d8a2cdf09b
reasonable to maintain the reference, use the archived docs. 5-roadmap checkpoint dialup-firewall diskless-x euro formatting-media hats (content moved to htdocs/internal) multi-os storage-devices vinum zip-drive All of these articles can be found here: http://docs.freebsd.org/doc/9.0-RELEASE/usr/share/doc/freebsd/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/ No objection from: doc@, www@
273 lines
13 KiB
XML
273 lines
13 KiB
XML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
|
|
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional-Based Extension//EN"
|
|
"http://www.FreeBSD.org/XML/doc/share/sgml/xhtml10-freebsd.dtd" [
|
|
<!ENTITY title 'Resources for Newbies'>
|
|
<!ENTITY url.articles "&base;/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles">
|
|
<!ENTITY url.books "&base;/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books">
|
|
]>
|
|
|
|
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
|
|
<head>
|
|
<title>&title;</title>
|
|
|
|
<cvs:keyword xmlns:cvs="http://www.FreeBSD.org/XML/CVS">$FreeBSD$</cvs:keyword>
|
|
</head>
|
|
|
|
<body class="navinclude.docs">
|
|
|
|
<p>The following resources are some of those which &os;
|
|
newbies have found most helpful when learning to use &os;.
|
|
Please send corrections and additions to
|
|
<a href="mailto:freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.org">FreeBSD-doc@FreeBSD.org</a>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a href="#web-site">Using the &os; web site</a></li>
|
|
<li><a href="#fbsd">Learning about &os;</a></li>
|
|
<li><a href="#derived">Learning about &os;-derived projects</a></li>
|
|
<li><a href="#unix">Learning about &unix;</a></li>
|
|
<li><a href="#xwin">Learning about the X Window System</a></li>
|
|
<li><a href="#people">Helping other people</a></li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<h2><a name="web-site">Using the &os; web site</a></h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>This web site is the main source of up to date information about
|
|
&os;. Newbies have found the following pages particularly helpful:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><p><a href="&base;/search/search.html">Search</a> the Handbook and FAQ, the
|
|
whole web site, or the &os; mailing list archives.</p></li>
|
|
|
|
<li><p>The <a href="&base;/docs.html">Documentation</a> page has links to the
|
|
Handbook and FAQ, tutorials, information about contributing to the
|
|
Documentation Project, documents in languages other than English,
|
|
online manual pages, and much more.</p></li>
|
|
|
|
<li><p>The <a href="&base;/support.html">Support</a> page contains a wealth of
|
|
information about &os;, including mailing lists, user groups, web
|
|
and FTP sites, release information, and links to some sources of
|
|
&unix; information.</p></li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<h2><a name="fbsd">Learning about &os;</a></h2>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><p>You should most probably look for the
|
|
<a href="&u.rel.announce;">latest mainstream release</a>.
|
|
(See the Handbook for why you should <strong>not</strong> be tempted
|
|
by any of the other branches.) Before you begin, carefully read the
|
|
<a href="&url.books;/handbook/install.html">installation instructions</a>,
|
|
as well as each one of the *.TXT files in the FTP directory
|
|
or on the installation CD. They are there because they contain information
|
|
that you will need. Also pick up the latest
|
|
<a href="&base;/releases/index.html">errata file</a>
|
|
from the web site, in case it has been updated.</p></li>
|
|
|
|
<li><p>A number of <a href="&base;/docs/books.html#ARTICLES">short
|
|
articles and tutorials</a> are available. The short tutorial,
|
|
<a href="&url.articles;/new-users/index.html">For
|
|
People New to Both &os; and Unix</a>, is popular with absolute
|
|
beginners. You do not have to know much about anything to enjoy
|
|
this one.</p></li>
|
|
|
|
<li><p>There is a lot of documentation to help for setting up ppp.
|
|
You might start with the <a
|
|
href="&url.books;/handbook/ppp-and-slip.html">PPP and SLIP</a>
|
|
chapter of the &os; Handbook and explore the
|
|
<a href="http://www.awfulhak.org/ppp.html">ppp page</a>
|
|
for links to the other valuable information and the latest updates.</p></li>
|
|
|
|
<li><p><a name="cfbsd" href="http://www.lemis.com/grog/Documentation/CFBSD/">The
|
|
Complete &os;</a> by Greg Lehey, published by O'Reilly.
|
|
This book assumes minimal UNIX experience and takes the
|
|
beginner step by step through each stage from installation to
|
|
everything you need to know to set up and run a &os; system. You
|
|
also get to understand what you are doing and why.</p></li>
|
|
|
|
<li><p>The <a href="&url.books;/handbook/index.html">&os; Handbook</a> and <a
|
|
href="&url.books;/faq/index.html">Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)</a> are the
|
|
main documents for &os;. Essential reading, they contain a lot of
|
|
material for newbies as well as some pretty advanced stuff. Do not
|
|
worry if you are unable to understand the advanced sections. The handbook
|
|
contains the installation instructions and also provides lists of
|
|
books and on-line resources, and the FAQ has a troubleshooting
|
|
section.</p></li>
|
|
|
|
<li><p>Join the &os;-Questions mailing list to see the questions you
|
|
were too afraid to ask, and their answers. Subscribe by filling out
|
|
the following form:
|
|
<a href="http://lists.FreeBSD.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions">http://lists.FreeBSD.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions</a>.
|
|
You can look up old questions and
|
|
answers via the <a href="&base;/search/search.html#mailinglists">search</a>
|
|
page.</p></li>
|
|
|
|
<li><p>The main newsgroup for &os; is <a
|
|
href="news:comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc">comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc</a>.
|
|
You might want to keep an eye on <a
|
|
href="news:comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.announce">comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.announce</a>
|
|
as well.</p></li>
|
|
|
|
<li><p><a href="&cgibase;/man.cgi">Manual pages</a> are good
|
|
for reference but not always
|
|
the best introduction for a novice. The more you work with man pages
|
|
the more familiar they become. Some are very good for newbies, so
|
|
always check them out. The ppp man page, for example, is more like a
|
|
tutorial.</p></li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<h2><a name="derived">Learning about &os;-derived projects</a></h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>&os; is widely used as a building block for other commercial
|
|
and open-source operating systems. Some of the most widely used
|
|
and publicly available systems are listed below.</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><p><a href="http://www.pcbsd.org">PC-BSD</a> is a &os;
|
|
derivative with a graphical installer and impressive desktop
|
|
tools aimed at ease of use for the casual computer
|
|
user.</p></li>
|
|
|
|
<li><p><a href="http://www.freesbie.org/">FreeSBIE</a> is a
|
|
LiveCD based on &os;. It works directly from a CD, without
|
|
touching your hard drive. It also includes a simple and easily
|
|
extendable toolkit used for the creation of embedded
|
|
images.</p></li>
|
|
|
|
<li><p>Apple's <a href="http://www.apple.com/macosx">Mac OS
|
|
X</a>
|
|
is <a href="http://www.apple.com/server/macosx/technology/unix.html">based
|
|
in part</a> on &os; and includes a rich &unix; foundation in
|
|
addition to the proprietary Apple user interface.</p></li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<h2><a name="unix">Learning about &unix;</a></h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>Many of the problems we have as newbies come from being unfamiliar
|
|
with the UNIX commands, needed to fix our &os; problems.
|
|
Without a UNIX background you will be faced with two things to learn
|
|
at once. Fortunately a lot of resources are available to make this
|
|
easier.</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><p>The <a href="&url.books;/handbook/basics.html">&unix;
|
|
Basics</a> chapter of the &os; Handbook covers the basic
|
|
commands and functionality of &os; operating system. Most
|
|
of information provided in this document is also relevant for
|
|
any other &unix;-like operating system.</p></li>
|
|
|
|
<li><p>There are many easy books, such as the "Dummies" guides, in any
|
|
large book shop. If you want something really easy, take a look at
|
|
what is available and pick one that seems to speak your language.
|
|
Pretty soon you will want to move on to a book that gives more
|
|
coverage.</p></li>
|
|
|
|
<li><p>One book mentioned frequently by newbies is <a name="ufti"><em>UNIX for
|
|
the Impatient</em></a> by Paul W. Abrahams and Bruce R. Larson, published
|
|
by Addison-Wesley. It is intended both as a book for learning UNIX
|
|
and a reference, and includes an introduction to UNIX concepts and
|
|
handy chapter on using the X Window System.</p></li>
|
|
|
|
<li><p>Another popular book is <em>UNIX Power Tools</em> by Jerry Peek,
|
|
Tim O'Reilly and Mike Loukides, published by O'Reilly and
|
|
Associates. It is organized as a series of short articles each of
|
|
which solves a problem, and these articles are cross-referenced to
|
|
other articles with related material. Though not specifically aimed
|
|
at newbies, the design makes it ideal for a newbie with a burning
|
|
question or the odd few minutes to browse. More elementary material
|
|
is near the front of the book, but there are short easy articles
|
|
throughout.</p></li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>A <a href="http://www.cs.duke.edu/csl/docs/unix_course/">UNIX
|
|
Introductory Course</a> from Ohio State University is
|
|
available online in HTML format.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>A <a href="http://www.cs.duke.edu/csl/docs/sysadmin_course/">UNIX
|
|
System Administration Course</a> from Ohio State University
|
|
is available online in HTML format.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li><p><a href="http://www.mcsr.olemiss.edu/unixhelp/">UNIXhelp
|
|
for Users</a> is another introductory guide which is available in
|
|
HTML at a mirror site near you, or can be installed on your own
|
|
system.</p></li>
|
|
|
|
<li><p>UNIX questions are dealt with in the newsgroup <a
|
|
href="news:comp.unix.questions">comp.unix.questions</a> and the
|
|
associated
|
|
<a href="ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/unix-faq/faq/">FAQ</a>
|
|
from the RMIT FTP site. Newbies are likely to be most interested in
|
|
sections 1 and 2 initially.</p></li>
|
|
|
|
<li><p>Another interesting newsgroup is <a
|
|
href="news:comp.unix.user-friendly">comp.unix.user-friendly</a>.
|
|
Although this newsgroup is for discussing user-friendliness, it can
|
|
contain some good information for newbies. The <a
|
|
href="ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/unix-faq/user-friendly">FAQ</a>
|
|
is also available by FTP.</p></li>
|
|
|
|
<li><p>Many other web sites hold lists of UNIX tutorials and reference
|
|
material. One of the best places to start looking is the UNIX page
|
|
at <a
|
|
href="http://www.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Software/Operating_Systems/Unix/">Yahoo!</a>.</p></li>
|
|
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<h2><a name="xwin">Learning about the X Window System</a></h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>The X Window System is used with a number of operating systems,
|
|
including &os;. The documentation for X can be found at the
|
|
<a href="http://www.x.org/">X.Org Foundation</a>
|
|
web site.
|
|
Beware, much of this documentation is reference material which is
|
|
more likely to be difficult for newcomers to digest.</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><p>For basic information about installing, configuring and using the
|
|
X Window System, three of the books mentioned above have sections
|
|
dealing with X at beginner level:
|
|
<a href="&url.books;/handbook/x11.html">The X Window System</a> chapter
|
|
of the &os; Handbook, <a href="#cfbsd">The Complete &os;</a>,
|
|
and <a href="#ufti">UNIX for the Impatient</a>.</p></li>
|
|
|
|
<li><p>Before you can get X running exactly the way you like, you will need
|
|
to choose a window manager.
|
|
Visit the <a href="http://xwinman.org/">Window Managers for X</a>
|
|
page and follow the link to the introduction to find out about window
|
|
managers, then return and read "The Basics". Then go back and compare
|
|
the different types that are available. (Bonus: there is another
|
|
beginners guide to UNIX there too.)
|
|
Most, if not all, of these window managers are available to
|
|
install from the &os; Ports Collection.</p></li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<h2><a name="people">Helping other people</a></h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>Everyone has something to contribute to the &os; community, even
|
|
newbies! Some are busy working with the new advocacy group and some have
|
|
become involved with the
|
|
<a href="&base;/docproj/docproj.html">Documentation Project</a> as reviewers.
|
|
Other &os; newbies might have particular skills and experiences to
|
|
share, either computer related or not, or just want to meet new
|
|
newbies and make them feel welcome. There are always people around
|
|
who help others simply because they like to.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Friends who run &os; are a great resource. No book can replace
|
|
chatting on the phone or across a pizza with someone who has the
|
|
same interests, enjoys similar accomplishments, and faces the same
|
|
challenges. If you do not have many friends who use &os;,
|
|
consider using your old &os; CDs to create some more.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p><a href="&base;/usergroups.html">User groups</a> are
|
|
good places to meet other &os; users. If there is no one nearby,
|
|
you might consider starting one!</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Before talking to real humans about your new skills, you might
|
|
want to check the <a
|
|
href="http://www.catb.org/jargon/">Jargon File</a>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</body>
|
|
</html>
|