Pandora Printed Manuals - Terminal Commands


kingoddball

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 26, 2009
Messages
1,687
Hi There,
I have used search as I didn't want to start a new thread for this but without luck.

What is going to be in the printed manual that will be included in the box? :pandora2ut4:

IF there is any chance:
Could you include a "cheat sheet" of all/many linux commands (terminal) including syntax and in what context to use them?
Like in the 'For Dummies" books, at the start they have a cheat sheet ('C++ in 24 hours' is what I'm using in my example).
I'm no good at remembering commands and I prefer hard copies.

I'm sure many people will agree, and I'm also quite sure that we may not need to use terminal very often with the great GUI we will have running and Pmenu!
I believe we should have a very detailed PRINTED manual in the box. I hate getting technical toys that have pissey little 4 page manuals. I enjoy reading the manuals and always like the small novel sized manuals! (Like VB.NET's instruction books)

I would be quite content to add extra cost to have a nice thick bound manual! :D

Perfect manual should fit snugly inside the OP carton!
 
I don't know if you've checked out the User Manual on the wiki, but it has a section for basic terminal commands(not populated yet, but if anyone has the time--it'd be great!).
I still don't know the status of printed manuals, but I'd like to think that OP would consider what's in the wiki manual for the official one. It depends on how long it takes to get it in a finished state, however!
 
ED mentioned a quick start guide. I don't know if it will be printed or on a CD. The main guide will be the online manual, I suppose.
 
Here is the last manual thread: http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?/topic/51106-so-what-about-a-manual-pdf/

Asmo sums up: http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?/topic/51106-so-what-about-a-manual-pdf/page__view__findpost__p__790839

Some simple linux commands would be useful, and it is nice to have a printed reference for that stuff.

There is massive, massive potential in a printed manual created by the community. They may be underrated things now, but many gaming enthusiasts (like those here?) enjoy them.

I rescued these images of Nintendo's Japanese DS Lite manual:
http://imgur.com/IpmGZ.jpg
http://imgur.com/VVwUD.jpg
http://imgur.com/VG7Ya.jpg
http://imgur.com/KmCWX.jpg
http://imgur.com/eAQae.jpg
http://imgur.com/aSkFK.jpg
http://imgur.com/A8iV6.jpg
http://imgur.com/optzL.jpg
http://imgur.com/BbIBW.jpg
And of course, angry snowman: http://imgur.com/IAhSP.jpg

It would be nice to have a booklet rather than just a 6"x4" piece of rough paper with how to turn it on like every cheap Chinese device I've gotten has.
 
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Step 1: Go to http://pandorawiki.org/User_manual
Step 2: Hit ctrl-p
Step 3: ???
Step 4: Profit!


As has been explained at length in the other manual threads (1 2 3 4), printed manuals are expensive and will no doubt be out of date before the ink is dry. Online manuals are free and can be kept current. As for terminal commands, there are innumerable tutorials and cheat-sheets already available. No need to reinvent the wheel.
 
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I don't really see the point of a manual of cmds when there is plenty of information on the internet... It really blows my mind really why anyone would need this.
 
It would just be nice to have everything in one place. It wouldn't cost anything, because there surely is someone from the community willing to do it for free. A printed quickstart guide(DIN A4 black and white copy) would surely be cheaper than producing 4000+ CDs, so that would be the best solution, imo.
 
I know there is a large mount of online manuals. I just like paper!


I might look around for some very detailed lists of linux commands and relevant info and make up a word (O:-||) document and send it over to someone to add it to the online manual?
How do you edit wiki's?
 
kingoddball said:
I know there is a large mount of online manuals. I just like paper!


I might look around for some very detailed lists of linux commands and relevant info and make up a word (O:-||) document and send it over to someone to add it to the online manual?
How do you edit wiki's?

Just get this shirt imo. Then you can wear it while you're using your Pandora and just look down if you need to know a command.
 
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Isn't there a man page with standard unix commands? Think I recall something like 'man newbie', 'man commands', 'man linux' or something... Maybe I'm hallucinating.
Anyway you will want to use 'man' or 'info' sometimes :)
 
Rathum said:
kingoddball said:
I know there is a large mount of online manuals. I just like paper!


I might look around for some very detailed lists of linux commands and relevant info and make up a word (O:-||) document and send it over to someone to add it to the online manual?
How do you edit wiki's?

Just get this shirt imo. Then you can wear it while you're using your Pandora and just look down if you need to know a command.


HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
EXCELLENT!!!!

regex_shirt_example.jpg
 
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Is this even necessary? Even if you don't stick to PMenu but you want to use the full blown XFCE desktop, you don't need bash commands unless you want to simplify some batch operations or you want to go lower-level etc.
If you think you have to use a terminal find the information on your own. But this is not Pandora related and its not necessary to know how it works. If you buy your Pandora there won't be any information on how to replace the SoC with another one, but it can be done, could mean that you can work faster afterwards - but if you care how to do it you have to do it yourself as you are not forced to do it.

//Edit: or just type "help" in a terminal if you are really lost..
(Look down, zhasha is right)
//Edit: Just do "ls /bin/" then :p
 
I'm willing to write some of it if someone else starts the format. And I mean write, not just copy from another wiki
 
@JayFoxRox: You should know that `help` is completely useless unless you're writing a (Ba)sh script.
 
Here's the problem. In *nix there isn't really a "basic list" of command line commands. It's all about the little commands that add up to do something. I suppose that all people really need is to know the fundimentals, like changing directories, deleting, renaming, copying, etc. There are cheat sheets all over the place for that. I'm afraid even a basic manual for the linux commandline would be hundreds if not thousands of pages if printed. This has all been covered in detail elsewhere. Every Linux I've ever touched has a complete manual built right into the commandline. If you don't know what a command is for, or want to know all the syntax and options available, just type:
Code:
man <insert name of command>
And to learn commands related to a particular subject
Code:
apropos <subject>
 
I agree that there shouldn't be (not just that there doesn't need to be) a user manual for command line apps. The Pandora is ultimately made to be used without the general need for terminal hacking. It's there to be used, but the only people who should need to use it are people who already know the commands. And, let's face it, if we really want to cater to that crowd, what would earn street cred would be to make a pandora man page.
 
chole said:
It's there to be used, but the only people who should need to use it are people who already know the commands. And, let's face it, if we really want to cater to that crowd, what would earn street cred would be to make a pandora man page.

gandalf.jpg


You know, that elitism of yours is rather attractive.

Also, Man pages kinda suck.
 
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Someone on the German forum once mentioned, that a printed manual is mandatory in Germany. I don't know if this is correct, but if so, we'll probably get a short one and most information on the web/device itself.
 
ashdjones said:
Also, Man pages kinda suck.
I have to disagree with you there. Man pages used to be really confusing, but lately they've become more verbose. They are well formatted and have the complete syntax available for (almost) every command that accepts command line options on the system. More detailed documentation is usually available in the /usr/share/doc/ as well if you really need nitty gritty details or links to online documentation. Nothing sucky here, I think.
 
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