I’d have no problem setting up the domain and linking to my VM but am on vacation in Seattle. I’ll see what it takes. It’s a rainy day and I might just have to do the Seattle thing and find a coffee shop to do this. So what about a name? Glowforgewiki? Just looked at omega-00’s Reddit wiki on GF. Not active lately.
could we use github? that way we can edit and push out updates and new info. also it allows you to build a website that is linked to that information. Personally I’ve never done it but have used it many times.
GitHub is great for doing documentation and versioning toward a finished product. If we did a book, sure. Interface experience is not like a wiki. I’ve followed some software projects with it and it’s just an amazing tool.
If we can let this stew until next week, keep the options open, I could set up a domain and Mediawiki install. Maybe start out private with invitations to owners with edit permissions and then open up after we have the framework set. Otherwise folks might be more comfortable with something like Ourproject.org since we could share responsibility and not have to rely on a lone server cowboy.
I love this idea!
What if we start by making posts about our experimentation here on the forums. Let lots of folks read them, comment, try the same ideas for feedback, etc.
Then we can tag the ones we like for inclusion in the “official” book on github and work on the editing and refinement there. Any post with more than n “put it in the book” comments gets included (where n is a number TBD).
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Great idea on providing a how to book/how to instructions.
I have a ton of projects on my plate to balance time between. So until I happen to be playing with my laser cutter again, or there is a directed request, I won’t be doing too much.
So whatever happens to come into existence, I will add here and there to help sculpt the final project toward something I am proud of. But I have no urgent drive to spearhead anything (well… other than the vague hope that if someone contributes heavily to an amazing manual effort they might get in on the first wave of shipments…)
I also like this thread and topic. I think it’s a great idea. I don’t have much bandwidth to setup a wiki/webpage/etc. But once one is running, I’d be happy to contribute on a few topics (like using SketchUp, Inkscape, etc).
Maybe this would be better done in a less formal writing format like a Wiki site? It would also allow all readers to edit and add their findings.
I think for the time being let’s keep the info flowing on this forum. This is the first time I have used a Discourse moderated forum and it works so well. Amazing search capacity. Granted, not much of an archive to search. Another few weeks and we’ll have loads more info.
For the time, I’d say keep things here but after we have them in hand, Instructables is a great place to share a project and /or technique that is not common knowledge.
Keeping them here works well but would be great to figure out how to avoid having great bits of advice/info buried in a set of comments. Have seen a lot of fantastic comments that warrant being front and center when people are starting off on the laser cutting adventure!
We could all curate the forums ourselves by just hitting the “Reply as linked Topic” on anything particularly useful, and then copy/paste what is pre-filled in the entry box, bring it over and post to this thread. Then we have a single location to go and find numerous gems.
Posting a bit of a synopsis along with the link/quote would be handy.
And try to keep it to things which will be useful once someone has a Forge. So nothing on shipping updates or other things that right NOW are crucial information, but post-shipping and acquisition not so much.
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I would love to write a Service Guide. I have a fair amount of experience editing, and writing take apart/reassembly procedures.
A “Glowforge For Dummies” in the usual yellow cover format is probably in the works somewhere, I think we should beat them out and write our own as soon as someone gets their Glowforge in their hands.
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Things got quiet on the forum, then bam. Dan’s Q&A and the email today were great. It seems to be happening just as the discussion has been tending toward. I think the reply as a linked topic will be good, @jacobturner for the time being. Without knowing what manual GF will produce and not having catalog nor software I just keep running into dead ends with coming up with a better system for how to guides. Right now I think we can do well to continue to curate the forum. It’s going to be quite a zoo once things start shipping. With the plug from @dan we should get a few more folks jumping into the forum. I think the map project is very good. A fellow Missourian contacted me today. And it’s not too early to start planning “Glowcon 2016”. I still think that some type of wiki would be great. The other thing is to use git versioning control and start a manual, assigning different chapters to folks. I’m going to look into that for the next few days. Always wanted to try it for a project. I have used it frequently as a consumer checking out versions of software but never as a contributor. Anyone use it for a document?
I use Tortoise SVN and a local repository for my lab manuals. Works wonderfully. Have actually used the revise to # on quite a few files to great use over the years.
Nono! Thats the first thing you make! The cover for the book
I teach second language students and have experience writing instructions for various tasks for those with cognitive delays… so I can easily write simple directions. Even have second language kids test it out whenever I get my laser.
At this point it looks like we could use a thread for discussion and a thread for all the linked topics + editorial/summary in the same post to keep it clean and easier to find things in, perhaps with an index post at the top.