Fedora 15, codename Lovelock, is available for download for a few days now, and it comes with a lot of new features. And first of all it comes with the new Gnome 3, the next generation of Gnome which is completely redesigned! If you haven't done already download Fedora, install it and let's continue with the post installation guide to configure some basic stuff for Fedora.
1. Configure sudo
* Modifying sudoers file
Normally if you want to run a command which requires root privileges you first have to type 'su -', type your root password and then type the command. However you can bypass this by using the 'sudo' command. But first you have to configure it like this
su --login -c 'visudo'
Now go below the line:
root ALL=(ALL) ALL
press a, and type the following
username ALL=(ALL) ALL
where username is the username you use to login. Next press Escape. Now, if you want to be prompted for your root password each time you use the sudo command go to this line:
# %wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL
and with your cursor pointing on # press x If you don't want to be prompted for your root password each time you use the sudo command go to this line:
# %wheel ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL
and with your cursor pointing on # press x Next, press :wq to save and exit. (type the : as well) * Adding your user to the wheel groupJust type: su -c 'gpasswd -a username wheel'
* Testing sudo
To test if you have done it correctly as a simple user type:
$ sudo whoami
If everything is working properly the command should return the word 'root'.
2. Configure yum
Fedora uses YUM to install and update its software and automatically resolve any dependencies needed.
Fedora software repositories don't include support for MP3, DVD and Video playback/recording because of patent licenses. For this reason you have to install that software from third party repositories. But don't worry, this is pretty easy! ;)
* RPMFusion repository
Now we are going to install the RPM Fusion Repository. RPM Fusion is a merger of the Dribble, Freshrpms and RPM Fusion package repositories for Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux. A variety of applications is included in that repository such as codecs for mp3 and unencrypted DVDs, multimedia applications such as mplayer, VLX and xine and the closed source Nvidia and ATi video drivers! RPM Fusion has two main repositories: one named "free" for Open Source Software (as defined by the Fedora Licensing Guidelines) which can't be included in Fedora because it might be patent encumbered in the USone named "nonfree" for non-free software, that is everything else which can't be in free; this includes software with public available source-code that has "no commercial use"-like restrictions.
For the rest of this guide I will assume that you have installed and enabled the RPM Fusion Repository. To install it type:
su - rpm -ivh \ http://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-stable.noarch.rpm rpm -ivh \ http://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-stable.noarch.rpm yum update
* Google repository
First we must install the key
su - yum install wget wget https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub rpm --import linux_signing_key.pub
Fedora 32bit
Add the following to a file called google.repo in /etc/yum.repos.d/:
[google] name=Google - i386 baseurl=http://dl.google.com/linux/rpm/stable/i386 enabled=1 gpgcheck=1 gpgkey=https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub
Fedora 64bit
Add the following to a file called google.repo in /etc/yum.repos.d/:
[google64] name=Google - x86_64 baseurl=http://dl.google.com/linux/rpm/stable/x86_64 enabled=1 gpgcheck=1 gpgkey=https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub
3. Installing video drivers
**Note: To install the following packages you must have the RPM Fusion Repository enabled as described in Install RPM Fusion Repository .
**Note: The following information was obtained from http://forums.fedoraforum.org/
* Installing nVidia driver
Fedora 15 uses the open source nouveau driver for nvidia cards. This might be enough for you depending on your needs. Kernel Mode Setting (KMS) is now enabled by default on NVIDIA systems as well, through the Nouveau driver. However if you want to have 3D support in Fedora 12 you must install the binary nvidia drivers. Just type:
For GeForce 6, 7, 8, 9, 200, 300, 400 & 500 series cards
su -c 'yum install kmod-nvidia xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-libs'
If you use a PAE kernel
su -c 'yum install kmod-nvidia-PAE'
Reboot
For GeForce FX cards
su -c 'yum install kmod-nvidia-173xx xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-173xx \ xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-173xx-libs xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-173xx-libs.i686'
If you use a PAE kernel
su -c 'yum install kmod-nvidia-173xx-PAE' reboot
Reboot and you should see the Nvidia logo in your screen.
If it fails to work check /boot/grub/grub.conf to see if nouveau is blacklisted, if not run.
Edit grub.conf
this command adds rdblacklist=nouveau option to /boot/grub/grub.conf
su - sed -i '/root=/s|$| rdblacklist=nouveau|' /boot/grub/grub.conf mv /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r).img /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r)-nouveau.img dracut /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r).img $(uname -r)
Reboot
If you also want plymouth
su -c 'yum install bootconf-gui'
Then set your desired screen resolution from Applications > System > Boot configuration
If you fell on the following SELinux bug https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=694918 run
su - grep gnome-session-c /var/log/audit/audit.log | audit2allow -M nvidiaisbroken semodule -i nvidiaisbroken.pp
* Installing ATi driver
Please note that Gnome Shell doesn't work with fglrx.
su - yum --enablerepo=rpmfusion-nonfree-updates-testing \ install kmod-catalyst xorg-x11-drv-catalyst xorg-x11-drv-catalyst-libs.i686
For PAE kernels
su - yum --enablerepo=rpmfusion-nonfree-updates-testing \ install kmod-catalys-PAE xorg-x11-drv-catalyst-libs.i686
Reboot
4. Install Microsoft fonts
Fedora uses Liberation and DejaVu fonts which are installed by default and look pretty smooth and nice, plus they are open source. If you insist on using the Microsoft fonts you can download and install the msttcorefonts rpm like this.
wget http://www.my-guides.net/en/images/stories/fedora12/msttcore-fonts-2.0-3.noarch.rpm su -c 'rpm -ivh msttcore-fonts-2.0-3.noarch.rpm'
I built it myself using the msttcore-fonts-2.0-3.spec from Fedora-devel mailing list. It includes Arial, Andale, Comic Sans, Courier New, Georgia, Impact, Tahoma, Times, Trebuchet MS, Verdana and Webdings fonts. The procedure just in case you want to build it yourself is the following.
su -c 'yum install rpmdevtools rpm-build cabextract' rpmdev-setuptree cd ~/rpmbuild/SPECS/ wget http://www.my-guides.net/en/images/stories/fedora12/msttcore-fonts-2.0-3.spec rpmbuild -bb msttcore-fonts-2.0-3.spec cd ~/rpmbuild/RPMS/noarch/ su -c 'rpm -ivh msttcore-fonts-2.0-3.noarch.rpm'
Now you can change your fonts through System -> Preferences -> Appearance -> Fonts
5. MP3 and Audio players
**Note: To install many of the following packages you must enable RPM Fusion repository.
* Rhythmbox
su -c 'yum install gstreamer rhythmbox'
To make all mp3 files open by default with Rhytmbox right click on an mp3 file and select 'Open with Other Application...'. Click on Rhytmbox Music Player and you're done.
To add mp3 and other audio support type:
su -c 'yum install gstreamer-plugins-good gstreamer-plugins-bad gstreamer-plugins-ugly'
* Amarok
su -c 'yum install amarok phonon-backend-gstreamer'
* Audacious
Audacious is another audio player similar to old winamp 2.x. To install it type:
su -c 'yum install audacious audacious-plugins'
6. DVD & Video
**Note: To install many of the following packages you must have the RPM Fusion Repository enabled as described here . If you have most probably you will prompted to search automatically for the needed codecs. They will automatically installed. As simple as that!
* DVD playback
In order to play DVDs you must install the appropriate codecs.
su -c 'yum install libdvdread libdvdnav lsdvd'
Those files are enough for playing your non encrypted DVDs. However if you want to decrypt an encrypted DVD you need libdvdcss which isn't included in RPM Fusion because of legal issues in some countries such as the US. As mentioned in RPM Fusion . Opinions between the members of RPM Ffusion differ on the legality of libdvdcss, however no one is ready to vouch for it resuming the legal responsibilities. Therefore libdvdcss is being dropped. See also the comments on legal issues in the link above.
**Note: Instead you can use Livna for installing libdvdcss.
su - rpm -Uvh http://rpm.livna.org/livna-release.rpm yum install libdvdcss
* Video files playback
When you will try to open a video file with Totem media player it will ask you to search for the necessary codecs. They will be automatically installed! If you have previously set up mp3 playback additional packages would have been installed as dependencies. These packages include video codecs such as xvidcore, ffmpeg and other.
To check some of them type: su -c 'yum install ffmpeg ffmpeg-libs gstreamer-ffmpeg libmatroska xvidcore'
* Totem
Fedora 15 has installed Totem Movie Player. If you want to play DVD files also with totem type:
su -c 'yum install totem-xine xine-lib xine-lib-extras-freeworld'
* Mplayer/SMPlayer
I prefer mplayer and smplayer (mplayer's GUI) for video playback. It supports almost any video type, external subtitles as well as DVD playback as long as you have the needed codecs installed as shown previously.
su -c 'yum install mplayer smplayer'
Open smplayer from Applications > Sound & Video > SMPlayer
* VLC
VLC (Video Lan Client) supports almost any video type without the need of installing external codecs.
su -c 'yum install vlc'
* kaffeine
kaffeine is another KDE media player that uses the xine engine.
su -c 'yum install kaffeine xine xine-lib xine-lib-extras-freeworld'
* RealPlayer
You can download RealPlayer rpm from here . Just choose to open it with the Package Installer. If this fails to install it manually open a terminal, go the directory you downloaded it and type:
su -c 'rpm -Uvh RealPlayer11GOLD.rpm --nodeps'
* Avidemux
Avidemux is a very good video editor. Install it like this:
su -c 'yum install avidemux'
It will be listed in Applications > Sound & Video > Avidemux Video Editor.
7. Flash Plugin
* Fedora 32bit
su - rpm -ivh http://linuxdownload.adobe.com/adobe-release/adobe-release-i386-1.0-1.noarch.rpm rpm --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-adobe-linux yum install flash-plugin
* Fedora 64bit
With the following method you will install the native prerelease of 64bit flash plugin. I am using it for a few months now without any problem.
wget http://download.macromedia.com/pub/labs/flashplayer10/flashplayer_square_p2_64bit_linux_092710.tar.gz tar -zxvf flashplayer_square_p2_64bit_linux_092710.tar.gz -C /usr/lib64/mozilla/plugins
Restart Mozilla Firefox or Chrome and you should have flash plugin support. However consider using HTML5 at least for watching YouTube videos!
8. Java
Fedora 15 comes with java from the OpenJDK project. It is very easy to install it through yum (if it hasn't already been installed) and it works just fine. Try it! If you still want to install the Oracle (ex SUN) Java go a few lines below.
* OpenJDK
su -c 'yum install java-*-openjdk java-*-openjdk-plugin'
* Oracle's JAVA JRE
First go to the official Java site and download the latest JRE (Java SE 6 Update 26 at the moment).
Fedora 32bit
Select Linux as Platform and download the jre-6u26-linux-i586.bin file.
Now open a terminal and type:
su - cd /home/yourusername/Download/ mv jre-6u26-linux-i586.bin /opt cd /opt chmod a+x jre-6u26-linux-i586.bin ./jre-6u26-linux-i586.bin yum remove java-*-openjdk-plugin ln -s /opt/jre1.6.0_26/lib/i386/libnpjp2.so /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libnpjp2.so
Fedora 64bit
Select Linux x64 as Platform and download the jre-6u26-linux-x64.bin file.
Now open a terminal and type:
su - cd /home/yourusername/Download/ mv jre-6u26-linux-x64.bin /opt cd /opt chmod a+x jre-6u26-linux-x64.bin ./jre-6u26-linux-x64.bin yum remove java-*-openjdk-plugin ln -s /opt/jre1.6.0_26/lib/amd64/libnpjp2.so /usr/lib64/mozilla/plugins/libnpjp2.so
* Oracle's JAVA JDK
First go to the official Java site and download the latest JDK (Java Platform 6 Update 26 at the moment).
Fedora 32bit
Select Linux as Platform and download the jdk-6u26-linux-i586.bin file.
Now open a terminal and type:
su - cd /home/yourusername/Download/ mv jdk-6u26-linux-i586.bin /opt cd /opt chmod a+x jdk-6u26-linux-i586.bin ./jre-6u26-linux-i586.bin ln -s /opt/jdk1.6.0_26/bin/java /usr/bin/java ln -s /opt/jdk1.6.0_26/bin/javac /usr/bin/javac
Fedora 64bit
Select Linux x64 as Platform and download the jdk-6u26-linux-x64.bin file.
Now open a terminal and type:
su - cd /home/yourusername/Download/ mv jdk-6u26-linux-x64.bin /opt cd /opt chmod a+x jdk-6u26-linux-x64.bin ./jdk-6u26-linux-x64.bin ln -s /opt/jdk1.6.0_26/bin/java /usr/bin/java ln -s /opt/jdk1.6.0_26/bin/javac /usr/bin/javac
Now run java -version as a user. You should see java version "1.6.0_26"
9. Useful Applications
* Google Chrome browser
First you must enable the Google repository for Fedora
Next install Chrome like this:
su -c 'yum install google-chrome-stable'
* Transmission bittorrent client
Transmission is a free, lightweight BitTorrent client. It features a simple, intuitive interface on top on an efficient, cross-platform back-end.
su -c 'yum install transmission'
* Unrar
The unrar utility is a freeware program for extracting, testing and viewing the contents of archives created with the RAR archiver version 1.50 and above.
su -c 'yum install unrar'
* Filezilla
FileZilla is a FTP, FTPS and SFTP client for Linux with a lot of features.
su -c 'yum install filezilla'
* Gnome Shell tweaks
Tweak the settings, interface, fonts, themes etc.
su -c 'yum install gnome-tweak-tool'
Comments (12)
Subscribe to this comment's feedcorrections
[google64]
name=Google - x86_64
baseurl=http://dl.google.com/linux/rpm/stable/x86_64
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub
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I have a big problem.
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Re: Big Problem
If it doesn't get passed that screen, write what failes at startup (press alt+f1 when the white-blue lines appears.
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root login
Thanks
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Wayman,
in Fedora root login is disabled for a few versions now. Honestly I don't think there is a reason you have to do this. Just login as normal user and when you want to execute a command as root just type "su -" in a terminal. You can also run gksu and provide your root password.
If you still want to login as root there was a workaround in Fedora 12 but I don't know if it still works fedora root login
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Java SDK
I am trying to install sun sdk in my laptop running fedora 15. I dowloaded the jdk-6u26-linux-1586.bin file and extracted it to /opt folder. I then made a symboilik link to /usr/bin/java. When when I type 'java' on commandline, it says command not found. I need the sdk for java programming.
How do I do that? Please help.
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I updated the guide and added instructions on how to install Oracle's JDK.
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root login
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Radeon 6550m
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Install and run: "gnome-panel --replace".
This will give you a top and a bottom panel; the top one covered over by the default panel.
Install and run: "dconf-editor"
Edit: org -> gnome -> gnome-panel -> layout -> toplevels -> top-panel
Set option to auto-hide the top panel, and that gets it out of the way at the top.
Alt/right-click on the bottom panel and choose the Options;
set Background to "Solid Color"; choose black (rgb:000); set Style to 60% transparant.
Alt/right-click and choose 'Add to panel'; search for 'Main Menu' and 'Add';
Alt/right-clock on the new 'Main Menu' icon, and select 'Move', than drag the icon to the leftmost corner on the taskbar.
Add other items as needed.
To startup the newly configured taskbar upon login:
run 'gnome-session-properties' and Add 'gnome-panel --replace'
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