From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Jun 19 19:33:46 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 97FB016A4CE for ; Sat, 19 Jun 2004 19:33:46 +0000 (GMT) Received: from straycat.dhs.org (h0050da134090.ne.client2.attbi.com [24.91.148.154]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 21C0143D5C for ; Sat, 19 Jun 2004 19:33:46 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from tmclaugh@sdf.lonestar.org) Received: (qmail 1750 invoked from network); 19 Jun 2004 19:33:39 -0000 Received: from compass.straycat.dhs.org (HELO ?192.168.1.32?) (192.168.1.32) by alexandria.straycat.dhs.org with SMTP; 19 Jun 2004 19:33:39 -0000 From: Tom McLaughlin To: Lloyd Hayes In-Reply-To: <40D484A2.2080602@yahoo.com> References: <40D484A2.2080602@yahoo.com> Content-Type: text/plain Message-Id: <1087673619.834.53.camel@compass.straycat.dhs.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Ximian Evolution 1.4.6 Date: Sat, 19 Jun 2004 15:33:39 -0400 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: FreeBSD weakness. X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 19 Jun 2004 19:33:46 -0000 On Sat, 2004-06-19 at 14:23, Lloyd Hayes wrote: > I finally decided that I needed to get more information on FreeBSD. I > got it up and running, then I did something else and I start getting > errors again.... > > So I just ordered 3 books on FreeBSD from Amazon. In most of the reviews > posted there about the books, people were complaining about weak > documentation, too much information about things that they were not > interested in, and errors in the in the books which seems to be the most > common complaint. In my very short recent history with FreeBSD, I've > formed the opinion that documenting FreeBSD is it's greatest weakness. > FreeBSD needs someone who can actually type to write a good book for > beginners who have never seen UNIX code. A book is needed with examples > that actually WORK! Examples that are explained in plain English. There > seems to be very few books on FreeBSD around. Of the free OSs I think the different BSDs tend to be the better documented. Along with the man pages (don't short them, some can be obtuse at times but overall they give me what I need most of the time), this has served as my primary source of documentation for FreeBSD: http://www.freebsd.org/docs.html Book wise, there are more on Linux. This is starting to change though which is great. I think what you are looking for isn't necessarilly a FreeBSD specific book, though having at least one is great, but a general unix primer to help you get more familiar with unix concepts. I remember when I started toying around with linux and stared at the command line not knowing what to do. I had "Running Linux" back then which had a great intro to such things like file permissions, users/groups, and navigating around the system. Since I really can't from looking at my bookshelf, can anyone recommend a book with a few good chapters on general unix concepts to get a completely green user familiar and comfortable with "the way things are done"? Comming from $OTHER_OS to unix can be daunting but once you get the basics down, you start to complain that $OTHER_OS is too hard to do what you want. :) Tom > I have decided that it is a very good operating system which I need to > learn more about. And yes, I have all of the links that everyone sent > me. Thanks for all of the info.