2.3.4. Getting help

There will be points at which you will be stuck trying to do something under Linux. You know it’s possible (which is a safe bet, since so much software is available), but not how, or you get an error message that you don’t understand. For the shell there is good documentation, though mostly written by programmers for programmers; this system is explained in Section 2.4.5. GUI applications, however, are not so uniform. There are a number of places you can go for help:

• The application’s own help files, often accessible through a Help menu or the F1 key.

• The application’s home page, most easily found using the Ubuntu Software Center by locating the package and clicking More Info.

• The Ubuntu Desktop Guide (Click the Applications button and search for Help).

• The Ubuntu Community support (such as web forums) at http://www.ubuntu.com/support/community.

• The Ubuntu bug tracking system at https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/.

Most often, however, it is easiest to do a Google search with some proper keywords. While you’ve all used Google before, it takes some practice to find the proper keywords.

Adding +Linux or +Ubuntu (if you think the problem might be Ubuntu-specific) helps, as does searching for exact error phrases by enclosing the message in double quotes ("~").

Exercise 2.14

Find out what you should do if you lose your password.