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Fedora 12 Installation Guide
Fedora 12, codenamed Constantine, is released! Just for the info, Fedora is an RPM based Linux Distribution, an Operating System in other words, developed by the community supported Fedora Project and sponsored by Red Hat. Fedora contains only free and Open Source software. Some of Fedora's 12 new features are Gnome 2.28, KDE 4.3, better web cam support!, and many others. Finally presto is enabled by default which means smaller updates to be downloaded and faster updates also!
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Ubuntu is a free Operating System based on Debian GNU/Linux. It has been rated as the most popular Linux distribution amongst Linux users according to Distrowatch. As it happens every six months a new version of Ubuntu has been released. Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala is here! Below you can find some helpful tutorials for old and new users!
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Of course the Internet along with the help of Google is a great source of information. You can answer almost any question you have about Linux and find many tutorials, guides and help. However many people prefer reading this information on a printed book accesssible even when they are not online or don't have a computer in front of them. I've received many e-mails asking me to propose them a few good books regarding Linux commands, administration and for specific distributions such as Ubuntu, Fedora etc. So, I've search for a few good books. Here they are. Happy reading!
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Fedora 12 Installation and Post Installation Guide

Written by axel

Article Index
Fedora 12 Installation and Post Installation Guide
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26. Plymouth Graphical Boot

Plymouth is the new Graphical Boot of Fedora 12 which replaces the old RHGB. It requires kernel modesetting (KMS) support to work properly. KMS is currently supported on most ATI Radeon chips; anything from the Radeon 9500 and newer should work. Intel KMS support is in development, but is not yet supported. For all other graphics hardware, the text plugin is used. If you see only a scrolling bar when booting to Fedora you can try to force your Hardware into graphics mode without using KMS support. To do so reat below at the Graphical Boot Problem. However you could first try and change this theme to another one to see if it works without any changes to your grub.conf.

* Plymouth Themes

By default only the solar and text themes are installed. To add additional plymouth themes type:

su -
yum install plymouth-plugin-{fade-throbber,label,space-flares,throbgress,two-step}
yum install plymouth-theme-{charge,fade-in,solar,spinfinity}
yum install plymouth-utils

Now you can try any theme you want like this. Just replace pluginname with one of the following: solar, fade-in, pulser, spinfinity, text.

su -
plymouth-set-default-theme themename
/usr/libexec/plymouth/plymouth-update-initrd

After that just reboot your computer.

* Graphical Boot Problem

While booting in Fedora 12 you might have seen a blue scrolling bar loading instead of the grub's graphical boot screen. This has happened because of the modesetting option of the kernel that Fedora 12 uses. In order to see the graphical boot you must edit grub.conf and add a vga resolution to it. Here it is how:

su -
gedit /boot/grub/grub.conf

Here you must add your framebuffer resolution at the end of the kernel line. Something like this:

title Fedora (****)
root (hd0,9)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-**** ro root=UUID=**** rhgb quiet vga=792
initrd /boot/initrd-****

vga=792 stands for 1024x768 resolution with 24-bit colours. You can find the resolution you like from the table below.

Colours   640x480 800x600 1024x768 1280x1024 1600x1200
--------+---------------------------------------------
256     |   769     771      773      775       796
32,768  |   784     787      790      793       797
65,536  |   785     788      791      794       798
16.8M   |   786     789      792      795       799

If the resolution you want isn't among those you can install vbetest. By default SELinux will prevent it from running. Temporarily you can disable SELinux .

su -
yum install vbetest
vbetest

You will see a list like this:

[352] 1280x800 (256 color palette)
[353] 1280x800 (8:8:8)

Add 512 to the number you see inside brackets. For example if you have a 24bit widescreen with 1280x800 resolution add vga=865 (512+353). To return back to X windows press Ctrl+Alt+F7.

27. xorg.conf is missing

Many Fedora users complain that xorg.conf is missing in Fedora 12 and cannot find it in its usual location /etc/X11/xorg.conf to make some changes on their own. Well this is not bug, this is a feature of Fedora 12! But here is how to create xorg.conf if you really need it. As root open a terminal and type:

Xorg -configure :1

This will create a default xorg.conf in /root/xorg.conf.new which you can copy to /etc/X11/xorg.conf.

If you are using Radeon or Nvidia drivers from rpmfusion repository alternatively type:

su -
yum install system-config-display
system-config-display

This script will automatically create an xorg.conf in its correct location.

28. GUI root login

Fedora 12 by default doesn't allow someone to login as root through GDM. Instead you have to login as a normal user and become root through your terminal. However many users still want to login as root. Although I don't approve this here is how to do it. Don't forget that once you login as root its easier to damage your system so don't do the following unless you are sure what you are doing.

Open a terminal and type:

su -c 'gedit /etc/pam.d/gdm'

Here find the following line

auth required pam_succeed_if.so user != root quiet

and comment it like this

#auth required pam_succeed_if.so user != root quiet

Save the file and logout.

Do the same for /etc/pam.d/gdm-password

su -c 'gedit /etc/pam.d/gdm-password'

Now you can login as root. Don't forget, it's not a good idea to login as root.

29. Install Google Chrome on Fedora 12

I believe you all know Google's browser, Chrome. A Linux version for Debian/Ubuntu is present for a lot time now. Now you can install Chromium on Fedora 12 as well easily thanks to a Chromium repo by spot.fedorapeople.org. It is available for both 32 and 64bit Fedora versions! To do so open a terminal and type:

su -
gedit /etc/yum.repos.d/chromium.repo

And paste the following lines:

[chromium]
name=Chromium Test Packages
baseurl=http://spot.fedorapeople.org/chromium/F$releasever/
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0

Now just type:

su -c 'yum install chromium'

Now you can launch Chromium through -> Applications -> Internet -> Chromium Web browser

Some users of x86_64 Fedora have mention a few problems like “Error 105 (net::ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED): The server could not be found” or "Error 0 (net::OK): Unknown error"

To resolve them type:

su -c 'yum install nss-mdns'

I hope this guide was useful for all Fedora users, old and new ones! If you think there is something that should be added on this guide just leave me a comment below!

30. Disable SELinux

If you want to disable SELinux you have to install the SELinux Management tool.

su -
yum install policycoreutils-gui

Run it from System -> Administration -> SELinux Management. From here you can change SELinux status from Enforcing to Disabled.

31. Fedora Books

I have received many emails asking me to advise for Fedora and Linux books. Here are some good books you can read and enhance your knownledge on Linux and Fedora. I hope you will find them useful!

** Note: Because of the many sites that are direct linking to my guide I face heavy traffic. If you wish to help me pay for the hosting and bandwidth you can make a donate. Thank you!

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Puggg said:

ln -s /opt/jre1.6.0_17/lib/amd64/libnpjp2.so /usr/lib64/mozilla/plugins/libnpjp2.so

That will make java x64 work in firefox 64 bit, and even if you install chrome after making this symbolic link, java 64 will work in chrome 64.

With Opera, (64 bit is available now), you have to enable Java through the regular options, (Tools -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Content) then tell opera to find java at its regular directory, not its mozilla symbolic link. E.G. java's regular directory is:

/opt/jre1.6.0_17/lib/amd64/

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November 19, 2009
Votes: +1

axel said:

	Thank you for the info Puggg. I will add this to the guide.
	report abuse vote down vote up

November 19, 2009
Votes: +0

miki said:

	When I tried to install drivers for my Nvidia GForce 7300gs card I get this: No package akmod-nvidia available. No package xorg-x11-drv-nvidia available. No package xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-libs available. Nothing to do What's the problem? Can you help me?
	report abuse vote down vote up

November 24, 2009
Votes: +1

axel said:

	Hi miki. Have you enabled first the RPMFusion repository?
	report abuse vote down vote up

November 24, 2009
Votes: +0

miki said:

	Yes I did, free and nonfree.
	report abuse vote down vote up

November 25, 2009
Votes: +0

miki said:

	And when I enter: su -c 'yum install akmod-nvidia xorg-x11-drv-nvidia xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-libs' I get this: No package akmod-nvidia available. No package xorg-x11-drv-nvidia available. No package xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-libs available. Nothing to do
	report abuse vote down vote up

November 25, 2009
Votes: +0

Bruno Medeiros said:

	There's no vbetest on my Fedora installation, so I could discover my vesa mode using the vbetest command. So I searched some pages on google and found that page with a lot of vesa modes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VESA_BIOS_Extensions Here I'm using the vga=867, for 1440x900 24 bits.
	report abuse vote down vote up

November 25, 2009
Votes: +1

Jhonny Oliveira said:

I'm sorry axel, but how did you go through with your installation process for the drivers without enabling the RPMFusion "updates-testing" where (a)kmod-nvidia drivers actually are?

After enabling the "updates-testing", you also need do add nouveau.modeset=0 to your boot parameters and run "setsebool -P allow_execstack on".
Further explanation and probably a more accurate way to do it, can be found at http://forums.fedoraforum.org/...ght=nvidia

In my case, I've also needed to add vga=0x365 to the grub kernel boot parameters for my Dell Latitude D630C.

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November 25, 2009
Votes: +0

axel said:

	I'm sorry for the trouble guys. I thought I had updated the Nvidia drivers part, but I hadn't. Now everything should work ok.
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November 25, 2009
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jjcobm said:

	When I installed the nvidia drivers it removed the graphical booter. It would be nice to also instruct users to add the "vga=" mode in the grub.conf after finishing the instalation. SELinux prevents Vbetest from running, didn't know this until I opened up the log. Would also be nice to add a note how to let SELinux run vbetest in order to find vga mode.
	report abuse vote down vote up

November 26, 2009
Votes: +1

vadi01 said:

	please note that when you add the skype repo and then install via yum. am old version is installed (f5). It is better to download the package manually (f10) and install it. ALso incase your mic does not work install the pulse audio volume control app.
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November 26, 2009
Votes: +1

abc said:

	how to run compiz in fedora 12 with intel graphics 4? what shortcut to rotate the desktop into 3D ?
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November 27, 2009
Votes: +0

axel said:

	jjcombm and vadi01, thanks for the info. I will update the guide accordingly. abc, you can install ccsm (yum install ccsm). Run it from System -> Preferences -> CompizConfig Settings Manager. Here in the Rotate Cube -> Bindings you can control the shortuct to rotate the cube. The default is ctrl+alt+left mouse.
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November 28, 2009
Votes: +0

ertos21 said:

	I have installed Fedora12 with Full optional packages. However, I can't find the /etc/PolicyKit directory.
	report abuse vote down vote up

November 30, 2009
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axel said:

	Ignore this step. It isn't needed in Fedora 12. Nevertheless you'd better not login as root. Just use su when you want to do something as root.
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December 01, 2009
Votes: +0

kwanbis said:

	On fedora 12, you need to install the restricted decoders: yum install audacious-plugins-nonfree-aac audacious-plugins-nonfree-mp3 also, you can copy WinAmp 2.x skins to /home/USER/.local/share/audacious/Skins
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December 27, 2009
Votes: +1

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