uLaunchELF Documentation Project

[gravelhead44]

I would be happy to post my submitted for approval in OO.o Writer format if that will help people, but Open office will open and let you modify .doc files won't it? If we really are trying to do this generically I will see waht the results are in .rtf as well

[gravelhead44]

Here is my revised copy of the document in both OO.o format hope this will help folks who are using open source to add to /help with the documentation project.

Robocop, I don't really have any say over this project, but I will bet the better question is do you wish to translate it into French. How can it hurt to have a copy yourself and other native French speakers can easily read?

[dlanor]

Here is my revised copy of the document in both OO.o format hope this will help folks who are using open source to add to /help with the documentation project.

What the heck is 'OO.o' ???

The '.odt' file in your attachment is in fact a kind of PKZIP archive containing various XML (and related files). I've unpacked it and had a look at the contents, but I have no software that supports this document format. I assume it's some kind of proprietary format used by some commercial word processing or DTP package(s)...?!?

I've browsed around a bit, finding (among others) the site "http://www.oasis-open.org/", which appears to be the origin of that document standard. However, if there is no freeware software available for it, and I have found none, then I consider it unsuitable for use in documenting any freeware project.

Please use some format supported by freely (and widely) available software instead. (What's wrong with standard HTML, for example?) I'm not going to buy some commercial package just for this purpose and (more to the point) any document included with LaunchELF should be readable by standard software freely available to all.

Robocop, I don't really have any say over this project, but I will bet the better question is do you wish to translate it into French. How can it hurt to have a copy yourself and other native French speakers can easily read?

Of course it won't hurt to have translations made, but I think it is a bit too early to start worrying about that now. There will be time enough for that once we have an english version available.

Best regards: dlanor

[gravelhead44]

dlanor, OO.o is Open Office.org. It is an open source office suite for Unix/Linux Operating Systems. I don't believe it is available for Windows, but someone is bound to have a port somewhere. Rich text didn't work out very well. I thought that might be more universal. Would HTML be the most universal way? You're the second person to request it. Therefore, I'll try to post an HTML version tonight.

[gravelhead44]

OK, Here is the documentation in HTML format(Looks OK in Firefox and IE6). If I should eliminate any of my attachments because they are of no use, let me know. I can send it in most document formats, so if we could agree on a best format, please let me know.

Edit: Revised with most of Dlanor's suggestions and corrections. I have a question for HTML folks, though. The symbol !! appears in various places in the document instead of - . Is this a keymap issue or something else? If anyone has a clue I would love to know.

Enjoy,
gravelhead44

[Slam-Tilt]

Open Office is available for Windows too, but HTML is much much much more suitable for a project like this.

[Velocity_7]

How about a Wiki?

[dlanor]

dlanor, OO.o is Open Office.org. It is an open source office suite for Unix/Linux Operating Systems. I don't believe it is available for Windows, but someone is bound to have a port somewhere.

There probably is (someone else said as much), but that's beside the point. It is clearly not widely available, so relying on that format would be asking for trouble. Just imagine the flood of posts from all newbs (and there always will be new ones) with no idea of how to read it...

Rich text didn't work out very well. I thought that might be more universal. Would HTML be the most universal way?

Well, it might not be the best format, but it is useable by everyone with a modern OS, so that does make it the most universal one (apart from pure ascii text ).

You're the second person to request it. Therefore, I'll try to post an HTML version tonight.

Ok, I've checked it out, and here are a few suggestions:

First, in the section on boot methods you might want to add the BEST non-mod boot method for v12/v13 PS2 models, which is also dependent on Swap Magic, that you already mention. Some versions of that program (definitely v3.6) allow booting an ELF from "mass:/SWAPMAGIC/SWAPMAGIC.ELF". No configuration is needed for this. If such an ELF exists on the USB stick it will be launched automatically when booting the Swap Magic disk. I believe some of the older versions had this feature too, although I'm unsure if the folder/file names were the same. I've had reports that some users boot uLaunchELF this way, so it definitely works.

An existing reference in that same section to "ps2fs:/__BOOT/BOOT/boot.elf" is in fact incorrect (or at least inconsistent with path standards used in LaunchELF). It is also 'miscased'. The normal way to express that path would be "hdd0:/__boot/boot.elf". At least that is the path used by the Matrix Infinity. I am not sure what the DMS needs, since I've never used it.

Also in the boot section, you mention the folder "mc0:/BxDATA-SYSEM".
This needs to be corrected to "mc0:/BxDATA-SYSTEM", with the additional explanation that the "x" in fact represents a region dependent letter.
(I=Japan/Asia, E=Europe, A=America)

Most of the other stuff seems OK except for one thing which is slightly misleading. You mention that the same file systems are shown both for the button mapping file browser and for the normal file browser, and that is not quite true. The "MISC/" pseudo device is only available when mapping buttons, and the "host:/" network device is only available in the normal browser. (Mapping buttons to the PC would be inappropriate.)

Another difference is that the display of game titles only works for the normal browser, not for the button mapper. It's no big deal, but it should be mentioned somewhere.

That's all I can think of right now.
Oh, and thanks for your efforts. (almost forgot that bit )

Best regards: dlanor

[gravelhead44]

Open Office is available for Windows too,

Slam Tilt, I found this after I posted too, but was too lazy to revise my post.

Velocity7, From what I understand, this is the easiest way for multiple people to add to or edit a document like this, but I have no Idea how to start one. I've read others but not been a part of one.

Dlanor, Thanks for the proofreading and suggestions/corrections. . I will make the changes to the HTML version and post when I can. Hopefully Hypersonic will get a chance to review the revised copy in the near future and add his two cents.

Thanks for the input, Gravelhead44

PS. Revisions posted in place of old document 9/29/05

[zzthex]

I asked about the format for the LAUNCHELF.CNF file in another thread, but nobody's biting. Since the uLaunchELF doesn't come with a default config file, I wonder, could a sample LAUNCHELF.CNF with some example values could be included in the documentation? It sure would be a great help.