Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Mon, 25 Oct 1999 21:13:46 +0000 (GMT)
From:      "Jason C. Wells" <jcwells@u.washington.edu>
To:        CKimmerl@SARCOM.COM
Cc:        freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: "easy installation"!!!!! yeah right
Message-ID:  <Pine.BSF.4.10.9910252046420.69291-100000@s8-37-26.student.washington.edu>
In-Reply-To: <A18002DDE56DD21184050008C7B1601401CADEF4@SNOHEX16.sarcom.com>

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Mon, 25 Oct 1999 CKimmerl@SARCOM.COM wrote:

>You people are so far into this stuff that you don't know what "easy" means
>anymore.  

When I first installed FreeBSD I had 0 experience. It was easy. Before I
continue just let me say that you should have given us a chance to help
you before you wrote this.

Also, a bit of advice. Never email in anger. You will always regret it.

>I tried to install FreeBSD 3.3 last night.  It was the most
>difficult install I've ever seen.  Problems?  How would I know- I never knew
>what it was doing.  It installed, I just didn't know what.  

It installed? If it installed then what it installed is the OS, some
programs, some docs and some other stuff.

>It is so geared towards unix experienced geeks that a person unfamiliar
>with Unix is totally lost.  Microsoftcopy sucks but they've got no
>competition from unix yet.  No one can understand it and unix people
>can't make it understandable.  I picked stuff from the menu, but the
>interface sucked so bad I wasn't sure what I had installed.  

If you weren't sure, there was always the help menus. The first screen you
see tells you how to use help.

One thing is certain. You must read the instructions to learn unix.
Perhaps MS has an advantage in this regard.

Look at it this way. You are trying to drive a Formula One car now and not
a VW Vanagon. There are things that you are going to have to learn.

>I was so pissed that I erased it.  I chose FreeBSD over Linux because it
>is supposed to be more stable, but only a hacker geek can install this
>OS.

>I'll try Linux, maybe it will be more easily understood. 

If you think Linux is any harder or easier. You are in for a suprise. I
have been using unix for a while now. I find Linux less comprehensible
than FreeBSD. You see, all unixen work in what we call "the unix way".

>Greg Lehay's book was useless- it was so far up in geek land it was
>amazing.  Of course, what can you expect from a guy who speaks 3
>languages and went to school for chemistry, etc.  He can't write
>beginner books, that's for sure.  

Now your getting personal and also shortsighted. Out of the thousands of
copies of this book that are sold do you suppose that thousands of people
are writing in the same complaint as you. They are not. Greg, Greg's book
and his near infinite patience with newbies are one of the greatest assets
that this community has. Oh yeah, he hacks on FreeBSD too. I take
advantage of his good will every time I log on to check my mail. Be
careful when you lambaste a pillar of the community.

FWIW, UNIX is way up in geek land. You will have better luck acclimating
yourself to geek land than acclimating geek land to yourself. Do you
realize that by writing to this forum that you have access to the very
people who program and document this software? It is a very valuable
resource which you will come to value if you can persist through your
inexperience.

>Throughout the entire installation I found myself wondering how anybody
>figures this shit out.  I'd appreciate any "PRACTICAL" help as I do not
>want to give up on FreeBSD.

We figure it out by starting with the install. You are on your way in that
regard. We also figure it out by backing people up and helping people out.
This is the unix way. 

I am proof that a newbie can make it. 

You came to try unix for a reason. You knew that there had to be something
better than MS. Trust us to teach you the unix way. It will be worth your
while.

P.S. You are going to get a shitstorm of email from angry people. That's
OK. That happened to me too. We can work through that.

Thank You, 	| http://students.washington.edu/jcwells/
Jason Wells	|



To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message




Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?Pine.BSF.4.10.9910252046420.69291-100000>