Ubuntu start-stop-daemon problem
 

I have been using Gentoo, and the following command gives me the status of a program I have running as a daemon:
I have switched to Kubuntu for a while to check it out. Unfortunately that command fails with Ubuntu's version, telling me that --start or --stop is required, and it does not like SIGUSR1. I suppose Gentoo's version could be the same now as I have not updated for a while.

How do I send a command besides start or stop to a daemon?

TIA
Jim

BTW The reason for the switch is that I could not get the video and networking on my Toshiba Satellite working, but Ubuntu handles then out of the box (disc?)

To answer my own question,

add --stop to the command, and
change SIGUSR1 to USR1.

It's rather poor, I think, to require --stop when the intent is *not* to terminate the process.