On Tuesday 19 June 2007 10:20, Kevin Donnelly wrote:

I've just joined this list, and I saw RajkoM's query about the Arduino page, so since I'm the one that put it there, I thought I'd just clarify a bit.

1. The main page linked to is the Arduino homepage (the one mentioned by RajkoM is several jumps away), and as can be seen from that page (near the bottom), both board and software are open-source. The main purpose of the project is to offer an easy way to experiment with computer-controlled electronics, eg as a controller for an electronic musical instrument using something like Processing, PureData, or SuperCollider (which is what sparked my initial interest).

2. There is indeed a link to a place you can buy a ready-made board from (alongside a reference to the fact that you can build it yourself), but that is only to save time for people who, like me, did their last soldering 20 years ago, and would prefer the convenience of getting a board they know will work.

3. I have no connection whatsoever with the Arduino project, or the board seller. I am simply an openSUSE user. I am not promoting a "product" - I am trying to use my favourite OS to do something other than read the Web or set up a server (though I added a page about a Subversion server yesterday).

4. The information on the page, while short, is the result of several hours trial and error, and the aim of presenting it on the wiki was to make it easier for openSUSE users to get started on physical computing (so that maybe they will create something new :-) ), without having to go through the same hoops.

4. My own view is that people use computers to get work done, and while for some that work may be in IT, for most that is not the case. So while it is very helpful to have a wiki setting out how to get openSUSE running well, it is also important, IMO, to have on the wiki some pointers for people as to what they can actually *do* with openSUSE once they have it running well. It's all very well saying, "There are 3 dozen music apps on the openSUSE DVD", but that is really of little help to users (especially new users) if there aren't some basic hints as to how to get started with those apps.

5. I recognise that this may not be the "official" view (although in fact it was what the old SuSE manuals tried to do), so I have no objection at all to the page being deleted if it's considered to be straying outside the "openSUSE area". :-)

Hi Kevin, Thanks for clarification, now is my turn to clarify background from my side. Since openSUSE wiki was established there was few attempts to use it for commercials, sometimes very far from computing, not to mention openSUSE and Linux. That makes me sensitive to anything that resembles previous attempts. From my post you may notice that I wasn't sure how to sort out your contribution and that is the reason I asked. I agree that openSUSE is not only for Internet related activities and your article can be good start for projects that focus on other ways to use computer. To give article more weight as another approach to computing it would be good to link more background information on physical computing. It can be found on Arduino page, but it would be better for openSUSE users to have it right in your article, not after browsing. I really appreciate efforts to find other uses of openSUSE, as it is confirmation of the very first paragraph on my user page: http://en.opensuse.org/User:Rajko_m -- Regards, Rajko. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-wiki+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-wiki+help@opensuse.org