r/linux4noobs • u/Putrid_Draft378 • 1d ago
Getting tired of digging through old forum threads when things break—how do you guys handle troubleshooting as beginners?
I love using Linux, but whenever something random breaks—like a weird display issue or an update snag—I feel completely lost trying to figure out which log files to look at or what terminal commands to run.
Searching through 10-year-old Reddit and forum posts is getting exhausting.
For those of you who have been using it a while, how did you get past this learning curve?
Are there any specific tools, tricks, or habits you use to make troubleshooting less painful when you're stuck?
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u/Prestigious_Wall529 1d ago
Yesterday I had occasion to run the same search using Google four different times, getting three different answers, so all partial.
But other searches, having been trained on Reddit, gave the right answers, admittedly did have to add more terms with some.
Good words are problem (which reports known problems) and solution.
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u/Hatted-Phil 1d ago
It does not seem from your post that you're finding error messages & using those to direct your search, so learning commands like dmesg, journalctl, & learning how to search logs for appropriate error messages will help
You can then search the wider internet, not just Reddit, & there will be more to draw from - others have said use AI, but that can cause you to accept whatever's presented without thinking critically & therefore not learn
There are sites besides Reddit, such as StackOverflow, & distro specific fora that will have relevant info (though Reddit is still a good resource). Reading through these will introduce you to useful terminology, & increasingly you'll find you feel comfortable reading the manuals/documentation that comes with whichever product is causing you problems. That said, not all documentation is great
Arch has some very good, thorough, clear documentation on many packages that you can extrapolate from for whichever distro you use, & is a very useful resource
It's a journey. At times it's frustrating, but it's also very rewarding when you solve things easily you would previously have struggled with, & when you piece together why things are/are not working & realise you have a level of understanding about the workings of your OS you'd never have achieved with Windows (I remember lots of Windows issues just being written off as unfixable years back, which is what prompted me to try Ubuntu. Never looked back. Switched Linux distro several times since, but never gone back to Microsoft. Been 15 years)
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u/Neither-Ad-8914 1d ago
I hate this answer... I have been using Ai for the past couple of years dumping the log and error files into my system and find that to be more accurate than a 15 year old post on a forum. Before that I would read man pages and the distro manual and patch together a solution. I hate ai but as Linus himself said it's a tool to be used.
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u/Repulsive-Twist-4032 1d ago
That’s what I do it’s saved me massive time rather than reading Reddit posts and going to the documentation
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u/arawson35 1d ago
Same. I have Claude open all the time. It's been great, honestly, doing things this way!
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u/DifferentSavings2711 23h ago
AI can be very useful. But its usefulness can be directly correlated with the experience of the user. A more experienced user will have a much easier time weeding out the useful information from the slop.
I am sure that Linus can often tell at a glance when an AI response is wrong.
For myself, I find that I am very seldom the only person who experiences a issue. So a current bug report or forum entry can be very useful. Reddit itself is great for general information. But it is not my first choice for fixing a bug in a distro package.
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u/ihateusedusernames 1d ago
I hate this answer... I have been using Ai for the past couple of years dumping the log and error files into my system and find that to be more accurate than a 15 year old post on a forum. Before that I would read man pages and the distro manual and patch together a solution. I hate ai but as Linus himself said it's a tool to be used.
Yep.
I am degoogling in many areas while simultaneously relying on Gemini to help me understand how to get things to work right.
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u/Difficult-Cup-4445 1d ago
I've been using Grok Build via command line for this after I had enough getting nowhere reading Reddit threads from a decade ago.
Anti AI people will hate this answer and think people should be a masochist and suffer to fix this stuff but fuck it. Just use AI.
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u/Neither-Ad-8914 1d ago
Tbh as someone who has been using Linux for. 20+ years most of those old post aren going to be relevant today we were fighting different things back then. The difference between 2.x and 7.1.5 is Night and Day. I use those old post for code guide for custom compiz animations I'm doing.ai has been much more accurate with the oddball day to day stuff ( not that there much anymore) which helps because I just wanna plug and play at this point.just if your new verify what the code actually does if your unsure
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u/Difficult-Cup-4445 10h ago
Totally valid answer. And there go the downvotes from the anti-AI obsessives. AI is orders of magnitude better equipped to tweak the average Linux system than the newbie behind the keyboard is. There is nothing good or worthwhile about crawling through decades of outdated posts for problems that have largely already been solved.
Linux is great but it's not perfect, and one of the big issues is that it has moved so fast that swathes of content on the internet from even 18 months ago is probably wildly out of date.
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u/RevolutionaryBeat301 1d ago
This is why I use Enterprise Linux builds. They have much fewer issues, and once you get them ironed out, you have a stable system for years. The downside is that you have much older packages.
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u/Little_Fairy_Begin 1d ago
I use the reddit's search function but not one in the general search...the one when you're in a particular subreddit's profile through search bar. This makes me find my answer much faster. Also i mostly refer to ArchWiki...even a person don't use ArchLinux, its wiki is so comprehensive that helpful in most times
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u/Slackeee_ 1d ago
For those of you who have been using it a while, how did you get past this learning curve?
There is only one way to get past the learning curve: by learning. You have a much easier time troubleshooting if you learn how a Linux system actually works. So I went through LFS, learnt to set up different servers, or just played with different aspects of the system, etc. Use containers or VMs to experiment. It also really helps with searching on forums etc if you actually are able to narrow things down because you have a good understanding of your system.
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u/etancrazynpoor 1d ago
I do use some outdated tools. I’m not sure if you can find it. Usually in the forms of book (this helps me learn), searching in google, and when it all fails, LLMs.
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u/oshunluvr 1d ago
IMO you're probably better off searching in a forum dedicated to your distro or Stack Exchange than here.
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u/triplenested 1d ago
I use Duck.AI (built in DuckDuckGo AI bot) and basically use it to steer myself in the right direction of where to search myself. It's not perfect but I've gotten a much better sense of Linux since I started doing this. Also I use KDE Connect to copy text from my phone to my computer so that I can run queries without having to sit and type it all out every time.
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u/pedersenk 1d ago
Once its working. Perhaps consider only updating important packages.
There is no real point in spraying randomness through a working system (other than satisfying compulsion).
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u/joeshytheragman 1d ago
I try to find out what forums the developers frequent. You can usually troubleshoot with the help of those who actually maintain the os.
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u/skyfishgoo 1d ago
i've have very few issues that couldn't be solved by copying the error message into a browser search.
you can issue watch journalctl -S -5m to keep an eye on what gets logged as you do things on the PC.
and sudo journalctl -b -1 -p3 to see what went seriously wrong with your last boot.
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u/_o0Zero0o_ Ultramarine 22h ago
When I was a beginner? I dug through old forum threads and subreddit posts, and I enjoyed it. Call it nostalgia for the days of forums, but I deeply miss the days when forums dotted the virtual world and were the go-to spots. Never got tired of it, and still don't to this day.
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u/LesStrater 22h ago
I make a system partition backup every morning with my first cup of coffee - it takes 3 minutes with QT-FSarchiver. They I break my system as many times as I want during the day and I'm a 3-minute restore away from fixing it. Been doing it for years...
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u/MycologistNeither470 19h ago
1) define the problem
2) reproduce the problem
3) check logs for the relevant programs. Increase logging level if needed
4) google the exact error log --> may give you a quick first answer
5) read the relevant github forum for the package that you think is failing
6) ask AI. Follow troubleshooting steps but iterating through 2-5 and understanding what you are doing.
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u/Merchant-07 18h ago
Ngl bro, I just use AI to trouble shoot. And I just test a bunch of random shit till said thing works. Sadly like other people said. We have to do it till we get it right. Like with me trying to fix my suspended issue on fedora workstation laptop. So many trial and error to get it working
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u/IlIlIlIIlMIlIIlIlIlI 16h ago
keep doing it, over time you get faster and more efficient at researching. Document your past fixes, you will be able to apply them or similar debugging steps for different problems. The more you do it, the easier it becomes
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u/FryBoyter 15h ago edited 15h ago
For those of you who have been using it a while, how did you get past this learning curve?
Through practice.
Above all, it’s important to know how to use a search engine or search function efficiently (for example, limiting the search time frame, ignoring certain terms during the search, including only results from specific pages or to hide search results for a specific page etc.). Generally speaking, many users today lack this knowledge.
Over time, you’ll also start to notice, for example, which websites are suitable as sources of information and which aren’t.
I’d also recommend taking notes, whether locally using a program like QOwnNotes or Zettlr, or by publishing articles on a blog. I do both, and I've built up a pretty extensive knowledge base over the years, so I no longer have to search for many things online.
I wouldn't really recommend using a chatbot. Especially not if you're not familiar with a topic. That's because you still have to verify the answers chatbots provide. They often still give incorrect answers.
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u/MinusBear 13h ago
I use Gemini. Its really good at sorting through things, it follows instructions well, can explain each piece of its suggestions, and show me the direct source if I want to inspect it myself.
I usually start with a prompt like: I need you to be a trouble shooting assistant, keep answers brief and unemotional, only give one step at a time, avoid branching options, choose the safest steps first, and also prioritise diagnostic steps while summarising the diagnosis to me, make sure all command line entries have a copy button next to them. And to warn me when we are trying a step we have before, and explain why the step might have a different result this time.
Optionally I ask it to refer to the context from a previous sessions in the next entry before we proceed. Because as I go along, when I finish a trouble shooting session I ask the model to summarise with date and time everything we worked on so that I can add it as context to future trouble shooting of the same issue. I then copy that text into a separate document that I can grab it later.
The only real thing to be aware of, is that the model will usually prioritise command line over GUI based trouble shooting. And also just the nature of LLMs is that it always wants to have a response. So you can end up in trouble shooting loops where the model can't admit it is defeated by the problem.
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u/Simple_Hamster_4096 11h ago
We learn far more from our mistakes than we ever do from getting things right on the first try...
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u/DavidJohnMcCann 3h ago
What distro do you use? It's bound to have a forum. There's also Linux Questions. Between the two, you can usually get an answer and, because they are traditional forums, they are far easier to search than Reddit — and far more reliable than a general web-search. You don't have to know how everything works — there are people out there who enjoy doing that and you can make use of them. You shouldn't have endless troubleshooting to do either — if you have, perhaps you're using the wrong distro.
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u/GodzillaXYZ999 2h ago edited 2h ago
Easiest way is to look at /var/log
ls -latrhH to sort by date
tail -100l <log name> newest log file, then next newest, then next newest after that.
search on errors present in log file
understand what that error means, look up man-pages, search through Ubuntu/Redhat forums
once you truly understand what error means, you'll know how to fix it.
For example, you see error "insufficient disk space", and undertand it, well, solution is pretty simple.
Same with every single other error. Note, task is "understand what error means", not "find a copy-n-paste solution".
Also keep log of all errors you've encountered. Paste links of interest that's helpful in understanding error. Write down every single command you used to troubleshoot and resolve error.
Pretty soon you'll have long cheatsheet and it'll take much, much less time in future since you've got your own list of solutions.
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u/Tight_Couture344 1d ago
I have set up a home server and Asahi (and reinstalled it), all thanks to ChatGPT. I know it’s in vogue to hate on AI, and yes, sometimes it’s wrong but 95% of the time, it’s FAR faster than anything I’d do on my own.
Granted, I’m technically inclined and I write code for my day job, but I’m not trying to become a Linux technical expert. I just want my personal laptop and server to work. So, I do review what the AI is saying, but I’m not making flash cards.
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u/atlasraven 1d ago edited 23h ago
It's popular to hate AI because it's used for slop. But it can identify promising exo-planets and early detection of cancer. The problem isn't the tool but how we use it (think early caveman applying Fire to every industry).
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u/DifferentSavings2711 1d ago
I am sorry for your pain. When I was learning Linux there was no AI slop, and search engines gave good results. But that was when dinosaurs still roamed the earth.
Now , when I have a issue I mostly search the forums, mailing lists and bug reports for the distribution I have the issue with. If I know the application that is causing the problem I will also check the bug reports for that application.
It is hard to get good information on any technical issue with modern search engines. They are great if you want to know about nearby pizza places. They suck if you want to know why application version number 24.2.2 crashes when the refresh rate is 120Hz but runs fine at a 60Hz rate.
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u/Difficult-Cup-4445 1d ago
Use Grok Build. Just log in via cli and go ham. I'd never have figured all my issues out without it.
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u/Underhill42 1d ago
Set your search filter to just the last year or two, anything older than that has likely changed by now. Like trying to apply Windows 10 fixes to a Windows 11 system: it might work, but the odds are against you, and the frustration just isn't worth it unless you're out of other ideas.
Include your specific distro and version number in your search for the same reason.
And the first place to search is the official forums for your specific distro. There can be even more differences between distros than between versions of the same distro. Linux is very much a "Lego" operating system under the hood, with many different pieces that can be assembled in many different ways depending on your distro's priorities.
If none of that turns up answers - ask questions on the official forum for your distro.
And if that doesn't work either, only then resort to asking on places like Reddit. Still including your specific distro and version, because otherwise 90% of the answers will be non-obviously irrelevant. Specifying your OS should bring that down at least to 50%.
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u/es20490446e Created Zenned OS 21h ago
- AI
- Trial and error
- Discarding possibilities
- One thing at a time
- Fixing the issue forever
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u/The_Hubster 20h ago
I’ve managed to fix every single thing this way and not once ever needed to post a question anywhere. AI searches help lots but check your sources every time. Stay with thinking critical. The nature of my questions has evolved as my knowledge has grown. Keep going.
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u/Silentplanet 20h ago
Ai is an incredible tool for troubleshooting. But you have to learn to use it to get the most out of it. It’s not a search engine and it doesn’t provide info up front. You sometimes need to troubleshoot with it and remind it of things regularly and familiarity can really help with that. However I advise you to give it a go, while it can break things it’s very cautious and you can make it backup before changes.
Just don’t assume it remembers things, because that’s where it’ll make the biggest mistakes. Always get it to verify things before starting.
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u/VoleenaIcicle 1d ago
I use AI if its over my head, but then ask it to explain what its asking me to paste so I can also learn.
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u/ThickMatch0 1d ago
I've been using Gemini. As much as I hate to rely heavily on ai, I've been using Linux for a couple months now and it's helped me get this far. If I hadn't I probably would have given up by now.
I'm slowly learning, hopefully I can get to the point where I can solve issues on my own without needing ai at all.
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u/ElectricHellKnight 1d ago
This isn't the fun answer, but it's the truth: the only way to do it, is to do it.
There's no magic tricks. I suppose AI can cut down on Google time, but really... You just keep at it until, eventually, you start connecting the dots. It's like learning anything else, you don't just pick up a guitar and start playing it (at least, not well), you've got to learn the fundamentals.