Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] a call for a better wiki

[Eric Blossom]

On Fri, Mar 21, 2008 at 11:10:34AM -0400, George Nychis wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> The more I look at our wiki, the more of a problem I think there is. Yes, I 
> understand WE are the creators of the wiki since it's shared, but I think 
> that it could really use an overhaul with some guidance.
>
> The common argument is that the code is documented, I think this is a good 
> argument in some situations, but there is an overall lack of high level 
> documentation.  For instance, what tools are there for spectrum analysis?  
> How can you simulate the channel?  What is GNU Radio + USRP's bandwidth?  
> How can you use octave with GNU Radio?  What PHY layers are there?  What 
> applications are there?
>
> I think that Firas' attempt to better build a manual for the code is great, 
> but GNU Radio is still lacking high level documentation.  If you're not 
> looking to build a new block, and you're not looking to install GNU Radio, 
> you're going to have to dig through a massive source tree or ask on the 
> list.  This is why we get the same questions over and over where we provide 
> answers like "look at benchmark_tx.py" or "there's a ton of examples in the 
> code."  Yes, there are a ton of examples, but the size of the branch makes 
> it very difficult for someone new to find appropriate examples.
>
> We get tons of "new to GNU Radio, where to start?" questions on the mailing 
> list because of this I think.  They've obviously found the wiki since the 
> links to the mailing list are on there.  The guides on the wiki are a bit 
> daunting.
>
> Thoughts?  I'd be willing to work on a new front page design on a wiki 
> subpage, that if we like we can continue to build upon and eventually 
> overwrite the current front page.
>
> Then, as we get questions to the list we realize what kind of documentation 
> we're missing.  And instead of always repeating ourselves on the list, it 
> might be helpful to write the answer somewhere in the wiki and then respond 
> with that wiki link.  It would seriously help build the wiki.
>
> - George

George,  I agree with the part about the missing overview does.
However, I don't think the problem's really the front page, it's the stuff
that's missing behind it.  You could link to the not-yet-written
overview stuff from the Documentation: list on the main page.

If you're game, why don't you start on the "high level overview" or
"where to start" or whatever you'd like to call it.

Eric