On Mon, 24 May 2004 11:32:07 +1200 Christopher Sawtell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > Sorry if this is a dumb ass question. > Yes, it is. Why don't you buy ( or download ) a book and have a read? > Alternatively using the online Unix manual page would have told you the answer > much faster than than relying on us. C'mon, now! YOU don't have to answer questions if you don't have the patience to deal with beginners. Man pages are often difficult to interpret, especially for those who do not have the benefit of a grounding in *nix. I have LOTS of books, and a very few of them are a sensible reference for a beginner. The vast majority - even those that purport to be for beginners - are written by people who are so subsumed by their own knowledge that they can't possibly empathise with those who are starting out. Not everyone has the benefit of working (or even meeting) with other Linux people, and your input is vital to getting Linux a good name. My own experience is that it is very difficult to learn Linux by osmosis - I have very little opportunity to speak to a real person about problems, and reference material, including the internet, often assumes current knowledge, giving advice like "if you have a problem doing this, try make" and "on my system the file is called 'this.3.4.8' and is found in '/some/godawful/path' but yours will be different". If I wasn't highly motivated to crack it, I would have given up long ago. RTFM can be appropriate, but having to read through screeds of info every time you want to do a simple thing can be very discouraging. Give us a break. A few minutes of your time to save many minutes of someone elses - that's what USEnet and SIGs are about. I have spent many hours helping people understand my specialities, and I don't regret a minute of it. Alasdair
