Re: Thoughts on RTFM

[Kurt Lieber <debian@kirpatrick.com>]

On Thursday 29 November 2001 06:46 pm, cmasters wrote:
> Last words (for now) ... in order for Open Source to have continued and
> increasing validity, it ~has~ to mean more than just "change at will". It
> must include "if I've written the application, I will include ~clear~
> instructions".

There definitely is a strong elitist mentality among many linux folks, but 
not all of them.  There are also some strong newbie documentation projects 
that are underway as well:

http://newbiedoc.sourceforge.net/
http://www.linuxnewbie.org/
http://www.debianhelp.com/

are a few that spring to mind.  The newbiedoc project on sourceforge helped 
me immensely as I was learning how to compile a new kernel the debian way.

You're absolutely right -- the bar needs to be lowered a couple notches, at 
least on the documentation side of things.  The great thing is that you can 
pick up your cause and run with it.  Join one of the projects above and help 
them make newbie documentation that much better.  Or, if you feel so 
inclined, start your own. (I personally discourage this since I feel another 
problem with linux documentation it that it's scattered across the four winds)

Also, rest assured that, with a little determination and perseverance, you 
*can* learn this stuff.  It's not as easy to learn as windows, no, but it's 
also far, far more flexible, so it's a tradeoff.

Anyway, my $.02.

--kurt

P.S. I can't imagine learning linux in the pre-internet days.  I think it 
would be almost impossible unless you had a pre-existing group of 
linux-geek-buddies.