I've split the topic and put it in the "About this site" section, so that it doesn't cause the topic in question to become even more rambling
The original topic is:
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=3320 .
I agree that the thread is more rambling than it should be, but will wait for a general consensus before unstickying.
Really, the Wiki should be the place that contains this kind of stuff. The problem in the past has been that people don't always read the wiki before reading their first post. I think that the
Getting Started topic on the wiki is not bad for anyone looking to OSDev, but it also has some more general links for people wishing to program. It could perhaps do with some expansion with novice programmers in mind.
Cheers,
Adam