On Mon, 24 May 2004 13:24:23 +1200 Alasdair Tennant <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> 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. > You make some valid points, except that Don professes to be a computer professional, and to be experienced at linux. On that basis there was some justification in agreeing with Don that it was a dumb-ass question.. I believe I speak for the majority when I say that no-one mindfs newbie questions, but some self-help is expected too. > 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. The Rute manual is free and is a good newbie resource. > > 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. > > by the same token a bit of your own reading can save a lot of time for everyone. It is a question of degree. > > Alasdair -- Nick Rout <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
