Date: Fri, 25 Dec 1998 12:32:32 -0800 () From: Rick Hamell <hamellr@dsinw.com> To: Joey Garcia <gummibear@mediaone.net> Cc: freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Unix Desktop Message-ID: <Pine.WNT.3.95.981225122149.-128807B-100000@direct-source.com.direct-source.com> In-Reply-To: <3683D878.194A14ED@mediaone.net>
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> I've thought about writing a diary about my FreeBSD system and how I set it > up. Although, it's kind of hard to document every little thing I do I guess. I just started this last night, it's onnline at www.dsinw.com/~hamellr Pretty much it's VERY basic, just quick notes of where to look for certain things. I hope to add more to it tonight and this weekend. I am also going to setup another PPP dial-up router. This time I will do a step-by-step documentation of it, and also put it up. > I guess the first thing one should do when installing a FreeBSD system is know > what packages to add. I remember when I first installed unix on my pc I > didn't know what all these software packages and the discriptions weren't good > enough for me at that time. Maybe there should be a recommended software > guide for newbies somewhere. Maybe in two versions, one for terminal based > applications and one for X based applications. And screen shots of these > recommended applications would be a good thing. So people could check it out > on a web site and see if it really is what they want to install. Agreed. I think that for me that is one of the turn offs of Linux, at least Redhat. It seems to install everything and then some. I don't care to have X on my routers, but want it on my desktop. Even taking the ports list with descriptions and including it in the installation program would help immensely. > Anyways, this all has to deal with customizing the system. Hell, I haven't > even touched on setting up a window manager and the .xinirc. *sigh* Too much > work!! Poor newbies (the ones that never even seen a unix prompt). It must > really suck to be them. I think that if we're going to attract more people to FreeBSD, this is certainly the way to go. Like it or not, 'we' pretty much have to hold a person's hand, especially on a first install. Heck, I had a Core Team member 10 feet away from me on my first install. If we can get documentation for a concrete step by step, here's what you do if you have problems installation, we'd be doing pretty good. I mean, Greg's book is good. BUT, it 'seems' to take a lot of stuff for granted. Like the fact that you SHOULD know what most your hardware is configured for. That you're smart enough to look in other places for the answer. Heck, it took me a good 4 hours to figure out how to mount a dos floppy disk and pull a couple of files off of it. (Has any one else noticed that man pages only seem to be good IF you already know what you're doing...?) Anyways, the above is my own, personal, eventual, giving back to the FreeBSD Project everything I can, long term goal. :) (Especially since I can't code my way out of a wet paper bag.... :) Rick To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-newbies" in the body of the message
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