Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2001 11:42:26 -0800 From: Kent Stewart <kstewart@urx.com> To: mij@osdn.com Cc: Seth <seth@psychotic.aberrant.org>, freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Web page suggestion Message-ID: <3A898E22.39A43C02@urx.com> References: <20010213104922.A70178@psychotic.aberrant.org> <20010213125007.B375@guinness.osdn.com>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
Jim Mock wrote: > > On Tue, 13 Feb 2001 at 10:49:22 -0500, Seth wrote: > > This suggestion has probably been debated ad nauseum already, but I'd > > like to make it anyway on the off chance that nobody's ever heard it > > before :) > > > > One of the hardest things for people new to FreeBSD to do is locate > > the installation disks & instructions. This sounds strange to those > > of us who are familiar with the web site, but the images are three > > clicks away from the main page, and the links are embedded in stuff > > that the impatient would-be user won't want to read. I can't tell > > you the number of times I've pointed people to the freebsd.org web > > site and then had to hand-hold them through locating the floppies and > > imaging instructions. More than once, I've heard "if it's this much > > trouble to install, how hard is it going to be to USE?" > > If they think clicking through 3 links to get to is "too much trouble" > they shouldn't be using FreeBSD. If they can't be bothered to click the > very easily labeled links, they're surely not going to bother reading > any of the install docs and will have an installation experience similar > to trying to ram their head through a brick wall. Part of the problem is that when they get to the "Handbook Chapter on Obtaining FreeBSD", they are presented with Appendix A. To a newbie, Appendix A is a series of TLA's that are completely giberish until they have been using FreeBSD for a while. There isn't a chapter on obtaining FreeBSD and there also aren't any instructions. Using FTP to download an iso or the bin files would be a section by itself. The closest I have seen is Dan's web page at http://www.freebsddiary.org/read.html. I don't think a newbie can use CVS or CTM to install FreeBSD. So, you have a series of choices that don't make any sense and more than half of them don't apply. I also don't have any idea where the process is breaking down. I always thought it was a literacy test such as pushing a pull door and I flunked it at times. Bookmarking the process at the release level of an FTP mirror is one way through the jungle and that is the route I have taken. Kent > > - jim > > -- > jim mock <mij@osdn.com> O|S|D|N open source development network > http://soupnazi.org/ http://osdn.com/ | jim@FreeBSD.org > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-doc" in the body of the message -- Kent Stewart Richland, WA mailto:kbstew99@hotmail.com http://kstewart.urx.com/kstewart/index.html FreeBSD News http://daily.daemonnews.org/ To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-doc" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?3A898E22.39A43C02>