Brand Spanking New

[Kevin D. Kinsey, DaleCo, S.P.]

Ken wrote:

>    I guess I would call myself a newbie. I do have a fair bit of computer use over the past few years however no experience with UNIX. I am finally getting sick of Microsoft Crap so that is why I am writing now. I am also interested in trying out symmetric multiprocessing as I have been collecting i386 type computers as of late. I am writing this in order to see what it is like to write to this list as well as possibly gaining some insight on how to move a little further in the right direction on getting my modem working for a simple ftp from my freebsd machine. I don't want to write too much here so I will cut it short for now. If anyone can help me ... send me an email and I will reply as soon as I can. TIA
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Welcome to FreeBSD!

     We were all "newbies" at one time or another.
In 'Nix, experience and plenty of study (read "reading")
will move you from "newbie" status to "well-satisfied user"
in a matter of time (variable upon your expenditure of the
above... ;-)  FreeBSD is an exceptional project with some
exceptional people involved.  You might tell us more about
your wishes ... are you interested in using FBSD for servers,
or are you looking to replace your main workstation?  What
do you do with computers?  The good news is, that FreeBSD
can handle almost anything you throw at it.  You just need
to realize that it's up to *you* to make decisions and act
upon them in regard to your system(s).  "Tools, not policy"
is the axiom.

     UNIX of old was very CLI oriented; some might
argue that 'Nix still is today, but I have found that the
X Window system meets almost any need that I can
throw at it*.  Your first installation of FreeBSD will get
usually get you to a CLI; afterwards, you will want to
learn to install 3rd party software (I'd recommend via
the "ports" system...) and get X up and going with
either a lightweight/simple window manager like
Blackbox/Fluxbox (or others, fvwm, twm... I dunno) or a
full-featured desktop environment such as KDE, Gnome,
Enlightenment, XFCE...if you're using older hardware,
I'd probably pick something more "lightweight".

     Now, this may seem like a lot to learn; but FreeBSD has
*excellent* user documentation.  You will hear (often,
probably) that "the handbook is your friend."  You can
browse the handbook at www.freebsd.org; but I'd recommend
downloading a copy in one of the many available formats
(html, *rtf, etc.) and perusing the table of contents.  The
handbook will lead you, chapter by chapter, from an
explanation of the Project through basic installation to
a working multimedia computer (with plenty of other
stuff between, some of which you will be able to skip
because it may not apply at the current time.)

Another great resource is the questions- list
(questions at freebsd.org).  It is a rather high
volume mailing list, but you do not have to be
subscribed to post, and most people will cc:
you on the reply, so you don't have to join,
necessarily.  You will probably want to do one
thing, though: some people do prefer to use
the CLI (or simple terminals) over a GUI
environment, and their mailers may not like your
long lines; so the SOP is to hit "enter" at 72-80
characters or so.  Greg Lehey (of the FBSD Core
Team) has a good set of documents on this issue:
the starting page is www.lemis.com/email.html.


Here's wishing you the best of luck in FreeBSD!

Kevin Kinsey
DaleCo, S.P.

*Well, my kids games haven't yet been ported to
FBSD .... ;-)