Troubleshooting has always been one of the most frustrating aspects of computer ownership. Due to the practically infinite number of potential problems, it would be utterly impossible to write a how-to guide to fix all of them, but in this article we are going to address some of the most common problems.

At last we reach the final installment of this series, the question & answer stage in which we'll consider some of the common problems encountered with audio and MIDI on Linux, along with some common and perhaps not-so-common solutions to those problems. We've looked at some indispensable items for your Linux system troubleshooting toolkit, now let's see how they are applied.

There is a lot of information scattered across the Internet about the different utilities used for network troubleshooting. Yet, few articles detail the background processes taking place while using these utilities. To get a complete and precise idea on how tracing and troubleshooting work in a network, this article analyzes the internal working of 3 network utilities and checks what makes each of them unique.

I present here a primer in three parts for troubleshooting common and uncommon problems with the Linux sound system. Parts 1 & 2 will present programs used to analyze and configure your audio setup. Part 3 will list the most frequently encountered problems along with their suggested solutions.

Linux supports tons of tools and utilities for scanning network vulnerabilities, cracking passwords and possibility of intrusions. Please always keep in mind that these tools are not for harm a system, but for protect them.

Back when I worked in the Network Operations department at one of my previous jobs, we used to chuckle when a customer would call us reporting that “the Internet is down.” Now, I realize that there are otherwise intelligent computer users out there who don't understand why that might cause a technician to chuckle, and I'm not trying to make fun of them.

Internet connectivity is one of the important means of communication in todays life. So troubleshooting the problems in our own networks or reconfiguring it for the easiness is not to be praised as a "geekness". In my opinion you don't need to be a geek for setting an internet connection or recovering your machine from a network problem.

Email management and troubleshooting can be a challenge as there are so many options and configuration choices that can get twisted.

In this final section I'll present some MIDI-specific troubleshooting tips, along with a brief description of the setup here at StudioDave, a few closing remarks, and of course some links to the Linux music-maker du jour.