Introduction / Where to Go for Help
Subtitles of the Movie
In this tutorial, we will talk about where to go for help when using Ubuntu Linux. One of the differences in using free software, such as Linux, is the fact that free software is community driven. Although Ubuntu Linux does have a company behind it, Canonical, which does provide paid support to certain companies and other groups. Generally speaking, when using Linux, any Linux including Ubuntu, the main places for help are other users. It is the community. Because Linux a community run operating system. Although you will have companies and projects creating the distributions and creating the network and the infrastructure to obtain a distribution, the vast majority of support and help and assistance is going to come from other users. So, let's take a look at some of the places to go for help when using Ubuntu Linux. The first place to go, of course, would be here to the home page of Ubuntu Linux at Ubuntu.com. Clicking on support, there is a description of some of the support options that are available, including commercial support. But, there is a description of community support, which we will discuss in a moment, and documentation. The documentation available at Help.Ubuntu.com includes a desktop guide, excerpts from an official book, an installation guide, a server guide and other guides. The documentation for Ubuntu Linux is excellent. It is available in both HTML format and PDF that you can download and read on your own. There is also a frequently asked questions page. And,a Wiki, which is a community run user documentation site that is broken out into various categories that you may need. There is a hardware support page, including descriptions of how to troubleshoot various specific pieces of hardware and how to run and install various pieces of software. Finally, one of the main places for help is the Ubuntu Community Forums. Forums, or message boards, are very common on the internet and very commonly used as a place to obtain support for Linux in general and Ubuntu specifically. The Ubuntu Forums, which can be easily accessed by going to UbuntuForums.org, contains a breath of information, hundreds of thousands of posts from users over the years. And Ubuntu Linux is not that old. It's only been around at this point in time only about three years. But, there is a section for absolute beginners, news and announcements, and various support categories. Joining the forum or the message board is absolutely free and highly encouraged. This is the main place for support for community users. As you can see, there's various categories for support, desktop environments, installation, laptops, networking and various other categories that are available. There's also discussion areas for third party projects, some of which we will be talking about in later tutorials. But, the Ubuntu forums is a very friendly place. It's very open to new users, very welcoming, and I highly encourage everyone to join the forums and to go there if one needs help. There are also some other support options that are available at the Ubuntu site. There are some mailing lists and other things like that. But, IRC channels if people like to use IRC. But, I believe that the documentation and the forums are really the two main places for support. There's also websites outside of Ubuntu, including LinuxQuestions.org, which is one of the oldest and largest web forums out there. It is not specific to Ubuntu, but it's also, it's free to join and has been around about six or seven years, and so contains just lots and lots of information in a variety of areas by experienced users and new users. As you can see, there are sections here to talk about other Linux distributions, Linux in general. There is a new Linux users section that is very popular. And, lots of other places for help. LinuxQuestions.org also has something called the Hardware Compatibility List, which can be used in conjunction with the similar information on the Ubuntu website to find information about specific pieces of hardware and whether those pieces of hardware work in Linux or not. As you can see here, the LinuxQuestions.org Hardware Compatibility List is very fresh and updated and contains entries and descriptions of pieces of hardware in a variety of categories. So, to wrap up, I would encourage everyone to go to the Ubuntu website, read the documentation, join the forums, and, as the main place to obtain help. That's the end of this tutorial. Thank you very much.
Tutorial Information
| Course: | Ubuntu Linux |
| Author: | Charles Griffin |
| SKU: | 33743 |
| ISBN: | 1-933736-68-2 |
| Release Date: | 2007-02-22 |
| Duration: | 5.5 hrs / 62 lessons |
| Captions: | For Online University members only |
| Compatibility: |
Vista/XP/2000, OS X, Linux QuickTime 7, Flash 8 |
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