Date: Wed, 21 Apr 2004 11:13:43 +0200 From: Roman Neuhauser <neuhauser@chello.cz> To: Erich Dollansky <oceanare@pacific.net.sg> Cc: freebsd-doc@freebsd.org Subject: Re: user-opinion poll?! [was: Would this be useful?] Message-ID: <20040421091343.GB1051@isis.wad.cz> In-Reply-To: <4085F03F.4050904@pacific.net.sg> References: <4085F03F.4050904@pacific.net.sg>
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# oceanare@pacific.net.sg / 2004-04-21 11:53:35 +0800: > platanthera wrote: > >On Tuesday 20 April 2004 09:35, Marc Fonvieille wrote: > >>Did you really read > >>http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/install.html ? > > > >it would be really hard to create a better installation guide .-) > > It depends on the angle of view. > > Imagine you are a Windows user and want to try FreeBSD. All you get is > that handbook. It just looks greek to them. > > This is the point where their route to FreeBSD ends. I don't have to imagine being a Windows user as I *was* one, and I wanted to try FreeBSD (4.0 at that time). All I got was that handbook. Unix just looked all greek to me. That was the point where my route to FreeBSD began. Or did you mean a *dumb* Windows user? Yes, I'm fed up with the "them poor Windows users" FUD. If you're looking for things to document (better/more), how about the VM system (e. g. the fourth line in top, or process states as shown in ps/top? I actually saw a Samba/AD integration tutorial aimed at Windows users. It went like this: type vi /etc/samba/smb.conf and hit enter type j three times, then O, then ... Needles to say, the result was that I couldn't tell what changes are should do without following it to the letter, which was slow as hell, and was prone to error in case the file I was editing was different from the one they were assuming. Every (other) piece of technical documentation I've seen assumed some prior knowledge, and brains, in the reader. Of course, the level is a matter of discussion, and Matt Dillon is probably not the best target audience of a hypothetical "How NFS works" Handbook chapter, but don't aim the documentation at "dummies". -- FreeBSD 4.9-RELEASE-p2 10:46AM up 1:17, 5 users, load averages: 0.02, 0.02, 0.00
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