[ale] I am so tired of Linux Fanatics

[Greg Freemyer]

You do know "man -k <word>" don't you (aka apropos).

So if want to do something with a tape drive and I can't think of the
name of the utility:

# man -k tape
mt (1)               - control magnetic tape drive operation
smbtar (1)           - shell script for backing up SMB/CIFS shares
directly to UNIX tape drives
st (4)               - SCSI tape device


I use man -k all the time.  (I used to use apropos, but it was not
always on all machines.  man -k is pretty much universal with
UNIX/Linux.)

Greg

On Thu, Jul 8, 2010 at 3:15 PM, drifter <drifter at oppositelock.org> wrote:
> Arghhhh!!!!!
>
> The one problem with this attitude is that much of the documentation
> available in the Linux world is horribly written and all but
> undecypherable. Most of it assumes a solid background knowledge of
> Linux in general AND knowledge of the specific flavor -- Debian, Red Hat,
> etc.  Newbies to Linux simply do not have the background knowledge
> to get much useful data from convoluted, jargon-filled docs. I've mostly
> used Red Hat versions of Linux for the past 10 years or so, and I'm
> discovering that in the Ubuntu/Debian world various bits and pieces of
> the OS aren't where I expect them to be.
>
> Just look at the man pages.  And, of course, it is hard to use the man
> pages if you do not already know the name of the command you need
> to use. This is my most common problem:  I need a command I use MAYBE
> once a year and I can't remember it's name. And my O'reilly "Linux Pocket
> Guide" doesn't always answer my question.  Google is your friend -- IF you
> can manage to phrase the search query correctly.
>
> Is the Windoze world any better?  Damned if I know. I abandoned MIcrosoft
> at Windows 3.1.  The only thing I have missed is some of my Photoshop
> plug-ins  that provide functionality that is still lacking in The Gimp.
>
> Sean
>
>
>
> On Thursday 08 July 2010 01:26:12 Michael Potter wrote:
>> I think it would be helpful if newbies had templates on which to base
>>  their questions.
>> Perhaps something like this:
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I am trying to XXXX, but not having any luck.
>>
>> I am getting this error message/unexpected behavior when I YYYYYY.
>> "Some error message or unexpected behavior message here"
>>
>> I have search for an answer using these terms on google and have not
>>  found an answer:
>> x, y, z.
>>
>> Could someone point me to the right documentation or alternative google
>> terms that might help me?
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
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-- 
Greg Freemyer
Head of EDD Tape Extraction and Processing team
Litigation Triage Solutions Specialist
http://www.linkedin.com/in/gregfreemyer
CNN/TruTV Aired Forensic Imaging Demo -
   http://insession.blogs.cnn.com/2010/03/23/how-computer-evidence-gets-retrieved/

The Norcross Group
The Intersection of Evidence & Technology
http://www.norcrossgroup.com