To install a package from a package file (a file ending with '.deb'):

To extract all the files from a package file:

To install all packages recursively from a directory:

To remove an installed package (configuration files are not removed):

To purge an installed package (removes everything, including configuration files):

To list partially installed packages:

To list the contents of a package file:

To show information about a package file:

To display details about an installed package:

To list all installed packages:

To list packages matching a regular expression:

To show the status of a package:

To list files installed from a package:

To search for a filename from installed packages using a regular expression:

Solutions for 9 bugs in Ubuntu Hardy 8.04

You can find help to to a number of common problems in Ubuntu Hardy at the Solutions for 9 bugs in Ubuntu 8.04 page.

Hacks for Ubuntu Jaunty 9.04

Jaunty disables the key combination of CTRL+ALT+BACKSPACE as way to restart X. There are several ways to restore that feature, including modifying /etc/X11/xorg.conf to contain the following:

Alternatively you can use the key combination of 'right-ALT + PRINTSCREEN + k' to restart X.

Compiz

Here is a good article on getting Compiz working under Ubuntu. Note that Ubuntu Hardy includes Compiz, you simply need to enable it and get the Emerald window manager (plus some nice themes).

Monitor Resolution

If you are having problems with the resolution of your monitor under X check out this page for some useful tips. If you need to reconfigure the display you can run displayconfig-gtk, while to change the resolution of your boot screen edit /etc/usplash.conf then run update-initramfs -u. Some other good tips can be found here.

Fonts!

Get the nice aenigma free fonts from here (source).

Some 'fun' fonts are available from here (source).

More font sites:

• dafont.com

To install TTF fonts under Ubuntu:

Managing services

Use 'update-rc.d' to enable/disable a service (see Human-Readable Descriptions of init Scripts for a good list services). For example to disable the service 'servicename' run (you made need to install the sysv-rc-conf package first):

To enable the service 'servicename' run:

Top start or stop a service:

The sysvconfig package contains an ncurses GUI that makes it easy to manage services using the program 'sysvconfig' (you can also use the "Ubuntu BootUp Manager or BUM", installed via the bum package):

The sysvconfig package also contains the 'service' program that can be use to start or stop a service:

Resetting the MySQL root password

This allows you to reset the root password for MySQL.

Adding a PPA repository with a single command

This allows you to add a PPA, just replace PPANAME with the name of the PPA to add (requires the python-software-properties package installed which is only available with 9.10 or later).