Linux chad way of solving problems

skyrim · 2025-04-18 15:25:37

Hi

How do you people approach solving problems specifically on Linux?
Like at first read the docs and if not works then how do you move forward?

Interested to hear your approach!!

Last edited by skyrim (2025-04-18 15:28:34)

duaner · 2025-04-18 18:32:09

My checklist usually looks like this.

- web search on the error message (~1/3 success rate [SR])
- web search on the problem (~1/4 SR)
- man page (~1/2 SR)
- if the man page is too long and complicated (ffmpeg, mpv, etc.), run up my local LLM and ask it (~1/4 SR)
- wiki.archlinux.org (~1/3 SR)
- wiki.gentoo.org (though arch wiki often links here) (~1/3 SR)
- look for alternative software -- I've even changed distributions at this point before (~1/5 SR)
- dive into the code or roll my own solution (or just give up if it's not a serious problem) (~1/10 SR)

A web search usually covers the wiki's too, but not always. My lowest success rates are with hardware/uefi errors.

I thought about adding a bullet for throwing a tantrum and cursing at the computer, but I'd have to put that between every other bullet.

seth · 2025-04-18 18:49:17

"not" - I solve them like every other problem.
1. isolate the cause (98% of the task)
2. find a solution or workaround (the remaining 2%)

You solve problems - every! problem - by asking the right questions about it.
You can ask google (better than artificial idiocy) but you still need to figure the right questions first.

skyrim · 2025-04-19 09:07:50

seth wrote:

1. isolate the cause (98% of the task)

Can you elaborate on your approach of isolating the cause?

Head_on_a_Stick · 2025-04-19 10:09:06

Have you tried turning it off then back on again?

tekstryder · 2025-04-19 12:06:34

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

Have you tried turning it off then back on again?

+1

I just recently re-watched the entire series. Still brilliantly hilarious.

OT: what seth said.

ewaller · 2025-04-19 14:46:38

skyrim wrote:

seth wrote:
1. isolate the cause (98% of the task)
Can you elaborate on your approach of isolating the cause?

Read the output of the program. Start it from a shell to see this.
Read your journal.

ayekat · 2025-04-19 20:42:19

Make hypotheses, build cases to test your assumption, and if right, you're one step further. If not, you're also one step further.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2025-04-19 22:17:57

There is always https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Genera … leshooting, which I have found to be very useful.

seth · 2025-04-19 22:33:56

ayekat wrote:

Make hypotheses, build cases to test your assumption, and if right, you're one step further. If not, you're also one step further.

Specifcially start wide and then narrow down on the issue.
Eliminate variables as much as you can and try to establish a working baseline.
Don't create moving targets by changing a random set of variables at once - worse than blurring the relevant parameter (what change actually fixed it) is that you can hide a solution by introducing a second problem.

If you're lucky, you can skip this because the journal is yelling the cause at you - then see #2
The challenge here is to "know" which red line in the journal is the bad one - eg. when you see a backtrace, the evil line is typically neiter the first nor last one (often very generic calls) but one between.

system72 · 2025-12-04 06:11:29

backtrack wtf i did that caused the issue im in if caused by a lack of reading then one more look at the wiki, or if not caused by me then read journal and investigate

ReDress · 2025-12-04 10:12:21

skyrim wrote:

seth wrote:
1. isolate the cause (98% of the task)
Can you elaborate on your approach of isolating the cause?

Basically you have to be an expert ;-). Figuring things out by yourself itself is not very hard, but usually there's always one problem. Time is constrained, always.

Can you afford to sit on the same issue for months? Sure, you.will certainly figure it out. Will you not go to work because you have a few hobbyist issues for solve on your PC? Uhmm... probably not.

This is where it gets difficult for me, and tools and tech like Google and ChatGPT seem to come in handy, even though I actually rarely use them they do help a lot at times... I did use to use them a lot when I tried to get my foot out the door

comradegodzilla · 2026-01-11 17:56:57

Trace what I've done
Arch Wiki
DuckDuckGo
LLM if really necessary

I don't know if its the right approach, but avoiding problems has come down to really debating if I need a "feature" I'm looking at or if I'm just creating a project that wont add to my computer experience.

ReDress · 2026-01-15 17:33:38

Being minimalist has helped me a lot with avoiding problems with my PC.

But, then, my PC is just so incredibly boring that I have to entertain myself via other means ;-(

noesoespanol · 2026-04-05 23:49:19

Personally, I think you should go about thinking what way of finding a solution fits you for a specific problem. Each person has a different need how to find the solution to a problem.

But of course, there are some common sense ones which earlier posters already said:

1. Turn it off and on. LOL
2. Reboot while looking at the moon at midnight.

On the serious note, being new to Linux, sometimes finding what the problem is the first step of the problem, so I use A.I. (Grok is pretty good on tech stuff) to get some kind of hint or overview about what is actually happening first, and it usually also gives me the why. Not always accurate but it usually points me towards the right path at least, then I ask more from it and then I double check solutions with Wiki and other posts a bit to make sure things don't break applying its solutions.

Seth put it very nicely, "isolate the cause."

Ps. I'm so sick of that word, "chad". Please, just stop with that? This isn't X.

Arch Linux

#1 2025-04-18 15:25:37

Linux chad way of solving problems

#2 2025-04-18 18:32:09

Re: Linux chad way of solving problems

#3 2025-04-18 18:49:17

Re: Linux chad way of solving problems

#4 2025-04-19 09:07:50

Re: Linux chad way of solving problems

#5 2025-04-19 10:09:06

Re: Linux chad way of solving problems

#6 2025-04-19 12:06:34

Re: Linux chad way of solving problems

#7 2025-04-19 14:46:38

Re: Linux chad way of solving problems

#8 2025-04-19 20:42:19

Re: Linux chad way of solving problems

#9 2025-04-19 22:17:57

Re: Linux chad way of solving problems

#10 2025-04-19 22:33:56

Re: Linux chad way of solving problems

#11 2025-12-04 06:11:29

Re: Linux chad way of solving problems

#12 2025-12-04 10:12:21

Re: Linux chad way of solving problems

#13 2026-01-11 17:56:57

Re: Linux chad way of solving problems

#14 2026-01-15 17:33:38

Re: Linux chad way of solving problems

#15 2026-04-05 23:49:19

Re: Linux chad way of solving problems

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