www.linuxmce.org improvements

[dlewis]

IRC is essentially the 'help desk'. Beyond IRC, we don't plan to have any other mechanism for 'live' support at the moment.

[tschak909]

anybody on here run a call center?

-Thom

[trentend]

I run a twenty-five extension, 8 PRI line commercial asterisk (currently trixbox, actually) phone system, if that's any use?

[dlewis]

trentend, how's your overall asterisk experience?

[trentend]

trentend, how's your overall asterisk experience?

In terms of my abilty, or my opinion of it?

It's quite brilliant, and simple, but like much of linux (of which I am a relative newbie) configuration out of the ordinary can be extremely difficult - as an example i have a specific problem with configuring trixbox in the UK, as I can't get it to deal correctly with how BT uses 0 and 00 as a national and international prefix and strips them off the number it passes whilst setting a flag for a national or international identifier - the long and short of which is that we currently can't dial internationally over our BT land lines.  So I'm building an asterisk/freepbx box instead...but that's proving difficult to configure and setup...but I'll get there.

I'm learning new skill sets as part of my work, and part of my personal time. I've got a long way to go.

[murcel]

My biggest concern is quickly directing people towards "Getting Started" type information - the site does not do that now.

I'd suggest adding links to the FAQ and installation guide from the Downloads page at a minimum - right now, users are directed to the Mirrors page, which is a few steps too far past the learning phase.

All of you are right here. But it is the same old song.Everybody knows what changes need to be done, but nearly nobody is starting with it.
To make it short, get back to the desk and make a top-down getting started list and u will see, that it is not that easy, than just putting some links on the website.
Sure i know, that all of the information is somewhere in the wiki. You all know that. But what is really essential....Thoms words are so right. Try to see it from a users point of view - from a DAU Point of view.

Maybe start by logging the questions in irc - mostly starting with "which hardware do i need". And even linuxmce runs with most of available hardware, the learning curve will much easy and faster if you have the RIGHT hardware.
(Believe me from the technical point of view - i did the technical product management / system administration for a long time but until i had my first highlights with lmce 7.04/7.10 it took a frustrating while.  and consider, many users coming to the website are not developers, not Linux specialists, but mostly USERS.)
So what should we do? Giving user just a link to "Compatible hardware", then he is again on the wiki, which sometimes is very "strange" for newbies.

What i like to say is, that this isn't a easy task. i don't believe that just putting some links on the website will help much (surely we can make a suggestion that we are just updating the section and in the meantime user has to go to the wiki)

Finally, beside the question "Who can change the website, may i", the more essential questions are:

1. To whom shall the website be addressed?
2. Is it a marketing tool or is is a "developer-catcher-tool". Or both?
3. How can we make some marketing on the web / not on the website - to drive more developers to our site.
4. What about marketing outside the web.
5 How do we write a "User Guide" which is really top down for a) Users and b) for Developers who are starting

Sorry, but just my two pence...

[dlewis]

Let me try to answer the questions:

1. The website should be addressed to novice and expert users.
2. Both
3. I have been charged to lead the marketing effort. I have a bunch of ideas and plan to implement them soon.
4. Yes, this is also on my plate and I have been working behind the scenes to get this ball rolling.
5. Like Thom said, we should use the Apple methodology for documentation. I'm a believer of a "Newbie" user guide and an "Expert" user guide. The devs will have to brainstorm about how to approach this. Unfortunately, we are swamped with getting 0810 beta out the door. Maybe users can begin to collaborate and create some documentation.

[jimbodude]

All of you are right here. But it is the same old song.Everybody knows what changes need to be done, but nearly nobody is starting with it.
To make it short, get back to the desk and make a top-down getting started list and u will see, that it is not that easy, than just putting some links on the website.
Sure i know, that all of the information is somewhere in the wiki. You all know that. But what is really essential....Thoms words are so right. Try to see it from a users point of view - from a DAU Point of view.

...

5 How do we write a "User Guide" which is really top down for a) Users and b) for Developers who are starting

Yes, the user guide is the way to go - but that will take a while to get together.  Today, we can add links to the documentation we already have.

I would love to help with this effort, but this is a tough time of the year for me.  I'll be more useful in the spring.

[cadman97]

I'll give the apple style documentation a try. Already told Thom, that I will start on it, and will check in with him in the next few days..

[dlewis]

thanks cadman97.

[murcel]

thanks cadman97.

Guys, we have to fill up the sections "more Info" on the website ASAP.
The idea behind is very clear.

The whole website should be Top-Down. It should be readable by beginners/Users the same way than for developers/More advanced Users.
So i would suggest following strategy.

First fill up the places like
http://www.linuxmce.com/index.php/features/telecom with easy to understand description. only some sentences. surely more than it has now.
Then we will add a link to "more advanced infos", where we can claim how strong and advanced the system can be. Here we can say some things about used technologies, protocols and supported hardware.

What i mean is that every section has a beginner and a profi/indeep section.

dlewis, you ask about helping in this matter, i would like to setup a schedule. when do you think the 5 sections will be filled with content?!

Thanks for your help

[davegravy]

The one disadvantage with breaking things down into sections the way it has been, is that interactions between functions are missed. The interactions are the main strength (IMHO) with LMCE.

Media, Lighting, Security, Telecom, Climate. Some interact with each other (eg. telecom and media), some are less interactive (Security and Climate).

Where is it appropriate to mention that media you are watching is automatically paused during an incoming telephone call? Do you put that in the telecom section or the media section? Is automatic light dimming on media play a lighting feature or media feature? Some thought should be put into how to structure and present all this.

[tschak909]

I initially thought describing a series of story scenarios, an example:

It is a late late afternoon, I am watching afternoon television, and my friend Steve calls. The Television pauses, and I tap answer phone using my remote or orbiter tablet. Steve and I talk and he says he's coming over. After I hang up, the TV resumes playing. 30 minutes later, I hear a ring from my cell phone, I pick up, and the system has connected to my door phone. I see the image from the front door, and see that it's my friend. I tap the # key to open the door. He comes in, we hang out for a bit, watching some Sealab 2021 episodes that he selects from my orbiter tablet next to the couch. As we hang out, the sun outside sets, and the house adjusts its light level appropriately. Later, he leaves, and I switch to some audio. I keep my cell phone in my pocket, and as I move between the living room and the kitchen to prepare dinner, the audio I am listening to follows me to the kitchen, and back to the living room. Later that night, it had recorded in the background my episodes of the Daily Show and The Colbert Report, so I start watching them. I decide to move to my bedroom, so I take my mobile phone with me to the bedroom. The system detects that I have left the living room, and have moved to the bedroom, and has turned off the TV in the living room, and turned it on in the bedroom. As I tap House to Sleep mode on the orbiter near the bed, the rest of the house shuts down nicely, lights, audio equipment and all, and I can finish watching The Colbert Report. As I get ready to go to sleep, I tap the sleep button, and the TV and lights shut off, while setting my user mode to Sleeping so that non-important calls immediately pass to voicemail, and I go to sleep.

-----------

A bit rough, but that's the idea.

-Thom

[wierdbeard65]

The one disadvantage with breaking things down into sections the way it has been, is that interactions between functions are missed. The interactions are the main strength (IMHO) with LinuxMCE.

At the risk of inviting flames, I would disagree. I suspect most people come here (I know I did) from the direction of Media, looking for Myth / VDR / VistaMCE only better (MUCH better). Heck, even the name of the project suggests a focus on Media! The other stuff then becomes "Hey, WOW, you can do all that as WELL? COOL!!" For this reason, the flow from front page to working media system needs to be as direct and pain-free as possible.

Where is it appropriate to mention that media you are watching is automatically paused during an incoming telephone call? Do you put that in the telecom section or the media section? Is automatic light dimming on media play a lighting feature or media feature? Some thought should be put into how to structure and present all this.

What is wrong with mentioning it in both? This goes both when doing the PR job and when explaining how to set it all up

Just my 10 Eurocents....

[jimbodude]

I initially thought describing a series of story scenarios, an example:

...

I like your example, and it's a great sales pitch.  However, some of the functionality you talk about doesn't work "out-of-the-box", so I see some users quickly becoming disgruntled.  We all understand that sort of setup is indeed possible, and is the ultimate goal.

If we decide to take this route (and it is a good route, so we should highly consider it), there should be a "how to make things work exactly like this" guide right next to it - even if that guide names specific hardware and requires advanced configuration.  Then when people ask "what do I need do so I can <insert LinuxMCE feature here>..." we'd have a place to point them to pick the hardware and to step through configuration.