Date: Fri, 12 May 2006 21:31:56 -0700 From: "Michael M." <nixlists@writemoore.net> Cc: FreeBSD Questions mail-list <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: Dead tree documentation Message-ID: <4465613C.601@writemoore.net> In-Reply-To: <44652135.1030700@daleco.biz> References: <44651CCA.1050904@writemoore.net> <44652135.1030700@daleco.biz>
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Kevin Kinsey wrote: > Michael M. wrote: >> I've been using various Linux distros and OS X for a while now, and >> Windows before those, and am interested in trying out FreeBSD. Call >> me old fashioned, but as an engaged-but-non-technical user, I find it >> really useful to have at least some accompanying documentation in book >> form when embarking on something like this. Okay, forget >> "old-fashioned," just call me "old." :-) Book-learnin' was the only >> thing we had when I was a yung-un, and it's what I'm used to. >> >> I understand that the be-all-and-end-all of authoritative FreeBSD >> reference is the online handbook (and, of course, the man pages and >> docs included with the OS itself). I was wondering if more >> experienced users could give me a few pointers about the best book >> supplements for delving into this OS. Specifically, I'm looking for >> advice about what might be too outdated to be useful (or worse, might >> end up being more confusing than helpful) and what isn't. From >> looking around and lurking here for a while, the books that look most >> promising to me are: >> >> "The Complete FreeBSD, 4th Ed." by Greg Lehey >> "FreeBSD 6 Unleashed" by Brian Tiemann >> "Absolute BSD" by Michael Lucas >> "BSD Hacks" by Dru Lavigne >> >> The latter, at least, seems like something best left for later, if I >> really stick with it,. Of the first three -- well, the first is the >> most appealing to me, but it's somewhat more dated than the others (I >> have seen the regularly posted reminders about online updates). I'm >> certainly not averse to buying two books; however, I don't want to >> drown myself -- keeping in mind that I'm not the most technically >> inclined person and my purpose is to learn to use FreeBSD as a >> general-purpose desktop system. I've no special or advanced uses in >> mind, though I am hoping that ultimately learning more about FreeBSD >> will also have the benefit of teaching me more about making use of the >> Darwin subsystem of OS X. >> >> Any thoughts, advice, pointers? Anything I missed, especially any >> general UNIX books that might go well with one of the above? >> > > > Well, I can understand, to some extent, where you're coming from. > It's much easier to justify throwing the book down beside the bed > when you're about to doze off, as opposed to, say, a new laptop. > > Recently, "Grog" Lehey released "The Complete FreeBSD" under the > Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 license. > Source is available, as well as a PDF document. > > I'm sure he'd appreciate it if you buy a paper copy, but you > could print your own, also: > > http://www.lemis.com/grog/Documentation/CFBSD/ > I would much prefer to buy a paper copy, I was really wondering if the paper copy is too outdated to be of use or so outdated that it might get me in trouble. I imagine there's lots of things that haven't changed much at all -- more in the vein of "concepts" and "principles" if not nitty-gritty specifics. There are many things I would know to watch out for, mostly userland/GUI apps and software. I'm not worried, for example, about instructions for configuring the X server being out of date. I've already gone through the transition to X.org 7.0 from X.org 6.9 on a couple of Linux distros, and I don't think FreeBSD 6.1 is using X.org 7.0 yet. So if the book goes into detail about configuring XFree86, that's not a big deal. I'm more concerned about messing up on things about which I don't know any better, but even there I can always check the updates and the current handbook online before I monkey around too much. It's just that if there's *too* much of that, then the usefulness of the printed book is questionable. -- Michael M. ++ Portland, OR ++ USA "No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream." --S. Jackson
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