276 lines
13 KiB
Text
276 lines
13 KiB
Text
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional-Based Extension//EN" [
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<!ENTITY base CDATA "..">
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<!ENTITY date "$FreeBSD: www/en/projects/newbies.sgml,v 1.56 2008/06/15 12:14:51 jkois Exp $">
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<!ENTITY title 'Resources for Newbies'>
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<!ENTITY % navinclude.docs "INCLUDE">
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<!ENTITY url.articles "&base;/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles">
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<!ENTITY url.books "&base;/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books">
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]>
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<html>
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&header;
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<p>The following resources are some of those which FreeBSD
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newbies have found most helpful when learning to use FreeBSD.
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Please send corrections and additions to
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<a href="mailto:freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.org">FreeBSD-doc@FreeBSD.org</a>.</p>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#web-site">Using the FreeBSD web site</a></li>
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<li><a href="#fbsd">Learning about FreeBSD</a></li>
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<li><a href="#derived">Learning about FreeBSD-derived projects</a></li>
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<li><a href="#unix">Learning about &unix;</a></li>
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<li><a href="#xwin">Learning about the X Window System</a></li>
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<li><a href="#people">Helping other people</a></li>
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</ul>
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<h2><a name="web-site">Using the FreeBSD web site</a></h2>
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<p>This web site is the main source of up to date information about
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FreeBSD. Newbies have found the following pages particularly helpful:</p>
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<ul>
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<li><p><a href="&base;/search/search.html">Search</a> the Handbook and FAQ, the
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whole web site, or the FreeBSD mailing list archives.</p></li>
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<li><p>The <a href="&base;/docs.html">Documentation</a> page has links to the
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Handbook and FAQ, tutorials, information about contributing to the
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Documentation Project, documents in languages other than English,
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online manual pages, and much more.</p></li>
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<li><p>The <a href="&base;/support.html">Support</a> page contains a wealth of
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information about FreeBSD, including mailing lists, user groups, web
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and FTP sites, release information, and links to some sources of
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&unix; information.</p></li>
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</ul>
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<h2><a name="fbsd">Learning about FreeBSD</a></H2>
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<ul>
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<li><p>If you have not yet installed, and have not yet decided
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which version of FreeBSD is the best for your needs, the <a
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href="&url.articles;/version-guide/index.html">Choosing
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the FreeBSD Version That Is Right For You</a> article is meant
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to help you to decide. You should most probably look for the
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<a href="&u.rel.announce;">latest mainstream release</a>.
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(See the Handbook for why you should <strong>not</strong> be tempted
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by any of the other branches.) Before you begin, carefully read the
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<a href="&url.books;/handbook/install.html">installation instructions</a>,
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as well as each one of the *.TXT files in the FTP directory
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or on the installation CD. They are there because they contain information
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that you will need. Also pick up the latest
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<a href="&base;/releases/index.html">errata file</a>
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from the web site, in case it has been updated.</p>
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<li><p>A number of <a href="&base;/docs/books.html#ARTICLES">short
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articles and tutorials</a> are available. The short tutorial,
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<a href="&url.articles;/new-users/index.html">For
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People New to Both FreeBSD and Unix</a>, is popular with absolute
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beginners. You do not have to know much about anything to enjoy
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this one.</p></li>
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<li><p>The first thing many people need to set up is ppp, and there is
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a lot of documentation to help. You might start with at least those
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parts of the
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<a href="&url.books;/handbook/index.html">Handbook</a>
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that are relevant to your needs, and explore the
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<a href="http://www.awfulhak.org/ppp.html">ppp page</a>
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for links to the other valuable information and the latest updates.</p></li>
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<li><p><a name="cfbsd" href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/Documentation/CFBSD/">The
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Complete FreeBSD</a> by Greg Lehey, published by O'Reilly.
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This book assumes minimal UNIX experience and takes the
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beginner step by step through each stage from installation to
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everything you need to know to set up and run a FreeBSD system. You
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also get to understand what you are doing and why.</p></li>
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<li><p>The <a href="&url.books;/handbook/index.html">FreeBSD Handbook</a> and <a
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href="&url.books;/faq/index.html">Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)</a> are the
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main documents for FreeBSD. Essential reading, they contain a lot of
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material for newbies as well as some pretty advanced stuff. Do not
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worry if you are unable to understand the advanced sections. The handbook
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contains the installation instructions and also provides lists of
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books and on-line resources, and the FAQ has a troubleshooting
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section.</p></li>
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<li><p>Join the FreeBSD-Questions mailing list to see the questions you
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were too afraid to ask, and their answers. Subscribe by filling out
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the following form:
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<a href="http://lists.FreeBSD.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions">http://lists.FreeBSD.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions</a>.
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You can look up old questions and
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answers via the <a href="&base;/search/search.html#mailinglists">search</a>
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page.</p></li>
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<li><p>The main newsgroup for FreeBSD is <a
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href="news:comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc">comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc</a>.
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You might want to keep an eye on <a
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href="news:comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.announce">comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.announce</a>
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as well.</p></li>
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<li><p><a href="&cgibase;/man.cgi">Manual pages</a> are good
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for reference but not always
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the best introduction for a novice. The more you work with man pages
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the more familiar they become. Some are very good for newbies, so
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always check them out. The ppp man page, for example, is more like a
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tutorial.</p></li>
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</ul>
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<h2><a name="derived">Learning about FreeBSD-derived projects</a></h2>
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<p>FreeBSD is widely used as a building block for other commercial
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and open-source operating systems. Some of the most widely used
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and publically available systems are listed below.</p>
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<ul>
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<li><p><a href="http://www.pcbsd.org">PC-BSD</a> is a FreeBSD
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derivative with a graphical installer and impressive desktop
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tools aimed at ease of use for the casual computer
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user.</p></li>
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<li><p><a href="http://www.freesbie.org/">FreeSBIE</a> is a
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LiveCD based on FreeBSD. It works directly from a CD, without
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touching your hard drive. It also includes a simple and easily
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extendable toolkit used for the creation of embedded
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images.</p></li>
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<li><p>Apple's <a href="http://www.apple.com/macosx">Mac OS
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X</a>
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is <a href="http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/unix/">based
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in part</a> on FreeBSD and includes a rich &unix; foundation in
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addition to the proprietary Apple user interface.</p></li>
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</ul>
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<h2><a name="unix">Learning about &unix;</a></h2>
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<p>Many of the problems we have as newbies come from being unfamiliar
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with the UNIX commands, needed to fix our FreeBSD problems.
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Without a UNIX background you will be faced with two things to learn
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at once. Fortunately a lot of resources are available to make this
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easier.</p>
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<ul>
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<li><p>The <a href="&url.books;/handbook/basics.html">&unix;
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Basics</a> chapter of the FreeBSD Handbook covers the basic
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commands and functionality of FreeBSD operating system. Most
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of information provided in this document is also relevant for
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any other &unix;-like operating system.</p></li>
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<li><p>There are many easy books, such as the "Dummies" guides, in any
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large book shop. If you want something really easy, take a look at
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what is available and pick one that seems to speak your language.
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Pretty soon you will want to move on to a book that gives more
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coverage.</p></li>
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<li><p>One book mentioned frequently by newbies is <a name="ufti"><em>UNIX for
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the Impatient</em></a> by Paul W. Abrahams and Bruce R. Larson, published
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by Addison-Wesley. It is intended both as a book for learning UNIX
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and a reference, and includes an introduction to UNIX concepts and
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handy chapter on using the X Window System.</p></li>
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<li><p>Another popular book is <em>UNIX Power Tools</em> by Jerry Peek,
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Tim O'Reilly and Mike Loukides, published by O'Reilly and
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Associates. It is organized as a series of short articles each of
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which solves a problem, and these articles are cross-referenced to
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other articles with related material. Though not specifically aimed
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at newbies, the design makes it ideal for a newbie with a burning
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question or the odd few minutes to browse. More elementary material
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is near the front of the book, but there are short easy articles
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throughout.</p></li>
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<li>
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<p>A <a href="http://8help.osu.edu/wks/unix_course/">UNIX
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Introductory Course</a> from Ohio State University is
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available online in HTML, postscript and Acrobat PDF
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formats.</p>
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</li>
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<li>
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<p>A <a href="http://8help.osu.edu/wks/sysadm_course/">UNIX
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System Administration Course</a> from Ohio State University
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is available online in HTML format.</p>
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</li>
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<li><p><a href="http://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/unixhelp/">UNIXhelp
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for Users</a> is another introductory guide which is available in
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HTML at a mirror site near you, or can be installed on your own
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system.</p></li>
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<li><p>UNIX questions are dealt with in the newsgroup <a
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href="news:comp.unix.questions">comp.unix.questions</a> and the
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associated
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<a href="ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/unix-faq/faq/">FAQ</a>
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from the RMIT FTP site. Newbies are likely to be most interested in
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sections 1 and 2 initially.</p></li>
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<li><p>Another interesting newsgroup is <a
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href="news:comp.unix.user-friendly">comp.unix.user-friendly</a>.
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Although this newsgroup is for discussing user-friendliness, it can
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contain some good information for newbies. The <a
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href="ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/unix-faq/user-friendly">FAQ</a>
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is also available by FTP.</p></li>
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<li><p>Many other web sites hold lists of UNIX tutorials and reference
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material. One of the best places to start looking is the UNIX page
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at <a
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href="http://www.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Software/Operating_Systems/Unix/">Yahoo!</a>.</p></li>
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</ul>
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<h2><a name="xwin">Learning about the X Window System</a></h2>
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<p>The X Window System is used with a number of operating systems,
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including FreeBSD. The documentation for X can be found at the
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<a href="http://www.x.org/">X.Org Foundation</a> or
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<a href="http://www.xfree86.org/">The XFree86 Project, Inc</a>
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web sites according to the version you run.
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Beware, much of this documentation is reference material which is
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more likely to be difficult for newcomers to digest.</p>
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<ul>
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<li><p>For basic information about installing, configuring and using the
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X Window System, three of the books mentioned above have sections
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dealing with X at beginner level:
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<a href="&url.books;/handbook/x11.html">The X Window System</a> chapter
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of the FreeBSD Handbook, <a href="#cfbsd">The Complete FreeBSD</a>,
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and <a href="#ufti">UNIX for the Impatient</a>.</p></li>
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<li><p>Before you can get X running exactly the way you like, you will need
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to choose a window manager.
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Visit the <a href="http://xwinman.org/">Window Managers for X</a>
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page and follow the link to the introduction to find out about window
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managers, then return and read "The Basics". Then go back and compare
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the different types that are available. (Bonus: there is another
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beginners guide to UNIX there too.)
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Most, if not all, of these window managers are available to
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install from the FreeBSD Ports Collection.</p></li>
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</ul>
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<h2><a name="people">Helping other people</a></h2>
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<p>Everyone has something to contribute to the FreeBSD community, even
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newbies! Some are busy working with the new advocacy group and some have
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become involved with the
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<a href="&base;/docproj/docproj.html">Documentation Project</a> as reviewers.
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Other FreeBSD newbies might have particular skills and experiences to
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share, either computer related or not, or just want to meet new
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newbies and make them feel welcome. There are always people around
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who help others simply because they like to.</p>
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<p>Friends who run FreeBSD are a great resource. No book can replace
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chatting on the phone or across a pizza with someone who has the
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same interests, enjoys similar accomplishments, and faces the same
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challenges. If you do not have many friends who use FreeBSD,
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consider using your old FreeBSD CDs to create some more.</p>
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<p><a href="&base;/usergroups.html">User groups</a> are
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good places to meet other FreeBSD users. If there is no one nearby,
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you might consider starting one!</p>
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<p>Before talking to real humans about your new skills, you might
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want to check the <a
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href="http://catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/index.html">Jargon File</a>.</p>
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&footer;
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</body>
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</html>
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