On Mon, Aug 21, 2000 at 09:51:45PM -0600, s. keeling wrote:
> Here's my first cut of questions that ought to be in a debian-users FAQ:
if only someone had this started up when i was getting
up to speed, i'd be four months ahead of where i am now--
great idea!
i'd also love to see a sub-faq? meta-faq? skewed to newbie
MIGRATORS, because it seems that us mac folk and windows
folk have a lot of un-learning to do as we climb aboard this
linux mountain; also, many of the questions i've seen come
from migrators.
(does anybody have a pointer to statistics showing how many
new linux users are NEW computer users vs. how many are
coming aboard from other platforms?)
here's my first blush at a newbie-faq structure... i'd have
no more than two levels of TOC shown at any time, to make
navigation easy for the new folks. plus, searchability, of
course!
0. coming to debian from-- (common traps, debian advantages)
1. planet earth
slink, woody, potato (etc) explained
development cycle for debian lags, and here's why
linux background
2. other linux
a. redhat
b. slackware
...
3. windows 95/98/2k
a. documentation: discuss 'manpage', 'grep', 'find'
b. multi-user environment
4. windows nt
documentation: discuss 'manpage', 'grep', 'find'
5. mac
a. documentation: discuss 'manpage', 'grep', 'find'
b. multi-user environment
c. command-line concepts
I. how to get started in debian
1. where to get it
a. cd's are available from ...
b. online download from ...
packages
iso (cd) images
c. books w/cd's available from ...
...
2. installing debian
a. partitioning; /dev/*; file system
b. dselect/dpkg
c. apt-get
d. non-debian packages -- reasons to avoid, yet how to
...
3. installing DOCUMENTATION
apt-get install man-db
...
4. keep your debian updated
a. apt-get
...
5. finding packages -- how to:
a. determine which package DOES X Y or Z
apropos
man -k
...
b. find the packages that use file X
apt-cache
dpkg
II. command-line: 'console' and 'shell'
1. handy keyboard shortcuts
a. alt-F[1-6]...
b. tab completion
c. mouse left-click & drag --> right-click to paste
...
2. finding documentation
a. man
b. info
c. http://localhost/doc
...
3. useful commands to get started
a. ubiquitous shell features
'cmd -opt -opt2 arg arg2 arg3' syntax
repeat a command: 'history' !substitution !$
redirect i/o: <fromfile >tofile |pipecmd
output of one command=args to another:
anothercmd `firstcmd backticks`
b. clock: 'date'
c. folder/directory list: 'ls -l'
discuss wild*cards? here
discuss multi-user environment/permissions (rwxrwxrwx)
d. where am i: 'pwd' ("which folder/directory")
e. move to another folder/directory: 'cd' (parent = ..)
f. text edit: (pro and con for each)
mc
jed
emacs
vi
...
g. find files:
locate
which
find
apropos
h. show which files contain X:
grep
grep -i
grep -v
i. what's happening, what's the computer doing
top
ps
uptime (load average)
j. scheduling tasks
at
crontab
...
III. Xwindows
1. how to start from command-line
startx
2. when there's no icons and no windows
ctl-alt-F[1-6] then...
settings files to change
apt-get install X, Y, Z
mouse traps [ :) ] to watch for
3. gui X logins, instead of console logins
gdm
kdm
...
4. window managers (like windows 'themes' on steroids)
windows-like wms
mac-like wms
gnome
windowmaker
enlightenment
...
5. text editors
...
IV. system tuning and maintenance
1. settings are in /etc/*
a. use update-* to massage settings
b. system startup stuff (i.e. hardware reboot) is in /etc/rc?.d
...
2. logs (messages as to what's happening) are in /var/log
a. apt-get install logcheck
b. apt-get install logrotate
c. try 'top' and 'ps' too
d. examples
apache
exim
...
3. runlevels
what, why, how
4. upgrading to a new debian release
sources.list examples (and where to go to find current settings)
apt-get update
apt-get upgrade
apt-get dist-upgrade
5. upgrading your kernel
how to keep your old one handy Just In Case (lilo)
apt-get install <prefab kernel image>
compile your own
6. setting the system clock / time zone
tzconfig
hwclock
ntpdate
...
...
V. getting help
1. browse around at http://www.debian.org
2. email someone who might know
tips on creating a good subject line
how to create a stupid subject line
3. news groups
comp.os.linux
linux.debian.user (? from deja.com/news)
...
4. mailing lists
a. lurking at www.geocrawler.com, www.dejanews.com, etc
b. subscribing to debian-user, debian-*
i envision all this being in html, with a simple search facility,
and no more than two levels of 'contents' for any particular page.
there'd be lots of cross-linking and common subtrees, wherever appropriate.
this need not be comprehensive documentation for a step-by-step
how-to on any particular item: its prime function would be to get
the newbie pointed in the right direction, to the right resource,
with minimal disturbance/redundancy foisted upon the gurus who
have better things to do than stutter the same responses over and
over...
(okay, so it was a two-hour first-blush.)
--
Q: does anything like this exist in such a format, skewed to the
new migraters from other platforms? if so, i've been unable to find it.
Q: if you know of existing fleshed-out portions of this outline,
could you point me to them? i'd be happy to get something like
this started (and all other help is welcome).
Q: i have my own website that i could host this on, but it'd be most
effective to be on debian.org, of course... would that be possible?
Q: surely there's some sort of tool to take a form of outline
and break it up (similar to the sectioned mod_perl manual at
http://thingy.kcilink.com/cgi-bin/modperlguide.cgi which is derived
from the original monolithic http://perl.apache.org/guide). Does
such a gadget exist?
at
