Date: Sun, 13 May 2001 23:06:08 +1000 From: "Doug Young" <dougy@gargoyle.apana.org.au> To: <michael@tenzo.com>, "Kris Kennaway" <kris@obsecurity.org>, "Rahul Siddharthan" <rsidd@physics.iisc.ernet.in> Cc: "Kathy Quinlan" <katinka@magestower.com>, "Sue Blake" <sue@welearn.com.au>, "N6REJ" <n6rej@tcsn.net>, <freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG>, <freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: I'm leaving Message-ID: <017301c0dbad$7a80f230$0300a8c0@oracle> References: <002b01c0db54$e0febaa0$5599ca3f@disappointment> <20010513033434.A54250@xor.obsecurity.org> <003101c0dba1$181a7aa0$0300a8c0@oracle> <01051305121800.01335@h24-69-46-74.gv.shawcable.net>
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> Rather than putting valuable effort into a "default GUI install", I think > Doug's suggestion of extending the documentation in this area makes a lot of > sense. For instance, a gentle overview of cvsup would be really useful. I was > able to figure it out from the Handbook but only because I'd read an article > describing the wonder of FreeBSD makefiles. A simple conceptual overview of > how packages are installed would have helped me a lot. > As I've said countless times, "simple conceptual overviews" that include ALL the necessary information in one place help heaps of users. However I'm certain that the quickest & probably most efficient way to achieve this is for some non-expert to produce the stuff.. It seems many experts are too busy to produce explicit docs / don't perceive a need to be explicit / fail to comprehend the utter confusion caused to newbies by most man pages. OK so the non-expert can't possibly know enough to explain EVERYTHING, but thats not the issue here. Newbies rarely have the need / desire / ability to do anything real tricky ... in the vast majority of cases, all thats needed is a mere fraction of the info available from Greg Lehey's book, the Handbook, mailing list archives, etc, but with relevant background / assumed prior knowledge / etc, all readily available in a step_by_step format .... lots of visuals don't go astray either. I believe I've done a reasonable job of this stuff as far as I've gone with the Pedantic FreeBSD ... at least the hundreds of complimentary emails I've received over the past year would suggest that it fills a need that other stuff doesn't. Trouble is it needs a heap more work done to include info on ADSL PPPoE / broadband cable / X / CVSUP / etc etc & time is, as always, at a premium. Such is life I guess ...... like I've always said "whats the use complaining .... nobody takes any notice :)" > M. > > On Sunday 13 May 2001 04:37, Doug Young wrote: > > I've been thinking of doing something akin to the Pedantic FreeBSD > > style HOWTO > > on X ... some sort of really explict documentation with ALL the > > information needed to get a functional GUI, however I'd need to start > > from scratch as every FreeBSD system I've had anything to do with has > > been straight command line. From questions I've been seeing in the > > questions list, it appears that hardware support is the main issue > > that creates the bulk of the problems. Who would be the best to advise > > on some readily available & reasonably priced videocards / chipsets > > that ALWAYS work without problems ?? eg I've generally stuck with AGP > > versions of those 8Mb ATI Rage Pro things for both W2K & Solaris > > systems because I've never had a hint of trouble getting things to > > work / they give 16 bit 1024x768 easily they are affordable in OZ .... > > maybe they aren't the best for XFree but surely someone must know a > > couple of videocards that suit. (and please everyone don't say Matrox > > because the price in OZ is extortionate !!) > > > > > Would it be a good idea to have a "default GUI install" as one of > > > > the > > > > > install options, which sets up either KDE or GNOME, and a web > > > > browser, > > > > > and desktop icons for the HTML-ised version of the FreeBSD handbook? > > > > Jordan and others have tried many times to get people to submit good, > > newbie-friendly "default GUI environments", with close to zero > > community response. Yes, it would be a good idea, SOMEONE PLEASE DO > > THE WORK! :-) > > > > > > > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > > with "unsubscribe freebsd-newbies" in the body of the message > > -- > Michael O'Henly > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-newbies" in the body of the message
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