Dead tree documentation

[David Stanford]

On 5/12/06, Michael M. <nixlists at writemoore.net> 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 too outdated to be useful (or worse, might end up being more confusing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outdated.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
>
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