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From: mark@cbosgd.UUCP (Mark Horton)
Newsgroups: net.followup
Subject: Re: Unix, Unixpeople, Usenix - from a non-compunerd's point of view...
Message-ID: <1542@cbosgd.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 12-Oct-85 01:23:05 EDT
Article-I.D.: cbosgd.1542
Posted: Sat Oct 12 01:23:05 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 12-Oct-85 21:38:32 EDT
References: <96@tekadg.UUCP> <2850@pesnta.UUCP> <354@ihdev.UUCP>
Reply-To: mark@cbpavo.UUCP (Mark Horton)
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Columbus
Lines: 32

In article <2850@pesnta.UUCP> earlw@pesnta.UUCP (Earl Wallace) writes:
>Well, I think you have made a good point about Unix and the documentation.
>Maybe what we need is net.docs where good documentation can be placed and
>expired monthly.  The problem is getting the vendor to write and maintain 
>the manuals and documents so the 'average' user can get useful information
>without resorting to writing a small test program to understand what was
>just read.

Well, I'm not sure I agree.  My shiny new 3B2 came with a stack of manuals
that fills up a 30 inch bookshelf (and took me all day to sort and assemble
into the binders and integrate the updates.)  Sun comes with a similar stack
of manuals.  So does Masscomp.  So does Xenix.  So does PC/IX.  Etc.

You know what?  I can never find anything in any of them.  When I want to
look something up, I'll dig out any reasonably old copy of the UNIX
programmers manual - either 4.1BSD or System III or System Vr1 will do
nicely.  4.2 would probably do fine too except that we can't get the
official Usenix ones, so I have a thick notebook which is unwieldy.
Or I'll just look in /usr/man.

Does this make me a guru?  Well, not really.  I did manage to memorize
what sections 1 through 8 stand for (and if this weren't a moving target
I would get my job done faster) and I do know what command I want info
about.  But I don't think I've ever had time to sit down and read through
30 inches of manuals to see what's available in the system.

This huge set of manuals seems to be viewed as a requirement by the
marketing establishment to get market acceptance.  I suppose it must
be useful to somebody.  But for a reference manual I want something
compact, like the UPM.  One binder (well, two if it won't fit.)

	Mark