should we create an OS development magazine?

01000101 · Post by **01000101** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 9:52 am

I am split on the issue of tutorials in the e-zine.

One one hand, tutorials are a great way of going in depth on certain topics. They provide a good way of encouraging people to actually get a working product, then they can go back and hack away at it to their liking with the knowledge learned from the basic implementation in the tutorial.

On the other hand, tutorials tend to put people on the beaten path and told to follow it. This usually ends in deadlock where they get to a point where the developer can no longer rely on other people's tutorials to continue.

I am in complete favor of giving abstraction as a form of tutorials to allow the developer to leave the beaten path and venture into the wild to discover their own way of doing things, but I still think we should supply some form of tutorial as they are an immense help for the not-so-advanced OS devers (the higher-level devers).

Maybe we could leave a small space for basic step-by-step tutorials for the "easier" things in OS development, and then leave a small space for abstraction/theory for the more untouched areas of OS development or the harder aspects.

I would NOT agree with doing a tutorial for things such as task managment or interrupt handlers as they will without-a-doubt push someone down a path that they probably wont leave.

piranha · Post by **piranha** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 11:03 am

We should include theory and new ideas, not clones of old ones.

If there is an implementation of something, then put the old way, but also come up with a newer way to do it.

@Solar: Would there seriously be emails? I could answer them, if no one else is interested.

-JL

senaus · Post by **senaus** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 9:50 pm

For the name: 'System Call'.

Solar · Post by **Solar** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 10:54 pm

piranha wrote:@Solar: Would there seriously be emails?

How do you intend to handle feedback if you don't offer a contact address?

01000101 · Post by **01000101** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 12:45 am

Indeed, and from the looks of it, feedback will be in abundance judging from the already 6-pages of pre-production feedback.

Zacariaz · Post by **Zacariaz** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 7:39 am

I don't believe that feedback will be to great a challence. OF course, if the magazine proves a succes, there will be a lot of feedback, but if categorized and managed correctly i believe that a few people could easily do it, that is some of them who actually have the experience of course.

Solar · Post by **Solar** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 8:17 am

Don't expect too much in the line of feedback. One person should be easily able to handle it. But you need that person, and ideally the same person across all issues...

01000101 · Post by **01000101** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 11:57 am

We still need to figure out a method of getting a team together.
Actually, we need to define what roles need to be fulfilled for this to work and then im sure people will volunteer accordingly.

Zacariaz · Post by **Zacariaz** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 12:30 pm

before "we" can deside what roales are needed, we need to define what the contents of the magazine will be excactly. For now the only roles i can figure out is:
1. Editor in chief whom are responsible for making the final desisions, setting a deadline and making sure it is kept, and so on an so forth.
2. An expert to handle the responce, someone who has a great deal of knowledge and experience, but allso is able to find answer in case he/she haven't got them or isn't sure.
3. Probably someone who is good with graphics. It might seem that it asn't important, but it is.
4. Web site administrator and caretaker. Of corse someone with some experience with html/php/mysql/design

I could probably make more up, but this is just an example. The point being that they do not make of the crew of a magazine, so who is missing? Well, someone has to write the articles, but i imagine that this will be more or less volentary and people will the selv contact the editor and make a proposal. Then someone has to deside if the contents are correct, spellcheck, and so forth.

Now we actally have a magazine, but it is just a bunch of articles, which may, or may not, be of interest to you.

What is missing is the small things you don't really need to know, but is still interesting in one way or another, maybe some stuff which have nothing to do find the other contents of the magazine. Someone has to come up with idea, and it wont be me cause i have no imagination.

I reallize now that i have written far to much, but i'll just let it be anyway and get back to my first point.

I dont think the contents of the magazine is defined in full, thus it will be somewhat complicated putting together a full crew.

Other issues allso needs resolvement, like hosting, name of the magazine. We allready have hosts availible, but a descision hasn't been made, and the same thing goes for the name and probably other thing too.

I propose starting a new topic and making it clear what the imidiate problems are and that anything else that possible solutions belongs here instead.

wow, sometimes i just go on and on... Im gonna stop now... no now!

jerryleecooper · Post by **jerryleecooper** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 12:51 pm

We need action, and starting writing articles. Sonner the creators of the magazine knows theirs roles, sooner we can produce. I started a new thread for that, from your idea of starting a new thread, zacariaz. This thread we are in be a place to develop further the magazine, it is the root node of the whole thing after all.

jerryleecooper · Post by **jerryleecooper** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 1:07 pm

About choosing a name for the magazine. It can be that each issue has a different name, or the team making the magazine has its own name,
We can make a poll with the best names to see what is preferred?

lukem95 · Post by **lukem95** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 1:17 pm

we should have a suggestions, and then a voting topic for the name.

also i think the magazine should be in pdf, as with the right program you can make it look very neat (and professional) which is much easier on the eyes, and more printable than a handful of web pages

Alboin · Post by **Alboin** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 1:19 pm

jerryleecooper wrote:About choosing a name for the magazine. It can be that each issue has a different name, or the team making the magazine has its own name,
We can make a poll with the best names to see what is preferred?

I propose that we have no name whatsoever.

As stated above, there are more important issues anyway.

01000101 · Post by **01000101** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 1:41 pm

I like the OSDev weekly because we are forming the idea on OSDev.org... and it can be monthly weekly daily whatever, just a thought.

I will volunteer as a site builder as I have 3 years experience with HTML/PHP/ASP.NET/MySQL. I have built a few commercial websites for local resteraunts as well as a few computer stores around here.

jerryleecooper · Post by **jerryleecooper** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 2:42 pm

I propose we all start writing article to make issue #0 of the magazine, it will be like a pilot test, to see what it is to work together making a magazine. We will take the articles and decide for an editor for issue #1, I propose.

For the articles of the first issue, issue #0, we all write about what we want, the proofreading editing etc will be done starting issue #1
What do you think of that?
That we define what we need for the magazine as we make it?