Date: Mon, 11 Sep 1995 09:36:01 -0700 (PDT) From: jrs <jrs@CERF.NET> To: doc@freebsd.org Subject: Comments on first time install and docs. Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.91.950911093358.2253A-100000@nic.cerf.net>
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To the documentation team:
The following are things I have noticed that could be a little clearer
for new people installing FreeBSD 2.0.5 for the first time. Espescially
if they are new to UNIX and even BSD in particular (I have been a regular
user of SCO and SYSV UNIX for several years, but never near a BSD system).
1. In the file 'HARDWARE' a list of commands are given that work in
the boot configuration program 'config'. Through experimentation
I found that there is a minimum of characters needed to be typed,
i.e. 'dis' = disable.
It would be convienient to have the minimum characters listed.
2. If you don't know to look for and read all the FAQ's (particularly
the DISKSPACE.FAQ), you can needlessly have to reinstall your system
because you selected 'bad' values. As an example: when installing,
the install program allows you to 'slice' up your disk. However,
there are no recommended sizes for the various partitions. In the
DISKSPACE.FAQ it says "root 18 - 50 MB" & "swap 2 * RAM".
Either in the introduction information make this prominent, or in the
divvy (yes I know this is a SYSV prog) process place recommended sizes
in the info box of the dialog.
3. In the XFree86 there should be examples of basic default configurations
for both COM1 & COM2 mice, i.e. what are the /dev entries for the
comm ports etc.
4. I have noticed throughout the filesystem that there are files owned
by UID 2035. And when making a sysbolic link this is the UID used.
What/who is UID 2035?
5. You get the option to install Kerbos and DES, but the software is not
on the CD and generates an error when selected to install.
6. I realize that 'pkg_manage' is either beta or alpha, but some notes.
A. There needs to be better descriptions for all packages to install.
B. There should be some way of telling the user what the package
dependancies are before installing and then getting an error
message because it requires another package.
7. When I did the install (several times for practice and experimenting)
I noticed that if I did a 'custom' install and then selected everything,
that the XFree86 system was not installed correctly. It would miss
installing everything except the binaries. (maybe I screwed up, but I
did it consistantly 3 times in a row then!)
8. The (I assume) curses lib that was used to create the install program
and pkg_manage is a rather nice user interface for character based
programs. If it is documented, I did not find it. But I think that
it should be put forward as a possible 'standard' for programmers
to write their character based apps to. Would make it a lot easier
to convert DOS users to UNIX in general if they had a 'familiar'
user environment presented to them.
On this same thought, it could be used to implement something similar
to the 'sysadmsh' found on SCO systems. This again would make it much
more 'user friendly' for the novice UNIX person, while at the same time
providing a programmed interface to the systems configuration files.
How many people have edited a file in vi or some other editor and
mung'd (Mash Until No Good - old DEC term) a file and then had to
painstakingly rebuild?
9. I realise that the user can go out and for $120 buy the O'Reilly
documentation set of books for 4.4BSD-Lite. But what about the guy
that is on a limited budget? Couldn't some HOW-TO's be written for
some of the more general things as in Linux? Say for example, how
to setup the system for network connectivity, slip and/or ppp, etc.
All in all I am very impressed with FreeBSD and am trying to figure out
if I have time to devote to joining the 'hacker' ranks. I would love to
see good UNIX systems become used more and more by the disaffected and
disillusioned Micosoft users as they learn what a real O/S can do. This
statement is not meant to insite flames, but rather made from the position
of a consultant that has to repeatedly tell DOS/Windows users that, "You
can't do that in <insert MS O/S>."
Thanks for your time.
Jim Stutt, President
Kouzlo, Inc.
"A consulting company."
--
"Your enemy is never a villian in his own eyes. Keep this in mind; it may
offer a way to make him your friend. If not, you can kill him without hate
-- and quickly." -- LL
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