>Umm -- I've been using UNIX for a *long* time -- the first version I 
>installed 
>was 6th Edition, on a PDP-11 -- and I have to agree; the NetBSD 
>documentation 
>is pretty ghastly.  Even apart from PC arcana such as disk partitioning, 
>what's lacking is an overview.  Yes, there are man pages for, say, wsconf 
>-- but you 
>have to know in basic terms what wsconf is to decide if that is something to 
>be concerned about.
>
>The thing that makes Linux easier to install is not just the more-complete 
>installation script and manual, but the dozens of "how to" documents.

Not only is it "ghastly", but it hurts the bsd effort on more than one 
level. Yes newbies will be put off by the lack of documentation (I just 
got the Debian CD and am thinking of starting over.) but worse; 
apparently there are (maybe I'm just too new to know) some distinct 
advantages to bsd. For eample:

According to the docs I have on Linux, if I want to change shells, I have 
to do this:

chsh nameOtheShelliWant

chsh on bsd gets me a nasty message from the system that says go home and 
play on some other computer. Looking up how to change shells in the man 
pages is not much more help. In fact, it just flat doesn't tell me how to 
do it.

By sheer accident I discovered that just typing the name of the shell I 
want to switch to does it automatically. Now THAT is a distinctly nice 
feature that you can't even find out about IF YOU"RE LOOKING FOR IT!!!

I also discovered, that unlike what the Linux books tell me, just typing 
a plain English "shutdown now" works! I don't need parameters, spaces, 
hyphens, nothing. Please don't tell me that bsd is going to be another 
beta max!? A better product that loses due to poor marketing and zero PR?
I think the very first thing that someone ought to do is put up an 
"advantages" page. (What can bsd do/offer that other flavors of Unix 
can't?)

David Kachel