Date: Mon, 15 Apr 1996 15:17:13 +0000 () From: Annelise Anderson <andrsn@andrsn.stanford.edu> To: jfieber@indiana.edu Cc: freebsd-doc@freebsd.org Subject: FreeBSD Help for Users New to FreeBSD & Unix Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.91.960415143928.10870A-100000@andrsn> In-Reply-To: <01I3KND5BB8Y001WHQ@HOOVER.STANFORD.EDU>
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> On Thu, 4 Apr 1996, Annelise Anderson wrote: > > > There doesn't seem to be anything directed specifically at > > these dual-new users. It might be helpful to them and also > > possibly reduce some of the repeat question on the questions > > group. > > > > Would you be interested, or does this in effect already exist? > > Interested, yes. Does it exist? No, not in our documentation. > Are thinking of something that could fill out the currently > anorexic section in Part 1 of the current handbook called "Unix > Basics"? Currently it just explains how to get to the man pages > which is the ultimate, but all to frequent, copout. > > So, yes, we would be very interested in such a document! Some > common questions that should be addressed is "Okay, now I have > this login: prompt, what do I do" which entails a short > description of the root account, why it exists, how it should > (and should not!) be used. Then touch on the key differences > between unix and mac/windoze/os2(/vms?). Basic commands, > Important basic philosophies and customs should be identified > (simple tools with pipelines, shells, .dotfiles in your home > directory, your home directory...). And so on. > > If you hack up an outline, I'd love to see it, or just send it > off to doc@freebsd.org. > > -john > > == jfieber@indiana.edu =========================================== > == http://fallout.campusview.indiana.edu/~jfieber ================ Here is the outline as it currently exists (early draft): 1) Logging in, getting out 2) Creating a new user, su to root 3) Looking around (id, pwd, ls & variants, view, cat) 4) Getting help and information (apropos, man, which, locate, whatis, whereis....running maintenance to update data bases (system administration) 5) Editing text--vi basics 6) Printing FreeBSD files from dos 7) Other useful commands 8) Next steps--ports from cdrom, a few other common problems This little guide is intended for people new to *both* FreeBSD and any variety of Unix; at some points it's a walk-through, at others it tries to provide the tools by which people can learn more for themselves. Any analogies are to DOS; I don't know enough about the Mac or VMS to handle these (I think OS/2 users probably also know MSDOS). It covers more than the outline suggests. I didn't see it as an expansion of what's now in the handbook about basic Unix commands and didn't want this to try to substitute for a Unix tutorial (there are some on the Net to which people could be referred, in addition to many books). Rather it is special guide for people in a peculiar (and somewhat unusual) situation. I replied on the questions group to one of those questions that goes "Now that I've installed it, what do I do?" by sending this document by electronic mail, and a couple of other people requested it (one who said he was just about ready to give up). It asks for feedback and I was hoping to get some to polish it up a little. It will also need feedback from those who know more about FreeBSD than I do at this point. I can post the entire document to this group for comment and consideration if you want me to do that, or send anyone who requests it a copy by electronic mail. It's about 15K now and there are a couple of things I still want to add. There's also a copy of it on my web page at http://andrsn.stanford.edu/FreeBSD/newuser.html. --Annelise ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Annelise Anderson |"If to please the people we offer The Hoover Institution | what we ourselves disapprove, Stanford University | how can we afterward defend our work?" http://andrsn.stanford.edu/ | --George Washington, to the andrsn@hoover.stanford.edu | Constitutional Convention delegates -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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