Re: Technical questions and Newbie experience.

From: Chauncey Smith (csmith_at_icdc.com)
Date: 05/27/04

  • Next message: Huy: "Book Recommendations" 
    To: <freebsd-newbies@freebsd.org>
Date: Thu, 27 May 2004 00:13:17 -0400

    I have to admit to not falling into either of those groups. I have a back
    ground in computers and choose Free BSD for my Alpha server. Yea I'm so Geek
    I got one for Xmas one year. My OS choices.. Leave it win NT or try
    something new. I only had a little experience with Linux and that was a file
    and print server that did nothing else on my network.Well DHCP.
    but my problem was no nice documentation. I found Freebsd. I found the
    manuals and fiddled with the server. and before I got it up and running I
    decided I wanted to use the server for other things then just file and
    print. I"m like it's a 64 bit wide bus. Hey A web server Hey I have this big
    bootied raid array.. something. So I went on a search for an OS. Linux
    showed Linux stuff. a bunch of confusing distro's. FreeBSD offered one home
    for everything. and Ports. install software no /configure just make install
    clean. Heck one of my first scripts was "port" talk about lazy. I wrote a
    text file and typed the following lines.
    !/bin/csh
    sudo make && make install && make clean && rehash
    named it port and put it in the /usr/bin chmoded it executable. Now I just
    got into the ports directory and find what I want and type 'port'. Talk
    about lazy or insanely genius. But I feel in love with the hand book. I have
    an old copy in paper. and found the information never gets too old to be a
    good guide of how to start atleast.

    ----- Original Message -----
    From: "Krzysztof Sroka" <krsr@wp.pl>
    To: <freebsd-newbies@freebsd.org>
    Sent: Wednesday, May 26, 2004 7:42 PM
    Subject: Re: Technical questions and Newbie experience.

    > On Wednesday 26 of May 2004 19:30, Olivier Gautherot wrote:
    >
    > > That's a good point. There are at least 2 types of newbies:
    > >
    > > 1) the "I have 50 years of experience in Solaris and you-name-IX and 5
    > > Linux distros and I'm starting with FreeBSD now" on one hand and
    >
    > Well, I don't think that people with 50-year experience in *NIXes
    subscribe to
    > this group. FreeBSD isn't much different than most of UNIX-based OS'es
    that
    > these people need any advice in running all the basic components they
    want.
    > At least they know how to find the exact information they need. But in
    fact
    > there is a group experienced in Linux'es who need to know little diffs
    > between deamon and tux, and they are most often redirected to
    > freebsd-questions.
    >
    > > 2) the "my room mate installed FreeBSD on my machine and I have just
    > > discovered that there is an ON switch on the front panel" on the other
    >
    > Oh, these ones shouldn't install FreeBSD at all. They would rather prefer
    > Mandrake or anything a bit simplier than BSD. After two moths of my own
    > experience in FBSD I have to admit that not everything is as user-friendly
    as
    > in Linux - begining with post-install XFree configuration ending with
    > handling ports collection and bringing up sound. If someone isn't tought
    to
    > read manuals the first months under BSD can be real road through hell for
    > him/her.
    >
    > > Having been a newbie myself a few months ago (with fairly extensive
    > > Linux background), I acknowledge that, even though the manual is really
    > > good, it's a thick reading for people switching or simply starting with
    > > computers (no flame, I don't mean to start a controversy about whether
    > > FreeBSD is good for a very beginner :-).
    > >
    > > What I missed is a "Installation and first steps in FreeBSD in 10
    > > lessons". I know there are 1,000 web sites that claim this but I've
    > > found no short document on the official FreeBSD web site telling you
    > > where to look for info when you start - I was probably too eager to get
    > > started... All software products I know have a "Getting started" guide
    > > so I guess we should have one too (X in VESA mode, no sound, networking
    > > in DHCP client - and pointers to the manual for 3D graphics support,
    > > sound servers, firewall, NAT, DHCP server etc.)
    >
    > Right. Some simple HOW-TO's would be very helpful. For example a short
    > introduction to XF86. But many of these can be taken from a large ammount
    of
    > Linux guides. Personally, I will start a BSD-guide section as a part of my
    > weblog and if someone wishes to participate in this, please e-mail me.
    >
    > Excuse me for using not-very-good english, but I still need to learn it a
    bit.
    >
    > Chris
    > _______________________________________________
    > freebsd-newbies@freebsd.org mailing list
    > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-newbies
    > To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-newbies-unsubscribe@freebsd.org"
    >
    >

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