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In this tutorial, we will talk about where to go for help when using Ubuntu Linux. One of the
differences in using free software, such as Linux, is the fact that free software is
community driven. Although Ubuntu Linux does have a company behind it, Canonical, which
does provide paid support to certain companies and other groups. Generally speaking, when
using Linux, any Linux including Ubuntu, the main places for help are other users. It is
the community. Because Linux a community run operating system. Although you will have
companies and projects creating the distributions and creating the network and the
infrastructure to obtain a distribution, the vast majority of support and help and
assistance is going to come from other users. So, let's take a look at some of the places
to go for help when using Ubuntu Linux. The first place to go, of course, would be here to
the home page of Ubuntu Linux at Ubuntu.com. Clicking on support, there is a description of
some of the support options that are available, including commercial support. But, there
is a description of community support, which we will discuss in a moment, and documentation.
The documentation available at Help.Ubuntu.com includes a desktop guide, excerpts from an
official book, an installation guide, a server guide and other guides. The documentation
for Ubuntu Linux is excellent. It is available in both HTML format and PDF that you can
download and read on your own. There is also a frequently asked questions page. And,a
Wiki, which is a community run user documentation site that is broken out into various
categories that you may need. There is a hardware support page, including descriptions of
how to troubleshoot various specific pieces of hardware and how to run and install various
pieces of software. Finally, one of the main places for help is the Ubuntu Community Forums.
Forums, or message boards, are very common on the internet and very commonly used as a place
to obtain support for Linux in general and Ubuntu specifically. The Ubuntu Forums, which
can be easily accessed by going to UbuntuForums.org, contains a breath of information,
hundreds of thousands of posts from users over the years. And Ubuntu Linux is not that old.
It's only been around at this point in time only about three years. But, there is a section
for absolute beginners, news and announcements, and various support categories. Joining
the forum or the message board is absolutely free and highly encouraged. This is the main
place for support for community users. As you can see, there's various categories for
support, desktop environments, installation, laptops, networking and various other
categories that are available. There's also discussion areas for third party projects,
some of which we will be talking about in later tutorials. But, the Ubuntu forums is a very
friendly place. It's very open to new users, very welcoming, and I highly encourage
everyone to join the forums and to go there if one needs help. There are also some other
support options that are available at the Ubuntu site. There are some mailing lists and
other things like that. But, IRC channels if people like to use IRC. But, I believe that
the documentation and the forums are really the two main places for support. There's also
websites outside of Ubuntu, including LinuxQuestions.org, which is one of the oldest and
largest web forums out there. It is not specific to Ubuntu, but it's also, it's free to
join and has been around about six or seven years, and so contains just lots and lots of
information in a variety of areas by experienced users and new users. As you can see,
there are sections here to talk about other Linux distributions, Linux in general. There
is a new Linux users section that is very popular. And, lots of other places for help.
LinuxQuestions.org also has something called the Hardware Compatibility List, which can be
used in conjunction with the similar information on the Ubuntu website to find information
about specific pieces of hardware and whether those pieces of hardware work in Linux or not.
As you can see here, the LinuxQuestions.org Hardware Compatibility List is very fresh and
updated and contains entries and descriptions of pieces of hardware in a variety of
categories. So, to wrap up, I would encourage everyone to go to the Ubuntu website, read
the documentation, join the forums, and, as the main place to obtain help. That's the end
of this tutorial. Thank you very much.