This howto is pragmatically and realistically intended for people who have been responding to posts for a while and happen across the tutorials section. (It may be good in the wiki too.)

I have also a tip of the hat towards the nice person who wants to contribute to the community but reads the rules first - they exist: I know it doesn't look like it. There is an underlying assumption that the reader intends to make an effort to respond to questions.

It needs to be short enough not to be a drudge to read, and not too preachy about what should and should not be. Judging by the responses, I've got the writing style sort-of OK at least.

I had thought to include a section on politics and common issues surrounding gnu/linux - but I feel that would be better as part of an advanced strategy guide or something. B'sides - being firmly in the FSF camp these days I'll only annoy the pragmatist crowd. Thus, my only mention is to direct to the Linuxmanship page for tips.


We all have our pet peeves.

Bemoaning our pet peeves is not what I want to do here. I want to focus on how to advise someone less experienced to respond. Have there been bad responses - in what way? What would a good response look like?



There has been a bit of discussion about how to respond to badly titled posts - I'd like to refer you good folk back to the actual entry in the howto on that topic for further comment.



I'd kinda like to have a short "recommended reading" part at the end of each section for those who want to take it further. For eg. the "wider issues" section could have links to seminal documents concerning issues beyond getting xyz to work in linux.

Reading around the issues pervading our community will help:
Richard Stallman Free Software Free Society (Software Freedom)
Eric S. Raymond The Cathedral and the Bazaar (Open Source)

Open Standards
Open Formats & Standards Compliance
Digital Rights Management
Copyright
Patents

need links for those last ones.
I want "a good introduction" page for each one which provides a fair overview given the pro-linux bias.

Suggested readings for the others: I just want one or two?



Roses and text editors?
What - Henri VI and Edward (the E) MACS? Hmmmm.... he'd really have been EIVR <mumble>so close</mumble>
Though, the houses of Lancaster and York didn't really have a lot to do with counties Lancashire and Yorkshire, no matter what the football commentators say.

A display of EricTRA's patience.

He has a lot. Definitely more than I do. to EricTRA.

And thanks @Simon for the HOWTO. (and the thread about uuid's)

really nice thread.
@Simon Bridge; you had mentioned how to start giving answers. Very very nice.
If we try to solve problem, it will be practical approach to learn new things.
Definitely people can inspire from this thread. They start answering to questions with existing knowldege.

That sort of thing is not so unusual.

Some notes -

Eric did quite well - I agree. Read his posts and see the impact they have: Eric appears authoritative, friendly and confident, yet was not afraid to admit it when he didn't know the answer. He read the other posts and kept track, reinforced advise from others, and refrained from explaining things until after it worked. Hopefully he has read up on the relationship between drives, partitions, file systems, and the unix file tree.

When someone says they do not have a live disk for Ubuntu, ask how Ubuntu was installed in the first place - don't guess (generalise to any distro with a live mode). The answer would have saved a lot of time.

Similarly, around post #8 is when I would have looked through OPs earlier threads.

OP would strongly benefit from contact with a LUG. Encourage him to edit his profile to show location and google "<location> LUG". I'm going to stay out of it <ahem>.

It may be interesting to compare the various replies with this howto.

Simon - something that Has just occurred to me, after reading your last post. And it relates to you adding a list of handy links to research tools that the answerer can use or direct the OP to.

Is anyone aware of a distro compatibility/incompatibility 'chart' that details how each distro handles setup?

What I mean by this is that I can, and often do, mount the partition that holds a different distro, and even though it isn't running, I can look up, usually in /etc, where certain settings are. As an example Suse uses an /etc/sysconfig directory that others don't, Debian uses a debconf system that others don't (as far as I know Ubuntu used to use it but now uses upstart???), Slackware puts its wireless settings somewhere really weird that I don't recall, but definitely not /etc/network/interfaces.

To my mind these differences lead to a lot of posts (answers) carrying a proviso that the answerer doesn't use the OP's distro and therefore doesn't know or guarantee that their suggestion will work. I am never sure of the value of these types of answers. This leads me to believe that the old tried and tested command line/console/terminal approach, such as lspci, with or without a '| grep' ifconfig, iwconfig, cat /etc/mtab, cat /etc/fstab, and or a 'uname -r' is usually a 'safe' approach to determining what is or isn't set. Am I missing something here - is there a better approach that I haven't learnt - and if so why isn't it in your howto yet???

Is anyone aware of a distro compatibility/incompatibility 'chart' that details how each distro handles setup?

No.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compari..._distributions

You are correct that it is usually more effective to use the system tools to check settings rather than go hunting for the configuration files. I think this is outside the scope of the howto, even as a further reading link. If you are hunting a solution, you want to add the distro name to your search terms fer-sure.

Groan. You are right, he is from Oldham and for some reason, I had thought he was from Sheffield. My most grovelling apologies are in order.

@minrich
The closest thing that I know of (its not very close - well, its a giant chart and it covers many distros, inc BSD, and you get the impression that even this was a massive amount of effort) is this comparison of package management.

I don't think ifconfig, iwconfig are general across all distros, are they? hwinfo is also rather useful, but that isn't universal, either.

In any case, this - the discussion of specific commands to extract information - probably deserves its own thread, and if the outcome were a useful 'algorithm' for system status reporting that could be used universally for newbies to post with their 'I don't know what's going on, but I don't like it' thread, that would be worthwhile (but difficult).

Aaaargh!!! I've only just noticed that!!!
(sounds of a sword being sharpened)
brianL: Squire! My armour and horse - NOW!!!
That's true. It was a gang fight, a dynastic squabble, a family feud that got out of hand.

Oh c'mon - nobody has a recommended reading suggestion for each section?

I also thought I'd add a "Use tho Moderators" section - not just for reporting, but also for support and advise in posts. I've had good results when a querant complains about my answers, by reporting my own post and and asking the moderator for a reality check.

Mods are usually interested in helping answerers improve themselves. Avoids flame wars. Be prepared to apologise if you are told you are in the wrong.

Regards (had to dig back for it)

• Open Standards
• Open Formats & Standards Compliance
• Digital Rights Management
• Copyright
• Patents

Sorry -- I don't know of anything because I have never felt a need to know more, which does beg the question of how relevant they would be ... ?
Good idea. Mental note made.

It helps you understand the answers you give. However, this will be periferal to a beginners guide to answering questions. It can also get a bit preachy.

Open Source is about a business and development model, and the GNU GPL is about liberty. These are the epitome of openness and the opposite of what DRM is intended to do, or the way copyright and patent law has been used. These concepts are at the heart of linux. If you do not understand this, then you risk doing things which are destructive to our community.

You know more than you think - these concepts are behind the foibles of 3D video drivers for some cards, why avi, or DVD playback can be an issue. In some countries, getting the ability to play commercial DVDs in linux is a criminal offence - if you don't realise this, you may innocently tell someone how to get themselves put in prison.

However, the issues are subtle and complex - providing information with the rest of the tutorial would make it too long and political.

Hmmm... I should include a caveat about legal nicities though.

Aynee-way - there are lots of sections in that tutorial/howto which I have no suggestions for recommended reading.

I'm just polishing the bibliography on my paper now, so I'll be able to concentrate on this soon.

Good point (and one which I fully understand from information picked up along the way).

Hi,

WoW!

A good thread indeed!

My

Newbies or just plain people who don't understand something and want the simple answer with little effort on their part should be handled with kid gloves. This also pertains to the homework people who want someone to do their work for them. Laziness seems to be the norm in today's world. Look at texting, AOL speak or compressed replies here on LQ. BUsy, bUsy or just plain BUSY, everyone wants the instant answer without effort or little effort to come to a conclusion that will solve their problem.

People today want instant gratification and feel justified in requesting assistance on LQ or whatever venue. I try to provide links that have detailed information that will lead to the requested post(s) conclusion. Sure the user is required to actually read and form the solution. Some hand holding is required sometimes but even then the user will have to give some effort.

Some people are just lost and don't understand or have an idea where to start. Be it in troubleshooting a problem or just installing something, they need a nudge to a possible solution. Over the years I have learned to know when to stand back and let things flow. Observe and know when to step back in to aid when necessary.

I look at your 'HOWTO' as a LQ users netiquette guide that all the old fogies like myself should be required to read and sign.

OK - there have been no replies for a bit - I'm prepared to declare the howto "good enough for publication". Any detractors?