[arch-general] What happened to the Beginner's Guide?

[Francis Gerund]

Where have the the most recent versions of the "real" Beginner's Guide been
saved?  And how can they be retrieved (maybe using git, for example)?

IMHO, for new users, the "Installation Guide" is not, never has been, and
may never be a substitute for the Beginner's Guide.  The Installation Guide
does not have enough detail, and many (most?) new users will not put up
with being sent on a sadistic snip hunt through the thick jungles of the
Arch Wiki, jus to do a basic console-only install.  And the elinks text
browser on the install iso "just doesn't cut it".

(Don't get me wrong - the Arch Wiki is a tremendous resource, maybe the
best resource in the GNU/Linux ecosystem.  But, like Hollywood, it is no
place for children.)

I believe this change will only serve to alienate potential new users, who
are the "life blood" of Arch, or any other organization or movement.
Without new growth, any organism risks withering on the vine.  Just ask
OpenBSD.





On Tue, Sep 20, 2016 at 3:14 AM, Jelle van der Waa <jelle at vdwaa.nl> wrote:

> On 09/20/16 at 01:58am, David C. Rankin wrote:
> > On 09/20/2016 12:00 AM, D C via arch-general wrote:
> >
> > The beginner's guide always provided an expanded section on each topic
> in the
> > install where different cards and potential pitfalls were discussed.
> There was
> > the varying network configuration options, netctl, etc., RAID setup was
> > addressed, etc.. Now - nothing.
>
> If you look closely the information is there, for example:
>
> netctl => "Configure the network for the newly installed environment:
> see Network configuration." =>
> https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Network_configuration
>
> RAID setup => "If wanting to create any stacked block devices for LVM,
> disk encryption or RAID, do it now." =>
> https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/RAID
>
> So it's all in there, you just have to look :-)
>
> > We should consider the beginner's guide again -- it was invaluable to
> new and
> > beginner users to help them get a feel for arch. Even for those versed
> in Linux,
> > and with Arch, for the guys like me that do an install on a biennial
> basis, that
> > guide was a savior.
> >
> > Did no one want to maintain it? Why was the full beginner's guide
> deleted?
>
> This has been announced and discussed on the mailing list and irc. And
> the descision has been made to merge it into one page.
>
> The new smaller guide just links directly to the pages which contain
> detailed information without the duplication of information.
>
> --
> Jelle van der Waa
>