Date: Wed, 2 Aug 2000 16:42:07 -0400 From: "SILVER, MICHAEL A" <MSILVER@scana.com> To: "'Neil Blakey-Milner'" <nbm@mithrandr.moria.org> Cc: "'freebsd-newbies@freebsd.org'" <freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG>, "'Rick Hamell'" <hamellr@aracnet.com>, "'Doug Young'" <dougy@gargoyle.apana.org.au> Subject: RE: new books, changing my pt. of view Message-ID: <DBB3921EFE2AD211A81500A0C9B5FE7605794533@msg04.scana.com>
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I think this discussion of docs is getting too heated. Among the things that impressed me most about FreeBSD was the documentation. It isn't very often you see a 700 page "handbook" on how to set it up free software (and have it in at least 4 different formats). I have relied heavily on the handbook and The Complete FreeBSD book. I would not have been able to do the simplest things with out them. You would be challenged to find better and more up-to-date documentation on any other free software. The problem lies in the gap between experienced UNIX admins and inexperienced UNIX users, like myself (striving to be an admin). Certain knowledge of UNIX is assumed, not purposely by the doc writers, but the doc writer already have this knowledge. Many "newbies" simply don't have this knowledge. It almost seems an insult to those that document FreeBSD to have simple step by step instructions on doing very specific mundane tasks, however this is what many of us require. I don't know how this would fit into the current documentation project. This really should be a separate "how to" or example manual. I have seen a few web sites that have done a great job with this. Unfortunately, they often have about 20 how-to examples. Although good ones, they don't always ally to my situation. Neil, how can we help with the documentation project? How can we build a document that will help new people setup and configure FreeBSD? I think the Handbook has great content for newbies, sometimes. Somehow we need to fill in the gaps, before we can no longer appreciate the needs of the newer users. (if that made any sense) I think most people here want to help, and add to, not throw away the incredible documentation that has taken place and is ongoing. ...Michael... To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-newbies" in the body of the message
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