ldg@amy.skidmore.edu (05/27/91)
I'm looking for leads on a decent on-line help facility for Unix... To elaborate: We are a VMS shop that's converting its users to Unix. While Unix "man" is fine for programmers and other very experienced users, I'd like something friendlier and more elementary for novice users. The ideal help system for novices need not cover all Unix commands and their options, but should cover those most used by general users. The command explanations should be much less technical than MAN, and should include many more examples of how to use the commands. It should be locally extensible both to permit local adaptation and to install information about local resources. In addition to documenting commands, it should contain advice keyed by common user questions (even if they don't exactly match the name of a Unix command). It must work both with video terminals (VT100/200/300/400 class) as well as X11 devices. PLEASE: This is not a flame against Unix man pages. I use man regularly and find if quite useful. At the same time, many novices and casual users find them much too technical. After all, they were intended as a "reference" and not as a "tutorial". =================================================================== Leo D. Geoffrion Associate Director for NYNEX: (518) 584-5000 Ext. 2628 Academic Computing BITNET: LDG@SKIDMORE Skidmore College Internet: LDG@AMY.SKIDMORE.EDU Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 ===================================================================