From owner-freebsd-newbies Tue Oct 13 15:20:35 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id PAA08402 for freebsd-newbies-outgoing; Tue, 13 Oct 1998 15:20:35 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from phoenix.welearn.com.au (suebla.lnk.telstra.net [139.130.44.81]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id PAA08392 for ; Tue, 13 Oct 1998 15:20:31 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from sue@phoenix.welearn.com.au) Received: (from sue@localhost) by phoenix.welearn.com.au (8.9.1/8.9.0) id IAA08687; Wed, 14 Oct 1998 08:19:44 +1000 (EST) Message-ID: <19981014081936.62831@welearn.com.au> Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1998 08:19:36 +1000 From: Sue Blake To: Steven Walker Cc: David Wolfskill , freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: XFree86 & things References: <199810122027.NAA15780@pau-amma.whistle.com> <19981011080657.49962@welearn.com.au> <199810122027.NAA15780@pau-amma.whistle.com> <19981013072536.11957@welearn.com.au> <3.0.5.32.19981013212217.00945320@sar.anit.es> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Mailer: Mutt 0.88e In-Reply-To: <3.0.5.32.19981013212217.00945320@sar.anit.es>; from Steven Walker on Tue, Oct 13, 1998 at 09:22:17PM +0200 Sender: owner-freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org On Tue, Oct 13, 1998 at 09:22:17PM +0200, Steven Walker wrote: > Hi, > > >> > >> And for me, "explaining" a UNIX concept by referring to a Microsoft one > >> is quite the wrong way 'round. > > I am sure that you are right. This thread started when I was moaning about > the difficulties facing complete novices. Ah, complete novices? For many but not all of us, being a complete novice means not knowing unix. Learning FreeBSD is not the same thing as learning unix. It's a bit like we've bought a swimming pool without knowing how to swim. People like David, or pool makers, might be pleasantly astonished that we lurch in without any of the fundamentals. They are even more surprised when we expect FreeBSD people to help with unix or X usage, though they usually oblige. (Similarly, WordPerfect would occasionally advise on typing technique or hardware in order to keep people productive.) From our point of view, it's all a single area of unknowns; we can't distinguish its parts, and others' attempts to do so seem unreasonably pedantic. The newbies page on the FreeBSD web site aims to separate out the three areas of knowledge that we seek (FreeBSD, unix, X Window System), to make them easier for we multiple-newbies to learn, so we can seek help from the appropriate sources, and to stop people from being bogged down material that is unnecessary or out of sequence. Sorry David, there's nothing there on resources for learning about PC hardware. If you find something, we should add a fourth skill set. -- Regards, -*Sue*- To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-newbies" in the body of the message