Bijan Parsia <bparsia at email.unc.edu> wrote:
	(Just to be clear, I don't at all dispute Richard's claims about them, nor
	do I take them as harshing on our efforts in making it.)
	
Just to make this clear, I wouldn't bother to make sure the nuBlue was
a quick arm's reach away if I thought it was a _bad_ book.  It's a window
into an exciting project, full of ideas ready to explode in lots of
directions.

	Richard, was PWS simply not working? or was there a problem getting the
	configuration files?
	
No, it was a documentation problem.  Basically, I got totally confused
about what files I was supposed to get and what I was supposed to do with
them.  Here's how it goes.

Open a browser, find class PWS, look at the class comment.  It starts:
    PWS is the PluggableWebServer.  Documentation for it can be found at
    http://www.cc.gatech.edu/fac/mark.guzdial/squeak/pws/.
Copy the URL (Cmd-V), open Scamper, paste the url in, and we find
    Pluggable WebServer
    NOTE
    Most of the information here is superseded and is better updated at
    http://pbl.cc.gatech.edu/myswiki
The word "NOTE" is extra big and scary.  Follow the link, and you find
yourself at
    Swiki Swiki
    Welcome to the Swiki Swiki Swiki Front Page
    This is a place to talk about Swiki, also known as CoWeb ....
Doesn't sound like PWS documentation.  The first link you find for PWS
takes you right back to the page that says it is obsolete.
Persist a bit more and you arrive at
    FAQ on PWS and Swiki
    There is documentation on PWS and Swiki at
    http://www.cc.gatech.edu/fac/mark.guzdial/squeak/pws/,
    but it's pretty old now and not well-oriented toward the needs
    of new Swiki-users.  We've >>started<< at Documenting PWS.
    Until new documentation can be drafted, let's start with an FAQ here.

Basically, I got lost in a maze of web pages all telling me they were no good.
I downloaded the stuff that unpacks into an initial sort of Swiki folder, but
decided that I could wait to find out how to use it.

Now, when I am trying to read documentation, I *hate* going clicky-clicky.
I want (more, as a bear of very little brain who doesn't get lost in cities
but gets lost very very easily in hypertext, I *need*) something I can put
on paper, take home, and read sitting in a comfortable armchair without any
computer anywhere near me.  If there are examples to run on a computer, fine,
I can run them _after_ I've understodd what I need to understand.

I was interested because I thought it might be a good idea to set up some
local Swikis.  For example, in some of the papers I teach, students have to
work in groups.  It sounded as though a Swiki (with only the members of a
group authorised to change it, and the lecturer(s) also authorised to read
it for marking purposes) might be a good thing to offer.