[mythtv-users] Does MythTV need a Beginner's FAQ Collection?

[Ray Olszewski]

There's been a lot of snarly discussion here in the last few days about how 
to respond to repeated, naive questions. The tone of at least some of it 
seems to say that beginners should expect snotty replies if they don't read 
the docs first. This response goes with people "proving" that answers can 
be found somewhere in the docs, others saying the "somewheres" are hard to 
find, and so on. Pfui!

This problem looks to me like a fairly standard transition issue for an 
application that is moving away from being used by a small group of fairly 
expert users to a broader base of users who lack expertise in the specific 
areas the app serves, and in some cases even basic Linux experience. One 
way to deal with this change is to treat naive newcomers rudely, an 
approach that seems to me to be short sighted.

Another is to improve the quality of the documentation, with beginners in 
mind. A good first step would be to write a better introductory document 
than the current docs -- the HowTo, the FAQ page, the docs included in the 
Myth download, and the rest of the Myth Website.

 From reading the list for the past few months, I think the list of 10 
questions below represents the core of a Beginner's FAQ list. From the 
draft I'm circulating for item 4, and the revisions I offered to the HowTo 
for item 5, you can get a sense of how I approach writing this stuff. I 
would try to keep this around 10 questions, and resist the tendency to 
bloat FAQ collections with RAQs (Rarely-Asked Questions, that is) and make 
it a jumble or unorganized Q&As (like the existing Myth FAQ).

Before I start this big a writing task, I'd like some indication that doing 
it is a good idea ... especially some indication from someone who can 
actually get the material on the Myth Website after I write it that once 
written, it will be used (subject to quality controls, of course). If not 
... well, I don't have another alternative to suggest, but I think the 
present approach will not work for much longer.


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MythTV FAQs for Beginners

1. What is MythTV?

	(Just a general overview answer.)

2. What are the main components of MythTV?

	(Cover mythbackend, mythfrontend, the Myth database, and the possibility 
of storage on a separate system).

3. What basic hardware do I need to run MythTV?

	(Cover CPU type/speed, RAM, mass storage, sound card, network connection. 
Power supply? Case?)

4. What TV capture cards work with MythTV?

	(See my current DRAFT for this.)

5. How do I display the output of MythTV on my television screen?

		(See my old DRAFT for this, as reflected in the HowTo.)

6. How do I get and install MythTV?

	(Cover distro prepacks, source tarball, and CVS.)

7. What other software do I need to make MythTV work?

	(Cover V4L, sound drivers and userspace stuff, XMLTV, mysql, X and XV.)

8. I'm having problems. How can I get help?

	(Cover the HowTo, the general FAQ page, the docs included in the Myth 
downloads, and the myth-users list. Also mention sites for important 
not-Myth packages.)

9. What else can MythTV do?

	(Cover add-in modules.)

10. Will I be able to watch the the TV shows I record on my Windows computer?

	(Say no, then explain, and cover transcoding)


----------------OUTLINE ENDS------------------------