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one in a comment; since the former is clearly visible from the top of the file, the latter's only purpose was to bloat the repository a little more. No objections by: -doc, -www
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252 lines
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Text
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN" [
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<!ENTITY base CDATA "..">
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<!ENTITY date "$FreeBSD: www/en/projects/newbies.sgml,v 1.21 2001/05/13 02:46:40 dougb Exp $">
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<!ENTITY title 'Resources for Newbies'>
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<!ENTITY % includes SYSTEM "../includes.sgml"> %includes;
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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-newbies@FreeBSD.org">FreeBSD-Newbies@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="#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="../search/search.html">Search</a> the Handbook and FAQ, or the
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whole web site, or the archives of the FreeBSD-Questions mailing
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list.</p></li>
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<li><p>The <a href="../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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and much more.</p></li>
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<li><p><a href="../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 haven't installed yet, 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="../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="../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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<p>If you decide to download FreeBSD, check whether these illustrated and
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expanded <a href="http://www.lemis.com/what-to-download.html">download
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instructions</a> for a previous version are still available before
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you begin. That should make the whole process a lot clearer.</p></li>
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<li><p>A number of <a href="../tutorials/index.html">tutorials</a> are available. The
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one <a href="../tutorials/new-users/index.html">For People New to Both
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FreeBSD and Unix</a> is popular with absolute beginners. You don't
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have to know much about anything to enjoy this one. It is also
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available from <a
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href="http://andrsn.stanford.edu/FreeBSD/newuser.html">the
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author's site</a> and can be downloaded in <a
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href="ftp://andrsn.stanford.edu/pub/">postscript or RTF format</a>
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for printing.</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="../tutorials/ppp/index.html">Pedantic PPP Primer</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.osd.bsdi.com/titles/freebsd/bsdcomp_bkx.phtml">The
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Complete FreeBSD</a> by Greg Lehey, published by BSDi.
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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're doing and why.</p></li>
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<li><p>The <a href="../handbook/index.html">FreeBSD Handbook</a> and <a
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href="../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. Don't
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worry if you can't 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 sending mail
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to <a href="mailto:majordomo@FreeBSD.org">majordomo@FreeBSD.org</a>
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with "subscribe freebsd-questions" on its own in the message body
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(the subject doesn't matter). You can look up old questions and
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answers via the <a href="../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>. 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>
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<li><p><strong>Man pages</strong> are good 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="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'll 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>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 organised 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><p>A <a
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href="http://www-wks.acs.ohio-state.edu/unix_course/unix.html">UNIX Introductory Course</a>
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from Ohio State University is available online in HTML,
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postscript and Acrobat PDF formats.</p></li>
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<li><p><a href="http://www.ucs.ed.ac.uk/~unixhelp/servers.html">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 <a
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href="http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/unix-faq/faq/top.html"> Frequently Asked Questions</a>. You can also get a copy of the <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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which also has a <a
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href="http://www.camelcity.com/~noel/usenet/cuuf-FAQ.htm">FAQ</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> 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
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<a href="http://www.xfree86.org/">The XFree86 Project, Inc.</a>,
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including the
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<a href="http://www.xfree86.org/FAQ/index.html">XFree86 FAQ</a>.
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Beware, much of this documentation is reference material which is
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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, two of the books mentioned above have sections
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dealing with X at beginner level:
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<a href="#cfbsd">The Complete FreeBSD</a> and
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<a href="#ufti">UNIX for the Impatient</a>.</p></li>
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<li><p>There is an easy and informative section on
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using the X Window System in the Linux
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<a href="ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/LDP/users-guide">Users' Guide</a>.
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Interesting material will be found elsewhere in that document too, but
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remember that Linux does not always work exactly the same as FreeBSD.</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://www.PLiG.org/xwinman/">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's 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="../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's always people around
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who help others simply because they like to. Write to
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<a href="mailto:freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.org">FreeBSD Newbies</a>
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for more information.</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 don't 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="../support.html#user">User groups</a> are
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good places to meet other FreeBSD users. If there's not one nearby,
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maybe you could start 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://manuel.brad.ac.uk/help/.faq/.unix/.pronun.html">Pronunciation Guide</a>
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and the <a
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href="http://www.wins.uva.nl/~mes/jargon/">Jargon File</a> :-)</p>
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<p>On line we have the
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<a href="http://www.welearn.com.au/freebsd/newbies/">FreeBSD-Newbies</a>
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mailing list for non-technical discussions about matters of interest
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to newbies. Another mailing list,
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<a href="mailto:questions@FreeBSD.org">FreeBSD-Questions</a>,
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answers our questions about using FreeBSD.</p>
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&footer;
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</body>
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</html>
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