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In-Reply-To: <199809162213.QAA06524@beer.org>
Date: Wed, 16 Sep 1998 15:22:53 -0700 (MST)
Reply-To: root@garbled.net
Organization: garbled.net
From: Tim Rightnour <root@garbled.net>
To: Herb Peyerl <hpeyerl@beer.org>
Subject: Re: a non-original idea.
Cc: netbsd-advocacy@NetBSD.ORG


On 16-Sep-98 Herb Peyerl spoke unto us all:
#  Question is, is there any real value in such a book given our 
#  intended audience?  Would anyone publish such a book?

The thing is, I've had alot of people tell me "I bought the book, installed
it.. blah blah"  They may never even crack the book for all you know.. but
having it there makes them feel better..  Especially if it has a few "if you
blow up here, do this" things in it..

My honest opinion on what a book should be:

1: Getting started
        put in the cd, cross fingers, place hex, do magic, etc etc.
2: Now What
        Build pkgs, configure Xwindows, play video games
3: Get involved
        subscribe to mailing lists, point out documentation on the web, explain
        the ftp site, how to upgrade.. *MOVING TO CURRENT*
4: How to
        Some basic how to's on various subjects, web servers, xterms, etc etc..
        nothing incredible.. just "how to make NIS go" or the like..
5: Manpages
        Manual pages for 1,4,5,8.  I think we can/should punt on the rest for a
        book like this.  Large books frighten people.

---
Tim Rightnour  -  root@garbled.net
Free Multi-Platform Operating System: http://www.netbsd.org
Get your official NetBSD-1.3.2 CDROM set today! http://www.netbsd.com/