although initially the manuals were covered by the GFDL, the license was changed due to concerns about the limited and non-free nature of the GFDL.
Anyone can contribute to the material at FLOSS Manuals. Each manual has a maintainer – very much like the Debian
maintainer system. The maintainer keeps an overview of the manual and discuss with those interested the structure etc. The maintainer is also responsible for gathering new contributors together. All edits are not 'live' – the edits are published to the manual when ready. This is to ensure the quality of the manuals is as high and as reliable as possible and that no new user encounters 'half finished' content.
Manuals are available as HTML
online, or indexed PDF. Additionally manuals can be remixed so anyone can create their own manual and export to indexed PDF, HTML (ZIP/tar) or an 'Ajax' include.
In fall 2007, Floss manuals was awarded a 15,000 Euro prize by the Dutch Digital Pioneer fund. It has also been financially supported by Google
and NLnet
. FLOSS Manuals also received a Transmediale Award for its work on Booki and has also been featured in the Texas Linux Fest 2010.
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. The foundation is focused on the creation of quality documentation about how to use free software
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
.
Its web site is a wiki
Wiki
A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...
(previously using the TWiki
TWiki
TWiki is a Perl-based structured wiki application, typically used to run a collaboration platform, knowledge or document management system, a knowledge base, or team portal...
software, now developed as an autonomous platform with Booki) focused on the collaborative authoring of manuals. The documentation is licensed under the GPL. Although initially the manuals were covered by the GFDL, the license was changed due to concerns about the limited and non-free nature of the GFDL.
Anyone can contribute to the material at FLOSS Manuals. Each manual has a maintainer – very much like the Debian
Debian
Debian is a computer operating system composed of software packages released as free and open source software primarily under the GNU General Public License along with other free software licenses. Debian GNU/Linux, which includes the GNU OS tools and Linux kernel, is a popular and influential...
maintainer system. The maintainer keeps an overview of the manual and discuss with those interested the structure etc. The maintainer is also responsible for gathering new contributors together. All edits are not 'live' – the edits are published to the manual when ready. This is to ensure the quality of the manuals is as high and as reliable as possible and that no new user encounters 'half finished' content.
Manuals are available as HTML
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
online, or indexed PDF. Additionally manuals can be remixed so anyone can create their own manual and export to indexed PDF, HTML (ZIP/tar) or an 'Ajax' include.
In fall 2007, Floss manuals was awarded a 15,000 Euro prize by the Dutch Digital Pioneer fund. It has also been financially supported by Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
and NLnet
NLnet
NLnets history started in April 1982 with the announcement of a major initiative to develop and provide network services in Europe under the name EUnet.Stichting NLnet was formally established as a "stichting" in February 1989...
. FLOSS Manuals also received a Transmediale Award for its work on Booki and has also been featured in the Texas Linux Fest 2010.
List of manuals
FLOSS Manuals has manuals for all of the following.| Software | Manuals | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| CRM Customer relationship management Customer relationship management is a widely implemented strategy for managing a company’s interactions with customers, clients and sales prospects. It involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize business processes—principally sales activities, but also those for marketing,... |
CiviCRM | |
| Office | Firefox OpenOffice OpenOffice.org OpenOffice.org, commonly known as OOo or OpenOffice, is an open-source application suite whose main components are for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, and databases. OpenOffice is available for a number of different computer operating systems, is distributed as free software... |
|
| Digital signal processing | PureData | |
| File system | FSLint | |
| One laptop per child and sugar | Reading And Leading With One Laptop Per Child; Make Sugar Activities XO Write Terminal Chat Activity Browse Activity Record Activity Turtle Art Activity | |
| Free culture | Collaborative Futures | |
| CMS Content management system A content management system is a system providing a collection of procedures used to manage work flow in a collaborative environment. These procedures can be manual or computer-based... |
Newscoop Plumi | |
| Broadcasting | Airtime | |
| Internet freedom | How to Bypass Internet Censorship | |
| Translation | Open Translation Tools Video Subtitling | |
| Video | Theora Cookbook Kino AvideMux GTranscode ffmpeg2theora HandBrake | |
| Free network services | FLOSS Manuals Book Sprints Wikimedia Commons Archive.org | |
| Free software/open source | GSoC Mentoring | |
| Graphic design | Digital Foundations Alchemy Inkscape | |
| 3D Blender | ||
| HTML editing NvU | ||
| Blogging | WordPress WordPress WordPress is a free and open source blogging tool and publishing platform powered by PHP and MySQL. It is often customized into a content management system . It has many features including a plug-in architecture and a template system. WordPress is used by over 14.7% of Alexa Internet's "top 1... |
|
| Media players | MPlayer VLC Miro | |
| VOIP | Linphone | |
| File sharing | Azureus | |
| Streaming | MuSE M3W Icecast | |
| Video subtitling | Jubler | |
| GNU/Linux | GNU/Linux Command-line Intro. | |
| Audio editing | Ardour Audacity | |
| Csound Csound Csound is a computer programming language for dealing with sound, also known as a sound compiler or an audio programming language, or more precisely, a C-based audio DSL. It is called Csound because it is written in C, as opposed to some of its predecessors... |
csound |
External links
- FLOSS Manuals English Homepage
- Transmediale Awards
- Just Write Click
- Texas Linux Fest
- NetSquared
- NLNet
- Adam Hyde: Free Manuals for free software. Talk at WikimaniaWikimaniaWikimania is an annual international conference for users of the wiki projects operated by the Wikimedia Foundation...
2007, Taipei. Abstract