246 lines
10 KiB
XML
246 lines
10 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/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; newbies
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have found most helpful when learning to use &os;. Please send
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corrections and additions to <a
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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
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projects</a></li> <li><a href="#unix">Learning about
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&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
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about &os;. Newbies have found the following pages particularly
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helpful:</p>
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<ul>
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<li><p><a href="&base;/search/search.html">Search</a> the
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Handbook and FAQ, the whole web site, or the &os; mailing list
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archives.</p></li>
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<li><p>The <a href="&base;/docs.html">Documentation</a> page has
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links to the Handbook and FAQ, tutorials, information about
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contributing to the Documentation Project, documents in
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languages other than English, online manual pages, and much
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more.</p></li>
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<li><p>The <a href="&base;/support.html">Support</a> page
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contains a wealth of information about &os;, including mailing
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lists, user groups, web and FTP sites, release information,
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and links to some sources of &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 <a
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href="&u.rel.announce;">latest mainstream release</a>. (See
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the Handbook for why you should <strong>not</strong> be
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tempted by any of the other branches.) Before you begin,
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carefully read the <a
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href="&url.books;/handbook/bsdinstall.html">installation
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instructions</a>, as well as each one of the *.TXT files in
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the FTP directory or on the installation CD. They are there
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because they contain information that you will need. Also pick
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up the latest <a href="&base;/releases/index.html">errata
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file</a> from the web site, in case it has been
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updated.</p></li>
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<li><p>A number of <a
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href="&base;/docs/books.html#ARTICLES">short articles and
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tutorials</a> are available. The short tutorial, <a
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href="&url.articles;/new-users/index.html">For People New to
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Both &os; and Unix</a>, is popular with absolute beginners.
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You do not have to know much about anything to enjoy this
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one.</p></li>
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<li><p>There is a lot of documentation to help for setting up
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ppp. You might start with the <a
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href="&url.books;/handbook/ppp-and-slip.html">PPP and
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SLIP</a> chapter of the &os; Handbook and explore the <a
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href="http://www.awfulhak.org/ppp.html">ppp page</a> for
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links to the other valuable information and the latest
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updates.</p></li>
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<li><p>The <a href="&url.books;/handbook/index.html">&os;
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Handbook</a> and <a
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href="&url.books;/faq/index.html">Frequently Asked Questions
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(FAQ)</a> are the main documents for &os;. Essential reading,
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they contain a lot of material for newbies as well as some
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pretty advanced stuff. Do not worry if you are unable to
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understand the advanced sections. The handbook contains the
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installation instructions and also provides lists of books and
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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
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you were too afraid to ask, and their answers. Subscribe by
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filling out the following form: <a
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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 answers via the <a
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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
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the 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 for
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reference but not always the best introduction for a novice.
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The more you work with man pages the more familiar they
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become. Some are very good for newbies, so always check them
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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> is <a
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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
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unfamiliar with the UNIX commands, needed to fix our &os;
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problems. Without a UNIX background you will be faced with two
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things to learn at once. Fortunately a lot of resources are
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available to make this 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 of
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the 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,
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in any large book shop. If you want something really easy,
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take a look at what is available and pick one that seems to
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speak your language. Pretty soon you will want to move on to
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a book that gives more coverage.</p></li>
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<li><p>Another popular book is <em>UNIX Power Tools</em> by
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Jerry Peek, Tim O'Reilly and Mike Loukides, published by
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O'Reilly and Associates. It is organized as a series of short
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articles each of which solves a problem, and these articles
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are cross-referenced to other articles with related material.
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Though not specifically aimed at newbies, the design makes it
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ideal for a newbie with a burning question or the odd few
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minutes to browse. More elementary material is near the front
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of the book, but there are short easy articles
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throughout.</p></li>
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<li><p>A <a
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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><p>A <a
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href="http://www.cs.duke.edu/csl/docs/sysadmin_course/">UNIX
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System Administration 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><p><a href="http://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/unixhelp/">UNIXhelp
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for Users</a> is another introductory guide which is available
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in HTML at a mirror site near you, or can be installed on your
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own system.</p></li>
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<li><p>Many other web sites hold lists of UNIX tutorials and
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reference material. One of the best places to start looking is
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the 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 <a
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href="http://www.x.org/">X.Org Foundation</a> web site.
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Beware, much of this documentation is reference material which
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is 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
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will need to choose a window manager. Visit the <a
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href="http://xwinman.org/">Window Managers for X</a> page and
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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
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compare the different types that are available. (Bonus: there is
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another beginners guide to UNIX there too.) Most, if not all, of
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these window managers are available to install from the &os;
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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,
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even newbies! Some are busy working with the new advocacy group
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and some have become involved with the <a
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href="&base;/docproj/docproj.html">Documentation Project</a> as
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reviewers. Other &os; newbies might have particular skills and
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experiences to share, either computer related or not, or just
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want to meet new newbies and make them feel welcome. There are
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always people around who help others simply because they like
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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
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same 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 good
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places to meet other &os; users. If there is no one nearby, you
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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 href="http://www.catb.org/jargon/">Jargon
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File</a>.</p>
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</body>
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</html>
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