[talk] Recency of FreeBSD books

[George Rosamond]

James E Keenan:
> Inspired by the Installfest this coming Wed (Aug 3), I am in the process
> of trying to install FreeBSD 10.3 in a VirtualBox VM running on my
> Ubuntu Linux 14.04 x86_64 machine.  The instructions at
> https://www.freebsdfoundation.org/freebsd/how-to-guides/installing-freebsd-with-virtualbox/
> have so far been easy to follow.

Cool.

> 
> Once I have that installed, then I have to start to learn FreeBSD.  When
> I do internet search, I come up with these titles by people I've
> actually met at NYCBUG or NYC conferences:
> 
> Michael Lucas, Absolute FreeBSD, 2nd ed, 2007.
> 
> Dru Lavigne, The Best of FreeBSD Basics, 2007.
> 
> 2007 -- nine years ago.  Are these books sufficiently up-to-date for an
> autodidact?
> 

I think I recognize those names too :)

It really depends on the type of guides you're looking for.  I think
with the BSDs, FreeBSD in particular, keeping a current book for the
general public is a worthwhile gateway drug.

Did I hear rumors of Absolute FreeBSD being revised?

I still wish Dru's BSD Hacks would be revised. It was a fun book
concept, and I think it worked well.

It probably makes sense, for your purposes James, to look for specific
areas you want to understand better.

It might make sense to do a walk-through install of FreeBSD 10 or 11 on
Wednesday on the display.

g