Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1998 08:19:36 +1000 From: Sue Blake <sue@welearn.com.au> To: Steven Walker <swalk@anit.es> Cc: David Wolfskill <dhw@whistle.com>, freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: XFree86 & things Message-ID: <19981014081936.62831@welearn.com.au> In-Reply-To: <3.0.5.32.19981013212217.00945320@sar.anit.es>; from Steven Walker on Tue, Oct 13, 1998 at 09:22:17PM %2B0200 References: <199810122027.NAA15780@pau-amma.whistle.com> <19981011080657.49962@welearn.com.au> <199810122027.NAA15780@pau-amma.whistle.com> <19981013072536.11957@welearn.com.au> <3.0.5.32.19981013212217.00945320@sar.anit.es>
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On Tue, Oct 13, 1998 at 09:22:17PM +0200, Steven Walker wrote:
> Hi,
>
> >>
> >> And for me, "explaining" a UNIX concept by referring to a Microsoft one
> >> is quite the wrong way 'round.
>
> I am sure that you are right. This thread started when I was moaning about
> the difficulties facing complete novices.
Ah, complete novices? For many but not all of us, being a complete
novice means not knowing unix. Learning FreeBSD is not the same thing
as learning unix. It's a bit like we've bought a swimming pool without
knowing how to swim.
People like David, or pool makers, might be pleasantly astonished that
we lurch in without any of the fundamentals. They are even more
surprised when we expect FreeBSD people to help with unix or X usage,
though they usually oblige. (Similarly, WordPerfect would occasionally
advise on typing technique or hardware in order to keep people
productive.) From our point of view, it's all a single area of
unknowns; we can't distinguish its parts, and others' attempts to do so
seem unreasonably pedantic.
The newbies page on the FreeBSD web site aims to separate out the three
areas of knowledge that we seek (FreeBSD, unix, X Window System), to
make them easier for we multiple-newbies to learn, so we can seek help
from the appropriate sources, and to stop people from being bogged down
material that is unnecessary or out of sequence.
Sorry David, there's nothing there on resources for learning about PC
hardware. If you find something, we should add a fourth skill set.
--
Regards,
-*Sue*-
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