Several documentation sources might be helpful:
HOWTOs
,
short documents on precise points (usually far from what we need
here, but sometimes useful). Look on your disk in
/usr/share/doc/HOWTO
(not always, they are
sometimes elsewhere; check that out with the command locate
HOWTO),
The manual pages.
Type man <command>
to get
documentation on the command
<command>
,
Info pages. Type info <command> to get documentation on the command <command>. Info pages are more extensive than manual pages and contain hyperlinked information. The info command is also able to show manual pages as well.
Specialized literature. Several large publishers have begun publishing books about free systems (especially on GNU/Linux). It is often useful if you are a beginner and if you do not understand all the terms of the present documentation.
If there is support included in your Mandrakelinux pack, you can ask the technical support staff for information on your system.
You can also rely on help from the free software community:
newsgroups (on
Usenet
) comp.os.linux.* answer all the
questions about GNU/Linux. Newsgroups matching
comp.os.bsd.*
deal with BSD systems. There
may be other newsgroups dealing with other UNIX® systems.
Remember to read them for some time prior to writing to them.
Several associations or groups of enthusiasts in the free software community offer voluntary support. The best way to find the ones closest to you, is to check out the lists on specialized web sites, or to read the relevant newsgroups for a while.
Several
IRC channels offer a
real time (but blind) assistance by gurus. See for instance the
#linux
channel on most of the IRC network,
or #linuxhelp
on IRCNET
.
As a last resort, ask the developer of the software (if he mentioned his name and his email address in a file of the distribution) if you are sure that you have found a bug (which may be due only to your architecture, but after all, free software is supposed to be portable).
To find free software, a few links may help you:
the huge FTP site ftp.ibiblio.org or one of its mirrors;
the following web sites make a catalog of many free software programs which can be used on UNIX® platforms (but one can also find proprietary software on these):
FreshMeat is probably the most complete site,
SourceForge.net is the world's largest Open Source software development web site, with the largest repository of Open Source code and applications available on the Internet.
GNU Software for an exhaustive list of all of GNU software. Of course, all of them are free and most are licensed under the GPL.
you
can also perform a search with a search engine such as Googletm and Lycostm and make a request like:
+<software>+download
or
"download software"
.