[plug] Newbys guide

[Kev]

All of you still posting

Look back over the last half a dozen posts in this thread (not mine). 
I've been pointed at more useful resources in 5 minutes than in the 
previous 12 months.  Somewhere back near the beginning of this thread I 
said something like there's so much stuff out there that the unintiated 
like I simply don't know where to start.  If I was to read through all 
that stuff looking for my problem explained in words of 2 syllables or 
less I'd need 2 more lifetimes.  RTFM (I know that one) is NOT a valid 
answer, because TFM is too bloody big and too bloody contradictory.  The 
irony is that you have to have passed the iniation to make sense of TFM.

Shayne O'Neill wrote:
> http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/
> 
> Your new best friend! ESR's (Eric S Raymond) jargon file.
> 
> Browse thru it, some of its verry funny. Keep in mind that ESR is a
> contraversial figure in linux circles. Most either love him , despise his
> pomposity or (like me) find him a brilliant coder prone to saying some
> stoopid things. but the jargon file is great. Its also got a lot of
> actually usefull words too :)
> 
> Sample entry;-
> 
> quantum bogodynamics: /kwon´tm boh`goh·di:·nam´iks/, n.
> =======================================================
>     A theory that characterizes the universe in terms of bogon sources
> (such as politicians, used-car salesmen, TV evangelists, and suits in
> general), bogon sinks (such as taxpayers and computers), and bogosity
> potential fields. Bogon absorption, of course, causes human beings to
> behave mindlessly and machines to fail (and may also cause both to emit
> secondary bogons); however, the precise mechanics of the bogon-computron
> interaction are not yet understood and remain to be elucidated. Quantum
> bogodynamics is most often invoked to explain the sharp increase in
> hardware and software failures in the presence of suits; the latter emit
> bogons, which the former absorb. See bogon, computron, suit, psyton.
> 
>     Here is a representative QBD theory: The bogon is a boson (integral
> spin, +1 or -1), and has zero rest mass. In this respect it is very much
> like a photon. However, it has a much greater momentum, thus explaining
> its destructive effect on computer electronics and human nervous systems.
> The corollary to this is that bogons also have tremendous inertia, and
> therefore a bogon beam is deflected only with great difficulty. When the
> bogon encounters its antiparticle, the cluon, they mutually annihilate
> each other, releasing magic smoke. Furthermore 1 Lenat = 1 mole (6.022E23)
> of bogons (see microLenat).
> 
> 
> --
> "Well, I think if you say you're going to do something and don't do
> it, that's trustworthiness."
> -- George Bush on CNN online chat, Aug.30, 2000
> RIAA Copyright notice trap: http://guild.murdoch.edu.au/~shayne/
> 
> On Sun, 30 Jan 2005, Cameron Patrick wrote:
> 
> 
>>I'm not sure whether I'm really helping here or using my time wisely
>>writing replies like this; but hopefully it'll be of some help...
>>
>>Kev wrote:
>>
>>
>>>>IIRC HPFS is in the kernel. I'll check later.
>>>
>>>Don't you see you've gone and done the PLUG thing.  You're talking right
>>>out of my league.  Under different circumstances I'd simply give up and
>>>go away.  THIS IS THE PLUG THING!!!  What the hell is IIRC????
>>
>>Stands for "If I recall correctly", which could be found with some
>>cursory googling.  A lot of these terms and acronyms can be looked up
>>in FOLDOC http://wombat.doc.ic.ac.uk/foldoc/
>>
>>
>>>What are source trees?????  I'm NOT a programmer!!!!
>>
>>A source tree refers to the directory structure (or "tree") containing
>>the source code for a programme; in this case, the Linux kernel.
>>
>>
>>>What's a kernel module????
>>
>>A piece of code that can be loaded into the kernel giving it new
>>functionality.  Like, say, accessing HPFS partitions.  Or a wireless
>>network card.  Or firewalling ability.  Or whatever.  You'll find that
>>in a modern Linux system, there are a lot of modules which are loaded
>>automatically depending on how you have it configured, what software
>>you run and what hardware is detected in your system when it boots.
>>
>>This link has a very detailed explanation of what they are, what they
>>do, and why they exist, although some of it is quite heavy in
>>technical jargon (including some which I don't understand):
>>        http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Module-HOWTO/x58.html
>>
>>(FWIW: I found that link by searching for "linux kernel module"; often
>>it's worth punching unfamiliar terms into Google and seeing what it
>>comes up with, though I do realise that often it's hard to find the
>>good, up-to-date descriptions amongst the chaff on web.)
>>
>>Cameron.
>>
>>_______________________________________________
>>PLUG discussion list: plug at plug.linux.org.au
>>http://spark.plug.linux.org.au/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/plug
>>Committee e-mail: committee at plug.linux.org.au
>>
> 
> 
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> http://spark.plug.linux.org.au/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/plug
> Committee e-mail: committee at plug.linux.org.au
> 
> 
>