Discussion for all testing needs

4. Configuring Services

You can easily select which services should run when you boot your system. To do so you can use Fedora’s services configuration utility which can be found under System -> Administration -> Services.

For a detailed description on all services and daemons read the Fedora Services Guide .

5. Installing video drivers

**Note: To install many of the following packages you must have the RPM Fusion Repository enabled

* Installing nVidia driver

In order to have 3D support in Fedora 10 you must install the binary nvidia drivers. Just type:

For GeForce 6, 7, 8, 9 & 200 series cards

su -c ‘yum install kmod-nvidia xorg-x11-drv-nvidia xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-libs’

For GeForce FX cards

su -c ‘yum install kmod-nvidia-173xx xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-173xx xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-173xx-libs’

For GeForce 4 and below

su -c ‘yum install kmod-nvidia-96xx xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-96xx xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-96xx-libs’

Reboot and you should see the Nvidia logo in your screen.

* Installing ATi driver

In order the fglrx driver for the ATi cards you must downgrade a few packages to their Fedora 9 versions. That’s what Leigh123 from fedoraforum.org says. I don’t have an ATi card so I can’t really tell. For anyone interested here are his instructions.

1. Install driver

su -
rpm -Uvh http://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-stable.noarch.rpm http://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-stable.noarch.rpm
yum –enablerepo=rpmfusion-nonfree-updates-testing install akmod-fglrx xorg-x11-drv-fglrx xorg-x11-drv-fglrx-libs.i386

Additional install instructions for 64 bit users only !

rm -f /usr/lib/dri/fglrx_dri.so
ln -s /usr/lib64/dri/fglrx_dri.so /usr/lib/dri/fglrx_dri.so
ldconfig

2. Install system-config-display

su -
yum install system-config-display

run system-config-display and change *nothing*, but press “ok” to create an xorg.conf.

3. Edit xorg.conf

su -
aticonfig –initial -f
su -
gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Then add these sections.

Section “Extensions”
Option “Composite” “Enable”
EndSection

Section “ServerFlags”
Option “AIGLX” “on”
EndSection

Section “DRI”
Mode 0666
EndSection

also add these options to the device section

Option        “OpenGLOverlay” “off”
Option        “VideoOverlay” “on”

4. Backup old initrd

su -
mv /boot/initrd-`uname -r`.img /boot/initrd-`uname -r`.img.backup
mkinitrd -v /boot/initrd-`uname -r`.img  `uname -r` 5. Edit grub.conf

su
gedit /boot/grub/grub.conf

and add this “nopat” to the kernel arguments.

Optional (in case libdrm change breaks things due to relationship with KMS):
add “nomodeset” to end of kernel arguments

6. Reboot

due to the akmod, it is *absolutely necessary* to reboot after the install, otherwise the kernel module won’t be compiled.

Reverse changes

In case you want to reverse the changes you ‘ve made just type:
su -
rm -f /etc/yum.repos.d/rpmfusion-nonfree-updates-9.repo
rm -f /etc/yum.repos.d/fedora9.repo
sed -i -e ’s|^exclude.*||’ /etc/yum.repos.d/fedora*
yum clean all
yum update libdrm

6. Installing 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/fedora10/msttcore-fonts-2.0-2.noarch.rpm
su -c ‘rpm -ivh msttcore-fonts-2.0-2.noarch.rpm’

The procedure just in case you want to build it yourself is the following.

su -c ‘yum install rpmdevtools rpm-build cabextract ttmkfdir’
rpmdev-setuptree
cd ~/rpmbuild/SPECS/
wget http://www.my-guides.net/en/images/stories/fedora10/msttcore-fonts-2.0-2.spec
rpmbuild -bb msttcore-fonts-2.0-2.spec
cd ~/rpmbuild/RPMS/noarch/
su -c ‘rpm -ivh msttcore-fonts-2.0-2.noarch.rpm’
Now you can change your fonts through System -> Preferences Look and Feel -> Appearance -> Fonts

7. Configuring Nautilus

* Open each folder in the same window

Go to System -> Preferences -> Personal -> File Management and in the Behavior tab select the Always open in browser windows option.

Now you will use the File Browser to navigate through your folders.

* Open Terminal here

It’s very useful to have an ‘Open Terminal here’ command to easily open a folder in terminal while you are browsing it in Nautilus. To do so type:

su -c ‘yum install nautilus-open-terminal’
log out and then log in, right click in a Nautilus window and you’ll see the command ‘Open In Terminal’.

* Enable Num Lock on GNOME startup

su -c ‘yum install numlockx’
su -c ‘cp /etc/gdm/Init/Default /etc/gdm/Init/Default_backup’
su -c ‘gedit /etc/gdm/Init/Default’
And add the following lines at the end of the file before the exit 0.

if [ -x /usr/bin/numlockx ]; then
/usr/bin/numlockx on
fi
Save and exit. Now restart X server and check if num lock light is on.

Configuring YUM

* Basic Commands

Below there are the most common commands you will use for yum, Fedora’s Package Management System. You can find a more detailed description of those along with some more commands if you type:

yum –help
man yum
* Install an application

su -c ‘yum install application_name’
* Remove an application

su -c ‘yum remove application_name’
* Install an rpm from your hard disk using yum to resolve dependencies

su -c ‘yum localinstall application_name’
* Search for an application

su -c ‘yum search application_name’
* Find info about an application

su -c ‘yum info application_name’
* Update the whole system

su -c ‘yum update’
* Enable a repository

su -c ‘yum –enablerepo=repo_name’
* Disable a repository

su -c ‘yum –disablerepo=repo_name’

* Importing Fedora GPG keys

Fedora has 2 basic repositories named ‘fedora’ and ‘updates’. To use them and not get errors about unsigned packages you must import their GPG keys. Open a terminal and type:

su -c ‘rpm –import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/*’

* Third party Repositories

* RPM Fusion

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!

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
* Adobe

The Adobe repository provides flash and acrobat reader packages for the x86 Fedora. To install it type:

su -
rpm -ivh http://linuxdownload.adobe.com/linux/i386/adobe-release-i386-1.0-1.noarch.rpm
rpm –import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-adobe-linux
It will be automatically enabled.

* Google

Well, it has only picasa but for those who need it install it by typing:

su -
wget https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub
rpm –import linux_signing_key.pub rm linux_signing_key.pub
gedit /etc/yum.repos.d/google.repo
Depending on your architecture paste the following lines:

[google]
name=Google – i386
baseurl=http://dl.google.com/linux/rpm/stable/i386
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1

[google64]
name=Google – x86_64
baseurl=http://dl.google.com/linux/rpm/stable/x86_64
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1

* Graphical Interface for yum

If you don’t like typing commands in your console you can use Fedora’s Graphical interface for yum. You can find it under System -> Administration -> Add/Remove Software.

You can also install yumex for this reason.

su -c ‘yum install yumex’

* Configure yum through Proxy

If you are behind an http proxy server and you want yum to connect to the internet through that proxy open a terminal and type:

su -c ‘gedit /etc/yum.conf’
Add this line in the yum configuration

proxy=http://ip:port/
where ip is your proxy’s ip address and port is the port the proxy listens to. Don’t forget the / after the port number. Save and exit.

* Yum plugins

* Fastest Mirror Plugin

Exactly what its name says. This plugin searches for the fastest mirror in your mirrorlist and downloads all packages from it. To install it type:

su -c ‘yum install yum-fastestmirror’
Now, just use yum as usual. You can configure various settings of this plugin in the file:

su -c ‘gedit /etc/yum/pluginconf.d/fastestmirror.conf’

* Security Plugin

This plugin allows you to search and install only security related updates. Very useful if you have Fedora installed on a Server production mode. To install it type:

su -c ‘yum install yum-security’
To apply security plugins type:
su -c ‘yum –security update’
For more information and additional options such as bugzilla updates and advisory information read its manual:
man yum-security

* Allowdowngrade Plugin

su -c ‘yum install yum-allowdowngrade’
To use it type:
su -c ‘yum update –allow-downgrade’
You can disable this plugin by changing the option enabled in the file:

su -c ‘gedit /etc/yum/pluginconf.d/allowdowngrade.conf’

* Presto Plugin

The presto plugin provides faster, smaller size downloads to Fedora users. It downloads only the part of the rpm that has been updated and not the whole package. Presto is scheduled to be officially included in the Fedora 11 release! To install it type:

su -c ‘yum install yum-presto’
Then you must edit some .repo files. If you are using Fedora 10 64 bit sorry, but at this time I don’t see any mirror with x86_64 packages.

su -c ‘gedit /etc/yum.repos.d/fedora-updates.repo’
comment the mirrorlist line by adding # in front of it and then paste this line:

baseurl=http://lesloueizeh.com/f10/i386/updates/