FindingHelp
Finding Helpful Resources
Introduction - 5 Minutes
- About Me
- Course Overview
Preparing for Help - 10 Minutes
- Principle of getting help.
- Important Step
- Gather Information
- Find Resolution
Google Power Searching - 5 Minutes
- Power Searching to Narrow Results
Ubuntu Documentation (System and Wiki) - 15 Minutes
- System Documentation
- Finding Information on the Wikis
Ubuntu Forums - 10 Minutes
- Organization of the Forums
- Etiquette on posting, how to get help
Launchpad - 10 Minutes
- Launchpad Answers
- Bug Reporting - Last Resort
Closing & Q&A - 5 Minutes + Extra
- Closing comments and then questions.
Links & Materials
More Information on me - starcraft.man
Extra Links
Psychocats - Useful Short Tutorials
Linux App Finder - Finding Alternatives and the Right Applications
Linux Command - Nice place for learning more about the terminal
Ubuntu Guide - A bit chaotic compared to Official Documentation efforts. Does sometimes have the info needed though.
Lecture Draft
Notes for Me
Outline for User Days
1 - Introduction - 1-2 mins
- - Who am I, what I do, what I going to cover.
2 - The Problem - 10 mins
- - Identifying What's gone wrong, what do you know and how does that help you find an answer. - 3 main questions:
- What happened during problem (crash, error output)? What were you doing at the time? What relevant information can you gather locally?
3 - Resources - The bulk of this talk.
A - Google Power Searching - 5-10 minutes
- - Advanced tips for searching.
http://www.googleguide.com/ 0 IGNORE non descriptive words. 1 - operator, removes overlap. 2 "around strings for literal match" - very useful for exact errors 3 filetype:type terms to look for a particular file, say a pdf or txt. 4 site:given terms - look on the site. 5 * wildcard - useful for when your not sure exactly 6 define:word - useful for understanding tech words you've not learned. If it fails, consult wikipedia. If that fails, ask a tech friend. 7 | - or operator 8 inurl, intitle, intext - work like sound.
Alternatively, use Advanced Search from google which provides a GUI way of seeing all this. Though not every function is exposed.
B - Ubuntu Docs - 10 minutes
- - Explanation of W.U.C. and H.U.C. and differences. - Searching and sections. - Signpost for interactive help.
C - UbuntuForums.org - 10 minutes
- - Explanation of divisions, posting etiquette. - Searching and solving threads.
D - launchpad answers/bug report - 10 minutes
- - Explanation of launchpad answers, how it works. - At worst, quick how to on filing bug report against project.
4 - Closing comments and questions and where to find me. - 5 minutes