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Date:      Thu, 30 Nov 2000 02:44:54 -0500 (EST)
From:      Tim McMillen <timcm@umich.edu>
To:        Brian and Myrna <bryhartline@hotmail.com>
Cc:        freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: New to Unix
Message-ID:  <Pine.SOL.4.10.10011300213270.26938-100000@frogger.gpcc.itd.umich.edu>
In-Reply-To: <OE6utJLtosJ3Ih7jtrS000000d2@hotmail.com>

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Ok one tip is that most people on a unix list will ignore email that is
sent in html as hotmail defaults to.  Go to preferences and switch it to
plain text.  Also try to use a mailer that will allow you to wrap text at
72 characters.

On Wed, 29 Nov 2000, Brian and Myrna wrote:

> I am sure that you get a lot of these types of questions so here goes.

Not to be rude, but if you're sure this gets asked a lot, why not look for
the answers to your questions first?  www.freebsd.org has a wealth of
resources for you.  You just have to use them.  Especially the FAQ, the
Handbook, and the tutorials (all links along the left side of the page.) 
Also check out the mailing list archives at
http://www.freebsd.org/support.html#mailing-list
	Many questions are asked and answered repeatedly but have not made
it in the FAQ yet.  Check the archives first.  


>I am completely new to Unix. I downloaded your software and had no
>trouble installing it. My question is, now that I have this stuff

	excellent.  Good job getting it installed correctly by yourself.


>installed what do I do with it? In other words I realize that the free
>bsd will act as a firewall but other than that I don't know what to do
>with it. 

	Just about anything.  It can be a webserver, where you or your
friends log into it, it can act as a fileserver for a home network, a
router or name server (DNS) for that network, etc...  You can work on it
away from home.
	You can learn to program also.  There are c compilers, perl, c++,
python, java...    If you learn to program well you could eventually write
and contribute code to help make FreeBSD better.  That's the beauty of
free software.  By the way get a hold of "The C programming Language"
2nd ed. by Kernighan and Ritchie if you want to learn to program c (the
language most of the FreeBSD operating system is written in).

>I have been looking at your manual a little bit but am not very
>confident in myself in regards to this type of stuff. I know this is very

	Well why not just try things?  unless you have important data the
worst that could happen is that you hose the thing and have to reinstall.
you should back up any important data anyway.  I keep FreeBSD on two hard
drives and I play around with one and am more careful with the other.  The
best way to learn is to try so you've made a great start.

> 
> PS..
> 
> This was extremely easy to install, it basically took care of itself
and one other question. I went to two different sites to check my
security after I installed this. The first site said my security wasd
poor. It was able to open up my C drive, it was at
http://www.robrob8.com/online_security.htm. The second one gave me a
great report and stated that my security was very good and it was at
http://grc.com/. Any suggestions? I am eager to learn a little more about the Unix environment!

	Sure, see the handbook chapter on security
http://www.freebsd.org/handbook/security.html    Once you've read that you
can look at some other resources to get a stronger security setup.  Look
through the archives and you should be able to find some good firewall
rulesets.  But if you don't have any data you couldn't afford to lose, you
don't need extreme security anyway.  Just do enough to keep other people
from using your internet connection for mal intent.
	Finally here are some good links for even more information:
http://www.mostgraveconcern.com/freebsd/
http://people.FreeBSD.org/~jkb/howto.html  <--- good security howto
http://www.freebsddiary.org
http://www.potomacanglers.com/freebsd/
www.rootprompt.org
http://www.daemonnews.org
http://www.freebsdmall.com/
http://www.bsdtoday.com/
http://www.oreillynet.com/bsd/

	Ok have fun with that. :)

								Tim



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