unOfficial unRAID Manual

unOfficial unRAID Manual - (thanks NAS and Joe. L)

 

This manual started as an exact copy of the official unRAID manual provided by LimeTech.  The goal of this project is to bring the manual up to date and to make it more user friendly (especially for users new to unRAID).  Any member of this forum is allowed to edit the unofficial version.  

 

If you would like to help review and proofread the manual, please add the page to your watchlist (sign in, then press 'watch' at the top of the page).  Once the page is on your watchlist, it is easy to view any changes that have been made:

Click on 'My Watchlist' (top right)

The unOfficial unRAID Manual should show up in the list.  Click 'diff' to see any changes highlighted in red.

 

This thread is for discussion of the general idea and particular points in the manual.

 

If you are new to editing wikis, here's the MediaWiki Help.

I've made my first edit, to the 'split level' section under 'user shares':

Split Level under User Shares

 

I know the new 'Split0' feature needs to be documented, but I'm not quite sure how to word it, since I'm not 100% sure how it works.

The wiki has complete change control tracking and the ability to revert any change.

 

The more rules you put in place to do something the less people will do it.

 

Essentially your making it hard for yourself just go for it. The number one rule in wiki editing is be brave.

 

Edit: no disrespect meant. all i mean is that there a way people edit wikis and this isnt it. we cant enforce people making it blue if some dont do it then it negates the purpose of it

The wiki has complete change control tracking and the ability to revert any change.

 

The more rules you put in place to do something the less people will do it.

 

Essentially your making it hard for yourself just go for it. The number one rule in wiki editing is be brave.

 

Edit: no disrespect meant. all i mean is that there a way people edit wikis and this isnt it. we cant enforce people making it blue if some dont do it then it negates the purpose of it

I requested feedback on if highlighting the revisions is a good idea.  If there is an easy way to see the differences, can't see complicating our lives any more than needed.

Oh, I see.  If we all sign up to 'watch' the page, then there is a track changes feature via the watch list page.  That certainly makes it easier.  I'll change the directions above.

 

Thanks NAS, that is definitely a better solution.

 

I removed all the blue font tags from the manual, hope that's OK with you Joe.

Oh, I see.  If we all sign up to 'watch' the page, then there is a track changes feature via the watch list page.  That certainly makes it easier.  I'll change the directions above.

 

Thanks NAS, that is definitely a better solution.

 

I removed all the blue font tags from the manual, hope that's OK with you Joe.

Fine with me.

this is looking awesome!

Kudos to Joe and Rajahal for getting this started.  I had planned to do it some time ago, quietly at first, then when in better shape present it for others to edit and expand.  Never got to it, as usual, and am very glad it is now started.  Personally, I think Tom will be happy for us to do most of the work, and then he can edit and expand it as he pleases.

 

I doubt if most know just how much work is needed.  Just a quick look at the Release Notes, I would say that the current Manual has not been updated since the last of the v4.2 releases.  It does not include anything on the Cache drive or Mover script, or NTP, or NFS, or the individual drive dropdown box, or a number of other changes and features.  In addition, when it was updated in the past, new material was added but often the older Manual content was not updated appropriately, so may be even further out of date.  For example, drive assignments on the Devices tab were added to unRAID a long time ago, but it is not mentioned until the bottom of the Manual, and there are a number of sections above that need to be updated to include drive assignments (eg. the sections on adding and replacing drives, as well as the Swap-disable procedure).  I suspect that relevant sections of the FAQ could be copied directly to some of these sections.

 

I believe the Release Notes wiki page (and the actual linked notes for each release) will be a good resource for content to add or update, but there are comments scattered elsewhere too, some from Tom himself in more fully explaining a new feature.

 

For those that worry about the information integrity and vulnerability of the wiki, there are several of us who constantly monitor ALL changes to the wiki, and remove or correct as needed, often within a couple of hours of a hostile attempt.  Any who wish to help with this, should keep a link to the RecentChanges page.  When you check it, just click the diff link for each change, to see the specific modifications made with each page edit.

Kudos to Joe and Rajahal for getting this started.  I had planned to do it some time ago, quietly at first, then when in better shape present it for others to edit and expand.  Never got to it, as usual, and am very glad it is now started.  Personally, I think Tom will be happy for us to do most of the work, and then he can edit and expand it as he pleases.

 

I doubt if most know just how much work is needed.  Just a quick look at the Release Notes, I would say that the current Manual has not been updated since the last of the v4.2 releases.  It does not include anything on the Cache drive or Mover script, or NTP, or NFS, or the individual drive dropdown box, or a number of other changes and features.  In addition, when it was updated in the past, new material was added but often the older Manual content was not updated appropriately, so may be even further out of date.  For example, drive assignments on the Devices tab were added to unRAID a long time ago, but it is not mentioned until the bottom of the Manual, and there are a number of sections above that need to be updated to include drive assignments (eg. the sections on adding and replacing drives, as well as the Swap-disable procedure).  I suspect that relevant sections of the FAQ could be copied directly to some of these sections.

 

I believe the Release Notes wiki page (and the actual linked notes for each release) will be a good resource for content to add or update, but there are comments scattered elsewhere too, some from Tom himself in more fully explaining a new feature.

 

For those that worry about the information integrity and vulnerability of the wiki, there are several of us who constantly monitor ALL changes to the wiki, and remove or correct as needed, often within a couple of hours of a hostile attempt.  Any who wish to help with this, should keep a link to the RecentChanges page.  When you check it, just click the diff link for each change, to see the specific modifications made with each page edit.

The actual cloning was easy.  The unRAID manual is a single page.  Interestingly enough, I was able to view (and copy) its source when I was not logged in to the wiki.  I then made the new un-official page in the user-contributed section and put the big red warning about it being un-official at the top.

 

It is very out of date.  I can see that too.

 

Joe L.

Oh, thanks Joe.  I didn't realize you had made the copy, I thought it was NAS.  Do you have admin rights to the wiki as well?  I only ask because I was unable to edit anything in the 'Getting Started' section when I tried yesterday, yet I could edit every other part of the wiki.

Oh, thanks Joe.  I didn't realize you had made the copy, I thought it was NAS.  Do you have admin rights to the wiki as well?  I only ask because I was unable to edit anything in the 'Getting Started' section when I tried yesterday, yet I could edit every other part of the wiki.

No, as far as I know I do not have any admin rights. 

I was only able to add the new page to the user-contributed section of the wiki.  I can not edit the official manual in any way.

 

Joe L.

 

I understand that, but as a generic wiki editor, I'm unable to edit the Getting Started page at all, even though it is on the 'user contributed' side.  Same goes for the unOfficial Documentation page.  So I'm curious as to how you were able to add the new manual page.

I understand that, but as a generic wiki editor, I'm unable to edit the Getting Started page at all, even though it is on the 'user contributed' side.  Same goes for the unOfficial Documentation page.  So I'm curious as to how you were able to add the new manual page.

When on the User-Contributed-Content Page I clicked on the "edit" tab at the very top of the page.

 

It let me edit it.

Rajahal, you should be able to edit it too.  According to the Administrators "list of members" as found on the Special:Statistics page, only Limetech and NASuser have any extra rights.  They are the only users that can edit the old Manual and the unRAID wiki starting page and the Official Documentation page, but all other pages can be edited by any registered and logged in user.

Long time unraid user / lurker dropping in to say thanks much for making this happen!

 

I just expanded a bit on Joe's edit for mac users. There is also a version of mDNS (Bonjour) that makes it work even more seamlessly with macs, but I felt installing custom packages was a bit much for the very first section. Not even sure if this sort of thing belongs in the manual...

I'm planning to contribute to the writing part of this - I'm not expert enough to answer many of the questions, but I can take the wiki links to the forums are help create some wiki articles. It's perfectly fine for a knowledge base to go from forums -> unofficial wiki pages -> official web pages (that can't be edited).

 

What I would suggest is that experts and newbies alike highlight which are the important areas to "fix" so we can prioritise the work. The other one is to remember that linking to other wikipages is just fine - for example:

 

-Main Pages

- How to install UnRaid

  - Testing and initial troubleshooting

- Recommended builds

- etc.

- etc.

 

Basically, don't copy a format because it's "official" and try and fit everything onto one wiki page - particularly since the official version is reportedly out of date.

 

 

 

Rajahal, you should be able to edit it too.  According to the Administrators "list of members" as found on the Special:Statistics page, only Limetech and NASuser have any extra rights.  They are the only users that can edit the old Manual and the unRAID wiki starting page and the Official Documentation page, but all other pages can be edited by any registered and logged in user.

 

Doh, I found the edit link.  I was looking at the top right corner, where it appears on all the sub-pages.  The link is at the top-center of the page.

 

I agree with MrLeek that a bit of prioritization is in order, especially concerning items that are outright missing from the manual.  Here's a few missing items that I notice:

• Cache drive, mover script, etc.
  
• Spin up groups
  
• 'unformatted' bug - it may as well be part of the manual as long as it is so prevalent
  
• memtest - how to run, what it tests, what it means, etc.
  
• active directory
  
• new allocation method - fill up
  

 

Also, a lot of the sections say 'see below' but there is nothing below.

For what its worth the normally accepted way of doing this is to not worry too much about the format but to get the information in. Too many times a formatting plan becomes out of date as more and more people put info in.

 

Another good rule of thumb is to highlight areas that are missing with some stand out formatting or the better way linking to a sub-page but that has no content yet.

 

The key here is that unlike your own documents formatting, style and anything else can be undone by just one keen user with a different take on it, so until its done as in basically complete all bets are off.

 

Also the other thing we will see eventually is the UK vs USA spelling battle

I'm full blooded American, and I still always type out 'behaviour', then correct it to 'behavior'.  The first version just looks/sounds right to me.

I'm full blooded American, and I still always type out 'behaviour', then correct it to 'behavior'.  The first version just looks/sounds right to me.

I'm also full blooded American. But I can't speel anywahy... 

 

Joe L.

Its one thing we should decide sooner rather than later.

 

American or the Queens English.

 

I would prefer the later and theres a big debate that it should always be "BrE" since that is the 'standard English'. There are also about another 10 written dialects that are less popular.

 

I am easy but we should decide on one so that the war doesn't begin. It ALWAYS does

Well, LimeTech is an American company, right?  I think that decides it for us.

If this was the official manual i would agree right away. But since its the community one its for us to decide.

 

My case would be if were going for a written dialect the only reason to choose American over say Indian is number of users. To my mind though chossing the parent non dialect version is the most sensible.

 

Will let others decide.

I've always preferred Pig Latin.

let's make it easy.  The existing official-manual is in American style English.  The Un-Official one should also.

 

Anybody who later wishes to translate may do so.  There are many automatic filters on the web.

 

Or, for jkm9000

et'slay akemay itway easyway.  Ethay existingway officialway-

anualmay isway inway Americanway ylestay Englishway.  Ethay

Unway-Officialway oneway ouldshay alsoway.

 

Anybodyway owhay aterlay ishesway otay anslatetray aymay oday

osay.  Erethay areway anymay automaticway iltersfay onway ethay

ebway.

 

Also for jkm9000, a full automatic translation.

 

Joe L.