http://weblog.infoworld.com/udell/gems/umlaut.html
The explanation is by voice ( in an American accent ), so have your speakers switched on. You will have to wait for a few minutes and it is helpful to have broadband for it. To me the most remarkable thing about the wikipedia is not that it does give high standard information (which it does do), but the fact that it works at all. After years of computer use with numerous warnings of computer nasties, one should be forgiven for thinking that computer users are a nasty, suspicious and malicious lot. Not so! When presented with a nice, open information source, vast majority of people want to contribute to it and help it to grow. Actually, it has restored my faith in humanity.
PCUG has its own wiki - http://www.pcug.org.au/oss/2/pmwiki.php. It is also accessible from a link on the PCUG Home Page.
There is a vast amount of information how to use our wiki - lots and lots of help pages with lots and lots of information. I will try to give the very basic text editing and other rules here as they apply to our PCUG wiki. Wiki is simply an editable web page. All parts of the PCUG wiki are accessible through the links on the side bar on the left of the page. Pages can and do refer to other pages or to external links. All links work in the usual way with a difference that the links are so easily created.
To edit a page simply click the Edit Page link in the header or footer, enter your name or a nickname in the little window that is on the form and then modify the text on the page any way you want. Yes, you can even edit pages others have created--that's part of WikiNature.
Whilst you are free to use a nickname, it is preferable to use real name. Without a name or a nickname, the edited pages will not be saved.
The rules for basic page editing are very simple--start each line without spaces and put a blank line between paragraphs. There are more Text Formatting Rules for lists and other specialized text, if you want to do that. A good place to experience editing is the Wiki Sandbox page. You can try anything you wish, without affecting any other the pages on this site.
To create references to other pages, enclose the title of the other page in double square brackets thus [[Other Page]]. This automatically creates a hyper link. Make titles for New Subjects, even if you don't have anything to say about them. Maybe someone will come along and fill out a page for the new link. When a new link has not been filled, it is shown with a "?" at the end of it. Click on it to fill it with some text.
A page's full name is GroupName.PageTitle, such as Main.HomePage. To refer to a page in the current group, write its PageTitle. To refer to a page in another group, write its full name.
There is a mountain of information about the editing options on the wiki itself. Not sure how best to organize a collection of wiki pages? The WikiStructure guide describes the options. Not sure how to write for wiki? The GoodStyle guide describes wiki writing conventions.
Just have a go. BTW, there is a "Visitors' Book" on the wiki and we would appreciate an entry in the book. Just leave an indication that you have visited it and perhaps tell us if you are a PCUG member. Tell us what you would like - Your Wishes link, just under the OpenSource is the place for it.
You can post a question, in any suitable place, perhaps in the Forum section. In the Forum section anybody can enter a message, but the messages or questions can not be edited. Your question will be noticed sooner if you announce it in the pcug-wiki mailing list. Most people don't want to spend time wading through the pages of wiki to find new postings, but if new questions are announced in the mailing list, you can safely bet that the question will be read by several persons and there is an excellent chance that it will be answered quickly. The mailing list is not very busy. It is not moderated and you can join it, leave it or suspend it anytime you wish. All mail addressed to pcug-wiki@tip.net.au reaches all subscribers. If you prefer the "owner" to subscribe you, email me at akabaila@pcug.org.au and I will do it for you.
It is possible to make some wiki pages, or more accurately, groups of wiki pages, more restrictive. The groups can manage their pages separately from the rest of the wiki with separate passwords. Each group can have its own, separate administrator who can set "edit" or "read" passwords for the group or for the individual pages in the group. An "edit" password allows editing only to the persons who have the "edit" password. A "read" password allows pages to be viewed only by persons who have the "read" password. In this manner any degree of openness can be achieved. Let me know if you wish to have a group and we will see what can be done. In fact, it is possible to have a group without its name appearing on the side bar, which makes the group even more private. It is your choice.
Above
all, have a go and have fun!
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A link to free, open source software on PCUG-TIP server is as follows: