diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'misc/slackbook/html/help.html')
| -rw-r--r-- | misc/slackbook/html/help.html | 292 |
1 files changed, 292 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/misc/slackbook/html/help.html b/misc/slackbook/html/help.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..691282f6 --- /dev/null +++ b/misc/slackbook/html/help.html @@ -0,0 +1,292 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> +<meta name="generator" content="HTML Tidy, see www.w3.org" /> +<title>Help</title> +<meta name="GENERATOR" content="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.7" /> +<link rel="HOME" title="Slackware Linux Essentials" href="index.html" /> +<link rel="PREVIOUS" title="Open Source and Free Software" +href="introduction-opensource.html" /> +<link rel="NEXT" title="Online Help" href="help-online.html" /> +<link rel="STYLESHEET" type="text/css" href="docbook.css" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" /> +</head> +<body class="CHAPTER" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" +alink="#0000FF"> +<div class="NAVHEADER"> +<table summary="Header navigation table" width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" +cellspacing="0"> +<tr> +<th colspan="3" align="center">Slackware Linux Essentials</th> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td width="10%" align="left" valign="bottom"><a href="introduction-opensource.html" +accesskey="P">Prev</a></td> +<td width="80%" align="center" valign="bottom"></td> +<td width="10%" align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="help-online.html" +accesskey="N">Next</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<hr align="LEFT" width="100%" /> +</div> + +<div class="CHAPTER"> +<h1><a id="HELP" name="HELP"></a>Chapter 2 Help</h1> + +<div class="TOC"> +<dl> +<dt><b>Table of Contents</b></dt> + +<dt>2.1 <a href="help.html#HELP-SYSTEM">System Help</a></dt> + +<dt>2.2 <a href="help-online.html">Online Help</a></dt> +</dl> +</div> + +<p>Often there are times when you might need help with a specific command, setting up a +program, or getting a piece of hardware to work. Maybe you simply want to understand a +given command better, or see what other options are available to use with it. Luckily, +there are a variety of ways that you can get the help you're looking for. When you +install Slackware you have the option of installing packages from the “F” +series which includes FAQs and HOWTOs. Programs also come with help about their options, +configuration files, and usage.</p> + +<div class="SECT1"> +<h1 class="SECT1"><a id="HELP-SYSTEM" name="HELP-SYSTEM">2.1 System Help</a></h1> + +<div class="SECT2"> +<h2 class="SECT2"><a id="HELP-SYSTEM-MAN" name="HELP-SYSTEM-MAN">2.1.1 <tt +class="COMMAND">man</tt></a></h2> + +<p>The <tt class="COMMAND">man</tt> command (short for “manual”) is the +traditional form of online documentation in Unix and Linux operating systems. Comprised +of specially formatted files, the “man pages”, are written for the vast +majority of commands and are distributed with the software itself. Executing <tt +class="COMMAND">man somecommand</tt> will display the man page for (naturally) the +command specified, in our example this would be the imaginary program <tt +class="COMMAND">somecommand</tt>.</p> + +<p>As you might imagine, the amount of man pages can quickly add up, becoming overly +confusing and seriously complicated, even for an advanced user. So, for this reason, man +pages are grouped into enumerated sections. This system has been around for a very long +time; enough so that you will often see commands, programs, and even programming library +functions referred to with their man section number.</p> + +<p>For example:</p> + +<p>You might see a reference to <tt class="COMMAND">man</tt>(1). The numbering tells you +that “<tt class="COMMAND">man</tt>” is documented in section 1 (user +commands); you can specify that you want the section 1 man page for “man” +with the command <tt class="COMMAND">man 1 man</tt>. Specifying the section that man +should look in is useful in the case of multiple items with the same name.</p> + +<div class="TABLE"><a id="AEN409" name="AEN409"></a> +<p><b>Table 2-1. Man Page Sections</b></p> + +<table border="0" frame="void" width="100%" class="CALSTABLE"> +<col width="25%" /> +<col width="75%" /> +<thead> +<tr> +<th>Section</th> +<th>Contents</th> +</tr> +</thead> + +<tbody> +<tr> +<td>Section 1</td> +<td>user commands (intro only)</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Section 2</td> +<td>system calls</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Section 3</td> +<td>C library calls</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Section 4</td> +<td>devices (e.g., <tt class="FILENAME">hd</tt>, <tt class="FILENAME">sd</tt>)</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Section 5</td> +<td>file formats and protocols (e.g., wtmp, <tt class="FILENAME">/etc/passwd</tt>, +nfs)</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Section 6</td> +<td>games (intro only)</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Section 7</td> +<td>conventions, macro packages, etc. (e.g., nroff, ascii)</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Section 8</td> +<td>system administration (intro only)</td> +</tr> +</tbody> +</table> +</div> + +<p>In addition to <tt class="COMMAND">man</tt>(1), there are the commands <tt +class="COMMAND">whatis</tt>(1) and <tt class="COMMAND">apropos</tt>(1) available to you, +whose shared purpose is to make it easier to find information in the man system.</p> + +<p>The command <tt class="COMMAND">whatis</tt> gives a very brief description of system +commands, somewhat in the style of a pocket command reference.</p> + +<p>Example:</p> + +<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%"> +<tr> +<td> +<pre class="SCREEN"> +<samp class="PROMPT">%</samp> <kbd class="USERINPUT">whatis whatis</kbd> +whatis (1) - search the whatis database for complete words +</pre> +</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>The command <tt class="COMMAND">apropos</tt> is used to search for a man page +containing a given keyword.</p> + +<p>Example:</p> + +<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%"> +<tr> +<td> +<pre class="SCREEN"> +<samp class="PROMPT">%</samp> <kbd class="USERINPUT">apropos wav</kbd> +cdda2wav (1) - a sampling utility that dumps CD audio data into wav sound files +netwave_cs (4) - Xircom Creditcard Netwave device driver +oggdec (1) - simple decoder, Ogg Vorbis file to PCM audio file (WAV or RAW) +wavelan (4) - AT&T GIS WaveLAN ISA device driver +wavelan_cs (4) - AT&T GIS WaveLAN PCMCIA device driver +wvlan_cs (4) - Lucent WaveLAN/IEEE 802.11 device driver +</pre> +</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>If you'd like further information on any of these commands, read their man pages for +the details. ;)</p> +</div> + +<div class="SECT2"> +<h2 class="SECT2"><a id="HELP-SYSTEM-DOC" name="HELP-SYSTEM-DOC">2.1.2 The <tt +class="FILENAME">/usr/doc</tt> Directory</a></h2> + +<p>The source for most packages that we build comes with some sort of documentation: +README files, usage instructions, license files, etc. Any sort of documentation that +comes with the source is included and installed on your system in the <tt +class="FILENAME">/usr/doc</tt> directory. Each program will (usually) install its own +documentation in the order of:</p> + +<p><tt class="FILENAME">/usr/doc/<var +class="REPLACEABLE">$program-$version</var></tt></p> + +<p>Where <var class="REPLACEABLE">$program</var> is the name of the program you are +wanting to read about, and <var class="REPLACEABLE">$version</var> is (obviously) the +appropriate version of software package installed on your system.</p> + +<p>For example, to read the documentation for the command <tt class="COMMAND">man</tt>(1) +you would want to <tt class="COMMAND">cd</tt> to:</p> + +<table border="0" bgcolor="#E0E0E0" width="100%"> +<tr> +<td> +<pre class="SCREEN"> +<samp class="PROMPT">%</samp> <kbd class="USERINPUT">cd /usr/doc/man-<var +class="REPLACEABLE">$version</var></kbd> +</pre> +</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>If reading the appropriate man page(s) doesn't provide you with enough information, or +address what you're looking for in particular, the <tt class="FILENAME">/usr/doc</tt> +directory should be your next stop.</p> +</div> + +<div class="SECT2"> +<h2 class="SECT2"><a id="HELP-SYSTEM-HOWTO" name="HELP-SYSTEM-HOWTO">2.1.3 HOWTOs and +mini-HOWTOs</a></h2> + +<p>It is in the truest spirit of the Open Source community that brings us to the +HOWTO/mini-HOWTO collection. These files are exactly what they sound like - documents and +guides describing how to do stuff. If you installed the HOWTO collection, the HOWTOs will +be installed to <tt class="FILENAME">/usr/doc/Linux-HOWTOs</tt> and the mini-HOWTOs to +<tt class="FILENAME">/usr/doc/Linux-mini-HOWTOs</tt>.</p> + +<p>Also included in the same package series is a collection of FAQs, which is an acronym +which stands for</p> + +<div class="INFORMALTABLE"><a id="AEN497" name="AEN497"></a> +<table border="0" frame="void" class="CALSTABLE"> +<col /> +<tbody> +<tr> +<td><span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">F</i></span>requently</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">A</i></span>sked</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td><span class="emphasis"><i class="EMPHASIS">Q</i></span>uestions</td> +</tr> +</tbody> +</table> +</div> + +<p>These documents are written in a “Question and answer” style for +(surprise) Frequently Asked Questions. The FAQs can often be a very useful place to look +if you're just looking for a “Quick Fix” to something. If you decide to +install the FAQs during setup, you will find them installed to the <tt +class="FILENAME">/usr/doc/Linux-FAQs</tt> directory.</p> + +<p>These files are well worth reading whenever you're not quite sure how to proceed with +something. They cover an amazing range of topics, more often than not in a surprisingly +detailed manner. Good stuff!</p> +</div> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="NAVFOOTER"> +<hr align="LEFT" width="100%" /> +<table summary="Footer navigation table" width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" +cellspacing="0"> +<tr> +<td width="33%" align="left" valign="top"><a href="introduction-opensource.html" +accesskey="P">Prev</a></td> +<td width="34%" align="center" valign="top"><a href="index.html" +accesskey="H">Home</a></td> +<td width="33%" align="right" valign="top"><a href="help-online.html" +accesskey="N">Next</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td width="33%" align="left" valign="top">Open Source and Free Software</td> +<td width="34%" align="center" valign="top"> </td> +<td width="33%" align="right" valign="top">Online Help</td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> +</body> +</html> + |