should we create an OS development magazine?

cyr1x · Post by **cyr1x** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 8:55 am

Then I would suggest OpenOffice.org.
* It runs on Windows, Linux, BSD, etc..
* Supports exporting to LaTeX, XHTML, PDF and even MediaWiki

Solar · Post by **Solar** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 9:12 am

Alboin wrote:EDIT: I wonder, could it be hosted here?

Now it starts getting real strange.

I know about the excitement when thinking about a shiny new project, but ask yourself: What would a magazine on OS development bring to OSDev.org that is not already covered by the forum and the Wiki?

And facing the facts, >75% of the OS-related traffic here is, essentially, programming / toolchain basics. Most of the really interesting discussions happened long ago, is my personal impression.

piranha · Post by **piranha** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 11:03 am

If you put somewhere where everyone can edit it (wiki?) then we wouldn't need an editor.....
Otherwise, people who want to be an editor say so here and then we all vote on who gets it.......I don't know.....just a thought.....

Edit: Solar has a point......
-JL

01000101 · Post by **01000101** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 1:48 pm

my question is "why not"?

why not try and put something more into the os development scene?

this could end up encouraging other software developers to shift over to this lower-level programming through interesting articles and tutorials.

JackScott · Post by **JackScott** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 2:33 pm

That's exactly why I said that OSDev was too small a scope.

Alboin · Post by **Alboin** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 2:36 pm

01000101 wrote:this could end up encouraging other software developers to shift over to this lower-level programming through interesting articles and tutorials.

Totally agree. I think one of our focuses should be to show high level programmers, who have no knowledge of anything beyond .NET, what programming is on a completely different level.

Instead of 'Amateur Computer Science', as Yayyak said, what about 'Low Level Computer Science'. I think this carries the same meaning that he intended, but is slightly more descriptive.

JackScott · Post by **JackScott** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 4:19 pm

It sounds like a great idea to me!

os.hacker64 · Post by **os.hacker64** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 4:23 pm

I doubt it would become printed, but you could definetly have a web mag.

01000101 · Post by **01000101** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 5:27 pm

A printed magazine would fail miserably. I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't know a single OS developer in the state I live in. We are a rare breed of programmers who are connected through the internet, so that is where the magazine should be as well.

I know that if a wide-read e-zine within the OS dev world existed, I would be more eager to create tutorials to help others or to post my findings of interesting related material. It's all about the potential exposure.

We could deffinately link this to the wiki through tutorials. More tutorials = less repetitive questions being asked in the forums.

Dex · Post by **Dex** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 6:02 pm

I think a mag with a dead line, is differant than the wiki in that a wiki is something you read up on a topic as needed.
A mag is more something you will read from cover to cover, from a readers point of view, there's something special about reading a good article that's in say 3 parts, waiting for the next issue.
From a writer's point of view you will get more feed back and this will spur you on to get a article finished for a dead line.

piranha · Post by **piranha** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 6:17 pm

Me gusta mucho. How would people contribute to it? (central email, central webpage.....?)

-JL

Alboin · Post by **Alboin** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 6:19 pm

piranha wrote:Me gusta mucho.

Save it for the test forum...

piranha wrote:How would people contribute to it? (central email, central webpage.....?)

A forum? A forum could also offer open critique instead of having a single editor say whether or not it was worthy.

01000101 · Post by **01000101** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 6:20 pm

The easiest (in my opinion) would be to add that functionality into the website, maybe an upload area for contributions.

Upload the formatted file of choice and then have it reviewed and installed into the e-zine.

Seems a fairly straight-forward approach.

JackScott · Post by **JackScott** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 6:24 pm

Email things to the editor, who then puts it together (or a small team, principle is the same). Then both the source (.indd, .tex, whatever) is uploaded along with PDF and HTML versions to a webpage?

piranha · Post by **piranha** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 6:46 pm

Yayyak wrote:Email things to the editor, who then puts it together (or a small team, principle is the same). Then both the source (.indd, .tex, whatever) is uploaded along with PDF and HTML versions to a webpage?

Who'd be the editor?