Users of Internet Newsgroups and Mailing lists soon discovered that some basic questions were being asked over and over again. To provide an answer to these questions, and to avoid them being repeated continually, FAQs were developed, listing the most classical questions and their agreed answers.

A list of FAQs is also a traditional accompaniment to Linux-related software. The FAQ is the first document to peruse when troubleshooting a particular application. It provides answers to typical questions, and is a good place to start troubleshooting a specific problem. In addition, FAQs exist for Linux distributions, window managers, and the so-called desktop environments (KDE and Gnome).

A FAQ is typically provided online by the developers of the product in question, and enterprising users sometimes host an “unofficial” FAQ as well. Search for the latter with an Internet search engine.

For Linux newbies, I provide links to two FAQs that collectively address many of the questions posted to the Usenet newsgroups: