Why newbies don't RTFM... 4736

Dan Espen

Guys, first off let's not get all up in arms about this. As Tim pointed out we're trying to improve Linux here and I believe this is a common desire of everyone here in this thread.

Let's face it: 1) Most of the people on this NG want to see Linux's popularity increase.

2) There is a reason why (for example) the "Idiot's Guide" series of books exists. Sure there are a lot of "How to's" out there but writing something that someone from a cross-discipline can understand is a bit of an art. And let's not forget that everyone's motivation to actually understand the goings-on of the O-S varies...

3) Some users use Linux because of the control over the system, it's free, it isn't "dumbed down", etc. OK, we respect that. But I'd say the mainstream market are the people who use a computer as a tool. They don't really care about bits from the bytes - as long as they can run their programs, do their work, surf the web, etc. If Linux is to become popular it is these people the various distro (and manual!) writers must seek to buttist.

So, without further ado, here are a couple of examples of examples I'd like to see in the man pages.

- cd -

Example #1: Problem: You want to change your directory tohome-user-adam Solution: cdhome-user-adam

Example #2: Problem: You want to return to your home directory Solution: cd

- rm -

Example #3: Problem: You want to delete all files and subdirectories under directoryhome-user-adam-files Solution: rm -rfhome-user-adam-files

Example #4: Problem: You want to find and delete all files with the name "temp" Solution: findhome-user-adam -name temp -exec rm {};

- echo - Example #5: Problem: You want to see what the value of a variable like PATH is. Solution: echo $PATH

Notice that the examples: 1) State the problem concisely; 2) Offer a solution concisely; 3) Don't include information which the user might not be after, such as why the $ is necessary before PATH or what the {},, ; are for in #4.

Hope this helps!