>On Fri, Nov 16, 2018 at 11:55:28AM -0500, Paul Winalski wrote:
>> On 11/16/18, Grant Taylor via TUHS <tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org> wrote:
>> > On 11/15/2018 10:32 PM, Dave Horsfall wrote:
>> >> The Unix manpage format is the epitome of perfection; they tell you
>> >> everything you need to know, and in the right order.  Frequently I
>> >> cannot recall a particular flag (but I know what it does), and it's
>> >> right there at the start.
>> >
>> > I think man pages make a great reference.  But I don't think they are a
>> > good teaching source for someone that doesn't know the material or what
>> > the components are for.
>> >
>> I agree with Grant.  If you want to know what a particular command
>> does and what its options are, man pages are fantastic.  If you are a
>> new or casual user trying to find out what command(s) to use to
.> accomplish a particular task, the man pages are an exercise in.
>> frustration and futility.  Other OSes have done a better job in that
>> area (the VMS and DTSS HELP commands come to mind).  IMO ideally one
>> should have both--a generalized "help" command for those trying to
>> find out what command to use, and "man" as reference material.  UNIX
>> and Linux have never had a proper help facility.  Or at least I never
>> was able to find it.
>
>I think there was a help at one point but it got lost.  PWB maybe?
>There is still apropos which can be useful.
>
>What helped me starting out was one of those trifold summaries of
>common commands.
>
>ls for directory listings?  Very poor choice for newbies but pleasant
>once you know it is there.  Short is nice for common stuff.
>
>I just remember a steep learning curve initially.  But you got over
>it pretty quickly and then things were pleasant.  I found the Unix
>docs to be great but hard to figure where things were at first.
>Once you were past that, smooth sailing.