I am thinking that the Maslow4 may be different enough from the earlier Maslows to warrant a separate manual. On the other hand, maybe we just need a few new sections for the Maslow4 in the existing manual. What do people think?
new manual
David Lang
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The differences are so great that Ive been thinking that there needs to be a clear demarkation between M3 and M4.
Like how the forum has different topics for the original Maslow, we should probably have the same for M4. Otherwise each new post will have to clarify which version of Maslow we are referring to.
Come to think of it, once the M4’s start to ship, the forum is going to be absolutely flooded with M4 related posts which will quickly overwhelm the conversations on it.
@bar, have you given any thought as to how to handle the forums for M4? Is it possible to set up a separate forum for M4 so we can keep the current one focused on M3?
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Could we rename the existing Troubleshooting, Technical Details, and Hardware categories to M1-M3 Troubleshooting, M1-M3 Technical Details, and M1-M3 Hardware and then create categories for M4 Troubleshooting, M4 Technical Details, and M4 Hardware? Then add a new wiki in the Wiki category for the M4 manual?
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make it even simpler call them Old 2 metal chain maslow and New 4 belt maslow. Trust me newbies will appreciate the more obvious naming.
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For simplicity I would abbreviate those “Chain Maslow” and “Belt Maslow”.
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So the name 4 really is because of the 4 belts…but also here’s kind of how I was thinking of the eras.
M1: The original original design with no ring…almost none of these around
M2: The ring kit Maslow
M3: The kits sold by people other than me (EastBay Source, MakerMade…etc)
M4: Maslow4
I don’t know if we need a separate forums for the M1-3 stuff because it was pretty quiet in here before M4 came along so I’m guessing there wouldn’t be many people in the M1-3 forums, but I think a dedicated section is a good idea so that the conversation doesn’t get overwhelmed
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The only issue I can see with this is MakerMade’s “new version” of their Maslow kit is called the M2 (has the Due control board and the C-channel ~ I think ~ for the Z axis). There are still quite a few people that come to the forums here asking for help with their M2, so that could get confusing in that aspect.
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Totally. I wasn’t really pushing for those to be the names of the versions…that’s just where the 4 comes from in my mind
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I am totally with you on that order, but Leave it to MakerMade to mess it all up!! HA!!
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TBF, they did use it first.
Whatever the new version is called, it would be good to keep the current forum as is and differentiate the new Maslow from it somehow. Bar’s idea for a dedicated section is a good start
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To get things rolling, I have created the wiki topic The Belt Maslow Manual and renamed the old Manual as The Chain Maslow Manual. We can use this topic for planning things out.
I would suggest we start by listing what topics we want to cover and in what order. I’d like to think of this second manual as a clean sheet, so I recommend that we outline the new manual before looking at the old manual. We may come up with a “better” organization this time around, and if not, we can always look at the old manual and decide @Orob had it right and revert to that. I recognize we may have trouble coming up with specific topics until we have experience working with our Belt Maslows, but I bet we can come up with a general structure before then.
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Love it. Excellent organization.
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I think there should be a “Getting Started” category that outlines the basics of what the M4 is and the expectations for what it can do; hardware/software needed (i.e. what computer/operating system), Router(s) & bits recommended (and everything that would go with that). Next would be “Assembly/Mounting” as this can be done on a frame or straight to a concrete drive way ( 
at you @bar!!). From there, “Firmware”…and then on, and on, and on! Just my thoughts for a start. I won’t be mad if you say I’m wrong, I can sit back and just color…LOL!!! 
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Thank you, @c00nphrog, you have my permission to look at the Chain Maslow Manual now. (As if I had any authority or capability to prevent you from doing so 
) If the rest of the community would like to look at the Chain Maslow Manual, have a go at pointing out other chapters we are missing, suggest a different organization, or express your approval of what we have below.
Your organization sounds logical to me.
- Introduction
- Getting Started
- Assembly & Mounting
- Firmware
- Software
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The hardest part about making the wiki is that there are still so many things that we don’t know…but I guess that’s the point of a wiki…we can always edit it
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I have been thinking about how to implement this wiki, so I went to the Discourse Forums for Discourse and asked for opinions. I saw two options:
- A post for each chapter, like @orob did for the Chain Maslow Manual
- The whole wiki in a single post. I checked and the existing wiki is small enough that I think this is a viable option.
I got a response which suggested another option: - A topic for each chapter, with an index topic to tie it all together.
So I don’t think I’ve gotten much help narrowing things down.
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After a little thought on this, I think I am going to stick with the organization @orob used for the Chain Maslow Manual. My reasons:
- Nothing really broken with the way it was done in the chain manual
- There is the possibility the wiki could grow to be too large for a single post eventually.
- Managing multiple topics just sounds like a lot of extra work. The person who suggested this wanted to have space for a discussion of each chapter as part of the topic. For our purpose, I think having a the chapters one after another and the discussion in a separate topic works better.
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I built the basic structure based on the outline we have above, except I added a sixth chapter, Operation. I think the Wiki category defaults such that all of the posts in the topics are automatically editable, but if someone without admin privilege could check that, I’d appreciate it.
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only the first post is editable. I was thinking I could crank on the intro, but I can’t edit it. Typically in the wiki topic, only the first on is editable, but Bar changed the manual to override that. Not sure how he did it.
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