Cool Tools: Maintenance and Troubleshooting
So now you've had a while to use your new Linux system. If you're like many others, you may have been initially surprised by how many things just work. But even so, it is useful to know how to deal with any problems that may arise. That's what we'll be covering today.
As a forewarning, most of what I'm going to cover in this post will require you to be at a Linux command line. Yes, you can do just about everything you'll ever need using your mouse, including many things here. But it is a useful talent in and of itself to be able to open up a Terminal window without the fear and hesitation that usually accompanies the command line. So start a Terminal window (which, if you are using a different distribution of Linux than Mint, may also be called "Command Line" instead of "Terminal") and relax.
Okay, first things first - there aren't many commands in Linux more useful than man. man is the Linux manual, and you can get information on any other Linux command with it. Want to know some details on how else you can use, for example, ls - Linux's directory listing tool? Just type:
man ls
and you'll be able to explore its command-line flags to your heart's content.
Moving on to actually troubleshooting your system: Did you try to do something with your Linux system that failed - but you don't know why? If you didn't get an error on your screen, it probably got thrown in a log file. You can use the less command to view your log files, which will for the most part be in the /var/log directory:
less /var/log/messages
If you don't want to pore through a particularly long log file, and just want to see the last few lines (which will normally be the most recent), use the tail command instead:
tail /var/log/messages
And if you're trying to troubleshoot something that happened during booting, or some sort of driver issue, you'll have to use dmesg. Just typing that will list off everything that's happened on the kernel level since boot, which can be kind of daunting. So you'll either want to paginate it:
dmesg | less
Or search through it for something in particular:
dmesg | grep -i usb
grep is Linux's text search program. It'll return any lines of text in a file that have the text you choose in them (here, "usb"). The -i flag makes its search case-insensitive.
Problems with your hard drive? Well, it's pretty unlikely that you'll need this section - Linux's file system tends to be pretty robust. But if you have a problem with your file system, fsck is the tool you'll want to use. It checks and repairs errors, much like CHKDSK does in DOS/Windows-based systems.
And finally, if you can't figure out what's wrong with your computer, or want to get it to do something it doesn't seem to, there are numerous online resources that you can look to for advice. The Linux Documentation Project has a number of guides on doing or fixing just about anything you may want to with your Linux system. Additional documentation can be found at the Linux Online site. If you need something a little more step-by-step, tuXfiles has a great set of tutorials for a wide range of skill levels, including some of the best beginner tutorials on the Web, in my opinion.
If you have a specific question and like instant messaging, you can find the #linux or #linuxhelp channels on IRC, where there is almost always someone willing to help you with problems. If you're OK with getting an answer in minutes or hours instead of instantly, you can try online forums such as Linux Help or LinuxQuestions.org. Both of these have friendly community members willing to answer questions, as well as a huge searchable collection of past questions where you may be able to find a solution to your problem.
College Research Papers
Well done! Nice review about Maintenance and Troubleshooting, This really helps me to find the answers to my question. Hoping that you will continue posting an article having a useful information. Thanks a lot!
College Research Papers
respond this post
If students are willing to get know about this good post, they would order already written essays or buy custom essay papers at the term paper writing service.
re
Very often is happening that I require to know about this post and in that case that is worth to find a support at the good term paper writing services and buy an essay there only.
reply
The easiest way to have a good grade was to order the very interesting essay writing or texts referring to this good topic, or just get know about why choose us opting for the custom essay writing firm.
reply
A kind of perfect idea about this good post ! Everyone should select writing services to buy custom essay papers, as well I want to order custom essay.
answer
We surely would come along your best idea about this good post in the essays or book reports essay paper completing. Hence, thanks a lot for work.
Re
You are obviously, a professional of dissertation thesis just about this topic writing but when you want to select the dissertation, I will suggest you to notice the best item.
Re
The publish dissertation would be required by different students if contain the knowledge just about this topic. I do know the this is viable to notice the thesis writing service which could do this work.
Re
I think that the enormous archive of the writing thesis just about this good topic is at the thesis writing services. Thence, there are no difficulties to go to dissertation service and buy theses.
stfu adn read teh man page n00b
Back in the day, when I was learning Mandrake Linux (don't make too much fun of me), I used to rock the #linuxhelp channel on Efnet. The phrase from the subject line was the single most common response to any question.
Ah, Linux.
DD
Dirty D writes about polling, analytics, data and whatever else may cross his mind as being neat. Feel free to contact him by email : D I R T Y D AT O V E R D E T E R M I N E D DOT N E T.
Mandrake
There was a time when Mandrake Linux sat on all of my computers. It was, once, a very dependable operating system. It's amazing to see how quickly they fell apart. These days, new comers must be forgiven for not even knowing who or what Mandrake Linux is.
But, it's all good. I've got Ubuntu.
Two Quick Additions
I like it. I like it all. This is a good article to help people start thinking about HOW to address problems on a Linux machine. I would add only two additional things.
1) If you are using GNOME (as opposed to KDE, XFCE or any other Desktop/Window Manager) you can view your log files easily without using the command-line. This can be done on Ubuntu, Fedora, and Novell versions of Linux. Go to: System -> Administration -> System Log. The section marked "messages" is probably the most useful, but other sections may be useful, depending on the problem being addressed. I'm know KDE offers a similar utility, but it has been so long since I last used KDE that I do not remember where they hide this little feature.
Note: If you are NOT experiencing any problems, it is usually safe to disregard warnings and error messages shown in these logs. Linux tend to capture every little error in the system, most of which are not important, unless you are experiencing a problem(s). If you use an on-line forum, this information may be useful to people trying to help you diagnose / fix a problem. These logs can also give you ideas for more precise Google Searches.
2) Most Linux distributions maintain a community forum for their users. Depending on the popularity / maturity of the distribution, these forums may or may not be super useful. Although I admit that I am very biased in my opinion, I think the Ubuntu Forums is one of the best Linux forums on the planet. There are some mailing lists / forums which use an old-school developer style of communication. (Not so very friendly - The R-CRAN mailing list comes to mind.) Other forums are perpetually one emoticon away from an intense flame-war modeled after the Israeli/Palestinian conflict (The old SUSE forum/mailing-list comes to mind.) Neither of these problems appear to be significant problems on the Ubuntu Forums. Thanks to the incredibly progressive Ubuntu Code of Conduct these forums are an absolute joy. Comments like "RTFM" are not tolerated by the moderators, and most questions get answered quickly and accurately. And, if you are really itching for a good flame-fest, you can go over to the Community Cafe and type yourself into an embarassing, pointless flame-ridden oblivion. . . . If you really need to.