Is there a place to buy the handbook?

Message

swirling_vortex · Post by **swirling_vortex** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 6:17 pm

After not being into Gentoo for a while, I've decided to look at the handbook again and it really does make a handy reference. However, I would prefer having a hard copy so that I always have it on hand. Is there a place that produces hard copies?

Otherwise, I'll have to get to my university early and use all of their paper.

vad3r · Post by **vad3r** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 6:32 pm

I don't think theres a hardcopy so far. Print it out...

MichaelMH · Post by **MichaelMH** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 12:40 pm

Do you know I think would be a really cool way to raise money for gentoo?

Well, hows about some fella compiles a collection of all the good and most commonly used gentoo documentation from gentoo.org and gentoo-wiki, get permission from all the authors to print it and then sell it on the gentoo store.

I've come across some websites that allow you to produce books at little cost like what cafe press does for shirts and stuff. Can't remember exactly what it is, just remember some guy I know published some of his comics that way.

BitJam · Post by **BitJam** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 2:15 pm

The problem with a hard-copy version is that portions of it will become outdated.

vad3r · Post by **vad3r** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 2:24 pm

Having them online available is the better approach. You still can print it out if you have to.

gringo · Post by **gringo** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 2:36 pm

just in case no one realised : wrobel wrote a book (in german) about gentoo´s installation and administration ( among other stuff).

cheers

NathanZachary · Post by **NathanZachary** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 5:13 am

I agree that having a hardcopy of the handbook is nice, but I also agree that it rapidly becomes outdated. I printed out a full copy of the handbook a while back, and within a few weeks I found things that had been changed. While it's a great idea to have a hardcopy, I think your best bet is to just print out what you need.

OmSai · Post by **OmSai** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 6:11 am

This discussion will be obsolete once those Amazon kindles and Sony whatevers catch on.

NathanZachary · Post by **NathanZachary** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 4:41 pm

That Amazon Kindle thing is really neat, but not at the current cost.

avx · Post by **avx** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 8:44 pm

Well, I'd also like to have the book, but I'd really like to have a complete boxed-version(like openSUSE for example). Best would be some pre-labeled cd-/dvd-rws, so you could always have the newest version on a shiny disk.

Sure, the handbook maybe outdated quite quick, but at least for me it doesn't matter. Debian has a nice "community box" with all their dvds, the handbook, tshirt and an usb-stick with a live-version. It's about 80€ here in germany, but it would be worth it, if it would be gentoo.

In my eyes, Gentoo has no real merchandise in my eyes(cafepress-stuff is crappy imho), OpenBSD goes the right way, if you'd ask me.

djdunn · Post by **djdunn** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 4:37 pm

new merchandise would be nice.

gentoo in a box... eh... im not so sure about that.

Gentoo was never about releases or whatnot that the other "box" distributions can easily market.

avx · Post by **avx** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 5:29 pm

For me it's not about releases, that's why I want blank dvd-rw/cd-rw included, but I'd like to have a nice box sitting somewhere on my desk or elsewhere. Something I can put all my gentoo-stuff in, i.e. printed guides, flyers or what ever one can think off.

I contacted a local firm and asked about prices for custom-build boxes, but that's just not affordable, if you've only need one or two. I think something like that would make a nice present for the local nerd down the road or an all-in-one package for people willing to switch from $os to gentoo. I know a lot of people who are willing to read, but they prefer books, even if they are slightly outdated.

I don't believe something like that will happen any time soon, but the hope dies last

ColeSlaw · Post by **ColeSlaw** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 6:50 pm

Don't places like Kinkos, etc, print out large documents for a price? I'm sure they could bind it and everything. We have a local place around here that I've used to print online manuals before, when I wanted them in a "book" version.

casty23 · Post by **casty23** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 7:08 pm

ColeSlaw wrote:Don't places like Kinkos, etc, print out large documents for a price? I'm sure they could bind it and everything. We have a local place around here that I've used to print online manuals before, when I wanted them in a "book" version.

Might as well use your own printer then instead of kinkos.

ColeSlaw · Post by **ColeSlaw** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 4:11 pm

Sometimes I like Kinkos if you are printing a big document and want nicer paper and binding, but to each their own.

d2_racing · Post by **d2_racing** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 6:00 pm

BitJam wrote:The problem with a hard-copy version is that portions of it will become outdated.

In fact, this is the biggest problem will all the documentation.

Syntaxis · Post by **Syntaxis** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 3:32 pm

ph030 wrote:Debian has a nice "community box" with all their dvds, the handbook, tshirt and an usb-stick with a live-version. It's about 80€ here in germany, but it would be worth it, if it would be gentoo.

Amusingly enough, it would actually be illegal for the vendor to offer an equivalent "community box" for Gentoo. Check out the Gentoo logo usage guidelines - among other things, they state that only the official Gentoo store may sell t-shirts.

Debian's Open Use logo, on the other hand, allows its use in pretty much any context, commercial or not. That's because the Debian project doesn't sell any CDs or merchandise itself. Conversely, Gentoo deliberately make it as difficult as possible for anyone else to sell Gentoo stuff - makes sense, since they want to maximise the profits of the Gentoo store.

avx · Post by **avx** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 5:57 pm

True, but - sorry - the gentoo store sucks bigtime imho. CDs from 2006? I mean, come on, 2008.0 is on the way. Besides, some shirts and caps, typicall cafepress-stuff, nothing special

wim-x · Post by **wim-x** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 12:31 pm

BitJam wrote:The problem with a hard-copy version is that portions of it will become outdated.

Books (not novels) will almost always become outdated. The contents of the book have to stable in order to maximize usefulness over time.

In academic work, books represent knowledge that is more longterm and validated while research papers represent cutting edge knowledge for a certain topic. After some time, the portions of those papers which have become "standard", will be combined into books.

Another analogy could be a versioning system where books are the stable releases (versions 1.0, 2.0 etc.) and online documentation are updates, erratas, and patches for that knowledge.

Some parts of the Gentoo documentation have probably (haven't checked that) been very stable for some time. Stable enough the warrant some sort of book. Large parts of the Handbook including working with Portage and Gentoo (and in different languages), Philosophy and Social Contract.

And even if the documentation changes for each release, a book could be published each year for each release.

d2_racing · Post by **d2_racing** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 3:22 pm

wim-x wrote:And even if the documentation changes for each release, a book could be published each year for each release.

In fact, I would buy one of theses just to help the Gentoo project.