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Topic |
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Fedorenko
Junior Member
Australia
463 Posts |
 Posted - 28 Dec 2003 : 04:00:04
Well, I have been thinking long and hard on the idea of the book (even thinking during work, which lost me sales, that got me fired,that makes me now work at mcdonalds in order to apy for teh ridiculasly expensive oboe reeds) and I have made some ridiculasly limited progress.First off, I have decided to actually do it. Second, I want to 'puublish' the book myself, so make each one individually. Third, it is going to be full colour (once I get closer to an end product Ill get myself a kick ass colour laser laser printer, paid by the pile of pennies I get from working). Fourth, it will be ONE book. Not a set of books, but one, huge-ass book. Hansomly bound in a leather cover. Heck, I expect to sell.....mabye 3 books, but OSs is something I enjoyed (for some strange reason), so its a labour of love. Now, the book itself will be like a dictionary, therefore, alphabetical. Lets say you were looking for SMSQ/E, you would go to the S section, and start a lookin. When you got to it, the first section of the entry will be a unified pane of information (release date, platform, what has superceeded it, so on) and then the the information about its uses, development, tips, hints, tricks. Pretty much, it will be large, very very very large. Now, when am I aiming to finished this bastard by. Well, taking into account next year (year 12), I will have a full year to wrok on it in 2005 (I am having a gap between 12 and Uni, either doing minimal wrok, or doing an exchange thing to German or Russia) so lets say I want to get it finished by early 2006. Hey, some of you will think thats a ridiculasly long time for a book, but getting the information for the OSs I know off the top of my head will take a while, let alone the incredibly obscure ones. And for you doubthers, here is a list that I can think of right now in my sleep deprived state  : RISC OS, AmigaOS, MorphOS, Windows, MacOS, Linux, eComstaiton, TOS, MiNT, SMSQ/E, QLDOS, DOS, NewtonOS, SYymbian, HURD, BeOS, MagiC...thats enough for now. Now...does anyone have any sugestions to point out taht could be of benefit to me before I imbark on this adventure  Good ideas usually are created by crazy people, go figure... |
wisof
Junior Member
USA
257 Posts |
Posted - 28 Dec 2003 : 10:11:12
this is an ambitious journey. I have made a few books myself for various portfolios. It can be tough and expensive. I do not doubt your ability to do this, but maybe you should organize it, and see where other people might fit in. I know you are in the though phase of this right now. But move a little into the organizing phase, and set requirements for all OSs. Like what is it that you want to cover about All OSs? Then maybe find some people to help you out with specific OSs. Then you become the Editor, as well as an author. Good luck!_____________________________________________
I have a problem with vintage electronics. . .I am working on it. Performa 630CD,Performa637CD,Centris 610,Quadra 630,Quadra 950,Quadra 605,SE,8500/180,G3,Giant 80mb SCSI HD,Giant 100mb SCSI HD |
MacTO
New Member
Canada
60 Posts |
Posted - 28 Dec 2003 : 12:47:59
I would suggest looking at the "Encyclopedia of Computer Science,"
which is published by van Nostrand Reinhold. It sounds like they
have a similar format, and it may give you some ideas as to how to
put your tome together. It would also provide some intial research
material, but it is nowhere as ambitous about operating systems as
your book will be. (I hope!)You have a great idea and wish you all the luck. Just reserve the
second copy for me.
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cory5412
68KMLA Comrade-in-Arms
USA
4679 Posts |
Posted - 28 Dec 2003 : 14:30:37
If MacTO gets the second copy, I'll buy either the first, or the second and I have a few OS' laying around here, If you need any information, or screenshots, or like Wisof said, someone to help out a bit, I might be able to Official 68k videographer
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Fedorenko
Junior Member
Australia
463 Posts |
Posted - 29 Dec 2003 : 04:33:39
Thanks for the feedback. All very helpful about what I need to think about. Now soome specific responces to some ideas: quote:
and set requirements for all OSs
Obviously I dont want to cover every single point release of an OS, so while those releases will be included, only major code revisions will be heavily documentated. For example MacOS 1 to 7, MacOS 8 to 9, MacOS X, Windows 95, Windows NT so on. quote:
Like what is it that you want to cover about All OSs?
Very good question. Well I have bitten the bullet, and have decided to document the OS itself, not its comapny history or platform. Every OS in the book I want to have in-depth history of its development, its influence on the market, its uses by the market, screnshots (in the case of OSs with GUI) showing its interfaces of its menus, applications ect, ect. I want iit to have an interview tih a developer of OSs where possible and a compresses infromation section regarding how to use, tips and stuff. But compressed as much as possible. Think of the hints section as a survival guide to the OS. quote:
Then maybe find some people to help you out with specific OSs
There is no question that I am goign to ahev to part out alot of the work to otehr people, namely because I dont own most of the systems to run the OSs. And since I want specific screenshots (one blank with only teh desktop, one with the menues open, one with a text editor open), in order to show the interface. And the hints section is hevily reliant on the external contributors. Still, I want the screenshots and the hint section to eb the only parts written by external people. I am more than happy to recieve information adn help from others for the rest, and I will give them credit for them in teh book, but yeh, I want this to be mainly a fedorenko effort And I will need someoen to check my spelling quote:
I would suggest looking at the "Encyclopedia of Computer Science,"
which is published by van Nostrand Reinhold. It sounds like they
have a similar format, and it may give you some ideas as to how to
put your tome together.
Ill go looking for that, thanks. quote:
but it is nowhere as ambitous about operating systems as
your book will be
Hell no, my book is going to ahve a crazy amount of information, and will positively kick ass  quote:
If MacTO gets the second copy, I'll buy either the first, or the second
Please people, no pushing. There are plenty of books for all. No just pull out your money (and considerable amoutns of it may I add, it wont be cheap) and Ill sort out the ordering. I can see the book now. When looking at it all you can see is an A4 book, then you look at it from the side and you see how ridiculasly thickit is. With its wonderful leather cover with black and green leather inserts. And its imaginatevely named title in gold lettering......'Operating Sysmtes' Good ideas usually are created by crazy people, go figure... |
cory5412
68KMLA Comrade-in-Arms
USA
4679 Posts |
Posted - 29 Dec 2003 : 21:10:05
OH OH OH!PICK ME!!! I'm a great spelling checker!  Official 68k videographer
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Editor of the MLAgazine
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Fedorenko
Junior Member
Australia
463 Posts |
Posted - 30 Dec 2003 : 03:41:56
I havent seen you make a spelling mistake...ever, so your hired.I would like to note that they arnt really spelling mistakes, just my really strange typing style UPDATE: I have only been doing some concept and planning work right now on the book. I hope Ill be able to rig up a page tommorrow with no content just to show you all what I am thinking visually. Tommorrow will also be the start of me saving every page off the internet I can find about certain os's development, which Ill sort and print out as time passes. And Ill start going roudn to some libaries to get books, and stuff. And im going to try and find a really cheapo second hand laser so I can print everyhting out easily. No need to burn cash on the good quality laser now when I can just wait till i need it. Also, I am planning to do an interview/profile of the people taht do the specific OS hint section, to break up teh book and make it not only as a referecne, but enjoyable to read. And to make the people feal special Good ideas usually are created by crazy people, go figure... |
Alien
Junior Member
Netherlands
269 Posts |
Posted - 30 Dec 2003 : 04:18:48
quote:
[...] only major code revisions will be heavily documentated. For example MacOS 1 to 7, MacOS 8 to 9, [...]
I'd make that 1-6 and 7-9. System 7 was a major overhaul of the Mac OS. 8 was originally slated to be called 7.7, and 8.1-9.2 are all basically still System 7 at their core. ,xtG
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Fedorenko
Junior Member
Australia
463 Posts |
Posted - 30 Dec 2003 : 04:22:09
Rightio then. Thanks AlienGood ideas usually are created by crazy people, go figure... |
cory5412
68KMLA Comrade-in-Arms
USA
4679 Posts |
Posted - 30 Dec 2003 : 04:48:42
LOL, I'm sure I've made a spelling mistake somewhere on the forums, but now I'm definitely on the watch (/me is thinking to self: "ok, he hasn't seen one yet, don't let him see one now!")Yeah, sometimes I type things weird, one of my favorite mistakes to make is to say "AOSL" instead of "ALSO" I'm sure that you're going to be doing the tips for most of the really good and fun OSs huh? darn, /me snaps finders. I'll have to find something *really* obscure (Like the Windows NT 5.0 beta2!!!) Official 68k videographer
Official MLA TourGuide
Editor of the MLAgazine
"I'm just a normal computer geek who somehow landed a social life" |
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My Crazy 'Every Operating System Documented' book
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