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Archived from Village pump --SilverStar (Advay) 19:35, 14 Jun 2004 (EDT)

Contents 1 FIRSTwiki-related 1.1 Main page and helping newbies 1.2 Road map 1.3 Test FIRSTwiki 1.4 Featured article 1.5 Control system pages 1.6 "Forum" 1.7 Death on the CVT page 2 Not FIRSTwiki stuff 2.1 Antivirus software

FIRSTwiki-related

Main page and helping newbies

I think I have thought of a good way to handle the problem of how to get newbies onto the help pages and how to clean up the front page. There should be one, main "intro to FIRSTwiki". It needs to be kept very short and succinct, and though we may be tempted to, not link to every single help or meta page that we might want a newbie to see. Just the few pages that we really want them to see. People will only go through so much boring reading before they get... well... bored. --Max 18:35, 2 Jun 2004 (EDT)

Road map

I think a road map with a general outline of content we'd like to include is a good idea. It let's people know what we need, so that they can start contributing. E.g., we have some technical topics on the TOC, but nothing to do with spirit -- which is a big part of FIRST, nothing to do with writing a chairmen's award entry, etc. Once we have this, maybe we'll get some people on CD to contribute what they know ... most everyone has a specialty on their team, afterall. Also, I think we'd benefit from forethought in design, rather than just creating links haphazardly to different related subjects. I'll try to work on something over the weekend -- but of course, anyone out there's free to beat me to it ;) --Mrawls 16:43, 2 Jun 2004 (EDT)

A big part of the that is following the Predifined Formats If one exists, please follow it (in addition to general formatting). Plus, alot of stuff right now is frame/linked to. The goal is an enciclapedia, but we have a reference guide. --Astronouth7303 16:49, 2 Jun 2004 (EDT)

Yes, a lot of stuff is linked to. Some of it in very stuby articles buried and hard to find. There are a few rough formats to work from. I'm saying what we need is a good outline to start working from to get this thing bootstraped. Yes, I realize the goal is an encyclopedia -- do you think for Britanica they sat down one day and started writing random stuff, or that there was a set list of things that had to be included, with room to write about other things as space permitted? In the current way of doing things, we are missing a big part of FIRST. Someone coming here trying to contribute might get the wrong impression that we don't want an article about Team Spirit or Fundraising or something else ... regardless, though, it certainly gives us direction and helps us out. Rather than spend a lot of time thinking what article would be good to write and then writing it, this would allow someone to look at what is needed. It is, in this essence, similar to the "most wanted" page, except that this outline is more appropriate for the beginning of a site like this. Or so I think. Perhaps you'll see what I mean once I come up with something. --Mrawls 16:57, 2 Jun 2004 (EDT)

It isn't as haphazard as you think. As astronouth said, the format pages do set out some pretty good standards. A lot other important stuff is covered in FIRSTwiki:help. The problem isn't lack of rules, its getting people to follow them. That is why I said I really want to restructure the main page; we really need to get new people onto the help pages as quickly as possible.

Regardless, I do agree with you that a formal "roadmap" would be a good thing. There is still much to do in terms of formatting. I think I see a nice application of MediaWiki 1.3's timeline system... --Max 17:00, 2 Jun 2004 (EDT)

Test FIRSTwiki

Here's a little test site i setup featuring MediaWiki 1.3beta1 (or almost beta....) with our DB as of late last night. DO NOT edit there, it will not be saved here --Max 14:37, 1 Jun 2004 (EDT)

Nice. that's the old DB? --Astronouth7303 16:05, 1 Jun 2004 (EDT)

"with our DB as of late last night" --Max 16:14, 1 Jun 2004 (EDT)

Featured article

Here's an idea. I realize the site is new and the articles are still mostly stubs ... but is there a 'Featured article' section in the works (like wikipedia has)? This seems to have several advantages. Also, one can imagine a special series during Build Season of informative articles on scheduling, planning, design, etc. If anyone is interested, it might be a good idea to earmark several articles for special attention. --68.110.153.123

I have been intending to do something like this, but as you said, most articles are still stubs. Regardless, you brought up a good point, we can start a FIRSTwiki:Featured article candidates, like WikiPedia has, so that we can have a list to choose from when we do decide to put it up. --Max 19:13, 30 May 2004 (EDT)

How about just daily picking 3 random articles? (I mean with reasonable restrictions) --Astronouth7303 19:26, 30 May 2004 (EDT)

---

You know, for 2 days, this thing is doing pretty well. I know I've established a base in what I know. (LEGO, programming) --Astronouth7303 16:23, 28 May 2004 (EDT)

Well make sure to thank SilverStar, half the stuff is his work, and much of the rest probably wouldn't be there because i would have been too bored editing alone... --Max 16:29, 28 May 2004 (EDT)

Control system pages

I'm going to make a general 'Control System: Silicon' page. What should I call it? Also, Should I (we) upload images of the components?--Astronouth7303 13:52, 29 May 2004 (EDT)

make the name: "Control system (silicon)". And what's it about? --SilverStar 16:49, 29 May 2004 (EDT)

The control electronics. OI, RC, EDUs. The silicon. --Astronouth7303

Control system refers not to the system that controls a robot, but to subsystems that allow control of particular elements like a feedback loop with sensors is a control system. Also, calling the electronics silicon is not really common usage. --Max

yea. I couldn't come up with a better name. --Astronouth7303

Then what's this page for: Control system? It includes links to the RC, OI, etc. --SilverStar 18:25, 29 May 2004 (EDT)

'Control System' also includes victors, spikes, etc. I'm talking about a page just for the high-level electronics. High-tech. Get the idea? what's a good name for it?--Astronouth7303

Look at the control system page. It does include victors, spikes, etc. --SilverStar 18:28, 29 May 2004 (EDT)

Just add the high-tech parts to the Control systems page. --SilverStar 18:32, 29 May 2004 (EDT)

"Forum"

Is there a 'forum' area, so to speak? I put that question here because I didn't know where to put it. [Refering to a question on titling]--Astronouth7303

Thats what talk and meta (FIRSTwiki:) pages are for. That would be more appropriate on FIRSTwiki:User Questions. --Max 18:30, 29 May 2004 (EDT)

So if I have a question like that, I shoulld put it in the Q/A? --Astronouth7303 18:53, 29 May 2004 (EDT)

Death on the CVT page

on the bug reports page I talked about the over lapping text and stuff but I think that there is also a lot of formatting probloms on the page. I read the statement on the upload files page but I thikn I have formated the link completely incorectly because it is showing up like a normal link. The other thing is that, even other peoples images are in completely the wrong place, but I cant figure out why from reading the code. This should be checked out by someone who knows what they are doing. --DanArgent

I am aware of this problem and it will probably fixed shortly. If you want to get rid of those error messages, do not use thumbnailing for now. --Max 15:39, 3 Jun 2004 (EDT)

Not FIRSTwiki stuff

Antivirus software

Hey, do you use any anti virus software on any windows machines you have, and if so, which? Norton AV 2004 is giving me a pain (Windows Installer sucks) --Max

ZoneAlarm covers fire wall (and does some e-mail virus checking). --Astronouth7303

Thanks, but I don't really need one, my router does the trick, and i don't have to worry about unauthorized connections from my side (trojans, spyware) if they never get there in the first place. --Max

I use Avast! 4 (Home edition). It is competely free for home use, although you have to register to receive updates after the first 60 days. I have never had a problem with it and have caught many viruses and used it to eliminate them on others computers. Check it out. :) --Ryan 14:56, 3 Jun 2004 (EDT)

I use AVG 6.0 i is also competely free for home use, you have to register to get a password but it is free. --Cyberwolf 22

I have tried it and heard it has a less than perfect detection rate and it is getting kinda dated. I think it doesn't have some features that newer programs have. --Max 16:08, 3 Jun 2004 (EDT)