Help:Books: Difference between revisions

The educational technology and digital learning wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
 
(8 intermediate revisions by the same user not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
This extension is '''experimental''' for the moment - [[User:Daniel K. Schneider|Daniel K. Schneider]] 19:02, 30 April 2009 (UTC).
== EduTechWiki Books ==


There are problems with server overload. If your book is large you likely will loose between a third and half of the pages.
EduTechWiki Books are PDF versions of a collection of articles (and just that!). You may create one yourself (read the manual at [http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Book_tool/Help/Books Wikimedia] or download one from the category of saved [[:Category:Books|Books]] books.
Therefore, only create '''smaller''' books.


== Genral user information ==
You either may download a free PDF file or order it as Print Book through PediaPress. Before you do the latter, you may first look at the free PDF. "Print book" does not mean "edited quality book". It's just quality ''print'' (including a table of contents and index). If your order such a print book, you will probably save money since printing 300 or more pages on your own printer isn't cheap either. In addition, you will support Wikipedia (and neither TECFA nor DKS). I created EduTechWiki for organizing my knowledge, for fun, for better teaching and glory, not for money ...
 
Warning: Some contents don't print well, in particular computer code near pictures, long source code lines, CSS3, and special graphics created by extensions such as MetaUML. You may check the PDF first before you order from PediaPress. Also, PediaPress shows you a preview that you can examine. A good example to look at is the [http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/EduTech_Wiki:Books/Flash_tutorials Flash tutorials]. I ordered the book sometimes in spring 2009 and found it more ergonomic than the pile of PDF from the printer. Delivery took about 10 days.
Sometimes in 2010 I'll make a list of collections I consider good enough to be printed and to be used as cheap textbooks for example. I don't feel that I am there yet right now.
 
- [[User:Daniel K. Schneider|Daniel K. Schneider]] 17:48, 16 September 2009 (UTC).
 
== General user information and more help ==
 
'''Please be nice with our server'''. This extension is very CPU intensive and will slow down the server. Only create a "book" if you need it and do not create two books at the same time. - [[User:Daniel K. Schneider|Daniel K. Schneider]] 17:48, 16 September 2009 (UTC)
 
Very basic help:
* Creating a book should be self-explaining with the new interface. If you click on "create book" (bottom) left you will see a widget on top. To stop creating books, click on disable :)


Basic help:
Basic help:
Line 15: Line 26:
* http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Book_tool/Help/Books/Frequently_Asked_Questions
* http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Book_tool/Help/Books/Frequently_Asked_Questions


General information:
== Generated books ==
* http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Wikis_Go_Printable
* http://pediapress.com/
 
== For wiki maintainers ==


Bugs and feature requests:
Generated books can be found in the [[:Category:Books|Books]] category. Just click on the PDF. Please do not force re-rendering of a book, since the process will slow down the wiki and you will have to wait 5 minutes. As soon as an article is changed, the server will re-render it anyhow. So you always will get the latest edition.
* http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Book_tool/Feedback
* http://code.pediapress.com/wiki/report/1 (Issue tracker for technical people)


Information about the collection extension and related server-side software
I also would appreciate if people who found this feature useful and did create a nice larger collection could save the collection (you must fill in the form to give it a name). To help you with the motivation part: Once a book is saved, you then can edit its structure as wiki code (I find that easier than dragging around items ...)
* http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Collection
* http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:PDF_Writer
* http://code.pediapress.com/wiki/wiki (PediaPress Open Source Repository, Wiki and Bug Tracking System)
* http://code.pediapress.com/hg/mwlib/raw-file/tip/docs/commands.txt (command line options, important!)
* http://code.pediapress.com/wiki/wiki/Examples
* http://groups.google.com/group/mwlib/topics (Google forums)


== Installation notes ==
[[image:edutechwiki-book-special-page.png|thumb|800px|none|Screen capture of the Book creation and management page - sept. 2009]]
(I will move this at some point - [[User:Daniel K. Schneider|Daniel K. Schneider]])


=== Collection extension installation ===
== General information ==


The collection extension installs like any other Mediawiki extensions. Really easy with Mediawiki=> 1.14 (Spring 2009).
See also: the [[wiki book]] article.
* http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Wikis_Go_Printable
* http://pediapress.com/


* You then can just leave all the defaults and the PDF will be generated by PediaPress.
== For wiki maintainers ==
 
I suggest changing file Collection.i18n.php and change the string.
<source lang="html">
'coll-rendering_text' => "<p><strong>Please wait while the document is being generated. Have '''patience'''. Depending on the size of the book, this make take 5 minutes (for smaller books), 10 minutes for or more for larger ones.</strong></p>
 
'coll-save_collection_text'      => 'Choose a storage location for your book and enter a name:',
</source>
 
=== mwlib installation ===
(not needed if you have a fast server and want to use the pediapress server)
 
Made for Solaris
 
; Prerequisites
 
Install these if don't have them (usually you do)
* Python => 2.5
* Perl => 5
* g++
* Latex
 
Install Blahtexml
* (not done so far)
 
Install setuptools-0.6c9-py2.5.egg
* http://pypi.python.org/pypi/setuptools
* http://peak.telecommunity.com/DevCenter/setuptools
sh setuptools-0.6c9-py2.5.egg
 
Install python imaging library (PIL)
* http://www.pythonware.com/products/pil/
* Get [http://effbot.org/downloads/Imaging-1.1.6.tar.gz Python Imaging Library 1.1.6 Source Kit]
* Unzip and cd Imaging-1.1.6
  python setup.py install
 
Install odfpy 0.7.0 (not 0.8.0)
* http://opendocumentfellowship.com/projects/odfpy
* Get it from http://odfpy.forge.osor.eu/
** I.E. as tar ball froom http://forge.osor.eu/frs/?group_id=33
python setup.py build
python setup.py install
 
Install rec2c
* http://re2c.org/
* Get it from http://www.sunfreeware.com/
pkgadd -d re2c-0.13.5-sol10-sparc-local
 
Install ocaml
* http://caml.inria.fr/
* Get if from http://www.sunfreeware.com/
pkgadd -d ocaml-3.10.2-sol10-sparc-local
 
; Mwlib (installed with the tar ball, alternatively install mercurial)
* Get if from http://code.pediapress.com/hg/mwlib/ (click on gz)
* Change the options in mwlib/options.py (e.g. reduce threads) if you like.
* Dezip gtar zxf mwlib-db30ecca003a.tar.gz (or whatever file name)
  python setup.py install
 
Alternative:
easy_install mwlib && rehash
 
; pygments
* http://pygments.org/
easy_install Pygments
 
; Fribidi - both a library and the Python bindings
* http://fribidi.org/
./configure --prefix=/usr/local
make
make install
* http://pyfribidi.sourceforge.net/index.html
(this is difficult to install)
  setenv fribidi_CFLAGS "-L/usr/local/lib -I/usr/local/include"
  setenv fribidi_LIBS -lfribidi
./configure
make
make install
 
; Ploticus
* http://ploticus.sourceforge.net/doc/welcome.html
(not installed)
 
; mwlib.rl
* http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:PDF_Writer
easy_install mwlib.rl
 
Alternatively from a tarball:
* http://code.pediapress.com/hg/mwlib.rl/
 
; texvc
* Is in your mediawiki installation
* Compile with gmake it if not already done (needs ocaml, see above)
cd /XXX/mediawiki/math
gmake
./texvc_test
* Add the directory to the system path
 
; Configuration
 
(to do)
 
; Testing
* mw-render --config=http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/mediawiki/ --writer=odf --output=./edutech.odt Educational_technology
** OK - [[User:Daniel K. Schneider|Daniel K. Schneider]] 15:36, 4 May 2009 (UTC) (using version mwlib-41c207e76b28/)
 
mw-render --config=http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/mediawiki/ --writer=rl --output=./flash-cs3.pdf Flash_CS3_desktop_tutorial
** OK - [[User:Daniel K. Schneider|Daniel K. Schneider]] 15:36, 4 May 2009 (UTC) (using version mwlib-41c207e76b28/)
 
* mw-zip --config=http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/mediawiki/ --output=./edutech.zip Educational_technology
** OK
 
=== mw-serv ===
 
MW Serv provides a server interface for the mw-render engine and mw-zip.
 
; Run the server
* http://code.pediapress.com/hg/mwlib/raw-file/tip/docs/commands.txt
* By default this service runs on port 8899
mw-serve --cache-dir=/data/mwcache/mwlibcache/ &
 
; Tweaking the collection extension
* http://svn.wikimedia.org/svnroot/mediawiki/trunk/extensions/Collection/README.txt
 
Add in Localsettings.php (if not already done) the rendering engines you will support. Typing ''mw-render --list-writers'' will list the ones you installed. E.g.
 
$wgCollectionFormats = array(
          'rl' => 'PDF',
          'odf' => 'ODT',
      );
 
Add in Localsettings.php if not already done the name and port of the server (altenatively you also could install a cgi script).
$wgCollectionMWServeURL = "http://xxx.yyy:8899";
 
Extra stuff:
$wgLicenseURL = "http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/fr/EduTech_Wiki:Copyrights";
$wgCollectionMaxArticles = 100;
 
; Slowing down the page pulling


Problem: One ought to able to slow down the server. mw-render has an option for reducing threads. But no parameter can be set in the mw extension or the mwserver itself. Therefore, one has to build mwlib from source and change this:
See [[Mediawiki collection extension installation]]
mwlib/options.py
In about line 60, change the default, e.g. from 10 to 3 if your server can't cope.

Latest revision as of 01:02, 18 September 2009

EduTechWiki Books

EduTechWiki Books are PDF versions of a collection of articles (and just that!). You may create one yourself (read the manual at Wikimedia or download one from the category of saved Books books.

You either may download a free PDF file or order it as Print Book through PediaPress. Before you do the latter, you may first look at the free PDF. "Print book" does not mean "edited quality book". It's just quality print (including a table of contents and index). If your order such a print book, you will probably save money since printing 300 or more pages on your own printer isn't cheap either. In addition, you will support Wikipedia (and neither TECFA nor DKS). I created EduTechWiki for organizing my knowledge, for fun, for better teaching and glory, not for money ...

Warning: Some contents don't print well, in particular computer code near pictures, long source code lines, CSS3, and special graphics created by extensions such as MetaUML. You may check the PDF first before you order from PediaPress. Also, PediaPress shows you a preview that you can examine. A good example to look at is the Flash tutorials. I ordered the book sometimes in spring 2009 and found it more ergonomic than the pile of PDF from the printer. Delivery took about 10 days. Sometimes in 2010 I'll make a list of collections I consider good enough to be printed and to be used as cheap textbooks for example. I don't feel that I am there yet right now.

- Daniel K. Schneider 17:48, 16 September 2009 (UTC).

General user information and more help

Please be nice with our server. This extension is very CPU intensive and will slow down the server. Only create a "book" if you need it and do not create two books at the same time. - Daniel K. Schneider 17:48, 16 September 2009 (UTC)

Very basic help:

  • Creating a book should be self-explaining with the new interface. If you click on "create book" (bottom) left you will see a widget on top. To stop creating books, click on disable :)

Basic help:

Further help:

Generated books

Generated books can be found in the Books category. Just click on the PDF. Please do not force re-rendering of a book, since the process will slow down the wiki and you will have to wait 5 minutes. As soon as an article is changed, the server will re-render it anyhow. So you always will get the latest edition.

I also would appreciate if people who found this feature useful and did create a nice larger collection could save the collection (you must fill in the form to give it a name). To help you with the motivation part: Once a book is saved, you then can edit its structure as wiki code (I find that easier than dragging around items ...)

Screen capture of the Book creation and management page - sept. 2009

General information

See also: the wiki book article.

For wiki maintainers

See Mediawiki collection extension installation

Retrieved from "https://edutechwiki.unige.ch/mediawiki/index.php?title=Help:Books&oldid=23498"