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+<chapter id="FAQ-general">
+<title>General Information</title>
+
+<sect1>
+<title>Where can I get it?</title>
+<para>
+The Samba suite is available at the <ulink url="http://samba.org/">samba website</ulink>.
+</para>
+</sect1>
+
+<sect1>
+<title>What do the version numbers mean?</title>
+<para>
+It is not recommended that you run a version of Samba with the word
+"alpha" in its name unless you know what you are doing and are willing
+to do some debugging. Many, many people just get the latest
+recommended stable release version and are happy. If you are brave, by
+all means take the plunge and help with the testing and development -
+but don't install it on your departmental server. Samba is typically
+very stable and safe, and this is mostly due to the policy of many
+public releases.
+</para>
+
+<para>
+How the scheme works:
+<simplelist>
+<member>When major changes are made the version number is increased. For
+example, the transition from 1.9.15 to 1.9.16. However, this version
+number will not appear immediately and people should continue to use
+1.9.15 for production systems (see next point.)</member>
+
+<member>Just after major changes are made the software is considered
+unstable, and a series of alpha releases are distributed, for example
+1.9.16alpha1. These are for testing by those who know what they are
+doing.  The "alpha" in the filename will hopefully scare off those who
+are just looking for the latest version to install.</member>
+
+<member>When the release manager, currently Jerry, thinks that the alphas have stabilised to the point
+where he would recommend new users install it, he renames it to the
+same version number without the alpha, for example 1.9.16.</member>
+
+<member>Inevitably bugs are found in the "stable" releases and minor patch
+levels are released which give us the pXX series, for example 1.9.16p2.</member>
+</simplelist>
+</para>
+
+<para>
+So the progression goes:
+
+<programlisting>
+1.9.15p7	(production)
+1.9.15p8	(production)
+1.9.16alpha1	(test sites only)
+:
+1.9.16alpha20	(test sites only)
+1.9.16		(production)
+1.9.16p1	(production)
+</programlisting>
+</para>
+
+<para>
+The above system means that whenever someone looks at the samba ftp
+site they will be able to grab the highest numbered release without an
+alpha in the name and be sure of getting the current recommended
+version.
+</para>
+
+</sect1>
+
+<sect1>
+<title>What platforms are supported?</title>
+<para>
+Many different platforms have run Samba successfully. The platforms
+most widely used and thus best tested are Linux and SunOS.</para>
+
+<para>
+At time of writing, there is support (or has been support for in earlier 
+versions):
+</para>
+
+<simplelist>
+<member>A/UX 3.0</member>
+<member>AIX</member>
+<member>Altos Series 386/1000</member>
+<member>Amiga</member>
+<member>Apollo Domain/OS sr10.3</member>
+<member>BSDI </member>
+<member>B.O.S. (Bull Operating System)</member>
+<member>Cray, Unicos 8.0</member>
+<member>Convex</member>
+<member>DGUX. </member>
+<member>DNIX.</member>
+<member>FreeBSD</member>
+<member>HP-UX</member>
+<member>Intergraph. </member>
+<member>Linux with/without shadow passwords and quota</member>
+<member>LYNX 2.3.0</member>
+<member>MachTen (a unix like system for Macintoshes)</member>
+<member>Motorola 88xxx/9xx range of machines</member>
+<member>NetBSD</member>
+<member>NEXTSTEP Release 2.X, 3.0 and greater (including OPENSTEP for Mach).</member>
+<member>OS/2 using EMX 0.9b</member>
+<member>OSF1</member>
+<member>QNX 4.22</member>
+<member>RiscIX. </member>
+<member>RISCOs 5.0B</member>
+<member>SEQUENT. </member>
+<member>SCO (including: 3.2v2, European dist., OpenServer 5)</member>
+<member>SGI.</member>
+<member>SMP_DC.OSx v1.1-94c079 on Pyramid S series</member>
+<member>SONY NEWS, NEWS-OS (4.2.x and 6.1.x)</member>
+<member>SUNOS 4</member>
+<member>SUNOS 5.2, 5.3, and 5.4 (Solaris 2.2, 2.3, and '2.4 and later')</member>
+<member>Sunsoft ISC SVR3V4</member>
+<member>SVR4</member>
+<member>System V with some berkely extensions (Motorola 88k R32V3.2).</member>
+<member>ULTRIX.</member>
+<member>UNIXWARE</member>
+<member>UXP/DS</member>
+</simplelist>
+
+</sect1>
+
+<sect1>
+<title>How do I subscribe to the Samba Mailing Lists?</title>
+<para>
+Look at <ulink url="http://samba.org/samba/archives.html">the samba mailing list page</ulink>
+</para>
+</sect1>
+
+</chapter>