The FLOSS Manuals (FM) is a non-profit foundation founded in 2006 by Adam Hyde and based in the Netherlands. The foundation is focused on the creation of quality documentation about how to use free software.
Its web site is a wiki (previously using the TWiki and Booki programs, now using Booktype) focused on the collaborative authoring of manuals. The documentation is licensed under the GPL. Although initially the manuals were covered by the GFDL, the material was relicensed to the GPL due to concerns about the limitations of the GFDL.
Anyone can contribute to the material at FLOSS Manuals. Each manual has a maintainer – very much like the Debian maintainer system. The maintainer keeps an overview of the manual and discusses with those interested the structure, etc. The maintainer is also responsible for gathering new contributors together. Not all edits are 'live' – the edits are published to the manual when ready. This is to ensure the quality of the manuals is as high and as reliable as possible and that no new user encounters 'half finished' content.
Manuals are available as HTML online, or indexed PDF. Additionally manuals can be remixed so anyone can create their own manual and export to indexed PDF, HTML (ZIP/tar) or an 'Ajax' include.
In fall 2007, Floss manuals was awarded a 15,000 Euro prize by the Dutch Digital Pioneer fund. It has also been financially supported by Google and NLnet. FLOSS Manuals also received a Transmediale Award for its work on Booki and has also been featured in the Texas Linux Fest 2010.
List of manuals FLOSS Manuals has manuals for all of the following.
Software Manuals CRM CiviCRM (mobile access - CiviMobile), CiviCRM Developer Guide Office Firefox, Chromium, OpenOffice, ThunderbirdDigital signal processing Pure DataFile system FSLintOne laptop per childReading And Leading With One Laptop Per Child; Make Sugar Activities, XO, Write, Terminal, Chat Activity, Browse Activity, Record Activity, Turtle Art ActivityFree culture Collaborative FuturesCMS Newscoop, PlumiBroadcasting AirtimeInternet freedom How to Bypass Internet Censorship, An Open Web, Basic Internet SecurityTranslationOpen Translation Tools, Video SubtitlingVideo Theora Cookbook, Kino, Avidemux, GTranscode, ffmpeg2theora, HandBrakeFree network servicesFLOSS Manuals, Book Sprints, Wikimedia Commons, Archive.org, Freedom FoneFree software/open source Google Summer of Code MentoringGraphic design Digital Foundations, Alchemy, Inkscape, Scribus3D BlenderHTML editing Nvu, BlueGriffonBloggingWordPressMedia playersMPlayer, VLC, MiroVOIP LinphoneFile sharingAzureusStreaming MuSE, M3W, IcecastVideo subtitling Video Subtitling, JublerLinux Linux Command-line IntroAudio Audio Production, Ardour, Audacity, CsoundType design FontForgeHuman Rights OpenEvSysBook production Booktype, Booki User GuidePerformance UpStageCollaborative Mapping OpenStreetMap
Popularity Some manuals have been selected for inclusion on the VALO-CD, a collection of the best software for Windows.
References
External links
(Requires JavaScript) Interview: Adam Hyde, FLOSS Manuals Adam Hyde: Free Manuals for free software. Talk at Wikimania 2007, Taipei. Abstract