Debian Hint #1: You can report a bug in a package with the 'reportbug' command,
which is available in the reportbug package, either from the command-line or
with the new graphical frontend (available running 'reportbug --ui gtk2' or in
the menu).
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Debian Hint #2: You can use 'dpkg-reconfigure <package>' to change the
answers you gave to the questions asked when you first installed a package.
The 'configure-debian' package provides a unified front end for doing this,
as well.
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Debian Hint #3: You can use either 'apt-cache search <words>' or
'aptitude search <words>' to search for words in the descriptions of all
available packages.
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Debian Hint #4: You can see the available and installed versions for one
or more available packages with the command 'apt-cache policy <packages>'.
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Debian Hint #5: If you need to build a custom kernel, use the 'make-kpkg'
script found in the kernel-package package.
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Debian Hint #6: There is no hint #6. Submit a hint today!
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Debian Hint #7: You can use the cron-apt package to do automatic nightly
downloads of updates for packages installed on your system.
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Debian Hint #8: If you have problems with Debian that you can't solve by
reading the manuals and documentation, try asking on the Debian Users
mailing list (debian-user@lists.debian.org).
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Debian Hint #9: If you need to know what version of Debian you're currently
running, look in /etc/debian_version or use 'lsb_release -sc' command. If you
want to know the codename for that version (for example, 5.0 is codenamed
'Lenny'), check this URL:

http://www.debian.org/doc/FAQ/ch-ftparchives.html#s-codenames
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Debian Hint #10: There are Debian mailing lists for everything from user
questions to debates over what to put into the Debian Policy documents.
Check out the list at http://www.debian.org/MailingLists/ and subscribe to
those that interest you.
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Debian Hint #11: Keep up to date on what's going on - read the Debian
Project News. Read it on the web at http://www.debian.org/News/weekly/
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Debian Hint #12: The grep-dctrl package provides a number of useful scripts
for quickly searching various package control files (such as the available
packages file).
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Debian Hint #13: If you don't like the default options used in a Debian
package, you can download the source and build a version which uses the
options you prefer. See http://www.debian.org/doc/FAQ/ch-pkg_basics.html
(sections 6.13 and 6.14) for more information.

However, bear in mind that most options in most packages can be configured
at runtime, and do not require recompiling the package.
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Debian Hint #14: If you would like to follow things happening to a package
(for example, if you want to see bug reports, release notices, and other
similar things), consider subscribing to it on the Package Tracking System.
You can find out more about the PTS at:

http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/developers-reference/resources.html#pkg-tracking-system
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Debian Hint #15: The documentation for a package can normally be found
under /usr/share/doc/<package>. In particular, the README.Debian file often
has useful information about Debian-specific quirks or tips.
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Debian Hint #16: If you're searching for a particular file, but don't know
which package it belongs to, try installing 'apt-file', which maintains a
small database of this information, or search the contents of the Debian
Packages database, which can be done at:

http://www.debian.org/distrib/packages#search_contents
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Debian Hint #17: Need someone to talk to about Debian? If you're comfortable
with Internet Relay Chat (IRC), just install your favorite IRC client, and
join #debian on irc.debian.org.
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Debian Hint #18: Quality control information about a package can be found
by going to http://packages.qa.debian.org/<package>; this page provides
links to the Maintainer's QA page, the BTS, news items for the package, and
information on which versions are available in which archives.
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Debian Hint #19: If you're interested in building packages from source, you
should consider installing the apt-src package.
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Debian Hint #20: Want to keep track of what version of a package you have
installed (especially useful for those running hybrid stable / testing /
unstable systems)? Check out apt-show-versions.
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Debian Hint #21: If your Debian box is behind a slow network connection,
but you have access to a fast one as well, check out the apt-zip package.
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Debian Hint #22: Wondering which Debian mirror is best for you? Check out
the apt-spy and netselect-apt packages, which can give you information
about how various mirror sites perform.
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Debian Hint #23: If your system is using too much disk space, try the
deborphan package; it can offer suggestions about which packages may be
unused and removable. And, of course, don't forget to clean out the
APT cache area (using 'apt-get clean', 'aptitude clean', or
aptitude's Action -> Clean package cache menu item).
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Debian Hint #24: If you would like to thank a maintainer for handling an
issue, check out reportbug --kudos.
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Debian Hint #25: The 'debian-reference' package contains a wide variety
of reference documents for Debian users and developers. Most of the
information can also be found at the following URL:

http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/reference
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Debian Hint #26: If a package doesn't seem to have much documentation,
check for a package named '<package>-doc' or similar and make sure to
install it as well; packages with large amounts of documentation
regularly split the docs in this manner for those who don't want to
install them.
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Debian Hint #27: Regularly verify your backups. You *are* keeping backups,
right? Right? If not, start with tar(1) or dump(1).
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Debian Hint #28: If your machine is not on all of the time (such as a
laptop), check out the 'anacron' package; this will make sure that regular
tasks still happen, even if the machine isn't on at the time they would
normally trigger.
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Debian Hint #29: Keep your system clock accurate - Machines which are turned on
most or all of the time should have the 'ntp' package installed to keep the time
accurate in between reboots.
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Debian Hint #30: Documentation can be made available at http://localhost/
by installing the 'doc-base' and 'doc-central' packages and their
dependencies.
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Debian Hint #31: Disabling a normally-active service in a specific runlevel
should be done by changing the S link in /etc/rc<level>.d to a K link,
rather than removing the link entirely; if all links are removed, the
system will assume on the next install that they need to be replaced.
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Debian Hint #32: The package 'doc-debian' contains some general
documentation about the Debian project. It is also available in Spanish
(doc-debian-es), French (doc-debian-fr) and Ukrainian (doc-debian-uk).
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Debian Hint #33: The package 'devscripts' contains some useful scripts for
users who want to help to improve Debian, e.g. wnpp-alert, rc-alert and bts.
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Debian Hint #34: If you want to track Debian sid and have a small download
quota or a really slow connection, check out the debdelta package.
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Debian Hint #35: In search for some games? Take a look at 'goplay', which
offers a nice frontend for browsing through all kind of games.
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Debian Hint #36: Need a newer package than shipped with Debian's last
stable release, but don't want to upgrade to 'testing' or 'unstable'? Some
packages are kept up-to-date via the stable-updates suite, some others are
made available at backports.debian.org.
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Debian Hint #37: Want to download a package without installing it? Use
'aptitude download <pkgname>'.
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Debian Hint #38: Want to know how you can use a program you have never used
before? "man" will be your best new friend! Type "man <program-name>" in a
shell. Or, run "man -H <program-name>" to read the manual page in a browser.
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Debian Hint #39: Improve bash's tab-completion by installing the
bash-completion package.
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Debian Hint #40: If you install the command-not-found package, attempting to
run a command you don't have installed will tell you what package to install to
obtain that command.
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Debian Hint #41: You can use 'apt-cache show <package_name>' or 'aptitude show
<package_name>' to get more information about a debian package.
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Debian Hint #42: You can use 'apt-file list <package_name>' to obtain a listing
of the contents of debian package. This action is similar to
'dpkg -L <package_name>' except the package does not need to be installed or
fetched using apt-file in contrast to dpkg.
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Debian Hint #43: Want to temporarily disable your iptables firewall? Use
'iptables-save | sed "/-/d;/^#/d;s/DROP/ACCEPT/" | iptables-restore' to remove
all rules and set the default policy to ACCEPT.
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Debian Hint #44: You can follow the Identi.ca account for Debian at
http://identi.ca/debian More information of Debian at Identica can also
be found at: http://wiki.debian.org/Teams/Publicity/Identica