User Guide listed on Amazon

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Raspberry-Pi-User-Guide-Upton/dp/111846446X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1338311934&sr=8-2

No date on when it will be available or details of a publisher but perhaps Eben is doing some writing whilst on Holiday?

According to the Product Details it is due to be published on 26 October 2012, by John Wiley & Sons and will have 180 pages!
I thought I had better put a pre-order in now though, as it might just be as popular as the Raspberry Pi itself!

We all need to request this is available on the kindle....

Can anyone from the Foundation confirm that this is an offical user guide and that this really is the meaning of RasPi according to Eben?

[abishur]

My *guess* is that this is not from the RPF. Based on the size if the manual, it's more likely that this is the documentation that the RPF was allowed released on the SoC

My *guess* is that this is not from the RPF. Based on the size if the manual, it's more likely that this is the documentation that the RPF was allowed released on the SoC

I really doubt that given that its title is Raspberry Pi User Guide.
What on earth would the users care about the the SoC documentation? They just want to know how to use their Pi.

Given that this has a "proper" publisher, I also supsect that it's a "real" book by the "real" E. Upton

But there's also scam-type-books on Amazon (these are usually e-books) like http://www.amazon.co.uk/Raspberry-Pi-Bl ... 136272644/
"Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online"

It's a real user guide - Eben's only writing the foreword though, the rest of the book is by Gareth Halfacree (whose name you might know if you've read any of the Pi-related stuff on bit-tech or in Custom PC). The publishers put out the wrong information; I'm told it will be corrected soon.

Eben Upton is writing books now?

This doesn't seem like something the bosses of raspi would do. They'd release the documentation online for free

I'm sure all profits would be invested back into the charity Some people prefer physical books, and some people don't have high-speed internet connections they can use to access the online docs

Hi,

I'm the co-author of the above book. I can confirm that it's a genuine user guide, aimed at getting people up and running with the Pi as quickly as possible - even without any prior Linux knowledge. It also contains sections on interfacing the Pi with other components and devices through its GPIO header.

More information on the book is available here: http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-111846446X.html

(You'll notice that I'm not mentioned there - that's an oversight on Wiley's part: the bumph was written before I came on board, and hasn't been updated yet.)

Eben is heavily involved in the development of the book - he's responsible for the entire table of contents, meaning the book is what he as one of the primary developers of the Pi believes a user guide should look like - while I'm the one given the pleasure of putting words on paper.

To clarify a few points raised in this thread:
Unlike other Pi-centric books on Amazon, this isn't a scam or documentation cribbed from Wikipedia. It's a real user guide, developed by Eben and fleshed out by my own fair hand.
It's not just a paper copy of the SoC documentation from Broadcom. It's also aimed at a very different audience - while a lot of the book will be welcomed by techie types (especially the GPIO section) it's designed to be accessible by all.

For the user who requested a Kindle version: the book is to be released in dead-tree, Kindle, PDF and ePub formats, although at present Amazon is only listing the dead-tree copy.

Any questions, let me know!

-Gareth

[abishur]

So not by the RPF, but a legit book. I'll take being half right over all wrong any day of the week

Thanks for the clarification Gareth, although I am sure that anyone who took the trouble to read the whole of the information given by Amazon, would have realised immediately that a book published by John Wiley & Sons, who are a much respected publisher, and 'written' by Eben Upton, is in fact the 'real thing'. The fact that the book is not due to be published until October, makes a lot of sense also, although it would obviously be good if it was available earlier.
I am one of those who likes to hold a printed book in my hands, and as I mentioned earlier, I have already placed a pre-order!

Good luck with the book!

[Gert van Loo]

At the moment I am paying somebody to write an extensive user manual for the Gertboard including demo programs for each I/O type. I have to do that because I do not have the time. I also have to write the assembly manual and preparing some demo's for my Raspberry talk in Bristol on the 8th of June.
Maybe I should sell a 'Gertboard' book.

Maybe I should sell a 'Gertboard' book.

Buy the book, get a free Gertboard PCB?

Maybe I should sell a 'Gertboard' book.

Why not?

If you started from first principles I'm sure there're a lot of people who would be interested.

[...] for my Raspberry talk in Bristol on the 8th of June.
Maybe I should sell a 'Gertboard' book.

Which talk's that? Maybe we're missing something in the Bristol thread.

Just to let you all know, Wiley has provided Amazon with a bit more detail about the book now (including the fact that I'm involved.) Accordingly, the product page has been updated.

Update:
The book is now finished, and is going through technical review. Once the technical review is complete, it'll come back to me and Eben for author review, and then go off to be produced.

If you're curious as to what the book looks like, here's a preliminary cover design. Details may change, but that's roughly what you'll be looking for should you want to buy it in the shops.

The full Raspberry Pi User Guide is also going to be joined by a slimmer eBook-only release: Meet the Raspberry Pi. This extracts the essential getting-started content from the Raspberry Pi User Guide, leaving out things like learning to program in Python, using Scratch, and learning to solder. It still includes a section on using the GPIO port, though - and will be cheaper than the full Raspberry Pi User Guide.

What? It's not even going to be offered in Kindle (or, more preferably, cross-platform e-book) format? It won't be available in the U.S. until a month later than the UK release, either. You could get it out into the wild months earlier than it will take to fell the trees needed to make the paper, grind up the horses to make the glue, grow the soybeans to make the ink, etch the steel to make the offset printing plates, etc., etc., etc. What is this, the Jolly Olde Angle Land of 1066??? Mount the horses! Cue the coconut shell hoofbeats!! 'Tis just a flesh wound, come back here, you coward!!! What ... is the terminal air velocity of a sparrow?

You might want to have Amazon change the phrase "Write basic programmes in Scratch and Python" to read "Write simple programs in Scratch and Python" so that no one gets "basic" confused with "BASIC". Also, the convention is that programmes refers to scheduled events - even in the UK, executable software is contained in programs. This has been discussed on the forums pretty extensively, as well as elsewhere to death for many years (it's a generational thing, and you don't want to seem out of touch with the kids, right? ). Now we not only have two peoples separated by common language, we have multiple generations separated by common texting in scores of countries, where nothing is spelled the way anyone older than 40 would ever recognize.

What? It's not even going to be offered in Kindle (or, more preferably, cross-platform e-book) format? It won't be available in the U.S. until a month later than the UK release, either.

It is going to be made available in Kindle format. If you cast your eyes up-thread, you'll see that the book is being released in dead-tree, Kindle, ePub and PDF formats. It's just that Amazon only has a pre-order page for the dead-tree version at the moment - and that's something Amazon has done itself, it's nothing to do with the publisher.

In the coming weeks there'll also be a more tightly-focused 'how to get started' book comprising the first six chapters, dubbed Meet the Raspberry Pi. That one is eBook-only, and again will be launched in Kindle, ePub and PDF formats.

As for the launch dates, they're placeholders - the book will hopefully be out significantly in advance of the supposed October launch. Oh, and the typos (programmes instead of programs, as you highlight - which, by the way, isn't really a generational thing, but has been common parlance for decades) aren't mine - I don't actually know who wrote the synopsis on Amazon.

Wow !
I can't wait till i'll get hold of it !

Any idea if there is a market for translated editions ?

ghans

Will we be limited to one copy per order?









I'll get me coat.

Any idea if there is a market for translated editions ?

I've raised the suggestion with Wiley & Sons, pointing out the popularity of the Pi in non-English speaking countries - they love the idea of translated versions, and would be interested in speaking to publishers in other countries with regards either jointly releasing a translated edition or simply selling translation rights for that country outright.

So, in short: if you want a localised version in your native tongue, tell your favourite local publisher to get in touch with Wiley - or get in touch with me, and I'll point them towards the right people.

Will we be limited to one copy per order?

Nope, you can order as many copies as you feel the need. I heartily encourage one for each day of the week, and a spare just in case.

Any idea if there is a market for translated editions ?

I've raised the suggestion with Wiley & Sons, pointing out the popularity of the Pi in non-English speaking countries - they love the idea of translated versions, and would be interested in speaking to publishers in other countries with regards either jointly releasing a translated edition or simply selling translation rights for that country outright.

So, in short: if you want a localised version in your native tongue, tell your favourite local publisher to get in touch with Wiley - or get in touch with me, and I'll point them towards the right people.

Will we be limited to one copy per order?

Nope, you can order as many copies as you feel the need. I heartily encourage one for each day of the week, and a spare just in case.

I look forward to the release of Le Tarte aux Framboises in due course.