Frequently asked questions in these groups deserve a monthly posting

[Don Libes]

In article <21089 at iuvax.cs.indiana.edu> sahayman at iuvax.cs.indiana.edu (Steve Hayman) writes:
>and I agree.  Isn't it time for a monthly "Introduction to
>comp.unix.questions and comp.unix.wizards" posting, containing
>frequently asked questions and answers?  I think this has worked well in
>some other groups.

I really think this is unnecessary, because there are already many
books on UNIX.  I wish beginners would read a book on it first before
wasting net bandwidth.  It would answer 99% of these questions.
Indeed, you will find that if you try to write down all these
questions and answers, it will be too voluminous for a posting.

I know this is going to sound self-serving, but I just wrote a book -
"Life With UNIX" - specifically because people were always knocking on
my door asking the very same questions that appear in comp.unix.  It
was just reviewed in UNIX World [June 89] and the reviewer spent two
columns just gushing about it.  It is noted in the new 4.3BSD book
[Leffler et al] as a good tutorial, though it is much more than that.
For example, there are hundreds of references to other books and
articles for more information about specific topics.

I think that reading this book (or one similar) could avoid the need
of this kind of monthly posting.  Maybe the posting could just say to
read a book about UNIX, first?

I wouldn't have posted this, except that I've never seen any mention
of it on the net (and Prentice Hall doesn't spend very much on
advertising, grrr).  So as not to seem totally one-sided, I know of a
couple other books that fall in the same class: viz. UNIX Papers
[Waite], Conceptual UNIX [HP, I think], but I think if you compare
them, you'll like "Life With UNIX" much better.

Don Libes          libes at cme.nbs.gov      ...!uunet!cme-durer!libes