Re: Dead tree documentation
As for general un*x books that are not FreeBSD-specific, the single best one I've used is _Essential_System_Administration_ by Aeleen Frisch. As a newbie I found this book enormously helpful and well worth having. My vote: _Unix Systems Administration Handbook_ by Nemeth et alia. The third edition, now five years old, needs an update but is still my stranded on a desert island* choice. Robert Huff * - You will be stranded on a desert island with disfunctional Unix systems not of your choosing. You may take one printed book to help you get them working. ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Dead tree documentation
I've been using various Linux distros and OS X for a while now, and Windows before those, and am interested in trying out FreeBSD. Call me old fashioned, but as an engaged-but-non-technical user, I find it really useful to have at least some accompanying documentation in book form when embarking on something like this. Okay, forget old-fashioned, just call me old. :-) Book-learnin' was the only thing we had when I was a yung-un, and it's what I'm used to. I understand that the be-all-and-end-all of authoritative FreeBSD reference is the online handbook (and, of course, the man pages and docs included with the OS itself). I was wondering if more experienced users could give me a few pointers about the best book supplements for delving into this OS. Specifically, I'm looking for advice about what might be too outdated to be useful (or worse, might end up being more confusing than helpful) and what isn't. From looking around and lurking here for a while, the books that look most promising to me are: The Complete FreeBSD, 4th Ed. by Greg Lehey FreeBSD 6 Unleashed by Brian Tiemann Absolute BSD by Michael Lucas BSD Hacks by Dru Lavigne The latter, at least, seems like something best left for later, if I really stick with it,. Of the first three -- well, the first is the most appealing to me, but it's somewhat more dated than the others (I have seen the regularly posted reminders about online updates). I'm certainly not averse to buying two books; however, I don't want to drown myself -- keeping in mind that I'm not the most technically inclined person and my purpose is to learn to use FreeBSD as a general-purpose desktop system. I've no special or advanced uses in mind, though I am hoping that ultimately learning more about FreeBSD will also have the benefit of teaching me more about making use of the Darwin subsystem of OS X. Any thoughts, advice, pointers? Anything I missed, especially any general UNIX books that might go well with one of the above? Much obliged. p.s. BTW, I did try out DesktopBSD and am quite impressed with it. It seems like there are still some issues to be addressed; still, it's a really nice introductory way to get up and running with a FreeBSD desktop quickly and easily. As a matter of personal preference, I'm not a big KDE fan, so that tempers my enthusiasm somewhat. I don't think it's really a substitute for trying to learn the basics of using and administering FreeBSD, but then that's probably not what it's trying to be. I hope it progresses and gets lots of support. -- Michael M. ++ Portland, OR ++ USA No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. --S. Jackson ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Dead tree documentation
Michael M. wrote: I've been using various Linux distros and OS X for a while now, and Windows before those, and am interested in trying out FreeBSD. Call me old fashioned, but as an engaged-but-non-technical user, I find it really useful to have at least some accompanying documentation in book form when embarking on something like this. Okay, forget old-fashioned, just call me old. :-) Book-learnin' was the only thing we had when I was a yung-un, and it's what I'm used to. I understand that the be-all-and-end-all of authoritative FreeBSD reference is the online handbook (and, of course, the man pages and docs included with the OS itself). I was wondering if more experienced users could give me a few pointers about the best book supplements for delving into this OS. Specifically, I'm looking for advice about what might be too outdated to be useful (or worse, might end up being more confusing than helpful) and what isn't. From looking around and lurking here for a while, the books that look most promising to me are: The Complete FreeBSD, 4th Ed. by Greg Lehey FreeBSD 6 Unleashed by Brian Tiemann Absolute BSD by Michael Lucas BSD Hacks by Dru Lavigne The latter, at least, seems like something best left for later, if I really stick with it,. Of the first three -- well, the first is the most appealing to me, but it's somewhat more dated than the others (I have seen the regularly posted reminders about online updates). I'm certainly not averse to buying two books; however, I don't want to drown myself -- keeping in mind that I'm not the most technically inclined person and my purpose is to learn to use FreeBSD as a general-purpose desktop system. I've no special or advanced uses in mind, though I am hoping that ultimately learning more about FreeBSD will also have the benefit of teaching me more about making use of the Darwin subsystem of OS X. Any thoughts, advice, pointers? Anything I missed, especially any general UNIX books that might go well with one of the above? Well, I can understand, to some extent, where you're coming from. It's much easier to justify throwing the book down beside the bed when you're about to doze off, as opposed to, say, a new laptop. Recently, Grog Lehey released The Complete FreeBSD under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 license. Source is available, as well as a PDF document. I'm sure he'd appreciate it if you buy a paper copy, but you could print your own, also: http://www.lemis.com/grog/Documentation/CFBSD/ HTH, Kevin Kinsey ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Dead tree documentation
On 5/12/06, Michael M. [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I've been using various Linux distros and OS X for a while now, and Windows before those, and am interested in trying out FreeBSD. Call me old fashioned, but as an engaged-but-non-technical user, I find it really useful to have at least some accompanying documentation in book form when embarking on something like this. Okay, forget old-fashioned, just call me old. :-) Book-learnin' was the only thing we had when I was a yung-un, and it's what I'm used to. I understand that the be-all-and-end-all of authoritative FreeBSD reference is the online handbook (and, of course, the man pages and docs included with the OS itself). I was wondering if more experienced users could give me a few pointers about the best book supplements for delving into this OS. Specifically, I'm looking for advice about what might be too outdated to be useful (or worse, might end up being more confusing than helpful) and what isn't. From looking around and lurking here for a while, the books that look most promising to me are: The Complete FreeBSD, 4th Ed. by Greg Lehey FreeBSD 6 Unleashed by Brian Tiemann Absolute BSD by Michael Lucas BSD Hacks by Dru Lavigne The Complete FreeBSD, 4th Ed. by Greg Lehey and Absolute BSD by Michael Lucas are fantastic books, but are, unfortunately, a little outdated. BSD Hacks is also an extremely useful book, but aimed more at administrators looking to learn a few tricks of the trade. My suggestion would be to wait another week or two when FreeBSD 6 Unleashed by Brian Tiemann is released as it will be the most thorough and up-to-date book out there. The latter, at least, seems like something best left for later, if I really stick with it,. Of the first three -- well, the first is the most appealing to me, but it's somewhat more dated than the others (I have seen the regularly posted reminders about online updates). I'm certainly not averse to buying two books; however, I don't want to drown myself -- keeping in mind that I'm not the most technically inclined person and my purpose is to learn to use FreeBSD as a general-purpose desktop system. I've no special or advanced uses in mind, though I am hoping that ultimately learning more about FreeBSD will also have the benefit of teaching me more about making use of the Darwin subsystem of OS X. If you do plan to purchase two books, I would suggest making The complete FreeBSD the second. As for Mac OS X, I have no clue - never used it. Any thoughts, advice, pointers? Anything I missed, especially any general UNIX books that might go well with one of the above? Much obliged. p.s. BTW, I did try out DesktopBSD and am quite impressed with it. It seems like there are still some issues to be addressed; still, it's a really nice introductory way to get up and running with a FreeBSD desktop quickly and easily. As a matter of personal preference, I'm not a big KDE fan, so that tempers my enthusiasm somewhat. I don't think it's really a substitute for trying to learn the basics of using and administering FreeBSD, but then that's probably not what it's trying to be. I hope it progresses and gets lots of support. Have you tried PC-BSD? It also installs defaulted with KDE, which I also am not a fan of, but is really a great fork and looks to have a bright future ahead. http://www.pcbsd.org -- Michael M. ++ Portland, OR ++ USA No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. --S. Jackson -David ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Dead tree documentation
On Fri, 12 May 2006, Michael M. wrote: [snip] Any thoughts, advice, pointers? Anything I missed, especially any general UNIX books that might go well with one of the above? As for general un*x books that are not FreeBSD-specific, the single best one I've used is _Essential_System_Administration_ by Aeleen Frisch. As a newbie I found this book enormously helpful and well worth having. It's published by O'Reilly, and almost certainly available from Amazon or your local geeky bookstore if you're fortunate enough to have one. HTH. -- Chris Hill [EMAIL PROTECTED] ** [ Busy Expunging | ] ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Dead tree documentation
Kevin Kinsey wrote: Michael M. wrote: I've been using various Linux distros and OS X for a while now, and Windows before those, and am interested in trying out FreeBSD. Call me old fashioned, but as an engaged-but-non-technical user, I find it really useful to have at least some accompanying documentation in book form when embarking on something like this. Okay, forget old-fashioned, just call me old. :-) Book-learnin' was the only thing we had when I was a yung-un, and it's what I'm used to. I understand that the be-all-and-end-all of authoritative FreeBSD reference is the online handbook (and, of course, the man pages and docs included with the OS itself). I was wondering if more experienced users could give me a few pointers about the best book supplements for delving into this OS. Specifically, I'm looking for advice about what might be too outdated to be useful (or worse, might end up being more confusing than helpful) and what isn't. From looking around and lurking here for a while, the books that look most promising to me are: The Complete FreeBSD, 4th Ed. by Greg Lehey FreeBSD 6 Unleashed by Brian Tiemann Absolute BSD by Michael Lucas BSD Hacks by Dru Lavigne The latter, at least, seems like something best left for later, if I really stick with it,. Of the first three -- well, the first is the most appealing to me, but it's somewhat more dated than the others (I have seen the regularly posted reminders about online updates). I'm certainly not averse to buying two books; however, I don't want to drown myself -- keeping in mind that I'm not the most technically inclined person and my purpose is to learn to use FreeBSD as a general-purpose desktop system. I've no special or advanced uses in mind, though I am hoping that ultimately learning more about FreeBSD will also have the benefit of teaching me more about making use of the Darwin subsystem of OS X. Any thoughts, advice, pointers? Anything I missed, especially any general UNIX books that might go well with one of the above? Well, I can understand, to some extent, where you're coming from. It's much easier to justify throwing the book down beside the bed when you're about to doze off, as opposed to, say, a new laptop. Recently, Grog Lehey released The Complete FreeBSD under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 license. Source is available, as well as a PDF document. I'm sure he'd appreciate it if you buy a paper copy, but you could print your own, also: http://www.lemis.com/grog/Documentation/CFBSD/ I would much prefer to buy a paper copy, I was really wondering if the paper copy is too outdated to be of use or so outdated that it might get me in trouble. I imagine there's lots of things that haven't changed much at all -- more in the vein of concepts and principles if not nitty-gritty specifics. There are many things I would know to watch out for, mostly userland/GUI apps and software. I'm not worried, for example, about instructions for configuring the X server being out of date. I've already gone through the transition to X.org 7.0 from X.org 6.9 on a couple of Linux distros, and I don't think FreeBSD 6.1 is using X.org 7.0 yet. So if the book goes into detail about configuring XFree86, that's not a big deal. I'm more concerned about messing up on things about which I don't know any better, but even there I can always check the updates and the current handbook online before I monkey around too much. It's just that if there's *too* much of that, then the usefulness of the printed book is questionable. -- Michael M. ++ Portland, OR ++ USA No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. --S. Jackson ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Dead tree documentation
David Stanford wrote: The Complete FreeBSD, 4th Ed. by Greg Lehey and Absolute BSD by Michael Lucas are fantastic books, but are, unfortunately, a little outdated. BSD Hacks is also an extremely useful book, but aimed more at administrators looking to learn a few tricks of the trade. My suggestion would be to wait another week or two when FreeBSD 6 Unleashed by Brian Tiemann is released as it will be the most thorough and up-to-date book out there. Well, d'oh ... I didn't even notice that Unleashed was not yet released! Yeah, I'd say that is the one to buy, then, but I'll probably go ahead and get Lehey's book as well just to have it, as it is so well regarded. Have you tried PC-BSD? It also installs defaulted with KDE, which I also am not a fan of, but is really a great fork and looks to have a bright future ahead. http://www.pcbsd.org No, I thought I'd go for DesktopBSD because it seemed, from what I could tell, to be more compatible with FreeBSD -- at least, in the sense that it doesn't introduce a new element to package/port updating and upgrading. But I've read more about PC-BSD and its .pbi system in the past few days owing to its recent release, and it does sound interesting and worth taking a look at. I know some people are skeptical about the whole .pbi thing because of the library duplication, and perhaps other concerns that go over my head. I'm not really sure how big a drawback that is, given that disc space is rarely an issue for people anymore. It's not an issue for me, anyway. There might be a potential for conflicts, though, and I wonder about the possibility of dueling packaging systems causing a problem if you're not careful. Still, it can't hurt to check it out, especially as I'm gonna be waiting a bit for the book anyway. -- Michael M. ++ Portland, OR ++ USA No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. --S. Jackson ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Dead tree documentation
Chris Hill wrote: On Fri, 12 May 2006, Michael M. wrote: [snip] Any thoughts, advice, pointers? Anything I missed, especially any general UNIX books that might go well with one of the above? As for general un*x books that are not FreeBSD-specific, the single best one I've used is _Essential_System_Administration_ by Aeleen Frisch. As a newbie I found this book enormously helpful and well worth having. It's published by O'Reilly, and almost certainly available from Amazon or your local geeky bookstore if you're fortunate enough to have one. Thanks for the tip, I will look it up. -- Michael M. ++ Portland, OR ++ USA No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. --S. Jackson ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
