[nycbug-talk] eurobsdcon

[G.Rosamond]

On May 28, 2004, at 9:37 AM, Pastor Mac wrote:

> <snip>
>
> A documentation project has also been pitched targeted towards home 
> users, experimenters/dabblers, and other such non-power or 
> professional users over on the freebsd-newbies list.  I've also been 
> seeing a recurring thread in comp.os.unix.freebsd and 
> comp.os.unix.freebsd.misc from inquirers about what FreeBSD is as it 
> relates to Linux.  Indeed, it seems with a recent Usenet poster that 
> he thought FBSD is simply a flavor of Linux.  Several replies followed 
> up on that question (the replies were well written and polite, btw) 
> and the original poster went out and bought a FreeBSD set from Fry's.
>

And we've pitched the same thing a while back. . .you can see the link 
on our site.  We're just waiting on our new site.

We'd also like include things like book and software reviews, more 
complex project outlines, etc.

I think the 'What is Linux, BSD?' theme is good for a nice short piece, 
as for years at the BSMall tables at LinuxWorld Expo, etc, we're 
approached with questions such as " how many distributions does BSD 
have?" or the notion that somehow Linux precedes BSD.  It's documented 
so many places, but maybe we could contribute to the clarification 
process by doing our view on this. . .

(what is "Fry's"?)

> I think the idea of writing a tutorial for basic users, i.e. those who 
> have a good command of PC/Mac navigation, who want to see what an open 
> source *NIXish OS is like and how it can be deployed as a home 
> server/firewall would be a quality project.  I've looked about and 
> around for such a basic tutorial on either Linux or BSD and have yet 
> been able to find something that was, IMO, really geared for a 
> non-geek user.  This angle, I believe, is where a BSD could really 
> take off--the central storage for a family's documents, music, etc 
> plus providing a truly first rate firewall.

Good point, but to be honest this issue has always confused me a bit.

Obviously BSD's make a great home firewall, but as Wes argued in his 
last meeting, there are so many basic, easy-to-setup commercial 
products out there, I don't see the BSD's encroaching on the family 
photo repository market or home firewalls for non-technical users.  
Most can't be bothered, and just want things to work.  They are 
flustered by losing their navigation bar in Internet Explorer, and BSD 
is not about that market.

There are lots and lots of people running BSD as a home firewall.  
That's clear.  I spoke to a Manhattan RedHat trainer at LWE in January, 
and we were talking about BSD, and he said "Sure, I have an OBSD 
firewall at home."

That's great and all, and it's something to be encouraged, and 
something we want to facilitate, but I don't see it as a market that 
the BSD's have a great future . . .it's the backend that matters, where 
there is already a big presence at ISP's, hosting firms, etc.

But someone actually making that type of product and selling it to home 
users, that's another story. . .

Do an "nmap <ip> -O" on your average commercial firewall, and you may 
find BSD there already.

>
> Since the above is what I intend for my home, I'd love to offer 
> whatever writing skills I have to help document whatever materializes 
> as my home server to the project.  From my initial introductory post a 
> couple of weeks ago, I received extremely generous offers of help 
> which I intend to follow up on when we get to Sussex in less than two 
> weeks.  As to making meetings in the City, I cannot judge yet how 
> often that can happen.  Sussex is a bit far away but NJT does have a 
> terminus in Port Jervis however it is a 2 hour trip one way.  In spite 
> of the logistics, I very much would like to be a part of the user 
> group and contribute whatever I can offer back to the community.
> Pax,
>
> Pastor Mac
> On OS X
>

That's awesome.  Your writing is clear and concise, and it's clear that 
you doing a How-To would benefit so so many.

If you can't make NYC  meetings, which I know are difficult for some in 
the far suburbs, then maybe we can arrange periodic meetings out there. 
. .or at least you could pull people together on a regular basis. . 
.You could be a sub-project of NYCBUG. . .We can send periodic speakers 
out there to bear country (oh, they didn't tell you *that*), and all 
get together on a less frequent basis.

BTW, one of the best How-To's I ever read is on building a home 
firewall running ipf:

http://www.schlacter.net/public/

It's very dated, but I think great for the new user looking to build a 
home firewall.

Sorry all for the ramble. . .my coffee had bad milk in it this am, so I 
don't feel I'm at my most articulate. . .

g