From owner-freebsd-questions Thu Oct 8 03:49:22 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id DAA09958 for freebsd-questions-outgoing; Thu, 8 Oct 1998 03:49:22 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from castor.chuck (lucy.bedford.net [206.99.145.182] (may be forged)) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id DAA09953 for ; Thu, 8 Oct 1998 03:49:20 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from listread@bedford.net) Received: (from listread@localhost) by castor.chuck (8.8.8/8.8.8) id BAA04837; Thu, 8 Oct 1998 01:19:30 -0400 (EDT) (envelope-from listread) Message-Id: <199810080519.BAA04837@castor.chuck> Subject: Re: Newbie In-Reply-To: <3.0.5.32.19981005225734.009a5780@sar.anit.es> from Steven Walker at "Oct 5, 98 10:57:34 pm" To: swalk@anit.es (Steven Walker) Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1998 01:19:30 -0400 (EDT) Cc: questions@FreeBSD.ORG X-no-archive: yes X-Echelon: aerosol dispersal modalities Reply-to: djv@bedford.net From: "Woodchuck" X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4ME+ PL38 (25)] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG Steven Walker wrote: > Hi guys, > > I have installed FreeBSB 2.2.7 (eventually) and it is up and running. I > am not sure what I am doing as this is my first look at a Unix OS. I have > looked at a number of NGs and have watched this one for a little while. keep doing that, things will begin to fall into place. In six months, you'll understand a LOT more than you do now. Much of this is like learning a foreign language -- you need to begin to *feel* the rightness of an answer -- and of a question. 'Learn to probe the boundaries of your ignorance, learn its structure' -- know what it is you want to ask, in other words. > To be honest I rarely understand the questions let alone the answers. It > is all too advanced for me. Sometimes beginners are not treated too > sympathetically. I understand that you do not want to waste time > repeating the "obvious" or elementary. Sometimes very tricky or 'advanced' questions are ignored or treated unsympathetically, too. Greg Lehey makes a periodic posting about 'Getting the most out of FreeBSD-Questions'. Read it, I think, next Monday. The most exasperating question is the one that lacks information. ("I got an error message installing apache! Now what?") > Can anyone tell me (and many others who seem to be in a similar position) > where we may go for help on more elementary problems. You'd be surprised: -questions *is* a good place for elementary admin questions. Elementary user skills (how to run a program, change current directory, that sort of thing), however, you should probably acquire on your own. Go to a library and/or a book store... I'm not being facetious. Visit www.ora.com (O'Reilly Associates) and browse through some of their titles for the new unix user and admin. If you're running it at home, you're the admin, too. Pester your friends who know Unix. Try "apropos" and "whatis" before posting. Get Greg Lehey's "Complete FreeBSD". It goes into gratifying detail on many thorny subjects. Moreover, the details nearly always work, too :) As a last resort, read Linux materials, but have a salt shaker handy. For many applications (sendmail, dns, X,...) Linux uses the same software as BSD, although specifics (where a config. file resides) may differ. Ditto for other Unix variants. Sometimes very elementary questions are overlooked, because the person who might answer assumes, "He's surely already gotten ten answers for that." www.geek-girl.com/resoures.html is a nice site. Dave -- Will hack for cabbages! Every day is Groundhog Day! To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message