Frequently-asked Questions about the UNIX-PC/3b1 [Monthly posting]

Andy Heffernan ahh at glyph.kingston.ny.us
Thu Apr 25 13:11:04 AEST 1991


In article <3b1-faq.1Apr91 at glyph.kingston.ny.us> 3b1-faq at glyph.kingston.ny.us (Andy Heffernan) writes:
>------------------------------------------------------------------
>Answers to some frequently asked questions about the AT&T UNIX PC,
>   as well as some frequent problems and useful hints with them
>------------------------------------------------------------------
>

I've been meaning to get to this for awhile now (like 24 days), but
life has a tendency of running you over with a truck when you least
expect it.  ("Tech support?  That's not in my job description!")

A good number of 3b1 afficionados don't get their news through big
sites or commercial services -- they do it the old-fashioned way,
over long-distance dialups.  At close to 1600 lines, a monthly
FAQ posting can be quite painful.  Traditionally, Frequently-Asked
Questions lists were created to reduce the bandwidth in popular,
active newsgroups.  The monthly big hit is mitigated (so the theory
goes) by the overall reduction in net traffic due to repeated, novice
questions.  Obviously, comp.sys.3b1 doesn't have the same problems
faced by comp.lang.c or comp.unix.questions, for example.  Our
problem is that we've got a relatively obscure, user-supported
computer system, and information is just plain hard to come by,
especially for new users.  Our list tends to be collected bits
of wisdom about this machine, rather than mundane stuff like
how to get your current directory into your prompt.

I'm hesitant to add much new stuff to the file since it's so big 
already (which is kind of dumb, since that's what the list is there for)
and I wonder whether it really ought to be posted monthly.  Maybe every 
other month with a 2-month expiration date (like the milk in my refrigerator) 
would be sufficient, with the odd months filled with a pointer to the 
archives at osu-cis.  Or, alternatively, I could split the list in half,
posting each half every other month.  Or, ...

I'm looking for suggestions and discussion.  This is your list --
what do you want to see?

-- 
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  Andy Heffernan		$BJ8;z(J		uunet!glyph!ahh



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