Ceci est une ancienne révision du document !
Q I am trying to download a large video file but there is insufficient space on my hard drive. Can I download it direct to my external hard drive?
A (Thanks to Dennis N in the Ubuntu Forums) You are downloading with Firefox? You can change the destination for downloaded files in Preferences > General > Downloads.
Q I want to know all the options for grub.
A Open a command-line window, make it full-screen, enter this command:
info grub
Q I have a computer where the OS is now beyond End of Life. How can I upgrade?
A (Thanks to darkod in the Ubuntu Forums) Search the community documentation for EOLUpgrades.
Q How would I go about renaming items in the menu, such as how Firefox and Google Chrome are called “Internet Browser” instead of their actual names.
A (Thanks to Dennis N in the Ubuntu Forums) To get generic names in the Whisker Menu, there is a check box “show generic application names” under Properties > Menu. Most applications are affected; a few are not. Whisker uses the GenericName entry in the .desktop file if there is one. For Chromium:
GenericName=Web Browser
On my system, if the checkbox is checked, then both Firefox, and Chromium are labeled “Web Browser” (not “Internet Browser” like yours). If unchecked, then Firefox is labeled “Firefox” and Chromium is “Chromium”.
Right-click on the menu icon to get to “Properties”.
Top questions at Askubuntu
* How can I use a function which reads a variable? https://goo.gl/5pVHBP
* How to exit nano and save to current file automatically? https://goo.gl/8fFMW9
* Access home drive on Windows partition - Cannot find it! https://goo.gl/V1QbdT
* Use sudo to mount an external disk on remote device https://goo.gl/JW5RRx
* Eclipse Crashes with Linux Kernel 4.4.0-81-generic https://goo.gl/FKzmyt
* With 16.04, how to get the recommended intel-microcode package to fix hyper-threading issue? https://goo.gl/MKvD2M
* Ubuntu is quickly running out of RAM, and my computer is headed for a complete freeze! What command will save me? https://goo.gl/hjUc17
* I can use sudo but I can't use su due to a password Authentication failure, shouldn't both be the same password? https://goo.gl/1LKBcy
* Is there some way that I can see performance in Ubuntu? https://goo.gl/cCyR78
Tips and Techniques
There's a Doc for that…
You've just installed an interesting program, and you would like to know how to use it. Sadly, there are a lot of different options which might be available.
The grandfather of all Linux documentation is the man pages. For example, to see all the options available for ls, open a terminal window and type:
man ls
I think all the BASH commands have a man page, which provides the definitive documentation for the command. Sadly, some of the man pages are written by programmers or volunteers who can't put themselves into the shoes of a new user. Murky is all I can say. You might need a Google window open to try to interpret what the man page says.
Man's big sister is info. Info pages can have hyperlinks, and are often laid out in a more readable format. Enter the command: info
One of the things which you will see is a list of all the info pages. I was surprised that grub (see question above) has no man page, but it has extensive info pages.
For people coming from Windows, the third option is natural: help. There are not many great help files built into Linux programs. Here's my favorite exception. The best program for creating a DVD ISO from a collection of video files is called devede, and it has the best help pages I have ever seen. If you are considering using this program, spend half an hour in the help; it will pay a huge dividend in time saved and quality of results.
For programs large enough to have their own website, such as LibreOffice, you can often find a manual or manuals on the site. Some, such as the Ubuntu site, have a large number of articles about many topics – but sometimes they are based on obsolete versions of the software.
Some programs have a third-party website which provides what you need to know. Cinelerra is my favorite video editor, but I would be lost without the “Cinelerra for Grandma” website.
Magazines such as this one sometimes have tutorials for programs you want to use.
Finally, there's youtube, which has thousands of short tutorials about how to do one specific thing in one specific program. One of my favorites is how to produce the Ken Burns effect in Cinelerra. Watched the video, got the desired result on my first try.
It might take a bit of effort to find the best documentation for what you want to do, but it's usually better than blundering around using trial and error.