Re: [tlug] State of "Linux" documentation [C&C]

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@example.com>]

Edward Middleton writes:

 > But then to a mechanic a Hummers manual isn't going to help you much 
 > working on a Toyota Yaris.

Sure.  People who after a week's experience are talking about running
into a lot of walls are not analogous to mechanics, though.  When you
can get Mark Shuttleworth to do onsite service for essentially any
boot problem that arises for the first year, then we can say "just
like cars, manuals are for mechanics," right?

My point is not that the GNU/Linux initialization process should be as
simple and reliable as starting a car, although I've heard that
opinion advanced.  That requires Apple-style control of the hardware,
though, and I don't think we need more platforms like that; Apple is
plenty.  I think we need a better way to introspect the parts of the
system that users need to be able to work on themselves.

 > > Since when have they stopped distributing manuals as part of the
 > > package, though?  You buy Solaris, you get a pretty good book.
 > 
 > We didn't, unless you count the online documentation.

man(1) will take you a long way.