0348fc4ae5
comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc still gets traffic, even if at a reduced level, and comp.unix.questions is pretty alive too. But instead of reverting the changes and listing them in two places, one paragraph now talks about both Usenet groups. Reviewed by: eadler Approved by: remko (mentor), gjb (mentor)
236 lines
11 KiB
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236 lines
11 KiB
XML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional-Based Extension//EN"
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"http://www.FreeBSD.org/XML/doc/share/xml/xhtml10-freebsd.dtd" [
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<!ENTITY title 'Resources for Newbies'>
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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 xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
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<head>
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<title>&title;</title>
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<cvs:keyword xmlns:cvs="http://www.FreeBSD.org/XML/CVS">$FreeBSD$</cvs:keyword>
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</head>
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<body class="navinclude.docs">
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<p>The following resources are some of those which &os;
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newbies have found most helpful when learning to use &os;.
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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 &os; web site</a></li>
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<li><a href="#fbsd">Learning about &os;</a></li>
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<li><a href="#derived">Learning about &os;-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 &os; 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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&os;. 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 &os; 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 &os;, 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 &os;</a></h2>
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<ul>
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<li><p>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></li>
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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 &os; 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>There is a lot of documentation to help for setting up ppp.
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You might start with the <a
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href="&url.books;/handbook/ppp-and-slip.html">PPP and SLIP</a>
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chapter of the &os; Handbook 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>The <a href="&url.books;/handbook/index.html">&os; 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 &os;. 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 &os;-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 &os; is <a
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href="news:comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc">comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc</a>.
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General 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 <a
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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
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interested in sections 1 and 2 initially.</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 &os;-derived projects</a></h2>
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<p>&os; 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 publicly 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 &os;
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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>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/server/macosx/technology/unix.html">based
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in part</a> on &os; 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 &os; 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 &os; Handbook covers the basic
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commands and functionality of &os; 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>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://www.cs.duke.edu/csl/docs/unix_course/">UNIX
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Introductory Course</a> from Ohio State University is
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available online in HTML format.</p>
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</li>
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<li>
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<p>A <a href="http://www.cs.duke.edu/csl/docs/sysadmin_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>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
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little known search engine <a
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href="https://google.com">Google</a>.</p>
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</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 &os;. The documentation for X can be found at the
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<a href="http://www.x.org/">X.Org Foundation</a>
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web site.
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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>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 &os; 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 &os; 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 &os; 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 &os; 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 &os;,
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consider using your old &os; 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 &os; 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://www.catb.org/jargon/">Jargon File</a>.</p>
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</body>
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</html>
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