[kwlug-disc] what would you pay for good kernel documentation?

[Robert P. J. Day]

  (i posted a longer form of this on the kernel newbies mailing list
earlier this morning, so i'll just hit the highlights.)

  to make a long story much shorter, i'm sure there are a number of
people who know that, for quite some time, i've been a fairly prolific
writer of things tutorial and educational, including my former kernel
newbies column at linux.com
(http://www.crashcourse.ca/wiki/index.php/Kernel_newbie_columns).
sadly, all of that has been a labour of love as i've never charged for
any it, i've always just given it away.

  at this point, i'd like to keep writing that sort of stuff for the
edification of kernel programmers (primarily for newbies, i enjoy that
kind of writing), but i really need to get something in return to
justify the time i put into it.  so i suggested a couple possibilities
on the KN list and, after pondering, i think here's what i'll try.

  at the moment, my current web site is being revamped totally and
when it's done in a few days, i'm just going to toss up a paypal
donate button.  other ideas were collating content into actual
sellable books, or a small monthly subscription service (a la LWN),
but those models didn't seem to work.

  i'm open to other ideas but, for now, i think what i want to do is
just add a donation button next to what will be a plethora of kernel
documentation i've written, and let readers judge for themselves what
it's worth.  new visitors could start with a one-time contribution of,
say, 5 or 10 bucks and, sometime down the road as long as i keep
writing and adding to what's there, they might decide to toss
something in again, who knows?  as long as i keep writing, some people
might choose to throw something in on a regular basis.

  i'm mentioning this here since i'm interested in feedback, of
course.  your thoughts?  how many of you would be a target market for
that sort of thing?  and if you found the content useful, would you
consider supporting it?  or, given the vagaries of human nature, do
you suspect that everyone will simply read, take what they want, and
leave?

  and is there anyone out there who's tried something like this?  what
did you do?  did it work?  etc, etc.  i realize this post is again
more than a little self-serving but i finally decided that i really
enjoy writing good tutorials and i'd like to keep writing them, but i
just need to justify the time invested.

rday


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Robert P. J. Day                               Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA

            Linux Consulting, Training and Kernel Pedantry.

Web page:                                          http://crashcourse.ca
Twitter:                                       http://twitter.com/rpjday
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