Proposed: Beginner's Guide

[kendrick]

Recent events here on GamesX compel me to try putting together a beginner's guide. Something brief but informative and collected into one document, to get all our newbies up to speed in a uniform manner. If you're willing to contribute, I'd like to solicit in this thread suggestions on what topics to cover.

The guide is intended to be no more than 1200 words and will likely be formatted as a top five list, with external references to flesh out complex topics. Obviously RGB and other video standards will be topic number one. May I impose on the veterans around here for suggestions on the other four topics to cover, please?

[ken_cinder]

This has me scratching my head, I came here as a complete newb. Well, newb to the content this site covers, not to electronics in general.
May I suggest a link to a thread that simply say's "Read everything you can find, and if you can't find something.......search, cause it's more than likely in here somewhere!"?

I honestly don't see this place as newbie zone. If you've never picked up a soldering iron before, you don't know what a resistor and/or a capacitor does, you probably shouldn't be here.......yet.

[NFG]

I fully support the idea, for two reasons:  First, it's likely to help people get their heads together before asking dumb questions or drowning in a sea of hard info.  Second, it'll help me make less an idiot of myself when I respond angrily to whiny newbs who can't abide by any site not geared to non-thinkers.  Dammit, there I go again...

But yeah: in the spirit of my video primers, soldering guide and other newb-friendly pages, I think this is something we can get behind. 

How about a table of contents, so we can get things underway?  I't's probably about time I finished the controller primer, there's the NTSC video and video primers...  What else?

[kendrick]

To be clear, I'm proposing something very short that doesn't necessarily impart information, but does set the proper level of expectations around here. My time as a professional technical writer has taught me that you can't make people read the real instructions. But if you give them a handy quick-start guide that's the equivalent of a double-sided index card, they're more likely to use it to figure out if they're in over their heads. That's what I'm aiming for.

[NFG]

Yup, we're on the same page.  I was thinking of a page of short paragraphs and/or links, organized in a newb-friendly fashion.

[Blaine]

I second and third this. Sometimes a newb has a question like, what's the difference between stranded wire and solid wire and which should I use to connect to a power supply? And then I google it and don't really get an answer and I feel stupid. Wait... what was I talking about...

Oh, newb guide. Newb guide, great idea. Actually I was thinking of this today, maybe a sub-forum with sticky threads for the chapters? That way people can post (not for hand holding, you should really look this shit up on google questions like what kind of wire should I use to wire a power supply - but for something for clarification, which could always be stickied as well) and keep the main chapters as they are but allow for a sorta living document.

[NFG]

We have a great wiki which would be a better place for a 'living document'. 

[kendrick]

I'm with Lawrence on that one. I think a newbie forum is a fine idea, but I wouldn't be the one to implement it. The beginner's guide would be more of a gateway thing, and unless a new branch of physics opens up it's not likely to change a whole lot. Basic principles of video display and electronics should continue to apply for the rest of our lifetimes, I hope.

[Blaine]

We have a great wiki which would be a better place for a 'living document'. 

Yeah... but seriously, when do I use solid wire vs stranded??!??! I can't take this stress anymore!!

aaah... good times. Actually, I'll have a diagram to contribute to the newb guide. I think it'll be cool. And if not, don't use it, you can't hurt me. I'm dead inside.

[Blaine]

How about a table of contents, so we can get things underway?  I't's probably about time I finished the controller primer, there's the NTSC video and video primers...  What else?

One thing I find myself explaining constantly is "What's the best video connection?" which always turns funny. I whipped up this graphic as a condensed, one stop view of the most common game connectors and how they relate to one another. I didn't make any attempts to explain anything - that's left to the video primers.

Kinda huge, but it scales well.

[Drewman21]

Blaine,
Sweet  diagram to have. I might use it where I work just to get people off my back!

[Blaine]

Blaine,
Sweet  diagram to have. I might use it where I work just to get people off my back!

Thanks Drewman,

I also threw together a diagram trying to show how and why you can't just take component and wire it into an rgb slot. I took subtle liberties with reality, but it's really just for educational purposes.