Reading man pages was always how I learned stuff. If I ask someone could be from this list about something, I usually ask them where can I find the docs for so and so? Then I go, read the docs, and understand what I need to know to solve my particular problem. After a few days, I solve it and I don't have to worry about it not working ever again. Like my cd burner, all I had to do is compile in support for chr_sr and chr_sg and it worked fine after that. Now, when I do cdrecord -audio -dev=0,0,0 -v -eject or something like that, I can count on it working. I also used to use Irix a lot back in my shell account days, so I was already used to it. Just my two-sense. ----- Original Message ----- From: Deedra Waters <curi0315@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: <speakup at braille.uwo.ca> Sent: Sunday, May 19, 2002 1:24 AM Subject: Re: interesting experiment. > I think honestly that if beginners have an easy start it may help some in > the long run. I honestly think that there are some people who want to > learn but are having a hard time in which case, helping them can be > useful. > > I'm bad at sitting and reading manpage after manpage trying to find > things, and I was even worse at the beginning. I had a great deal of help > in the beginning, and there was a lot I didn't understand. > > I'm not really sure where I'm going with this accept to say that there are > people who have a real hard time by just reading, and helping them, or > trying to walk them threw some things doesn't always mean that they need > to be spoonfead > > > On Sun, 19 May 2002, Toby Fisher wrote: > > > On Sun, 19 May 2002, Octavian Rasnita wrote: > > > > > Hi, thank you. > > > No, I don't like Windows. I don't use to play games because I don't have the > > > time. > > > > Oh now you don't know what you're missing, I can recommend GMA Games for > > one, for a bit of light relief. > > > > <snip> > > > > > But I also don't like to see a lot of people from this list, nor > > from any > > > list, thinking that Linux is better than Windows. > > > > Actually, if you look carefully at most of what you view to be > > anti-Windows comments, they are, in the main, aimed at the company that > > spawned it. > > > > > Windows is better than Linux for multimedia development but Macintosh is > > > even better than Windows for this thing. > > > > > > Some Unix graphic stations are better probably than Macintosh for their > > > purpose. > > > > Yes, but until very recently Macintosh had a problem with expensive > > hardware, for example, on some power macs there was only 1 make of modem > > you could use because of the connection it required; guess what, they're > > not made any more so my friend is going to have to buy a new computer, > > this is, imho, a potential problem which can arise when hardware and > > software are made by the same company, as used to happen back in the big > > mainframe days. > > > > <snip> > > > > > I like the Linux users to be a kind of helpful community, because > > they are > > > not very many, especially blind, but all the experimented people in linux > > > give the beginners criptical commands without explaining too much, RTFM, > > > etc. > > > > I believe that there are reasons for this. > > > > First, what that person may want is a means to get up and running as > > hasle-free as possible. Second, explanation of the command may, and note > > I use the word may, cause confusion, until the person has read some docs, > > which they may be unable to do due to whatever problem it is that has > > caused them to write to the list. > > > > Third, it does not help anyone, least of all the beginner, if they are > > spoon-fed, as they may then be unable to help themselves if they are ever > > stuck without an internet connection, or otherwise unable to call on > > required assistance. > > > > Cheers. > > > > -- > > Toby Fisher Email: toby at g0ucu.freeserve.co.uk > > Tel.: +44(0)1480 417272 Mobile: +44(0)7974 363239 > > ICQ: #61744808 > > Please avoid sending me Word or PowerPoint attachments. > > See http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Speakup mailing list > > Speakup at braille.uwo.ca > > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Speakup mailing list > Speakup at braille.uwo.ca > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
