Need help! What problems would be best solved by a wizard?

Question

I've talked about a wizard to help people find existing questions and improve the quality of the ones they post if they can't find one. I've talked about this for so long without doing anything so yesterday, I took some personal time and built it.

The system is essentially a flow-chart that can do data collection. We ask the user what their main symptom is and then can ask them more questions, ask for lspci output, search our existing questions and then present them with a list of existing questions, or pre-populate the Ask form. Believe it or not, all of that is currently working.

Of course it's nowhere near finished and it won't be implemented unless Stack Exchange loves it and I need help building example scenarios. Imagine a problem and work out what questions we'd usually ask in comments to answer it. These can be hardware or software but I think this is probably going to apply to hardware issues more than not.

I'm looking for the biggest, most recurrent and most consistently poor quality problems we see on the main site.

Here is my sole working example (and it's just a flimsy tech-demo so if you want to improve it, please do):

• Symptom: I can't connect to the internet
  • Input: lspci -nnk | grep net -A2
    • If there's more than one, the user selects right card
    • Search based on hardware ID
    • If the user says the results are bunk, we pre-populate the form with the raw lspci data, code formatted.

Once we have a few ideas, I'll implement them in the wizard and publish it (it's a userscript at the moment) and we can decide whether it's worth showing to Stack Exchange.

Answer 1

I think this is an awesome idea! I love this kind of stuff! But why stop at "the biggest, most recurrent and most consistently poor quality problems we see on the main site"? On the contrary, you can build the ultimate wizard/tool to help new users for many problems, not just the most consistently poor quality ones! Here is my input:

• I have an issue with wireless.

  1. My computer does not recognize my wireless card (or "I can't get wireless to work").

     • Input: lspci -nnk | grep -A2 0280
       • User presented with cards based on output and selects his manufacturer.
         • Links to popular questions about this card (e.g. Installing Broadcom Wireless Drivers)
         • Already went through those questions? Pre-populate form with data.

  2. My computer recognizes my wireless card, but I still can't get it to work.

     • Input: sudo lshw -c network && lsmod | egrep '^rtl|^wifi|80211|^wl'

  3. I repeatedly get asked for the wireless password when I try to connect to a wireless network.

     • Link to question: Network manager forgets wireless password after sleeping or powering off

  4. I am connected to the internet (wired or wireless), but I can't browse any website.

     • Inputs: ifconfig && ping -c4 8.8.8.8 && ping -c4 google.com && route -n && nm-tool (and maybe upload to paste.ubuntu.com automatically).

• I am having trouble with a USB stick/partition/internal/external hard disk.

  1. I am having trouble with accessing/mounting a USB stick/partition/internal/external hard disk.
     • Input: sudo fdisk -l && mount | grep '^/'

• I have an issue with installing something using apt-get install.

  1. I'm getting an error about "unmet dependencies".
     • Link to question: How do I resolve unmet dependencies after adding a PPA?
     • Didn't solve? Input: complete output of the apt-get install command.

• I have an issue when running sudo apt-get update.

  1. I'm getting an error that contains 404 Not Found
     • Link to question: How can I fix a 404 Error when using a PPA or updating my package lists?
     • Didn't solve? Input: complete output of sudo apt-get update command.

I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for Oli. Let me know what you think. I'm in no way finished with this post yet; I'll continue updating this, but I have to leave now.

Answer 2

_{Disclaimer: feel free to edit}

Do you want to install Ubuntu?

No! I just want to try it and see it working.

    I want to make a live cd. -> QA to read before doing so.
    I want to make a live usb.-> QA to read before doing so.
    I want to install ubuntu in a virtual machine. -> QA to read before doing so.

Yes! How can I install it?
    I am using windows.
         I am using windows 7 or an earlier version of windows.
              I want to keep my windows system and my personal data. -> QA to read before doing so.
              I do not care about my windows system nor about my personal data. -> QA to read before doing so.       
              I do not care about my windows system, but I do not want to loose my personal data. -> QA to read before doing so.       
         I am using windows 8 or a later version of windows.
              My computer has both legacy booting and uefi booting (link: how to check)
              ...

    I am using mac.
         ...
    I am using another operating system.
         ...

Answer 3

_{Disclaimer: feel free to edit}

Other often recurring questions that lack the right information to be able to answer the question or judge whether it is a duplicate: _{[sorry, I don't have the time to write full use cases now, but maybe someone else has]}

• why does Ubuntu boot to a black/purple screen?
• does Ubuntu support my hardware?
  • my GPU
  • my phone
  • my old computer with low hardware
  • the new supercomputer I want to buy
  • my TV
• I have just installed Ubuntu and I have lost my data. How can I recover it?