In addition to service-oriented support companies, nearly every commercial
distributor of Linux has some form of easily purchased commercial support.
There are various ways to take advantage of support services (such as remote
management, onsite consulting, device driver development, and so on), but
needs vary according to customer circumstances and installations.
THE BENEFITS OF JOINING A LINUX USER GROUP
Join a local Linux User Group (LUG). Joining and participating in a local
LUG has many benefits. You will be able to get help, trade information,
and learn many new and wonderful things about Linux. Most LUGs do not
have membership dues, and many of them sponsor regular lectures and
discussions from leading Linux, GNU, and open source experts. For one
great place to start, search online for Linux user groups. For Ubuntu-
specific groups, check out Ubuntu Local Community (LoCo) teams, at
http://loco.ubuntu.com.Documentation
Nearly all Linux distributions include thousands of pages of documentation in
the form of manual pages, HOWTO documents (in various formats, such as
text and HTML), mini-HOWTO documents, and software package
documentation (usually found under the /usr/share/doc/ directory).
However, the definitive site for reading the latest versions of these documents
is the Linux Documentation Project, found at www.tldp.org.
Linux Guides and Books
If you are looking for more extensive and detailed information concerning a
Linux subject, try reading one of the many Linux guides. These guides,
available for a number of subjects, dwell on technical topics in more detail
and at a more leisurely pace than a HOWTO. Check out the following:
“Advanced Bash-Scripting Guide,” by Mendel Cooper, is guide to shell
scripting using bash, available from http://tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/. “LDP Author Guide,” by Mark F. Komarinski and others, discusses how
to write Linux Documentation Project (LDP) documentation and is
available from www.tldp.org/LDP/LDP-Author-Guide/html/index.html.
“Linux Administration Made Easy,” by Steve Frampton, is available
from www.tldp.org/LDP/lame/LAME/linux-admin-made-
easy/index.html.