From owner-freebsd-newbies Mon Oct 12 14:26:14 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id OAA18656 for freebsd-newbies-outgoing; Mon, 12 Oct 1998 14:26:14 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from phoenix.welearn.com.au (suebla.lnk.telstra.net [139.130.44.81]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id OAA18590 for ; Mon, 12 Oct 1998 14:26:08 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from sue@phoenix.welearn.com.au) Received: (from sue@localhost) by phoenix.welearn.com.au (8.9.1/8.9.0) id HAA03800; Tue, 13 Oct 1998 07:25:42 +1000 (EST) Message-ID: <19981013072536.11957@welearn.com.au> Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1998 07:25:36 +1000 From: Sue Blake To: David Wolfskill Cc: freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: XFree86 & things References: <19981011080657.49962@welearn.com.au> <199810122027.NAA15780@pau-amma.whistle.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Mailer: Mutt 0.88e In-Reply-To: <199810122027.NAA15780@pau-amma.whistle.com>; from David Wolfskill on Mon, Oct 12, 1998 at 01:27:05PM -0700 Sender: owner-freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org On Mon, Oct 12, 1998 at 01:27:05PM -0700, David Wolfskill wrote: > >Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1998 08:06:57 +1000 > >From: Sue Blake > > >> Maybe it is because I have no Unix background that I am finding it > >> hard going. > > >Yep, that's a problem for all of us. We're trying to learn about a > >particular unix operating system without knowing unix first. > > Ahem.... Oops... > Please note that I'm *only* speaking (writing) for myself.... But there > are some of us who are not at all "new" to UNIX (even UNIX of the BSD > persuasion), but who are new to FreeBSD. OK, change "all" to "most of us" and make it less colloquial :-) > In my case, for example, the primary challenge is figuring out how to > deal with hardware that is either PC-specific (IDE drives, anyone?) or > significantly more common on PC-type machines than (say) SPARCstations > or UltraSPARCs. Dealing with the ways in which FreeBSD is idiosyncratic > with respect to other UNIX variants (even BSD-ish ones) is comparatively > minor. > > And for me, "explaining" a UNIX concept by referring to a Microsoft one > is quite the wrong way 'round. Sure, but I would never attempt to explain any unix concepts to you and this explanation was oriented towards the statistically most likely needs of the person I was addressing. I figured you'd cope, just like the other unix experts figure we microsoft refugees will cope without reference to what we already know. When such diverse backgrounds come together we all have our capacity for tolerance stretched to the limit. You might be pleased to note, though, that you were included in the newbies column of this month's Daemon News (http://www.daemonnews.org/newnewbies.html), even though its purpose is to describe the other kind of newbies :-) -- Regards, -*Sue*- To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-newbies" in the body of the message