---
title: RTFM
date: 2024-12-17
permalink: daily/2024/12/17/rtfm
tags:
  - software-development
cta: ~
snippet: |
  Read The Friendly Manual
---

I've recently been helping my son to learn to code in Python.

I've also bought a portable scanner so I can scan documents and add them to Paperless which is [running on my homelab][0].

I've been explaining to my son why he needs to read the error messages to understand why something isn't working, such as a syntax error or an undefined variable.

After plugging in my scanner and wondering why it wasn't showing in the gscan2pdf application, I found a switch to toggle an auto start setting.

If auto start is enabled, the scanner only works with its own software.

Once I disabled it, the scanner appeared.

## Here's the thing

Both of these situations were solved by doing the same thing.

RTFM.

Reading The "Friendly" Manual.

[0]: {{site.url}}/daily/2024/12/01/homelabbing-with-nixos