Subject: Netguide Pre-Release
From: [email-masked] (Olaf Kirch)
To: [email-masked] (Matt Welsh), [email-masked] (Michael K Johnson), [email-masked] (Lars Wirzenius), [email-masked] (Andy Oram), [email-masked] (Larry Greenfield), [email-masked] (Karl Fogel), [email-masked] (Vince Skahan)
Cc: [email-masked] (Linux Mailing List)
Date: Mon, 7 Feb 1994 18:39:13 +0100 (MET)

Hi, all!

I've just uploaded a pre-release of the NAG to
ftp.stolaf.edu:/pub/linux-doc. This is _not_ a complete release,
and it is not so much for actual use, but for reviewing.
Please let me know what you think of it, so that I can make
any changes necessary before going public.

The files are nag-0.5.3.{dvi,ps}.tar.gz; they only contain
a preformatted copy, plus the README you also find below
(please forgive all the typos, but it got late last night :-).
If needed, I will also try to provide an ASCII version.

----------- README ------------- README ----------- README ----------
So, this is it. Here's a pre-release fo the next edition of the
NAG. The changes are not that great as you might expect after half
a year of silence, but I've been busy graduating from uni.
Nevertheless, there have been substantial changes in at least
a few chapters. I would like you to review them, and tell me
whether you like them or not. I am really interested in comments
on the book's coherence (and, of course, factual correctness).
So, you don't have to be polite :-)

This copy is not the complete book. At the moment, I'm still
poring over the TCP/IP configuration chapter, which I am
rewriting from scratch. The sendmail chapter is also missing;
Vince Skahan is doing this chapter anew. Maybe this will also
affect the organization of the other two mail chapters; although
not the overall content.

Given the fact that this is a pre-release, I beg you not to spread
this around too much. I've had complaints from FvK about people
bugging him because of errors in my book, so I'd like to avoid
this if I can.

I'm releasing only a DVI and PS version for now. Depending on
popular demand, I will upload an ASCII version as well.

Many of the changes are in some way or other due to Andy Oram,
who pointed me at the weak spots. Below's a rough list of them
(the changes). The chapter numbers may be off by one.

Chapter 1:
	General intro to networking. This is a complete rewrite.
	That OSI stuff proved too abstract.
Chapter 2:
	Details of TCP/IP networking. Major restructuring,
	put in all TCP/IP stuff I had to drop from chapter 1.
Chapter 3:
	TCP/IP config. unfinished. not included.
Chapter 4:
	TCP/IP apps. Major change is in the section on cofiguring
	the `r' commands (hosts.equiv and ~/.rhosts)
Chapter 5:
	NFS. No big changes so far. 
Chapter 6:
	Serial hardware. Slashed quite a lot here. Now only
	covers what you need for dial-out.
Chapter 7:
	Major changes in the first half, where I reorganized
	the introduction and overview.
Chapter 8:
	General overview of email. Only minor changes. Maybe this
	is in for some slashing as well. (Vince Skahan noted that it
	has a bit too much detail). elm section updated for the
	current layout of locale support in libc.
Chapter 9:
	smail. Major changes, but not finished. Please have a look
	at how I could get of all that cross-referencing I felt
	I had to do.
	I also have added sample directors, routers, and transports
	files. I'm not sure if I shouldn't drop them again.
Chapter 10:
	sendmail. Being rewritten by Vince, and therefore not included.
Chapter 11:
	General intro to Netnews. Major restructuring, got into some
	more details.
Chapter 12:
	Cnews. Changed a few sections; e.g. batching. Please tell
	me if this is stringent; I somehow have the impression that
	this lacks a thread of dicussion.
Chapter 13:
	NNTP. Currently onyly covers the nntpd daemon from the
	Kantor/Lapsleay package. Dropped the description of the
	client programs.
Chapter 12:
	Newsreaders. No changes. Not included.
Appendix:
	No changes yet. Maybe we should add the major software
	licenses that play a role in Linux.
Glossary:
	I changed the list of abbreviations into a general glossary
	of network terms. It is still evolving.
Index:
	Planned: I'm collecting keywords at the moment.

One more question, BTW: I've checked out using Postscript fonts
instead of the TeX ones when producing the PS version. This greatly
reduces the size of the resulting PS file; but the result looks rather
misshapen. I am using the tfm files included in dvips. Am I missing
something? Or is this the normal appearance of ghostscript fonts?
-- 
Olaf Kirch		[email-masked]		    Darmstadt, FRG

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