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what to read 1st


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hello i am about to make the plung into the midibox, and i understand what you all have told me, read read read, but where to start?

i have decided at use my spare time at work to read on this, and the only internet i have there is through my iphone, which i cant stand, so i am going to print some stuff out, any suggestions on what to read 1st.

and 1 suggestion on the site, (although i may have over looked this so i apologise if i am wrong but) there is no step 1,2,3 etc, you know like how a book is wrote. just alot of click here for more info. which is very good for many.  but i think there should also be a link that has all the info there, and you could print out like 60 pages or whatever it is of it, and write your own notes on it, take it where you dont have internet, etc.

thanks :)

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any suggestions on what to read 1st.

The FAQ on the wiki, and the relevant pages for the project (SID) and modules (Core, DIN, DOUT, SID etc) which you will use should be the first stops.

and 1 suggestion on the site,.... there is no step 1,2,3 etc

Well there are two problems with that approach. The first is that the projects all differ, so a 1,2,3 approach would have to be written for each project, not to mention one for each OS platform (unix/macos/windows). That's a LOT of doco. The second, most impacting issue, is that the documentation doesn't write itself ;)

It's all done by volunteers. I'm on a path to having a generic (non-application-specific) process which starts with "I have a bunch of money and time and I want a midibox like 'that' one (and I use windows)", and steps you through it - but such a series of documents is complex and time-consuming to write in a useful manner for everyone (newbies and gurus alike). If you'd like to volunteer to help out then by all means do... but somehow I don't think you have the time right now, just like the rest of us ;)

So, at the moment, the best thing to do is to read the basics (some mentioned above, and some others) and then use the search engines to find answers to any specific questions you have along the way. Of course, if you don't find the answers after a thorough search and browse around, then you can post and we'll help you out....but there's no quick and easy way.

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well i am not saying write all new material, just copy and paste whats existing into 1 nice file, and be best to copy and paste it in order of relevence. and there would probably need to be a different file for each different type of midibox.

though by copying and pasting i think it wouldnt take long for someone very familar with with this site.

just a suggestion;)

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Two problems there:

The info isn't there to copy and paste. Some of it is, but it's not complete.

You shouldn't duplicate info, that makes updating a problem. You just link to the correct info, rather than copying it. And that's what we have now.

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understand about the updating. i mean its a great site with alot of info but i just think there should be a better starting ground, outlined better on what to read and whats the best order of reading when trying to create a sid.

When you're standing in the middle of the forest looking at a bunch of trails leading off in all directions, all somewhat twisty and less than perfectly marked, it is natural to think there must be some better way to provide a path out of there. Once you become more experienced I think you'll find that those paths are less twisty and better marked than they looked when you weren't at a point that you could grasp all that you were looking at. I think you'll also realize that a good bit of the initial confusion is the result of the fact that people want to start off in all kinds of directions depending on their interests and that's why there is no clear cut direction to start off in.

Remember that those who went before had less information than you have. Everyone has had to hack their way through some rough patches. A lot of them left some notes to help those who follow. It is better to view MIDIbox as an adventure game than a cookbook.

My advice is to pick some modest objective of interest to you and then start working on achieving that objective. Accept that you will make some (or a lot) of wrong turns. Your wrong turns are learning opportunities. There are plenty of people who will give generously of their time to help you find your way back onto the path. By the time you reach your objective, not only will you have whatever it is you set out to make but you will have a lot of new knowledge that will be of use for other projects. Then you can decide what would have made your life easier and add that to the library of MIDIbox documentation.

Remember, nobody gets anything for writing documentation except the satisfaction of helping others (who rarely acknowledge the gift BTW). By the time you know enough to write documentation it is of little use to you. I recently wrote a document about how to assemble a Core from a SmashTV kit (something that should be close to the top of the list for getting started). Writing that turned a 2 hour job of building a Core into an all day job. So that is 6 to 8 hours that I could have used moving my project further along that will instead hopefully move a lot of other people's projects along.

So, as a wise man once wrote:

Are you volunteering?  :) If not... STFU!  :D

Yes, he and I are kidding. But truth is the basis of humor. Better documentation is not the result of requests. We all know the documentation could be better. All documentation could always be better. The documentation will be improved only by contributions, and they come slowly. So what you see is what you get. Hopefully someday you'll be contributing more for those who follow.

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I understand what your saying, as well as one day when I am experienced I may help with this.

I think instead of having links to learn more on certain things in ucapps, have it where if u click on it a bullet of the info will appear on the same page but as a bullet below where u clicked.

This would make printing easier I Believe.

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I understand what your saying, as well as one day when I am experienced I may help with this.

I think instead of having links to learn more on certain things in ucapps, have it where if u click on it a bullet of the info will appear on the same page but as a bullet below where u clicked.

This would make printing easier I Believe.

I don t understand what you are saying

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ok currently there are certain words in ucapps that are blue and underlined that you can click on and it will take you Go another page that explains that word or phrase (that was blue and underlined). Usually it explains in a few sentences to a paragraph or 2.  I think it would be better to have it where instead going to another page with thAt info, for the information would then appear right below the sentence that it was just In.

That way if your wanting to print out some info on making a midibox you dont have to copy and paste a bunch of info from a bunch of differnt pages. You can just click on The underlined words you want more info and print that 1 single page.

In my opinion this would be better

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