RFC <grr>okay, i hereby volunteer.</grr>

[w trillich <will@serensoft.com>]

from the private support i've gotten over my 'HFTFMADBUFE'
rantings, i can tell i struck a chord: this is not specific
to debian, it's a unix/linux-wide situation. the documentation 
is hither and yon, and the newbies don't have the knowledge
of which tools to use in order to find what they're looking for.

and this is why they ask.

expert advice on this list is often the simplest way for the
newbies to get their front-end aligned, so to speak, yet it's
frustrating for the experts to see the same simple questions
asked time after time.

that the information exists is not enough: the lost ark was
placed in the warehouse, but not even indiana jones would be
able to find it--even though it's right there! you only need
to know which box, and which aisle, to find it. for those
who do know which box and which aisle, it gets tedious
answering the same simple questions.

so.

i volunteer (and would love some assistance from
some of you others--Svante? are you listening? hmm?) 
to spend some of my free [sic] time to make it easier
for newbies to find their way around (so that the
experts can focus on answering more challenging 
questions and devise more cool stuff for the rest of
us to use in the future) by launching a two-pronged 
attack:


1) tinker with the debian web pages to make it more
difficult for newbies to NOT find what they're
looking for. examples:
	a. search field, top left number one always always always.
		if searching the whole site is kaput, then add a
		menu for choosing whether to search mailing list
		archives, packages or bugs
	b. newbie links:
		- debian faq / faq-o-matic
		- debian / linux glossary
		- where/how to download debian
		- will debian work on my hardware? [ports]
			- i386
			- powerpc
			- sparc
			etc
		- how to upgrade to a newer debian [apt-get / apt]
			- have a cgi form to generate via Q&A
			apt-get sources.list items
			- show how to determine which debian they've got
		- how to upgrade one package [apt-get]
		- manuals / documentation
		- ask other debian users [subscribe to debian-user]
	c. have the remainder of the left column contain
		- quick-start guide
		- tip of the day (maybe make a fortune database for this?)
		- debian mailing lists galore
		- why debian? [about the debian organization]
			- philosophy
			- contact
			- volunteer
			- donate
			etc.
		- languages available (use nationality flag icons)
			[need to fix "??????? ?? (GB) ?? (Big5) 
			??? ??? Dansk..." regardless]
	d. have the right column remain news-like

i think it's safe to assume that the more-knowledgeable
folk have less trouble navigating, so we can put their
stuff further down in the hierarchy or at least further
down on the page.

online html documentation must be updated so that any reference
to 'currently' is replaced with 'as of xx/yy/zz' to reduce 
misinformation--such as the outdated comment that "hamm (2.0) is
the current debian release."


2) start on a script (perl? shell?) called, perhaps,
"NEWBIE" that'll take any number of arguments
and scan the local system for
	- locate <xyz>
	- apropos <xyz>
	- man <xyz>
	- info <xyz>
	- /usr/{share/,}doc/<xyz>{,-doc}/*
	- http://www.*.debian.org/doc/<xyz>
	- /var/cache/apt/*
	- dpkg -S / dpkg -L
	- iterate thru $PATH to find matching commands
	- other suggestions?
and display command options to get the documentation
sought, or actually run the commands themselves directly.

it may require its own flat/text database of sorts, perhaps
using an input value of english phrases describing what
a newbie might be looking for, and an output value of
a list of commands (or inf/man/http commands) that answer
that request.

e.g.
	"file manager" -> "mc, ..."
	"receiving/receive email" -> "fetchmail, mutt ..."
	"upgrades/upgrading" -> "apt-get, dpkg, alien..."
	"help" -> "man, info..."



2a) maybe create a TOTD to implement a tip-of-the-day,
once per login. such as
	"looking for help sending email? try 'newbie send email'."

	"to update from 2.1 (slink) to 2.2 (potato), ..."

	"to launch XWindows, try 'startx'; to install it,
	do 'apt-get install X'"

	"expect to be confused now and then; it's part of the
	learning process ..."
	[not intending that to be funny--maybe if we warn them that
	not everything will fall into their laps, the newbies may
	be less inclined to think that the gurus OWE them answers.]

	"to configure your domain name, see 'man named' or..."

	"if you use XWindows, try 'apt-cache search dotfile' or..."

perhaps we can find a way to distill answers from debian
lists into such a utility. the experts are of course free
to disable it.

--

what's the procedure [RTFM, here we go] for getting
started with something like this in the debian world?

comments and recruits are very welcome. newbies unite!