There is a FreeBSD Documentation Project which you may contact (or
even better, join) on the doc mailing list:
<freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.ORG>.
This list is for discussion of the FreeBSD documentation. For
actual questions about FreeBSD, there is the questions
mailing list:
<freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG>.
A FreeBSD ``handbook'' is available, and can be found as: the FreeBSD Handbook. Note that this is a work in progress, and so parts may be incomplete.
The definitive printed guide on FreeBSD is ``The Complete FreeBSD'', written by Greg Lehey and published by Walnut Creek CDROM Books. Now in its second edition, the book contains 1,750 pages of install & system administration guidance, program setup help, and manual pages. The book (and current FreeBSD release) can be ordered from Walnut Creek, CheapBytes, or at your favorite bookstore. The ISBN is 1-57176-227-2.
However, as FreeBSD 2.2.X is based upon Berkeley 4.4BSD-Lite2, most of the 4.4BSD manuals are applicable to FreeBSD 2.2.X. O'Reilly and Associates publishes these manuals:
A description of these can be found via WWW as:
4.4BSD books description. Due to poor sales, however, these manuals may be hard to get a hold of.
For a more in-depth look at the 4.4BSD kernel organization, you can't go wrong with:
McKusick, Marshall Kirk, Keith Bostic, Michael J Karels,
and John Quarterman.
The Design and Implementation of the 4.4BSD Operating
System. Reading, Mass. : Addison-Wesley, 1996.
ISBN 0-201-54979-4
A good book on system administration is:
Evi Nemeth, Garth Snyder, Scott Seebass & Trent R. Hein,
``Unix System Administration Handbook'', Prentice-Hall, 1995
ISBN: 0-13-151051-7
NOTE make sure you get the second edition, with a red cover, instead of the first edition.
This book covers the basics, as well as TCP/IP, DNS, NFS, SLIP/PPP, sendmail, INN/NNTP, printing, etc.. It's expensive (approx. US$45-$55), but worth it. It also includes a CDROM with the sources for various tools; most of these, however, are also on the FreeBSD 2.2.6R CDROM (and the FreeBSD CDROM often has newer versions).