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Chapter 9
Ubuntu Help and Support
OBJECTIVES
In this lesson, you will learn:
•How to seek help for Ubuntu from various sources such as system documentation, online documentation, commercial support, community support, Launchpad and The Fridge.
9.1 Introduction
Help and support for Ubuntu is readily available through a number of sources so you need not panic if you run into a problem. Essentially there are two channels for accessing support:
•The first level is: Free, community based and involves system and online documentation, mailing lists, forums, IRC channels and Launchpad.
•The second level is: Paid for, commercial services through Canonical itself and / or various partners.
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Figure 9.1: Accessing System Documentation
9.2 System Documentation
The first resource that you should explore is the offline system documentation. The Ubuntu Documentation Team maintains and updates the documentation for each release. This documentation is very reliable and available in different languages.
Ubuntu System documentation is organised into topic based help, including answers to common questions. It is accessed by clicking the Help and Support button located under the System Menu. The following screenshot shows the home page of the Help and Support offline system documentation.
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Figure 9.2: System Documentation
New to Ubuntu? This section introduces you to the wonderful world of Ubuntu including an easy to use guide if you are migrating from Microsoft Windows to Ubuntu. Also in this section, the help guide will explain how to use your desktop, the role of the administrator and basic computer skills. A great resource for any newcomers and a top-up to this desktop course.
Some applications do also offer access to the help system through the Help menu or keyboard shortcut F1.
One of the great features of the system documentation is the ability to search the documentation to help solve the problem you have. Simply type in the term you are looking for and the system will search all the documents and guides with related information.
9.3 Online Documentation
Note:
The online Ubuntu documentation is available at https://help.ubuntu.com. There are two different types of documentation available on this site, official and community.
The official documentation is the documentation that is included with your Ubuntu installation by default and is locally accessible from your Ubuntu desktop. You can also access this documentation on the Internet at the Web site mentioned above.
The following screenshot shows the home page of the Ubuntu documentation site:
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Figure 9.3: Online Documentation
The documentation is classified according to the various Ubuntu releases, such as Ubuntu 8.04 LTS, 7.10 and 6.06 LTS.
To access the official documentation locally from your Ubuntu desktop, without connecting to the Internet, on the System menu, click Help and Support. You can also use the Help icon on the top panel of the desktop.
The information available in the official documentation will be enough to guide you through most topics and problems. However, if you are unable to find an answer to your queries here, you can look for answers in the second type of documentation available on this site. This is documentation created by the community, without following the stringent quality control process of the Ubuntu Documentation Team. Access this documentation via the tab labelled Community Docs. The community documentation is stored on a Wiki, which allows the documentation to be changed quickly. While the community documentation covers more topics and some subjects in greater depth than the official documentation, the lack of quality assurance control and especially maintenance makes it a slightly less reliably alternative.
The community documentation is a large collection of community-contributed documents, primarily covering the following topics:
•Migrating from other operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows and Red Hat
•Post-installation configuration for a variety of tasks such as
–Maintaining your computer
–Connecting and configuring hardware
The following screenshot displays the information available in the community documentation:
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Figure 9.4: Community Documentation
The community documentation is also classified under various categories. You can select the desired category from the page index at the right of the page. You can also use the Search field in the top-right corner of the page to look for specific information within the community documentation. Be aware that Titles will restrict the search of your term to the pages titles only. If a search via titles does not produce any results, a full Text search may find the right page.
You can also find relevant information on the CommonQuestions page. Access the CommonQuestions page by clicking the Common Questions link on the community documentation page.
The following screenshot displays the CommonQuestions page on the Ubuntu Web site:
Figure 9.5: The CommonQuestions Page
Additional help is available to you in the form of Ubuntu screencasts. You can click the Ubuntu Screencasts link on the