Where to Get Help

Getting timely help can mean the difference between ending in tears and getting on with whats important in your world. This topic is broken down to give you a means of where and how to get the help that aptosid provides as a distribution.

The aptosid forums

The aptosid forums offer a place to post questions, and receive answers to those questions, please do search the forums before you post, as others may have already asked the very same question. The The forum is in English.

The aptosid Wiki

The aptosid Wiki is free to use and edit by and for all aptosid users.

We hope for contributions from Linux users of all knowledge levels, since this wiki is intended to help users of all levels. The few minutes you donate to our wiki can save other users (and maybe yourself) in need of solutions, hours of trouble and searching. The Wiki.

IRC interactive live help

IRC Behaviour Protocols

Never IRC as 'root" .. you are welcome to IRC chat as user, never as root: if you are in trouble, say so immediately.

Getting on to #aptosid

There are 2 methods of getting live on line help
1) Clicking the aptosid-irc icon on the desktop, or using another chat client
2) Clicking on Meet the Team in the menu of aptosid.com

Konversation

The easiest way is to click the aptosid-irc icon on the desktop or use the Kmenu as konverstion preconfigured.

Should you prefer another chat client set the server choice to:

irc.oftc.net
port 6667

aptosid.com site activated irc

Go to aptosid.com and click theMeet the Team in the menu list. This will give you options to use a Chat (cgi) or Chat (java) web based irc chat client.

Enter your chosen nick into the nickname box and #aptosid into the channel box and click 'login' and/or follow the prompts.

!paste

Debian Paste

!paste will be your friend in the channel, otherwise you will get booted for flooding. So if you are asked to use !paste, to provide the output of your konsole, type !paste into your chat box (or someone may have already provide the factoid for you to enable paste), and this is what will be returned:

"paste" is 
http://paste.debian.net/ :please choose no
syntax highlighting;make your paste;
then give #aptosid the link to your paste

All you simply do is click the link, which will take you to the website, paste in the output that has been requested into the paste box,click send.

You will then see that your entry has been added to the database with several options to link the paste to IRC which is the address that the channel requires you to provide. (Example: To link to your entry use: http://paste.debian.net/524 ). Debian paste can set to display the information for specific duration (up to 72 hours). You also have the option to delete the paste/data.

aptosid-paste

aptosid-paste will allow you to paste the output of files from the terminal and tty, therefore it is ideal if you are in trouble in init 3. aptosid-paste uses http://rafb.net as the link, and the output is availble for 24 hours.

You can be as user or root to enable aptosid paste, however note that some requests for output requires root access.

aptosid-paste <file>
or
aptosid-paste -c "command1 --options parameters ; command2"
Example of aptosid-paste <file>
aptosid-paste /etc/fstab
Your paste can be seen here: http://rafb.net/p/n8miQp85.html

The link http://rafb.net/p/n8miQp85.html is what you need to provide to #aptosid on IRC

Example of aptosid-paste -c
aptosid-paste -c "fdisk -l; cat /etc/fstab"
Your paste can be seen here:http://rafb.net/p/ZrhlVc59.html

The link http://rafb.net/p/ZrhlVc59.html is what you need to provide to #aptosid on IRC

Tools to know in text mode (tty) and init 3

Usually you are in text mode/init 3 because you are going to do a dist-upgrade (or something terrible has gone wrong with your system)

gpm

A good tool to have whilst in text mode is gpm . This will allow you to use your mouse to copy and paste between terminals/konsoles.

gpm is preconfigured in aptosid, otherwise do:

gpm -t imps2 -m /dev/input/mice

Ensure that /etc/gpm.conf is present

service gpm restart

Now you are able to have a mouse in text mode (tty)

File browsing and text editing

Midnight Commander is a text-mode (tty) full-screen file manager and text editor installed by default and is not complex to use.

Apart from the normal keyboard commands it also responds to mouse clicks for navigation because of gpm.

mc brings up the file system while mcedit brings up a blank file or you can go directly to a file.

Example to go directly to a file:

mcedit /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list

You can now edit the file to change parameters and save the alteration to have immediate effect.

Read:

man mc

Accessing irc #aptosid support while in text mode

IRC Behaviour Protocols

Never IRC as 'root" .. you are welcome to IRC chat as user, never as root: if you are in trouble, say so immediately.

IRC in text mode and/or init 3

The default in aptosid is irssi.

When in init 3, you can switch to another terminal/konsole by:

# CTRL-ALT-F2
$ aptosidbox login:  <username> <password> (not as root user)
then type
$ aptosid-irc (this brings up irssi)

or if you have installed another client like weechat:

# CTRL-ALT-F2
$ aptosidbox login:  <username> <password> (not as root user)
then type
$ weechat-curses

Now connect to irc.oftc.net on port 6667. Once connected, change your nickname:

/nick username_of_choice

To join the aptosid channel:

/join #aptosid

If you wish to connect to another server:

/server server.name

In the bottom bar, you will see numbers appear if there is activity in the channels, to switch to that channel, ALT-1 ALT-2 ALT-3 ALT-4 etc....

To leave,

/exit

If you are doing a dist-upgrade, for example, to check on the progress

to return to the d-u for example
$ CTRL-ALT-F1
then to return back to irc
# CTRL-ALT-F2

irssi documentation

WeeChat documentation

Web browsing in text mode and/or init 3

wm3 and/or elinks will allow you to web browse in terminal/konsole or text mode and/or init 3

Check that w3m or elinks is installed, otherwise do:

apt-get update
apt-get install w3m elinks

As an example, to access w3m open a terminal/konsole:

$w3m URL
or
w3m ?
or
w3m aptosid.com

If you have a black looking screen with instructions at the bottom,, do not panic, use this key combination

SHIFT+U

You will then see that it opens to your local disk something like Goto URL: file:///home/username/$ , just backspace till at GOTO URL and type in. for example:

http://aptosid.com

You can now surf to aptosid.com or any other site of your choosing

Or when in init 3:

# CTRL-ALT-F2
$ aptosidbox login:  <username> <password> (not as root user)
then type
$ w3m aptosid.com
To go back to the d-u for example
$ CTRL-ALT-F1

To go straight to the manual

$w3m manual.aptosid.com

w3m home page

It is advisable to familiarise yourself with using elinks/w3m, irssi/weechat and midnight commander before an emergency happens, if one should occur. This would be a good page to print out as a reference on how to get online help in such emergencies.

Infobash

infobash is a system information script, that is independent of a particular IRC (Internet Relay Chat) client. The system information script can display all kinds of things about your hardware and software to people in the channel, so they can help you diagnose problems, ... or just marvel at your system specs and kernel version, in your own time via the konsole.

To use the infobash script in Konversation type into the chat box:

/cmd infobash -v3

To use the infobash script in other clients type into the chat box:

/exec -o infobash -v3
or
/infobash -v3

In a konsole type:

infobash -v3

Read the full tutorial on everything infobash:

man infobash
Content last revised 20/02/2012 1050 UTC