This is my first attempt at a texinfo version of the
Linux FAQ. For now I am calling it version 0.00001 and will
release a new version sometime next week which may be worthy
to bear the version number 1.0.
The info format is Gnu's version of hypertext. Alas, I
have not had the time to properly add all the cross references
and index terms (they will be in v1.0). Also, the TeX (and
the info format) are not anywhere near as beautiful as they
should be (hopefully, this too will be rectified). I also
left off section 7 for now (this includes the LPD and UUCP
sections). The reason for all of the above is of course time.
I said I'd have this out by Friday and with the abridged
edition, it's out a day early.
I have uploaded two packages to sunsite and tsx-11.
You will be able to grab them from sunsite immediately from
the incoming directory and will have to figure out where
Ted might hide them on tsx-11 (I'd check under /pub/linux/docs/info).
The names you will want to look for are linux.info.faq.src.tgz
and linux.info.faq.tgz.
The first linux.info.faq.src.tgz contains 5 texinfo files
which you can use to create TeX or info (or ASCII) versions of
the FAQ, if you have the texinfo package (from prep.ai.mit.edu ).
The second linux.info.faq.tgz is for the benefit of
those without the texinfo package. It contains a stand alone
info browser (compiled with static libc4.4) and the info files
created from the above source (as well as info files on how to
use info).
If you have emacs, you can use the built in info viewer to
browse the FAQ. This has the advantage that the arrow keys
work under Linux, but it is not hard to use without.
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I am assuming that if you grabbed the texinfo sources you
know what you are doing, so the rest of this file will deal with
how to install the linux.info.faq.tgz package.
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To install you can:
1) run the install script (info.install)
2) install it by hand which involves putting the info
binary somehere in your path and issuing a 'rehash'
command and copying the *.info* and 'dir' files to
/usr/gnu/info.
To use info, just type 'info' (or if you haven't installed things yet
and just want to check out the FAQ use 'info -f linux-faq.info'). Once
you're in info, it's a lot like emacs. If you want to read the FAQ
straight through, just keep hitting space, otherwise, you'll need to
learn some keys.
? = key summary
h = tutorial (highly recommended)
SPACE = move forward a page
DEL = move backward a page
CTRL-P = previous line
CTRL-N = next line
CTRL-F = forward char
CTRL-b = backward char
RETURN = activate menu or cross reference when cursor is on the
line containing it
m = select menu items by name
g = goto node (In this FAQ, all the node numbers are
the old subsection numbers, so if you see a reference
to section XI, type g XI-00 (the first node in a
section with the menu is always 00)).
i = search index for term
For more useful keys, use the built in help.
Again, I'm sorry this isn't as beautiful as I think it should
be. V1.0 should be much better, but I've got other obligations. This
version is just to see what people think of it. Send flames, comments,
ideas, corrections, and large sums of cash to sdh@po.cwru.edu.
Scott
sdh@po.cwru.edu
