Real Player Installation Problem

Please check out my post Install and Playing Real Player in Fedora 15 (Lovelock)

Real Player Problem: Got Audio, No Video! (Solved)

If you encounter such situation where the Real Player plays audio perfectly but there is no video. Use the solution below:

• First you need to install the gstreamer plugins:

 $sudo yum install gstreamer-plugins-ugly

• Since Real Player is a 32-bit application playing in 64-bit operating system, you need to install 32-bit libraries:

$sudo yum install gstreamer-plugins-ugly.i686

• If you still do not have video after installing the plugins. In the Real Player, go to Tools >> Preference >> Hardware and toggle with “Use XVideo”. Usually the video works when the XVideo is NOT CHECKED.

Real Player Problem: Got Video, No Audio!

Personally, I’ve never encountered any problem with audio. However, I’ve learned some solution from the web:

• Switch ALSA audio driver with OSS driver. You can do this by going to Tools >> Preference >> Hardware
• Under Tools >> Preference >> Hardware, you can also toggle the setting “Force stereo playback”. In some situation, audio works by un-checking “Force stereo playback”.
• Another solution is to hack the realplay script, you can get the details from here http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=954664. I wonder if it works on Fedora.

Troubleshooting Real Player Problem

If you have any problem playing real media, you can troubleshoot Real Player problem by running Real Player from the terminal.

cd /opt/real/RealPlayer

./realplay

Check the error message from the terminal and search the web for solution if you can’t find solution in this post.

Cannot Load GTK Module

While fixing my video problem, I’ve encountered some error messages as shown below. Although I’ve fixed these problems; I found that I could still play rm files perfectly without fixing the problem.

• Gtk-WARNING **: Unable to locate theme engine in module_path: “clearlooks”,

$sudo yum install gtk2-engines gtk2-engines.i686

• Gtk-Message **: Failed to load module “pk-gtk-module”

$sudo yum install PackageKit-gtk-module PackageKit-gtk-module.i686

• Gtk-Message **: Failed to load module “canberra-gtk-module”

$sudo yum install libcanberra-gtk2 libcanberra-gtk3 libcanberra-gtk2.i686
libcanberra-gtk3.i686

When All Else Failed! Use Mplayer

I found that MPlayer plays rm files quite well, you need to install all the codecs before able to play rm files.

***End***

Download the latest Real Player for Linux at http://www.real.com/linux. Select “Download the RPM Installer”. The rpm file should be ‘RealPlayer11GOLD.rpm’

Installing Real Player (64-bit)

Since we are installing the 32-bit Player into 64-bit OS, we need to install 32-bit version of lsb as follows:

$sudo yum install -y redhat-lsb redhat-lsb.i686
$sudo rpm -ivh RealPlayer11GOLD.rpm

Note: Alternatively, you could use mplayer or vlc player instead of installing Real Player. I found that mplayer does play rm files well while vlc player play the rm files well, the image get distorted when fast forward.

Real Player Problem: No Video

If you encounter such situation where the Real Player plays audio perfectly but there is no video. Use the solution below:

• First you need to install the gstreamer plugins:

 $sudo yum install gstreamer-plugins-ugly

• Since Real Player is a 32-bit application playing in 64-bit operating system, you need to install 32-bit libraries:

$sudo yum install gstreamer-plugins-ugly.i686

• If you still do not have video after installing the plugins. In the Real Player, go to Tools >> Preference >> Hardware and toggle with “Use XVideo”. Usually the video works when the XVideo is NOT CHECKED.

Automation

I’ve created a script to download and install Real Player. You can download here.

You also need to give execution permission to the script using the command

$sudo chmod +x <script name>

To run the script use the command:

$sudo ./<script name>

Troubleshooting Real Player Problem

If you have any problem playing real media, you can troubleshoot Real Player problem by running Real Player from the terminal.

cd /opt/real/RealPlayer

./realplay

Check the error message from the terminal and search the web for solution.You can also check my post Fixing Real Player Problem in 64-bit Fedora

***End***

Hi, check out my new post Install VirtualBox on Fedora 16 Host. The procedure is very much the same, you can use the instructions below for Fedora 15 and Fedora 16.

Installing VirtualBox on Fedora 15 Host System Using YUM

• First you need to download the repository file for yum located at http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/rpm/fedora/virtualbox.repo
• Then you need to copy the repo file to yum depository folder

$sudo cp virtualbox.repo /etc/yum.repos.d/

• Install dkms using the command

$sudo yum install dkms

• Unlike the previous practice, now you need to specify the version number in order to install VirtualBox. This allows user flexibility to install the previous version of VirtualBox instead of the latest version. The following versions are available:

• virtualbox-4.0 (latest)
• virtualbox-3.2
• virtualbox-3.1
• virtualbox-3.0
• virtualbox-2.2
• virtualbox-2.1
• virtualbox-2.0

• To install the latest version of VirtualBox use the command

$sudo yum install virtualbox-4.0

Automation

An installation script was created to automatically configures the repository file and install VirtualBox 4.0. If you would like to use earlier version of VirtualBox, please modify the script yourself. You can download the script at FC15-vbox-install-noarch

***End***

Method 1: Using sudo

User must belong to the Administrators Group in order to use sudo command. If you have not add the current use to the Administrators group during the system setup, then you could add user to Administrators Group via User Account Settings.

Add Normal User to Administrator Group

Under your username, select System Settings >>  User Accounts (as shown below). Click unlock using root password and change the “Account type” from “Standard” to “Administrator”.

Opening Nautilus from Terminal

Open a terminal and issue the command:

$sudo nautilus

If you want to be able to continue using the terminal, you can start the Nautilus command in the background as follows:

$sudo nautilus &

Method 2: Using Beesu

Installing Beesu

Open a terminal and install the following packages:

$sudo yum install beesu

$sudo yum install nautilus-beesu-manager

Configuring Beesu

After you have installed the packages above, you run $nautilus-beesu-manager to configure how you want to use Beesu.

The most useful settings are:

• Edit with gEdit
• Execute/Execute Application
• Files and Folders/Delete Selected Files
• Files and Folders/New File Here
• Files and Folders/New Folder Here
• Open Terminal Here

Using Beesu

• Open up Nautilus (under Applications >> Accessories >> Files)
• Navigate to the file or folder you want to manage, Right-Click the mouse, select Scripts >> beesu and a list of options which you have configure earlier was available.
• Please note that some options worked on folders and some options worked on files while some worked on both.

***End***

Please note that Adobe has decided not to support Adobe Air for Linux any more. The installation instructions below is no longer applicable. You could still install the last version of Adobe Air for Linux (version 2.6) from Adobe Archive. Although this version of Adobe works well with most Air apps, please note that you will not be getting any security updates. 

Please check my post Install Adobe Air on Fedora 16 for the installation instructions.

***************************************************************************************************

You need to install Adobe AIR (64-bit) in order to run some Tweeter applications such as TweetDeck and Twhirl. The following is a step by step instructions to install Adobe AIR in Fedora 15 (64-bit):

Configuring Adobe Yum Repository File

• Please note that you can skip this section if you have already done this part when installing other Adobe products such as Adobe Flash Player. Please continue if you have never configured Adobe repository file for Linux.
• Download the rpm file yum configuration from http://get.adobe.com/air/ and select “YUM for Linux”.
• Save the rpm file “adobe-release-i386-1.0-1.noarch.rpm” and close your browser.
• Use the following command, to install Adobe Flash Player:

$sudo rpm -vhi adobe-release-i386-1.0-1.noarch.rpm
$sudo rpm --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-adobe-linux

• The above command setup the Adobe repository so that you could use yum to download the latest Adobe AIR from Adobe repository.
• To verify the setup of the repository data make sure that the file /etc/yum.repos.d/adobe-linux-i386.repo is available

Install 32-bit and 64-bit Libraries

• Before you install Adobe AIR, you need to ensure that all the necessary libraries (32-bit and 64-bit) are properly installed in the system. The command is (single line):

$sudo yum install -y ld-linux.so.2 gtk2-devel.i686 libdbus-glib-1.so.2
libhal.so.1 rpm-devel.i686 libXt.so.6 gnome-keyring-devel.i686
libDCOP.so.4 libxml2-devel.i686 nss-devel.i686 libxslt.i686
xterm rpm-build

Installing Adobe AIR

• After you have ensure that all the necessary libraries are downloaded and installed, you can proceed to install Adobe AIR using the command:

$sudo yum install -y adobeair

Automation

I have included a simple script for installing Adobe AIR. You can download the script here. Please read the note before running the script.

You also need to give execution permission to the script using the command

$sudo chmod +x <script name>

To run the script use the command:

$sudo ./<script name>

(Update) Additional Problem Running TweetDeck

After installing Adobe AIR, I could install Twhirl and TweetDeck on my system. However, I encountered additional problem when using Tweetdeck. It produce the following error:

Sorry, Adobe AIR has a problem running on this computer.
TweetDeck is having trouble storing your passwords securely..... etc

Following the instructions from Adobe does not help either. The solution is you need to install the following 32-bit library before running Tweetdeck:

$sudo yum install libgnome-keyring.i686

***End***

Please check my latest post

Fedora Software Installation and Configuration Guide (Fedora 15/16)

Updating Fedora 15 (64-bit)

• Updating Fedora is as easy as Windows. After you start using Fedora for a while, you will notice a message indicating that you need to update the OS.
• Follow the direction in the message will bring you to the update manager. Follow the instruction in the update manager.
• You can also use command yum to update the system. Open a terminal window, type

$sudo yum update

• You need to reboot the system if you have installed new kernel.

Installation and Configuration of Commonly used Applications (64-bit)

• Most of the popular applications are preloaded with Fedora; you might need to add some plug-ins.
• For additional software you can install using Activities >> Applications >> System Tools >> Add/Remove Software. The utility will search for the application you intended, download it and install it automatically.
• You can also use command line (yum) to install the software packages.
• Fedora uses yum to install and update its software. When connected to the internet it will automatically determine all application dependencies.

Configuring Yum

• Yum automatically connect to the official mirror sites of Fedora to retrieve latest software packages.
• You might want to add additional repositories that provide additional software. Two additional sites are recommended, one is rpmfusion.org, the other is livna.org
• To setup repos from rpmfusion:

$sudo rpm -ivh http://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/
rpmfusion-free-release-stable.noarch.rpm
$sudo rpm -ivh http://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/
rpmfusion-nonfree-release-stable.noarch.rpm

• Setting up repos from livna.org

$sudo rpm -ivh http://rpm.livna.org/livna-release.rpm
$sudo rpm --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-livna

Using Yum

• To install software using yum just use the command:

$sudo yum install <software packages>

• To find out details about the software packages use the command:

$sudo yum info <keyword or software packages>

• You can also perform group install using

$sudo yum groupinstall <group software packages>

Web Browsing

• Firefox is preloaded with Fedora; you just need to install additional plug-ins such as Google Toolbar
• Go to the site where Google toolbar is hosted and install directly from the web.
• If you prefer Google Chrome, please check my post – Install Google Chrome in Fedora 15 (Lovelock)
• Please refer to my other post regarding Adobe Flash Player. Installing Adobe Flash Player in Fedora 15 (Lovelock) and Configuring Adobe Flash Player for Chrome in Fedora 15 (Lovelock)

Productivity Suite

• We don’t use OpenOffice now. The existing developers have start a new project called LibreOffice.
• However, LibreOffice is not included in the “Desktop Edition” (LiveCD). To install it go to Activities >> Applications >> System Tools  >> Add/Remove Software.
• Type libreoffice in the search box and click find. With the list given, select the package you want.
• You also can use command line as follows:

$sudo yum install -y libreoffice-based
$sudo yum install -y libreoffice-writer
$sudo yum install -y libreoffice-calc
$sudo yum install -y libreoffice-draw
$sudo yum install -y libreoffice-impress
$sudo yum install -y libreoffice-math

Utilities

• Wget is a utility that allows you to download http files from the web using command line. This is a useful tools for automating download.

$sudo yum install -y wget

• Gparted is a utility that manages disk partition. You can resize your disk partition on the fly. To install this software:

$sudo yum install -y gparted

• Gnochm is a chm viewer. The command to install this utilities is:

$sudo yum install -y gnochm

• Unrar is a utility to unpack rar compressed folders. Issue the command:

$sudo yum install -y unrar

• GCC is GNU C/C++ compiler. Kernel-devel is the kernel headers required to compile kernel files. Both files are required to rebuilt kernel or install drivers.

$sudo yum install -y gcc kernel-devel

PDF Document

• Fedora has default PDF reader so no installation is required.
• Fedora has built-in PDF writer; here is the direction of how to use it.
• For Firefox, select Print >> Print to File, make sure you specify the document type as PDF and also specify the filename and location of the file.
• For LibreOffice, use ‘Export to PDF’ function.
• You will need a PDF writer if you intend to use it on any other application that do not have print to PDF or export to PDF capabilities. In this case, you need to install cups-pdf.
• The command line to install is $sudo yum install -y cups-pdf. PDF writer usually tie to the print function. You just need to use the print function and select PDF writer as the printer. Please search the web if you encounter any problem.

Playing Multimedia Files

• To play the most common multimedia formats, including mp3, mpeg, rm, QuickTime, WMA and WMV, you need to install additional codec.
• I would recommend VLC Media Player. When you install VLC Media Player, it includes all the necessary codec.
• Installing VLC Media Player

$sudo yum install -y vlc

• To set VLC as the default player, right-click any media file. Select “Properties” and go to “Open With” tab. Click “Show other Application”. Highlight the application you want to set and click “Set as Default”

Installing DvD Playing Applications

• Playing DVD is more complicated because it involves restricted format. In addition to media player,  you need to install CSS Packages.
• To check your region setting you need the package “regionset”.

$sudo yum install -y regionset

• After installation, use the command $regionset. Your region setting will be shown.
• To install the CSS packages use the command:

$sudo yum install -y libdvdcss

DVD Ripping

• In the event you need to rip or backup your DVD; you can install various DVD ripper.
• In this section we will install k9copy

$sudo yum install -y k9copy

• Please search for k9copy on direction of usage.

Additional Applications

For additional applications, please check my other post:

• Install Google Chrome in Fedora 15 (Lovelock)
• Installing Adobe Flash Player in Fedora 15 (Lovelock)
• Configuring Adobe Flash Player for Chrome in Fedora 15 (Lovelock)
• Install Dropbox in Fedora 15 (Lovelock)
• Installing Adobe AIR in Fedora 15 (Lovelock)
• Installing Real Player in Fedora 15 (Lovelock)

Automation (For Advanced User)

As I am repeating this process whenever I need to install Fedora in a new system. I’ve created a script to automate the installation.

• You can download the script FC15-software-install-noarch.
• After downloading the script, please read the script carefully and hash (#) out any installation option or command that you do not want to use. Any command with a hash (#) in front will not be executed.
• My script also includes installation of Dropbox and Google Chrome.
• You need to change the permission to executable by using the command:

$sudo chmod +x FC15-software-install-noarch

• To run the script use the command:

$sudo ./FC15-software-install-noarch

***End***

Fedora 15 (64-bit) was installed on a Core 2 Dual PC with 4GB of memory using the media “Fedora 15 Desktop Edition (64-bit)”.

Getting Fedora 15

• You can download the latest Fedora distribution at http://fedoraproject.org/en/get-fedora-options
• Select the 64-bit version and download the ISO. The file name is ‘Fedora-15-x86_64-Live-Desktop.iso’.
• Proceed to burn Fedora Live Desktop into a CD. You can search the web on how to burn an ISO image to a CD.

Hardware Requirement 

Ensure that your hardware meets the minimum requirement:

• Recommended for text-mode: 200 MHz Pentium Pro or better
• Recommended for graphical: 400 MHz Pentium Pro or better
• Minimum RAM for text-mode: 256MB
• Minimum RAM for graphical: 512MB
• Recommended RAM for graphical: >512MB
• The hard disk space required depends on what application you choose to install. For Desktop Edition installation, you will require 2-3GB of hard disk space. You might need up to 6GB of disk space after updates and installation of additional applications.
• It is recommended you have a hard disk space of 9GB to 15GB for the operating system and applications. You might need additional hard disk space for user data.

Getting Help

• You can look for helpful HOWTO documents, installation guide and wikis at http://fedoraproject.org
• You can search the web for help to resolve Fedora issues.
• You can also check out the following Linux forum:
  • http://fedoraforum.org/
  • http://www.linuxquestions.org/
  • http://www.linuxforums.org/

Important Features and Changes

• The most obvious changes to Fedora 15 is the inclusion of GNOME 3. This is an entirely new desktop interface.
• Other system enhancement includes replacing SysVinit and Upstart with systemd, inclusion of /run directory, provides a dynamic firewall management and improving virtualization support.

Installing Fedora 15

• You can try out Fedora 15 without making any changes to the hard disk by booting up and running the Desktop Edition.
• The new interface from GNOME 3 looks like this:

• To install the operating system to the hard disk. Go to Activities and on the sidebar (left hand side), there is a short cut icon “Install to Hard Drive”. Alternatively, you could select Applications >> System Tools and select “Install to Hard Drive”.
• The installation program starts with the screen below. You are required to select the type of keyboard

• The next screen allows you to choose the disk storage system. Choose “Basic Storage System”.

• Next, you are required to enter the host name of your computer. You need to supply the host name using the internet format localhost@domain.com. Local host is the name of the computer; domain name is use when you have an Internet domain. For personal use and home use, you can use the defaults.

• Select your time zone

• Enter the root password

• The next stage, is to designate the drive partition where Fedora is to be installed.

• If you have only one primary drive, you should let the system configure the drive by selecting the defaults.
• If you are familiar with the Linux partition, you could customize your drive system.
• In addition, you have the option to encrypt the whole hard disk or a single partition.

Fedora Partition and Customization

By default, Fedora create a 500MB boot partition (/boot), then it allocates the rest of free space to LVM Group. Under LVM Group, besides few gigabytes of hard disk space is allocated to swap file, the rest of disk space is allocated between root partition (/) and home partition (/home).

• Standard Partition – boot partition (/boot) 500MB
• LVM Group

• root partition (/)
• home or user data partition (/home)
• swap file (usually equivalent to your memory size)

LVM (Logical Volume Manager) is a partition management technology that allows multiple physical hard disk to be logically bind into a single volume. This is beneficial especially in a server environment or if you have huge data that span into multiple hard disk

At a minimum, you need to have a boot partition, a root partition and a swap file. The following is my custom configuration. Please note that I use standard partition instead of LVM technology.

• Standard Partition – boot partition (/boot) 500MB
• Standard Partition – root partition (/) the rest of hard disk space
• Standard Partition – swap file (usually equivalent to your memory size)

Using Default: Replace Existing Linux System

• If you let the system configures the hard disk for you, you can select “Replace Existing Linux System”. If you want to know what how the system is going to configure your hard disk, check “Review and modifying partition layout” and click next.

• If you have a system with multiple hard disk, you have to choose which hard disk do you want your operating system and boot loader to be installed.

• This screen shows you how the system configures the hard disk. Those partitions with a tick are the ones the system will change.

Customize and Create Partition

• The following section is for customizing disk partition, you can skip this section of you are letting the system configures the disk partition for you.
• Select “Create Custom Layout” from the previous screen.
• If you have multiple hard disk in the system, you will not be asked which hard disk to installed the operating system or boot loader. The boot loader will automatically installed in sda (the first disk in your SATA system). To select the target device to install the operating system and boot loader, you need to select “Replace Existing Linux System, configure that target device for OS and boot loader. Click “Back” button and select “Create custom Layout”.

• The following screen show all your hard disk and partition information. You need to understand how Linux named the hard disk and partitions.

• Depends on the position in the SATA channel, your physical hard disk is labelled as sda, sdb, sdc…and so on. The system will display the hard disk model such as WD4000AAKS with the label (sda or sdb..). It would be a challenge if you have multiple hard disks of same make and model in the same system. You need to identify which physical hard disk belongs to sda or sdb etc. Within a physical drive such as sda, the partitions are labelled sda1, sda2, sda3…etc.
• Select “Create” to create new partition. You need to specified if it is a LVM volume or standard partition.

• Then you need to configure the partition by selecting the mount point, physical disk and the size of partition as shown below:

• Note: Please select”ext 4″ for file system when configuring the boot partition and root partition. The file system for swap file is swap.
• The partition summary shows how the hard disk is partitioned. Please note that at this point nothing has been written yet, you can make changes.

• Finally you need to confirm the settings and make the changes

Configuring Boot Loader

• After the partition is set up, you need to configures the boot loader.

• You can also choose to list operating system from other partitions or remove the listing. I choose to remove the lisitng of other operating system.

Completion of Installation

• After configuration of the disk system, the installation program proceeds with the installation of the operating system by copying live image to the hard disk.

• Once the operating system is copied to the hard disk, you will be asked to exit the operating system and reboot.

• At this stage the installation is 90% complete. However, you still need to complete the final phase of installation after reboot.

Post Installation Setup

• First you need to accept the license agreement.

• Then you need to register a user. Check the box “Add to administrative group”. This allows you to perform sudo command.

• Next, configures the system date and time

• I prefer to synchronize the system time with the Internet.

• And finally you are asked to send hardware profile.

• The installation is completed when the system prompt the user for login ID.
• Once is system is up and running, you need to update the operating system IMMEDIATELY and  reboots the virtual machine as new kernels are updated on the system.
• Please note that the system is mute by default, you need to clear the mute check box before hearing sound.

After the Installation

• After the installation you need to update the system by selecting Applications >> System Tools >> Software Updates.
• Alternatively, you can use terminal window and run the command $sudo yum update.
• Please check the post on Application Installation and Configuration of Fedora 15 (Lovelock) on how to install various useful applications.
• You could also check the following post for various types of configuration:

• Install Google Chrome in Fedora 15 (Lovelock)
• Installing Adobe Flash Player in Fedora 15 (Lovelock)
• Configuring Adobe Flash Player for Chrome in Fedora 15 (Lovelock)
• Install Dropbox in Fedora 15 (Lovelock)
• Installing Adobe AIR in Fedora 15 (Lovelock)
• Install and Playing Real Player in Fedora 15 (Lovelock)

*** End ***

To share network folders, you need to configure a share folder with a share name in the virtual machine settings.

Then in Linux, you need to mount the share folder using VirtualBox file system:

#mount –t vboxfs name_of_share_folder /mnt/mount_point

Please note that the above mounted folder is owned by root. To allow user to own the files and folder use the command:

#mount -t vboxsf -o uid=1000,gid=1000 name_of_share_folder /mnt/mount_point

Where uid is the user id and gid is the group id. If you want to have it mount automatically upon each boot, put the mount command in /etc/rc.local. Using /etc/fstab has little effect, because that  file is processed before the SF module is loaded and will fail to mount the share.

Pre-Installation

• Before installing Linux Guest Additions for VirtualBox, you need to ensure that you have the latest kernel installed. To ensure that, use the command:

$sudo yum update

• Reboot your system after update.
• Then, you need to install dkms, gcc and kernel-devel. Use the following command:

$sudo yum install -y kernel-devel dkms gcc

• Finally, you need to load Linux Guest Additions ISO disc to your virtual CD-ROM

Installation of Linux Guest Additions

• Once the disc image is mounted, the folder should be located at /media/VBOXADDITIONS* . The * being the version number.
• Use the following command:

cd /media/VBOXADDITIONS*
./VBoxLinuxAdditions.run

• After the installation is complete, reboot the system.

To share folders between Windows host and Linux guest system, please refer to the post VritualBox Sharing Folders between Windows Host and Linux Guest

Automation

As usual, I have created an auto installation script for advanced user. You can download it from here.

To install Dropbox on Fedora 16, please check out this post: Install Dropbox on Fedora 16

**************************************************************************************************

The best method to install Dropbox in Fedora 15 (Lovelock) is to configure Dropbox repository and perform a yum install from the system terminal.

Configure Dropbox Repository

Create a file called dropbox.repo with the following, or you can download a copy from here:

[Dropbox]
name=Dropbox Repository
baseurl=http://linux.dropbox.com/fedora/$releasever/
gpgkey=http://linux.dropbox.com/fedora/rpm-public-key.asc

Place the file under /etc/yum.repos.d.

Installing Dropbox

Run yum install using the command:

$sudo yum install nautilus-dropbox

Update: If you encounter any error while downloading nautilus-dropbox. You might need to change the base url in the repo file from http://linux.dropbox.com/fedora/$releasever/ to http://linux.dropbox.com/fedora/14/

Post Installation Setup

After installation is completed, you need to run Dropbox application under Applications >> Internet >> Dropbox. Then you need to configure an account for the Dropbox.

Automation

You could also write a script file to automate the installation process. This script download the repository file that I’ve prepared and move it to the yum repository folder follow by installation of dropbox.

#! /bin/bash
#Add repo file from Dropbox
wget http://dl.dropbox.com/u/30876345/repo/dropbox.repo
mv dropbox.repo /etc/yum.repos.d
#Installing Dropbox
yum install -y nautilus-dropbox

A copy of the script can be downloaded here.

Note: remember to give execution permission to the script by running the command:

$sudo chmod +x <script_name>

To run the script use the command:

$sudo ./<script_name>

*** End ***

It seems that Google has restored the repository. You can still follow the instructions below however, it is recommended to just navigate to the chrome site and install from there.

Check out my new post Install Google Chrome in Fedora 16 (Verne) 

Update: 28 September 2011

Google repository does not work anymore because Google has discontinued Google Pack. You can visit the main site for further information.

To install Chrome on Fedora, you just need to navigate to Chrome website and click install. The procedure is similar to installing Chrome in Windows.

Please do not follow the instructions below!

================================================================

While you could download the rpm file from Chrome website and install Chrome, a better method is to download Chrome from Google repository so that you could receive any new updates.

Configure Google Repository

Create a file called google.repo with the following:

[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

You can also download a copy from here. Place the file under /etc/yum.repos.d

Installing Google Chrome

Run yum install using the command:

$sudo yum install google-chrome-stable

If you would like to install the beta or unstable version of Chrome use the following command:

$sudo yum install google-chrome-beta
$sudo yum install google-chrome-unstable

Automation

You could also write a script file to automate the installation process. This script download the repository file that I’ve prepared and move it to the yum repository folder.  You need to hash (#) out those version that you DO NOT want to install. You could only install one version of Chrome.

#! /bin/bash
#Add repo file from Google
wget http://dl.dropbox.com/u/30876345/repo/google.repo
mv google.repo /etc/yum.repos.d
#Install Google Chrome
yum install -y google-chrome-stable
#yum install -y google-chrome-beta
#yum install -y google-chrome-unstable

You could download a copy of the script here. Note: remember to give execution permission to the script using the command $sudo chmod +x <script_name>. To run the script use the command:

$sudo ./<script_name>

***End***

The system setting is hide under the user name.

Windows (Formerly desktop workspace) and Applications hide under “Activities” on the top left hand corner. For “Places” you need to launch file manager.

According to Fedora website, most PC supports GNOME3. However, if your system hardware does not support GNOME 3, it will run GNOME 3 fallback mode which has the looks and appearance of older GNOME.

Some of the user still prefers the older looks because it requires less click. There are pros and cons of both type of interface.

GNOME 3

Pros

• Screen looks cleaner and slicker.

Cons

• The workspace and shortcuts hides under the “Activities” menu. Extra click is require to launch your favorites.

GNOME 3 Fallback Mode

Pros

• Your workspace and shortcuts are one click away.

Cons

• The desktop looks more messy if you have created many shortcuts on the top bar.

Set GNOME 3 Fallback Mode as Default

For those who prefer to use the older looks of GNOME, you can force the system to run GNOME in Fallback mode.

Method 1

• Select your username >> System Settings
• Select System Info
• Select Graphics (as shown) and set “Forced Fallback Mode” to ON

Method 2

• Use the following command (single line):

$GSETTINGS_BACKEND=dconf gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.session session-name 
gnome-fallback

• Logout from GNOME and login again

Additional Changes

• Please note that regardless of which mode you are running, anything you place in the desktop folder will not appear in your desktop anymore.
• To activate shutdown option, you need to click your username+Alt. The “Shutdown” option will replace “Suspend”.

Finally, I would like to note that I am still exploring GNOME 3. Your feedback is appreciated if I’ve made any errors. You can checkout the GNOME shell cheat sheet from here.

Adobe has release a 64-bit version of Flash Player Plugins. The installation is straight forward and simple. Most important, there is no additional tweaking required for Google Chrome. To install the latest Adobe Flash Player check out this post Install Adobe Flash Player (64-bit) on Fedora 16

**********************************************************************************************************************

After installing Adobe Flash Player in Fedora 15, you’ll notice that you can watch YouTube video using Firefox but it wouldn’t work on Chrome. The following is the instruction for configuring Adobe Flash Player to work with Chrome browser.

• Install Adobe Flash Player if you haven’t done so. You can follow the instruction from Installing Adobe Flash Player in Fedora 15 (Lovelock)
• Open Firefox browser and test the player at least ONCE from YouTube or Adobe web site.
• Create a folder using the command:

mkdir /opt/google/chrome/plugins

• The next step is to configure a link for the Chrome browser. For 64-bit system, use the command (single line):

ln -s /usr/lib64/mozilla/plugins-wrapped/nswrapper_32_64.libflashplayer.so
/opt/google/chrome/plugins/nswrapper_32_64.libflashplayer.so

• For 32-bit system use the following command (single line):

ln -s /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libflashplayer.so 
/opt/google/chrome/plugins/libflashplayer.so

• You can download a little automation script here. This script work on both 32-bit and 64-bit system.
• You also need to give execution permission to the script using the command

  $sudo chmod +x <script name>

• To run the script use the command:

  $sudo ./<script name>

***End***

Adobe has release a 64-bit version of Flash Player Plugins. The installation is straight forward and simple. To install the latest Adobe Flash Player check out this post Install Adobe Flash Player (64-bit) on Fedora 16

**********************************************************************************************************************

You need to install Adobe Flash Player to run watch embedded video from various web sites. The following is a step by step instructions to install Adobe Flash Player in Fedora 15:

Configuring Adobe Yum Repository File

• Please note that you can skip this section if you have already done this part when installing other Adobe products such as Adobe AIR. Please continue if you have never configured Adobe repository file for Linux.
• Download the rpm file yum configuration from http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ and select “YUM for Linux”.
• Save the rpm file “adobe-release-i386-1.0-1.noarch.rpm” and close your browser.
• Use the following command, to install Adobe Flash Player:

$sudo rpm -vhi adobe-release-i386-1.0-1.noarch.rpm
$sudo rpm --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-adobe-linux

• The above command setup the Adobe repository so that you could use yum to download the latest Flash Player from Adobe repository.
• To verify the setup of the repository data make sure that the file /etc/yum.repos.d/adobe-linux-i386.repo is available

Install Adobe Flash Player

• For 64-bit Fedora, you need to install a 32-bit plugin that will work with the 64-bit browser by being “wrapped” with nspluginwrapper. The command is (single line):

$sudo yum install flash-plugin nspluginwrapper.x86_64
nspluginwrapper.i686 alsa-plugins-pulseaudio.i686 libcurl.i686

• After the installation, open up Firefox and test the Flash Player from websites such as YouTube.

Please note that although the above instructions worked for Firefox, additional steps is required for Configuring Chrome with Adobe Flash Player.

I have included a simple script for installing Adobe Flash Player. You can download the script here. Please read the note before running the script.

You also need to give execution permission to the script using the command

$sudo chmod +x <script name>

To run the script use the command:

$sudo ./<script name>

***End***

For those looking installation guide on a PC check out my post Installation of Fedora 15 using Fedora Desktop Edition (Live CD)

Fedora 15 (64-bit) was installed on VirtualBox using the media “Fedora 15 Desktop Edition (64-bit)”.

Getting Fedora 15

• You can download the latest Fedora distribution at http://fedoraproject.org/en/get-fedora-options
• Select the 64-bit version and download the ISO. The file name is ‘Fedora-15-x86_64-Live-Desktop.iso’.
• Proceed to burn Fedora Live Desktop into a CD. You can search the web on how to burn an ISO image to a CD. You can use the ISO image if you are installing on a virtual machine.

Hardware Requirement 

Ensure that your hardware meets the minimum requirement:

• Recommended for text-mode: 200 MHz Pentium Pro or better
• Recommended for graphical: 400 MHz Pentium Pro or better
• Minimum RAM for text-mode: 256MB
• Minimum RAM for graphical: 512MB
• Recommended RAM for graphical: >512MB
• The hard disk space required depends on what application you choose to install. For Desktop Edition installation, you will require 2-3GB of hard disk space. You might need up to 6GB of disk space after updates and installation of additional applications.
• It is recommended you have a hard disk space of 9GB to 15GB for the operating system and applications. You might need additional hard disk space for user data.

Getting Help

• You can look for helpful HOWTO documents, installation guide and wikis at http://fedoraproject.org
• You can search the web for help to resolve Fedora issues.
• You can also check out the following Linux forum:
  • http://fedoraforum.org/
  • http://www.linuxquestions.org/
  • http://www.linuxforums.org/

Important Features and Changes

• The most obvious changes to Fedora 15 is the inclusion of GNOME 3. This is an entirely new desktop interface.
• Other system enhancement includes replacing SysVinit and Upstart with systemd, inclusion of /run directory, provides a dynamic firewall management and improving virtualization support.

Installing Fedora 15

• You can try out Fedora 15 without making any changes to the hard disk by booting up and running the Desktop Edition.
• If you are running Fedora 15 on VirtualBox, chances are GNOME 3 will not be working and the system will run GNOME in fallback mode. You would received a message as follows:

• The desktop of GNOME 3 in fallback mode looks like the following:

• The desktop is similar to GNOME 2.
• You need to install Fedora 15 in GNOME fallback mode. However, you could fix this by installing VirtualBox Linux Guest Additions.
• To install the operating system to the hard disk. Go to Application >> System Tools and select “Install to Hard Drive”.
• The installation program starts with the screen below. You are required to select the type of keyboard

• The next screen allows you to choose the disk storage system. Choose “Basic Storage System”.

• If you have new hard disk which has not been initialized, you might get a message asking to initialize the hard disk.
• Next, you are required to enter the host name of your computer. You need to supply the host name using the internet format localhost@domain.com. Local host is the name of the computer; domain name is use when you have an Internet domain. For personal use and home use, you can use the defaults.

• Select your time zone

• Enter the root password

• The next stage, is to designate the drive partition where Fedora is to be installed.

• If you have only one primary drive, you should let the system configure the drive. If you are familiar with the Linux partition, you could customize your drive system. Additionally, you have the option to encrypt the whole hard disk using a pass-phrase.
• I recommend letting the system configures the partition automatically. You have to confirm the changes as follows:

• After configuration of the disk system, the installation program proceeds with the installation of the operating system by copying live image to the hard disk.

• Once the operating system is copied to the hard disk, you will be asked to exit the operating system and reboot.

• At this stage the installation is 90% complete. However, you still need to complete the final phase of installation after reboot.

Post Installation Setup

• First you need to accept the license agreement.

• Then you need to register a user. Make sure “Add to Administrators Group” is checked.

• Next, configures the system date and time

• I prefer to synchronize the system time with the Internet.

• And finally you are asked to send hardware profile.

• The installation is completed when the system prompt the user for login ID.
• Once is system is up and running, you need to update the operating system IMMEDIATELY and  reboots the virtual machine as new kernels are updated on the system.

After the Installation

• After the installation you need to update the system by selecting Applications >> System Tools >> Software Updates.
• Alternatively, you can use terminal window and run the command $sudo yum update.
• Please check the post on Application Installation and Configuration of Fedora 15 (Lovelock) on how to install various useful applications.
• You could also check the following post for various types of configuration:

• Install VirtualBox Linux Guest Addition in Fedora 15 (Lovelock) Guest OS
• Install Google Chrome in Fedora 15 (Lovelock)
• Installing Adobe Flash Player in Fedora 15 (Lovelock)
• Configuring Adobe Flash Player for Chrome in Fedora 15 (Lovelock)
• Install Dropbox in Fedora 15 (Lovelock)
• Installing Adobe AIR in Fedora 15 (Lovelock)
• Install and Playing Real Player in Fedora 15 (Lovelock)

*** End ***

• Using the example in Part 2, instead of compiling line by line, we can create a make file that will follow certain compiling instructions.
• The format for the make file is:

target: dependencies

command

• The file is usually called Makefile
• The Makefile of previous tvm program will be as follows:

#Creating object

tvm2: tvm2.o finlib.o

gcc tvm2.o finlib.o -lm -o tvm2

tvm2.o: tvm2.c fin.h

gcc -c tvm2.c

finlib.o: finfn.c fin.h

gcc -c finfn.c -o finlib.o

clean:

rm -f tvm2 tvm2.o finlib.o

• This is the more explicit way to instruct the make program how to compile line by line.
• Please note that the final program must come first before compilation of object. It is a drill down approach.
• After the make file is written, you can package all the program and Makefile together.
• To compile the program just type #make
• To remove the compiled program and object type #make clean
• However, we need not be so explicit because make program know how to compile programs.
• See the example below:

CFLAGS=-Wall

LDFLAGS=-lm

#Creating object

tvm: tvm.o finfn.o fin.h

clean:

rm -f tvm tvm.o finfn.o

• CFLAGS refers to compile flags
• LDFLAGS refers to linking flags
• By indicating our target program and the dependencies, the make program will compile the program and link them appropriately using the flags indicated.
• Since the custom library need not compile every time, we can include the main C program and the object file of the library.
• The Makefile will be slightly different, as follows:

CFLAGS=-Wall

LDFLAGS=-lm

#Creating object

tvm: tvm.o finlib.o fin.h

clean:

rm -f tvm tvm.o

• We don’t supply finfn.c but we supply a precompiled object file finlib.o.

#include <stdio.h>

#include "fin.h"

int main (void)

{

double myrate;

int myterm;

double myprincipal;

double myreturn;

printf ("Please enter the following:\n");

printf ("Rate of return:(In decimal 50%% is 0.5)");

scanf ("%lf", &myrate);

printf ("\n");

printf ("Number of terms:(No decimals): ");

scanf ("%d", &myterm);

printf ("\n");

printf ("The principal amount: ");

scanf ("%lf", &myprincipal);

printf ("\n");

myreturn = tvm (myrate, myterm, myprincipal);

printf ("Your return after %d term is $%.2lf.\n", myterm, myreturn);

return 0;

}

• Next, we create a header file (“fin.h”) that will include all financial functions in the future.

double tvm (double rate, int terms, double principal);

• Finally, we create a new program call finfn.c (as in financial function). The custom function will be place here.

#include <math.h>

#include "fin.h"

double tvm (double rate, int terms, double principal)

{

double dn;

double pp;

dn = terms;

pp = pow (1+rate, dn);

return principal * pp;

}

• The purpose splitting the program is such that tvm function can be reuse as a custom library in another program.
• We can compile all the program #gcc -Wall tvm.c finfn.c -o tvm –lm
• However, we don’t have to compile finfn.c every time of there is no changes.
• One way is to create an object file during compilation instead of create executable.
• We compile finfn.c first: #gcc -Wall -c finfn.c -o finlib.o
• With the object file available, we can create another program tvm2 using the same tvm function:

#include <stdio.h>

#include "fin.h"

int main (void)

{

double rate = 0.025;

int term = 10;

double principal = 1000;

double result = 0;

result = tvm (rate, term, principal);

printf ("The return of $1000 investment with a rate of 2.5 percent in 10 years will give you $%.2lf.\n", result);

return 0;

}

• Then we compile tvm2.c first before linking:

#gcc -Wall -c tvm2.c -o tvm2.o

• We can link both program as follows:

#gcc tvm.o finlib.o -lm -o tvm

#gcc tvm2.o finlib.o -lm -o tvm2

• In the example, we compile 2 programs using the custom function in one object file.
• Alternatively, we can compile straight from tvm2.c to executable like below:

#gcc -Wall tvm2.c finlib.o -lm -o tvm2

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void)

{

printf ("Sick of printing hello!\n");

return 0;

}

• To compile the program #gcc -Wall sick.c -o verysick
• The option -Wall display all possible Warning and -o indicate to the compiler that user want the output to be name after the -o option.
• To run the program indicate the complete path or $./verysick

Writing and Compiling C Program using Math Library

• Below is a more complex C program called tvm.c

#include <stdio.h>

#include <math.h>

double tvm (double rate, int terms, double principal);

int main (void)

{

double myrate;

int myterm;

double myprincipal;

double myreturn;

printf ("Please enter the following:\n");

printf ("Rate of return:(In decimal 50%% is 0.5) ");

scanf ("%lf", &myrate);

printf ("\n");

printf ("Number of terms:(No decimals): ");

scanf ("%d", &myterm);

printf ("\n");

printf ("The principal amount: ");

scanf ("%lf", &myprincipal);

printf ("\n");

myreturn = tvm (myrate, myterm, myprincipal);

printf ("Your return after %d term is $%.2lf.\n", myterm, myreturn);

return 0;

}

double tvm (double rate, int terms, double principal)

{

double dn;

double pp;

dn = terms;

pp = pow (1+rate, dn);

return principal * pp;

}

• To compile the program #gcc -Wall tvm.c -lm -o tvm
• The additional option -lm is required so that the compiler will search for the math library in reference to including math.h.

Using Command Line to Compile C Program

1. Select  [Start >> All Programs >> Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Express Edition >> Visual Studio Tools >> Visual Studio 2010 Command Prompt]. Run with administrator privileges.

2. Once you are in the command line, you can use any editor such as edit to write a C program.

C:> edit myprogram.c

3. After written the program, to compile it, issue the command cl

C:> cl myprogram.c

4. During the compilation and linking, myprogram.obj and myprogram.exe will be created.To run the program:

C:> myprogram

Using Visual C++ 2010 IDE

1. Create an empty project by select [File >> New >> Project]. Select [General >> Empty Project] and type in the project name. Alternatively, you can select [File >> New >> Project], follow by [Win32 >> Win32 Console Application]. Type in the project name.

2. If you use Win32 Console Application, you can skip this step. Under [Solution Explorer], right click the project name, and select [Properties]. Select [Configuration Properties >> Linker >> System]. Under [SubSystem], select [Console (/SUBSYSTEM:CONSOLE)].

3. Under [Solution Explorer, Source File], right-click and select [Add >> New Item].

4. Under Code, Select C++ File (.cpp), however, when you type in the name use a program name with extension .c, such as myprog.c and click [Add].

5. You can proceed to type your C program. Click [Save] icon to save your file.

6. To compile the program, under [Solution Explorer, Source File], right click the source file and select [Compile or (Ctrl+F7)].

7. Please note that you cannot run the program until you have build solution.

8. To build solution select [Debug >> Build Solution or (F7)]

9. To run the program without debugging, select [Debug >> Start without debugging or (Ctrl+F5)]. (Note: If you do not have this option, you need to add the command manually under Tools >> Customize. You may add a menu option or a button in the Debug toolbar.)

10. For any runtime error, you can debug the program as follows; Select [Debug >> Start debugging (F5)].

11. Please note that during debugging, the program will show and close the console display immediately.

12. To see the console display, you must run without debugging.

Note:

The problem using Visual Studio is that many files will be created even for a very simple program. All files are created inside the project folder.

Under the project name of your program, the source code and object file is located at sub folder similar to your project name, the executable file is under sub folder <Debug>.

It is simpler to use the command line to compile and run a C program, however, you could use the IDE for writing a properly formatted C program.

1. Select  Start >> All Programs >> Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Express Edition >> Visual Studio Tools >> Visual Studio 2008 Command Prompt (Run with administrator privileges)
2. Once you are in the command line, you can use any editor such as edit to write a C program.

C:> edit myprogram.c

1. After written the program, to compile it, issue the command cl

C:> cl myprogram.c

1. During the compilation and linking, myprogram.obj and myprogram.exe will be created.
2. To run the program:

C:> myprogram

Using Visual C++ 2008 IDE

1. Create an empty project by select File >> New >> Project. Select General >> Empty Project and type in the project name.
2. Under folder Source, right-click Select Add >> New Item.
3. Under Code, Select C++ File (.cpp), however, when you type in the name use a program name with extension .c, such as myprog.c and click Add
4. You can program to type your C program. Click Save icon to save your file.
5. To compile the program select Build >> Compile (Ctrl+F7).
6. Please note that you cannot run the program until you have build solution.
7. To build solution select Build >> Build Solution (F7)
8. Running the program:
9. Select Debug >> Start without debugging (Ctrl+F5)
10. For any runtime error, you can debug the program as follows:
11. Select Debug >> Start debugging (F5)
12. Please note that during debugging, the program will show and close the console display immediately.
13. To see the console display, you must run without debugging.

Note:

• The problem using Visual Studio is that many files will be created even for a simple program. All files are created inside the project folder.
• Under the project name of your program, the source code and object file is located at sub folder similar to your project name, the executable file is under sub folder debug.

Using Borland C++ Compiler Command Line Tools

• Installing and running the Command Line Tools
• Run freecommandlinetools.exe; choose the drive and folder into which you want to install the free C++Builder 5 command line tool development system.
• From the bin directory of your installation: Add “c:\Borland\Bcc55\bin” to the existing path
• Create a bcc32.cfg file which will set the compiler options for the Include and Lib paths (-I and –L switches to compiler) by adding these lines:

-I"c:\Borland\Bcc55\include"

-L"c:\Borland\Bcc55\lib"

• Create an ilink32.cfg file which will set the linker option for the Lib path by adding this line:

-L"c:\Borland\Bcc55\lib"

• Compiling the program:

bcc32 myprogram.c

For Red Hat Linux and Fedora system, there are also significant changes compared to the previous setup.

Before Fedora 10, the default crontab file is setup as follows:

SHELL=/bin/bash
PATH=/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin
MAILTO=root
HOME=/
01 * * * * root run-parts /etc/cron.hourly
02 4 * * * root run-parts /etc/cron.daily
22 4 * * 0 root run-parts /etc/cron.weekly
42 4 1 * * root run-parts /etc/cron.monthly

In the older version of Red Hat Linux and Fedora, anacron was setup to run during the system boot up and initialization process. A script file named as anacron can be found in /etc/rc.d/init.d, the directory that stores the system boot up script.

However, from Fedora 11 onwards, the cron jobs mentioned above are split between cron and anacron.

The default crontab file has no entries as shown below:

SHELL=/bin/bash
PATH=/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin
MAILTO=root
HOME=/
# .—————- minute (0 – 59)
# |  .————- hour (0 – 23)
# |  |  .———- day of month (1 – 31)
# |  |  |  .——- month (1 – 12) OR jan,feb,mar,apr …
# |  |  |  |  .—- day of week (0 – 6) (Sunday=0 or 7)  OR
#sun,mon,tue,wed,thu,fri,sat
# |  |  |  |  |
# *  *  *  *  *  command to be executed

So, where are the cron jobs’ configurations? First, all the daily, weekly and monthly scripts are configured under anacrontab and it is set to be run by anacron. The default anacrontab file is as follows:

SHELL=/bin/sh
PATH=/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin
MAILTO=root
1   65     cron.daily          nice run-parts /etc/cron.daily
7   70     cron.weekly         nice run-parts /etc/cron.weekly
@monthly 75 cron.monthly       nice run-parts /etc/cron.monthly

With anacron running all the scripts located in /etc/cron.daily, cron.weekly and cron.monthly. Cron is left with running the scripts in /etc/cron.hourly. The configuration of the hourly cron job is located at /etc/cron.d/0hourly. The default is as follows:

SHELL=/bin/bash
PATH=/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin
MAILTO=root
HOME=/
01 * * * * root run-parts /etc/cron.hourly

Since anacron is not a daemon, this means that anacron need to be activate by scheduled scripts or command. In Fedora, a script file named “0anacron” is located at /etc/cron.hourly. This indicates that anacron is schedule to run on an hourly basis.

In conclusion, the cron daemon in Fedora now only run the script stored in /etc/cron.hourly which configuration is based on /etc/cron.d/0hourly. In the folder /etc/cron.hourly there is a script that runs anacron on an hourly basis. This anacron script then runs all other scripts in the daily, weekly and monthly folders.

Therefore, from Fedora 11 onwards you need to installed cron and anacron in order to have your system task scheduler running properly.

While this is a good arrangement, since most users do not turn on their PC 24×7, I agreed with some users’ suggestion that Fedora should include additional explanatory notes to explain the new configuration in the file crontab.

If you want to remove anacron and use cron exclusively, you need to use the old configuration of crontab and append to the crontab as shown below:

SHELL=/bin/bash
PATH=/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin
MAILTO=root
HOME=/
# .—————- minute (0 – 59)
# |  .————- hour (0 – 23)
# |  |  .———- day of month (1 – 31)
# |  |  |  .——- month (1 – 12) OR jan,feb,mar,apr …
# |  |  |  |  .—- day of week (0 – 6) (Sunday=0 or 7)  OR
#sun,mon,tue,wed,thu,fri,sat
# |  |  |  |  |
# *  *  *  *  *  command to be executed
02 4 * * * root run-parts /etc/cron.daily
22 4 * * 0 root run-parts /etc/cron.weekly
42 4 1 * * root run-parts /etc/cron.monthly

It is not advisable to remove cron because anacron cannot run a task at a specific time.

End

If you are using the latest version of VirtualBox and Fedora 12, you should not have any problem with the drivers. The VBox video drivers works well with HAL in Fedora.

However, there is one exception. After installing VirtualBox Guest Addition on Fedora, you can freely adjust the size of the windows in the VirtualBox. If you happen to adjust VirtualBox windows to maximize the full screen on a 22″ or greater LCD, you will have problem starting X Windows on the next reboot. After maximizing the VirtualBox to the maximum, you would not be able to start X Window (specifically gdm) on the next reboot.

Problem

I have a 22″ LCD monitor with default resolution of 1680×1050 in Windows Vista. I have manage to adjust the VirtualBox Window (Fedora 12 as Guest) to 1504×932 without problem restarting Fedora. However, if I maximize the VirtualBox Window to occupy the full screen except Vista status bar (resolution of 1680×957), I would have problem starting X Window on the next reboot.

Solution

There are 2 ways to resolve this issue.

The first solution is NOT to maximize the VirtualBox window before restarting Fedora. If you need to maximize the VirtualBox window to work on Fedora, you must remember to reduce the window back to its original size. This is the easiest solution except that you have to remember to reduce the window before restarting Fedora or shutting down Fedora.

If  you prefer to work on the maximize  VirtualBox window size all the time, you can do so that by reverting to the old method of configuring the screen resolution using configuration file. The second solution is to manually configure screen resolution. Please be aware that after configuring the screen resolution, you cannot adjust VirtualBox window freely anymore.

We use xorg.conf configuration file to configure screen resolution. This file is no longer located at /etc/X11 because Fedora is using HAL to manage video and screen resolution. In the older Fedora system, xorg.conf is the main configuration file for video size, dept and resolution.

How to Login when X Windows Fails to Start

When X Windows fails to start, use the key Ctrl+Fn+F2 or Ctrl+Fn+F3 to switch to another virtual windows using console login.

Creating X11 Video Configuration File (xorg.conf)

Since the new Fedora system don’t use xorg.conf anymore. You couldn’t find it in /etc/X11 folder. To generate this file automatically use the command #Xorg -configure. This command creates a file “xorg.conf.new” after probing the video system. You need to read the output as it indicates where this new file is created.

Then you need to rename the file to xorg.conf and move this configuration file to /etc/X11 folder.

Finally, you need to define the screen resolution in the configuration file.

Amending the Configuration File

Open the file xorg.conf with your favorite editor.

On the section “Screen”, look for subsection “Display” with depth of 24.

Insert a new line indicating the Modes “1680×957″, as follows:

Section “Screen”
Identifier   ”Default Screen”
Monitor      ”Configured Monitor”
Device      ”Configured Video Device”
DefaultDepth    24
SubSection      “Display”
Depth           24
Modes           ”1680×957″
EndSubSection
EndSection

The resolution of 1680×957 is the maximize window size excluding the Windows task bar. If you have different screen resolution, please check the most appropriate resolution for your  screen.

Please note that using the xorg.conf will prevents you from adjusting the VirtualBox window dynamically.

If you want to revert to dynamic window adjustment, make sure Fedora is shut down with smaller screen resolution. You can remove the file xorg.conf.

End

Posted in Linux Operating System, Tech Tips Tagged: Fedora, Fedora 12, GNOME, Linux, X Windows ]]> http://technozeal.wordpress.com/2010/01/16/video-problem-with-gnome-and-x-windows-in-fedora-installed-in-virtualbox/feed/ 0 technozeal http://technozeal.wordpress.com/2010/01/15/no-tune-after-login-to-fedora-12/ http://technozeal.wordpress.com/2010/01/15/no-tune-after-login-to-fedora-12/#comments Fri, 15 Jan 2010 08:20:45 +0000 technozeal http://technozeal.wordpress.com/?p=216 ]]> This is a minor problem, but some users might want to listen to a welcome tune after login to Fedora 12.

First, get a copy of desktop login tune (desktop-login.ogg) from Fedora 11. You can also download from here: desktop-login.ogg

Then copy this file to the folder /usr/share/sounds/freedesktop/stereo

Logout and login again, you should be able to hear the login tune after login.

If there is still no desktop login sound,  select: System >> Preference >>Startup Applications

Ensure that the application “GNOME login sound” is check. Click edit and make sure that the command /usr/bin/canberra-gtk-play –id=”desktop-login” –description=”GNOME Login” is available.

Depends on the sound drivers and the sound system initiation procedure, some system may not be able to play the sound.

End

Booting to Previous Kernel

• When the system startup, press <Tab> few times to make sure the boot menu shows. If it doesn’t work, try a few times.
• The <Tab> key must hit  the system when the system boots up.
• IF you manage to get the boot menu, move the arrow key and select the previous kernel release.

Configure Boot Menu to use Previous Kernel

• Once you are into the system, you need to configure the boot menu such that it boots to the previous kernel.
• Use your favorite editor and open the  file /boot/grub/grub.conf using root access.
• In the menu, change the default to 1.

Configure Boot Menu to show Boot Menu

• To avoid hitting <tab> key many time to display the boot menu, you might want to change some entries in the grub.conf file.
• Open the file /boot/grub/grub.conf.
• Under the entry timeout=0, change it to timeout=2. This allows the boot menu to show for 2 seconds.
• Hash out the #hiddenmenu. This will show the boot menu.
• Every time when you start the machine, the boot menu will display for 2 seconds.

Drivers Failed after Kernel Update

• Unfortunately, some driver which you’ve installed manually usually failed after kernel update. There is nothing much you can do except to reinstall all the proprietary drivers after kernel update.
• The most common driver issue are video drivers and sound drivers.
• If you’ve install proprietary Nvidia drivers to run Compiz. You need to reinstall the drivers every time when there is a new update on the kernel.
• If you do not have a sound driver for your sound card and resort to use ALSA generic sound driver. You need to reinstall the drivers.

Installing Beesu

Using Beesu

• To use Beesu to open Nautilus with root access, use the following procedure:
• Open a terminal window with normal access, use the following command (use either one)
  • #beesu nautilus
  • #beesu nautilus –browser

Configuring Nautilus with Beesu

The above method is workable. However, it is very cumbersome to open a terminal window every time you want to open Nautilus with root access. Using the package Nautilus Beesu Package, we can configure Nautilus by installing some scripts that uses Beesu function. The procedure for installing such scripts is as follows:

Configuring Nautilus with Beesu

• Open a terminal windows
• Run the Nautilus Beesu configuration program with the command
• $nautilus-beesu-manager
• A Window will pop-up and you have to choose which script to install. At least choose “Open Nautilus here”. It is also recommended to install the script “Open with gEdit”

Using Nautilus with Beesu Script

• After installation is done, you can open the normal file browser and navigate to any system folder you might need to access with root privileges.
• Right-click the system folder and select Scripts >> beesu >> Open Nautilus here
• Another Nautilus window will appear with root privileges.
• If you want to be able to edit any script file or configuration file freely, install the script “Open with gEdit”.
• After the installation, point to any script or configuration file you want to modify with root privileges, right-click and select Scripts >> beesu >> Open with gEdit.
• gEdit will open the selected script file or configuration file with root access. You don’t have to open a new Nautilus window

End

Using sudo Command

The simple way is to configure current user to use sudo.

The procedure of configuring sudo is as follows:

1. Open a terminal window with root privileges using the command below:
2. #su -
3. After entering password proceed with the following command to open the sudo file
4. #visudo
5. This vi utility will check if your entry is correct. Use visudo instead of vi /etc/sudoers
6. In the sudo file, remove the # from the statement %wheel  ALL=(ALL)       ALL
7. Next, open the group file using vi as follows:
8. #vi /etc/group
9. Under the entry wheel:x:10:root, append the current login name after root as follows:
10. wheel:x:10:root,username
11. Save the file. Now the current user can perform sudo command

• To open Nautilus as root use the command from the terminal without root access,

• $sudo nautilus

• $sudo nautilus --browser.

The other way is to install and use the software package Beesu. Check out this post for details: Installing and Using Beesu on Fedora 12

End

For graphics user interface environment in Linux, there are 2 basic components:

• The X window system which provides the basic frame work
• Desktop environment such as GNOME, KDE, XFCE and LXDE

Installing GUI Desktop Environment

Installing GUI and desktop environment from text based console

• Installing GNOME
  • #yum groupinstall ‘X Window System’
  • #yum groupinstall ‘GNOME Desktop Environment’
• Installing KDE
  • #yum groupinstall ‘X Window System’
  • #yum groupinstall ‘KDE (K Desktop Environment)’
• Installing XFCE
  • #yum groupinstall ‘X Window System’
  • #yum groupinstall ‘XFCE’
• Installing LXDE
  • #yum groupinstall ‘X Window System’
  • #yum groupinstall ‘LXDE’

Starting X Windows

• To start X Windows from a text based console use the command:
  • $ startx

Ending X Windows

• To ending X Window / GNOME session and returning to command prompt, just logout from the session.
• If it fails press Ctrl+Alt+Backspace to end your GNOME session.
• Alternatively, press Ctrl+Alt+F1 to return to where you first ran startx, and then press Ctrl+C to kill the desktop.

GNOME Desktop Environment

For GNOME, it comprise of different components, they are:

• The X window system which provides the basic frame work
• Desktop environment GNOME including GNOME panels and GNOME desktop
• Metacity Window manager which provides the basic of controlling Window
• Nautilus file manager
• Fedora desktop theme

Metacity Useful Keyboard Shortcuts

• For details configuration of Metacity, run the command $gconf-editor as regular user. If this command is not available try #yum install gconf-editor.
• This allows you to configure the keyboard shortcuts.
• This is a behind the scene configuration and it is advisable for user to use the graphical tools instead.

Virtual Terminal

• You can switch between multiple console based virtual terminal using Ctrl+Alt+Function command.
• Ctrl+Alt+F1 = terminal without prompt, with messages, this is the terminal that start x window
• Ctrl+Alt+F2 to Ctrl+Alt+F6 give you full terminal window
• Ctrl+Alt+F7 return to X Window

Switching Desktop Environment

• To switch between desktop environment just change the desktop environment under ‘Sessions’ during login time.

Switching Desktop Environment for Console Based System (Run Level 3)

• You do not need the following procedure if you are running at system level 5. This procedure is for user running at level 3 and using startx to launch window.
• If you start Windows by startx command, you need to issue a command to switch desktop environment. You need to issue command $switchdesk KDE or $switchdesk GNOME. ($yum install switchdesk if you don’t have it.)
• Alternatively, you can install a similar GUI tool switchdesk-gui. The program included 2 scripts .Xclients and .Xclients-default in the user root directory.  .Xclients-default contains the default desktop environment use by switchdesk. There is an entry WM=”gnome-session” or WM=”startkde” to indicate which desktop environment to use.

Linux System Run Level and Startup

• When Linux starts up, it enters into what is referred to as a run level or system state.
• Typically, a system set to start at run level 5 boots to a graphical login prompt. A system set to run level 3 boots to a text prompt.
• The run level is set by the initdefault line in the /etc/inittab file. (id:5:initdefault)
• Init Level (/etc/inittab)
  • Level 0 – Halt
  • Level 1 – Single User Mode
  • Level 2 – Multiuser Mode without NFS
  • Level 3 – Full Multi User Mode
  • Level 4 – Unused
  • Level 5 – X11
  • Level 6 – Reboot

X Window Startup

• X server and login screen is started by prefdm script, if the system run level is 5.
• The default login screen is GNOME display manager (gdm), which handles login session and start up the desktop environment.
• Some processes are started from the scripts in the directory /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d
• All windows problem are log at /var/log/Xorg.0.log

X Window Configuration

• The display settings run by system-config-display is store in the file /etc/X11/xorg.conf.
• This configuration contains the video settings and even mouse and keyboard settings for X windows to use.
• Further information is available at www.x.org

Ubuntu

If you are new in Linux, Ubuntu is the only choice. Ubuntu is design for people who are migrating from Windows or Mac. It is novice friendly and easy to use. Its documentation is very rich and clear. Ubuntu also has a very large support community. Furthermore, Ubuntu focus its feature enhancement more on the desktop experience. Compare to Fedora, Ubuntu is more concern of stability and therefore it won’t adopt any new technology that is too new and unstable.

If you want a stable and user-friendly desktop experience, Ubuntu is the choice. If you do not like to tinker with operating system and just want to use it for normal usage, choose Ubuntu.

Fedora

Fedora, however, is the most technically advanced distribution. Any new technology will be adopted by Fedora first.  If you want the latest and most advanced technology, use Fedora. Therefore, Fedora is not as stable as Ubuntu. Sometime you would get a problematic kernel update which forces you to switch back to older kernel for a while. Fedora is more suitable for season Linux user who wants to try out the latest. You must not be afraid of tinkering with the operating system when using Fedora. If you are technically inclined but new to Linux, you could try Fedora. The support community for Fedora is good.

For feature enhancement, Fedora is more concern of security and it may include enterprise feature which might not benefit you. Fedora is the test bed for trying out new technology before such technology is adopted by its sponsor Linux Red Hat in their enterprise operating system. If you are an IT professional considering adopting a new skills in Linux administration, Fedora is the choice. By learning Fedora, you will be sure that Linux Red Hat would adopt some of the technology eventually. For anyone who would like to learn some system administration that could help in their career in IT, Fedora is he choice.

Enterprise: Linux Red Hat and CentOS

In the enterprise market, Linux Red Hat is the most popular open source distribution. However, Linux Red Hat is not free. You can download Red Hat for a free trial. After which, you have to pay for any updates and support. For those looking to learn the skills in administering Linux Red Hat, you could use Fedora or CentOS. CentOS is very similar to Linux Red Hat. In fact, what CentOS did is to get the source code from Linux Red Hat, remove its trade mark and marketed as CentOS.

Please bear in mind that CentOS is not 100% compatible with Linux. CentOS is trying to be as similar to Red Hat as possible. I could say that CentOS is 99% compatible with Linux Red Hat. For those who want to learn Red Hat administration, CentOS is the choice because you can download it for free. In the enterprise market, some companies try out CentOS before adopting Linux Red Hat. There are some companies who would not like to pay for updates and support would use CentOS operationally.

Mobile Distribution: Knoppix and DSL

Beside the two popular desktop distributions Fedora and Ubuntu, I would like to introduce you to some light weight and mobile distribution. Such distribution is not rich in software but it is good enough for simple usage. Knoppix contains in a bootable CD with a collection of GNU/Linux software. There is no need to install Knoppix to the hard disk as you can boot it up from CD.

Another mobile distribution is DSL (Damn Small Linux). It is derived from Knoppix and it is much smaller in size. It contains only 50MB and could be stored in a thumb drive. Mobile distribution could be used for demonstrative or educational purpose. However, Linux administrator uses it frequently for hardware troubleshooting or repair.

Distribution for Hardcore Geek: Gentoo and LFS

Gentoo Linux was designed for power users. Its installation could be cumbersome although recently it includes an installer to simplify the installation. If you would like to modify your operating system to your liking, Gentoo could be your choice. Gentoo also got a good support community with comprehensive documentation.  Gentoo users are more technically inclined. In fact, Gentoo forum provide a lot of the highly technical solution to the common problem in other distribution.

If you want to build Linux from scratch, you should consider LFS project. Linux From Scratch (LFS) is a project that provides you with the steps necessary to build your own custom Linux system. The most important reason for using LFS is to learn how a Linux system works internally. Building an LFS system teaches you about all that makes Linux tick, how things work together, and depend on each other. Along the way you could customize it to your own taste and needs.

Debian

Finally, I would like to mention Debian. Before Ubuntu arrives, Debian got the largest support community with a large collection of software. Debian also got the largest group of developers working on the project. The existence of Ubuntu, which uses the base code of Debian, split up the manpower and resource from Debian. In fact, a lots of other Linux distribution are derived from Debian.

Usage

With all the different Linux distributions mentioned above. I would like to highlight that the usage between these distributions can be very different especially in the area of software installation and distribution. We can categorize most Linux distribution into 2 classes.

The first class is the Red Hat class of distributions. Red Hat uses rpm files to package their software and it uses yum for software update and distribution. Red Hat class distribution includes Linux Red Hat, Fedora and CentOS.

The other class, is the Debian class of distributions. Obviously, these distributions use the base code of Debian. Debian uses deb package for software packaging and it uses apt-get for updates and distributions. Debian class of Linux includes Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Knoppix and DSL (via Knoppix).

I hope the analysis above will help you to make up your mind on which Linux distribution to choose.

Configuration Tools

Text console configuration tool:

• /usr/sbin/system-config-network-tui
• /sbin/ifconfig

Using ifconfig:

• ifconfig – display running network configuration
• ifconfig -a – display all (running or not running network device) network configuration
• ifconfig <interface> up – bring up the specified interface network
• ifconfig <interface> down – bring down the specified interface network
• ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.188 netmask 255.255.255.0 – setup a network interface with a specific IP address and sub-net mask
• For further usage check #man ifconfig

Network Configuration Files

/etc/sysconfig/network – Defines your network and some of its characteristics.

The settings are:

• NETWORKING=yes
• HOSTNAME=localhost.localdomain

/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth* – This is a configuration file for each network interface card. For eth0 the path would be /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0

The settings are permanent; some of the entries are shown below:

• DEVICE=eth0
• HWADDR=00:03:10:22:45
• #For permanent fixed IP address
• IPADDR=192.168.1.100
• NETMASK=255.255.0.0
• ONBOOT=yes
• BOOTPROTO=none

/etc/networks - Provides a database of network names with network addresses similar to the /etc/hosts file.

The settings are:

• Default 0.0.0.0
• Loopback 127.0.0.1
• Link-local 169.254.0.0

/etc/hosts – Defines local hosts.

The settings are:

• 127.0.0.1  localhost  localhost.localdomain
• 192.168.1.100  mymachine.mycompany.com mymachine

/etc/host.conf – Specifies order to search for host name for name resolution.

The settings are:

• Multi on
• Order hosts, bind

/etc/resolv.conf - Contains the address of name server

The settings are:

• Nameserver your.isp.name.server

Configuring Ethernet Manually

Fixed IP

• Ifconfig to set IP address and bring up the network card

#ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.188 netmask 255.255.255.0 up

• To setup the network routing

#route add -net 192.168.0.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 eth0

• Use route add or ip to add default gateway

#route add default gw 192.168.1.1 eth0

• DNS for the network

Add “nameserver 218.186.1.88” at /etc/resolve.conf

• Note: Please note that the above measure is temporary. To permanently set ip address, gateway and dns use system-config-network-tui.
• Once you set fixed IP, netmask, gateway and DNS. The information will be recorded in etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth* as follows;
  • DEVICE=eth0
  • HWADDR=00:05:20:15:36
  • #For permanent fixed IP address
  • IPADDR=192.168.1.100
  • NETMASK=255.255.0.0
  • ONBOOT=no
  • BOOTPROTO=none
• Note: If you have hard coded fixed IP in the config file ifcfg-eth*, if you type #ifconfig eth0 up, it will not configure the fix IP from the file, the eth0 is up with no address assigned.
• Therefore, a proper way to completely bring up and down the network interface card (NIC) is to use #ifup and #ifdown instead of ifconfig.
• If eth0 is down for some reason, using #ifup eth0 will turn on the NIC with all address, gatway and DNS configure in the file
• The console utility (system-config-network-tui) do not have the ability to set the configuration such that eth0 is turn on during startup, to do this we must manually change to ONBOOT=yes.
• If eth0 still will not turn on during startup; this is because the service network is not turn on.
• To turn on the network service during startup, use the command #service network start
• To permently turn on the network service #chkconfig network on

DHCP Client

• If inside the file ifcfg-eth0,the entry ‘BOOTPROTO = none’ or there is no entry on BOOTPROTO use the following:
  • #ifup eth0
  • #dhclient
• If inside the file ifcfg-eth0, the entry ‘BOOTPROTO = dhcp’ use the following:
  • #ifup eth0
• Note: To configure BOOTPROTO just run the utilities system-config-network-tui
• However, the console utility do not have the ability to set the configuration such that eth0 is turn on during startup, to do this we must manually change the file etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth*; ONBOOT=yes
• Then make sure service Network is started and set to turn on permanently with the command #chkconfig network on

Alternative method of starting network

• Add the following at /etc/rc.d/rc.local
  • # ifup eth0
• or
  • # dhclient eth0
• Note: Using local startup script, there is no need to turn on network services

Network Manager (New)

• A new way of managing network is to install the package NetworkManager which does the management of network automatically.
• NetworkManager is designed to replace all other network configuration. It includes all types of network from Ethernet to wireless network.
• Use the command #yum install NetworkManager
• Using NetworkManager, you still need tp ensure that the settings for eth* is setup properply. You need to ensure that ONBOOT=yes.

End.

• Updating Fedora is as easy as Windows and it is automated. You will notice a message indicate that you need to update the OS.
• Follow the direction in the message will bring to the update manager and follow the instruction.
• You can also use command yum to update the system.
• Open a terminal window, type $su
• Enter root password
• Type #yum update

Installation and Configuration of Commonly used Applications (32-bit/64-bit)

• Most of the popular applications are preloaded with Fedora; you might need to add some plug-ins.
• For additional software you can install using System >> Administration >> Add/Remove Software. The utility will search for the application you intended, download it and install it automatically.
• You can also use command line (yum) to install the software packages.
• Fedora uses yum to install and update its software. When connected to the internet it will automatically determine all application dependencies.

Configuring Yum

• Yum automatically connect to the official mirror sites of Fedora to retrieve latest software packages.
• You might want to add additional repositories that provide additional software. Two additional sites are recommended, one is rpmfusion.org, the other is livna.org

To setup repos from rpmfusion:

• #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

Setting up repos from livna.org

• #rpm -ivh http://rpm.livna.org/livna-release.rpm
• #rpm – -import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-livna

Installing Yum plugins

• Yum has many plugins available, the default plugins is presto. This plugins reduce download time by downloading only the changes in the software packages.
• I would also recommended you to install the fastestmirror plugin, it speeds up downloads by attempting to find faster sources.
• To install the plugin:# yum install yum-plugin-fastestmirror

Using Yum

• To install software using yum just use the command: #yum install <software package>
• To find out details about the software packages use the command: #yum info <keyword/name software package>
• You can also perform group install using #yum groupinstall <software group>

Web Browsing

• Firefox is preloaded with Fedora; you just need to install additional plug-ins.

Firefox Plug-ins: Google Toolbar

• Go to the site where Google toolbar is hosted and install directly from the web.

Productivity Suite

• OpenOffice is not included in the LiveCD. To install it go to System >> Administration >> Add/Remove Software.
• Type openoffice in the search box and click find. With the list given, select the OpenOffice package you want.
• You also can use command line as follows:
  • #yum install -y openoffice.org-impress
  • #yum install -y openoffice.org-calc
  • #yum install -y openoffice.org-writer

Utilities

PDF Document

• Fedora has default PDF reader (evince) so no installation is required.
• For 32-bit OS, you might consider install Adobe PDF reader or Foxit PDF reader.
• Fedora has built in PDF writer; here is the direction of how to use it.
  • For Firefox, select print >> print to file, make sure you specify the document type as PDF and also specify the filename and location of the file.
  • For OpenOffice, use ‘Export to PDF’ function.

• You will need a PDF writer if you intend to use it on any other application that do not have print to PDF or export to PDF capabilities. In this case, you need to install cups-pdf.
• The command line to install is #yum install cups-pdf. Please search the web for direction of usage and configuration.

Playing Multimedia Files

• To play the most common multimedia formats, including MP3, Mpeg, rm, QuickTime, WMA and WMV, you need to install additional packages; when you install VLC Media Player, yum install will includes all the necessary codec.
• Playing DVD is more complicated because it involves restricted format. In addition to media player such as Xine or VLC, you need to install CSS Packages.
• Although Fedora comes with Totem Movie Player, it lacks DVD functions such as navigation through the menu, titles etc. I would recommend using VLC Player or Xine.

Installing Media Player

• To install VLC Media Player: #yum install vlc
• To set VLC as the default player, open any File Browser. Select Edit >> Preference >> Media
• To install Xine: #yum install xine xine-lib-extras xine-lib-extras-freeworld

Check Region Setting

• To check your region setting you need the package “regionset”.
• Open a terminal window with root access
• #yum install regionset
• After installation, from command line enter: $regionset. Your region setting will be shown.

Installing CSS Packages

• To install the CSS packages use the command: #yum install libdvdcss

DVD Ripping

• In the event you need to rip or backup your DVD; you can install various DVD ripper.
• In this section we will install k9copy
• #yum install k9copy
• Please search for k9copy on direction of usage.

*****

Installing Adobe Flash Player

Pre-Installation Setup (32-bit/64-bit)

• Download the yum configuration from http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ and select ‘YUM for Linux’
• Save the rpm file ‘adobe-release-i386-1.0-1.noarch.rpm’. Quit your browser.
• Open a terminal window and enter su. Enter the root password to gain root access.
• Enter #rpm -vhi adobe-release-i386-1.0-1.noarch.rpm
• Enter #rpm – -import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-adobe-linux
• The above command setup the adobe repository so that you could use yum to download the lastest from adobe repository.
• To verify the setup of the repository data make sure that the file /etc/yum.repos.d/adobe-linux-i386.repo is available

Installing Flash Player (32-bit)

• For 32-bit Fedora issue the command:
  • #yum install flash-plugin nspluginwrapper alsa-plugins-pulseaudio libcurl
• Launch your browser to verify in the flash player is properly installed.

Installing Flash Player (64-bit)

• For 64-bit Fedora, you need to install a 32-bit plugin that will work with the 64-bit browser by being “wrapped” with nspluginwrapper. The command is:
  • #yum install flash-plugin nspluginwrapper.x86_64 nspluginwrapper.i686 alsa-plugins-pulseaudio.i686 libcurl.i686
• Launch your browser to verify in the flash player is properly installed.

*****

Installing Adobe AIR

Pre-Installation Setup A (32-bit/64-bit)

• Adobe AIR 1.5 for Linux is available at http://get.adobe.com/air/. The file name is ‘AdobeAIRInstaller.bin’
• You might want to setup the installation log so that you could review the log if you encounter any problem. To do this, you need to create the log file at your home directory instead of root. Do not use root access for the following command:
  • $touch ~/.airinstall.log
  • $touch ~/.airappinstall.log
• You need to change the permission of AdobeAIRInstaller.bin. You need root access to change permission.
  • #chmod +x AdobeAIRInstaller.bin

Pre-Installation Setup B (32-bit)

• For 32-bit installation of Adobe AIR. You need to install xterm:
  • #yum install xterm

Pre-Installation Setup B (64-bit)

• For 64-bit installation, we are installing 32-bit Adobe AIR in the 64-bit OS. Addition libraries and software are required as follows:
  • #yum install -y gtk2-devel.i686 nss.i686 nss-softokn.i686 libxml2-devel.i686 libxslt.i686 gnome-keyring.i686 rpm-devel.i686 alsa-plugins-pulseaudio.i686 PackageKit-gtk-module.i686 libXt.i686 gtk2-engines.i686 libcanberra-gtk2.i686 xterm

Running Adobe AIR Installation Program (32-bit/64-bit)

• This is an interactive setup. For any error please refer to the .airinstall.log located at your home directory. You launch installation program from the folder where the software is located. Install the program as follows:
  • ./AdobeAIRInstaller.bin

Problems Running AIR Application (32-bit/64-bit)

• On Fedora 12, you would not be able to install or run any AIR application. This is probably due to SELinux security policy.
• To resolve this issue, we need to rename the crypt folder under the certificates folder. Use the following command:
  • #mv /etc/opt/Adobe/certificates/crypt /etc/opt/Adobe/certificates/crypt_bkp

Installing AIR Application (32-bit/64-bit)

• You should be able to install any AIR application directly from the web.
• During the installation, user will be prompt for root password.

Removing AIR Application (32-bit/64-bit)

• Removing AIR application is a bit tricky. First you need to search for the full application name as follows:
  • #rpm -qa | grep twhirl
• Then you remove the application using rpm as follows:
  • #rpm -e de.makesoft.twhirl.0ea062bc275e7ed1e6ec3762effd73c7158adf33.1-0.9.4-1.i386
• Alternatively, you can use the following command to erase and query the application name at the same time.
  • #rpm -e `rpm -qa | grep twhirl`
  • #rpm -e `rpm -qa | grep tweetdeck`
  • Note: Please note that the quote is a back tick, the key is above [Tab] key.

*****

Installing Real Player

Get Real Player 11 for Linux

• Download Real Player for Linux at http://www.real.com/linux. Download the rpm file ‘RealPlayer11GOLD.rpm’

Installing Real Player for 32-bit Fedora

• To install Real Player, you need to install redhat-lsb before installing the player:
  • #yum install -y redhat-lsb
  • #rpm -ivh RealPlayer11GOLD.rpm

Installing Real Player for 64-bit Fedora

• Since we are installing the 32-bit Player into 64-bit OS, we need to install 32-bit version of lsb as well:
  • #yum install -y redhat-lsb redhat-lsb.i686
  • #rpm -ivh RealPlayer11GOLD.rpm

Note: Alternatively, you could use mplayer or vlc player instead of installing Real Player. I found that mplayer or vlc player do not play the rm files well.

*****

Installing Virtual Box (32-bit/64-bit)

Installing VirtualBox on Fedora 12 Using YUM

1. Before installation please make sure that you are using the latest kernel. If you have just updated a new kernel, you must boot into the new kernel before proceed with the installation.
2. First you need to download the repository file for yum located at http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/rpm/fedora/virtualbox.repo
3. Then you need to move or copy the repo file to yum depository folder:
4. #mv virtualbox.repo /etc/yum.repos.d/
5. Install dkms using the command: #yum install dkms
6. Proceed with the command: #yum install VirtualBox
7. Reboot the PC since kernel file has been modified

Installing Linux Guest

You can install any guest OS including Windows or other distribution of Linux. Please consult the installation guide on installing the operating system you want.

Installing Linux Guest Addition

Before installing Linux Guest Addition, make sure the guest OS is updated.

• To install Linux guest addition, you’ll need GCC compiler, Linux kernel header and dkms. Use the command:
  • #yum install gcc kernel-devel dkms
• Next, you need to mount the CD ISO and proceed to the main folder. Run the appropriate guest addition base on your guest OS architecture. For 32-bit Linux guest use:
  • #./VBoxLinuxAdditions-x86.run
• For 64-bit Linux Guest use the program below:
  • #./VBoxLinuxAdditions-amd64.run

After installation of guest additions, you can move your mouse freely between guest and host OS. You can expand your screen size by resizing the virtual OS windows.

Sharing Folder with Host System

To share network folders, you need to configure a share folder with a share name in the virtual machine settings.

• Then in Linux, you need to mount the share folder using VirtualBox file system:
  • #mount –t vboxfs name_of_share_folder /mnt/mount_point
• Please note that the above mounted folder is owned by root. To allow user to own the files and folder use the command:
  • #mount -t vboxsf -o uid=1000,gid=1000 name_of_share_folder /mnt/mount_point
  • Where uid is the user id and gid is the group id.
• If you want to have it mount automatically upon each boot, put the mount command in /etc/rc.local. Using /etc/fstab has little effect, because that  file is processed before the SF module is loaded and will fail to mount the share.

*****

Installing Compiz (32-bit/64-bit)

Installing Proprietary Nvidia Driver

Important: This procedure involves in modifying the kernel. You need to reboot the PC if you have just updated your kernel before starting this procedure.

• Open a terminal with root access. Then proceed with the following command:
  • #yum install kmod-nvidia xorg-x11-drv-nvidia
• After installing the drivers, you need to change some security setting on SELinux:
  • #setsebool -P allow_execstack on
• Then you need to perform the following to disabled nouveau driver:
  • #mv /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r).img /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r)-nouveau.img
  • #dracut /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r).img $(uname -r)

Important: Reboot your PC and ensure that the Nvidia driver is working properly

Installing Compiz

• Issue the following command to install Compiz:
  • #yum install emerald-themes compiz-fusion-extras emerald compiz-fusion compiz-manager compiz-fusion-extras-gnome gnome-compiz-manager libcompizconfig compiz-fusion-gnome ccsm

Configuring Compiz

You can change the settings using CompizConfig Settings Manager (ccsm) under System >> Preference. However, due to some bug, the changes in ccsm will not affect the system. To rectify this problem you need to change the script file for Compiz in /usr/bin/compiz-gtk

• Once you open this file, change the following line from:
  • exec compiz –ignore-desktop-hints glib gconf gnomecompat $@
• to:
  • exec compiz –ignore-desktop-hints glib gconf gnomecompat ccp $@

Enabling, Configuring and Using Compiz

• You enabled Compiz by select System >> Preference >> Desktop Effect. Choose Compiz.
• You can change the effects using System >> Preference >> CompizConfig Settings Manager
• To rotate the Window Cube, press Ctrl+Alt and simultaneously use your mouse to rotate the window.

End.

The main advantage is, you got the latest files directly from the Fedora repository. You don’t have to perform system update after the installation.

The main disadvantage is, the installation time is very long. A text based installation of 200 packages lasted 20 minutes. A normal installation with basic GNOME desktop environment (about 1000 packages) will need 2 hours of installation time. This, of course, is subjected the web traffic and your download speed.

You can download the guide from here: Installation of Fedora 12 using Net Install CD

The following procedure is to install and enable Compiz on Fedora 12 as Linux guest in VirtualBox. This procedure might work on other distribution of Linux. This procedure is not for Fedora 12 installed in Microsoft Virtual PC or VMWare.

Installing and Enabling Compiz on Fedora 12 in VirtualBox

VirtualBox Setup

• In the virtual machine setting for Fedora 12, make sure that you set the display RAM at the maximum of 128MB and checked “Enable 3D Acceleration”

Install VirtualBox Linux Guest Additions

• Before installing guest additions, you need to install gcc, kernel headers and dkms.
  • #yum install gcc kernel-devel dkms

• Next, you need to mount the Guest Additions ISO and proceed to the main folder. Run the appropriate guest addition base on your guest OS and architecture such as:
  • #./VBoxLinuxAdditions-x86.run
• or
  • #./VBoxLinuxAdditions-amd64.run
• After installation proceed to restart the virtual machine since kernel has been modified.

Install Compiz Fusion

• The command to install Compiz fusion is as follows:
  • #yum install emerald-themes compiz-fusion-extras emerald compiz-fusion compiz-manager compiz-fusion-extras-gnome gnome-compiz-manager libcompizconfig compiz-fusion-gnome ccsm

Configuring Compiz

You can change the settings using CompizConfig Settings Manager (ccsm) under System >> Preference. However, due to some bug, the changes in ccsm will not affect the system. To rectify this problem you need to change the script file for Compiz in /usr/bin/compiz-gtk

Once you open this file, change the following line from:

• exec compiz –ignore-desktop-hints glib gconf gnomecompat $@

to:

• exec compiz –ignore-desktop-hints glib gconf gnomecompat ccp $@

Enabling, Configuring and Using Compiz

• You enabled Compiz by select System >> Preference >> Desktop Effect. Choose Compiz.
• You can change the effects using System >> Preference >> CompizConfig Settings Manager
• To rotate the Window Cube, press Ctrl+Alt and simultaneously use your mouse to rotate the window.

***

Posted in Linux Operating System, Tech Tips Tagged: Compiz, Fedora, Fedora 12, installation, Linux, operating system, Virtual Box, Virtualization ]]> http://technozeal.wordpress.com/2009/12/09/using-compiz-on-fedora-12-as-linux-guest-in-virtualbox/feed/ 0 technozeal http://technozeal.wordpress.com/2009/12/09/install-compiz-on-fedora-12/ http://technozeal.wordpress.com/2009/12/09/install-compiz-on-fedora-12/#comments Wed, 09 Dec 2009 07:37:53 +0000 technozeal http://technozeal.wordpress.com/?p=114 ]]> Installing Compiz on Fedora 12 is not easy. First of all, due to compatibility issues with nouveau driver, additional steps are required to install and configure nvidia 3D driver. After resolving 3D driver issue, you need to modify Compiz configuration file so that your settings are captured. The installation procedure is the same for 32-bit/64-bit Fedora 12.

Note: The following procedure is to install Compiz on Fedora 12 in a normal PC environment using Nvidia graphics card. For installing Compiz on a Fedora 12 guest machine in VirtualBox, please check the instruction at the end of this post.

Installing Proprietary Nvidia Driver

Important: This procedure involves in modifying the kernel. You need to reboot the PC if you have just updated your kernel before starting this procedure.

Open a terminal with root access. Then proceed with the following command:

• #yum install kmod-nvidia xorg-x11-drv-nvidia

After installing the drivers, you need to change some security setting on SELinux:

• #setsebool -P allow_execstack on

Then you need to perform the following to disabled nouveau driver:

• #mv /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r).img /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r)-nouveau.img
• #dracut /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r).img $(uname -r)

Important: Reboot your PC since kernel has been modified. Ensure that the Nvidia driver is working properly

Additional Note: You need to repeat the above procedure every time a new kernel is being updated.

Installing Compiz

Issue the following command to install Compiz:

• #yum install emerald-themes compiz-fusion-extras emerald compiz-fusion compiz-manager compiz-fusion-extras-gnome gnome-compiz-manager libcompizconfig compiz-fusion-gnome ccsm

Configuring Compiz

You can change the settings using CompizConfig Settings Manager (ccsm) under System >> Preference. However, due to some bug, the changes in ccsm will not affect the system. To rectify this problem you need to change the script file for Compiz in /usr/bin/compiz-gtk

Once you open this file, change the following line from:

• exec compiz –ignore-desktop-hints glib gconf gnomecompat $@

to:

• exec compiz –ignore-desktop-hints glib gconf gnomecompat ccp $@

Enabling, Configuring and Using Compiz

You enabled Compiz by select System >> Preference >> Desktop Effect. Choose Compiz.

You can change the effects using System >> Preference >> CompizConfig Settings Manager

To rotate the Window Cube, press Ctrl+Alt and simultaneously use your mouse to rotate the window.

Installing Compiz on Fedora 12 Guest Machine in VirtualBox

Since VirtualBox supports 3D acceleration, you need to perform the following:

1. In Fedora 12 vritual machine settings, set the display RAM to the maximum (128MB) and checked “Enable 3D Acceleration”
2. Install Linux Guest Addition: For instructions, please refer to my post Fedora 12 Software Installation and Configuration Guide and look for the section Installing VirtualBox.
3. Follow the steps in the section above: Installing Compiz
4. Follow the steps in the section above: Configuring Compiz
5. Follow the steps in the section above: Enabling, Configuring and Using Compiz

End.

You can download the pdf copy from here: Installation of Fedora 12 using Full DVD

• When deciding to use 32-bit or 64-bit Fedora, you should consider the need and the usage of the system. If you have proprietary hardware, the drivers and software are usually written in 32-bit. You would have less problem with software installation such as Adobe products and most media players, since most of these software were written in 32-bit.
• You could still install and use 32-bit software in a 64-bit operating environment. However, you need to download all the 32-bit libraries, wrapper and component for installation and compilation. This will increase your hard disk space since you need to maintain both 32-bit and 64-bit libraries.
• You should consider using 64-bit operating system if you need to use a particular software application that requires speed and large amount of memory and this software is supported in 64-bit Linux.
• If you have more than 3GB of RAM, you should consider using 64-bit operating system because the 32-bit operating system only recognizes 3GB of RAM.
• You could use 32-bit Fedora that addresses more than 3GB of RAM. This requires a different kernel known as PAE (Physical Addressing Extension) kernel. This Fedora kernel makes use of PAE features provided by Intel.

Getting Fedora

• You can download the latest Fedora distribution at http://fedoraproject.org/en/get-fedora
• Download the LiveCD. For 32-bit version, the file name is ‘Fedora-12-i686-Live.iso’ and for 64-bit version, the file name is ‘Fedora-12-x86_64-Live.iso’.
• Proceed to burn Fedora LiveCD into a CD. You can search the web on how to burn an ISO image to a CD. You can use the ISO image if you are installing on a virtual machine.

Hardware Requirement (x86)

Ensure that your hardware meets the minimum requirement:

• Recommended for text-mode: 200 MHz Pentium Pro or better
• Recommended for graphical: 400 MHz Pentium Pro or better
• Minimum RAM for text-mode: 256MB
• Minimum RAM for graphical: 512MB
• Recommended RAM for graphical: >512MB
• The hard disk space required is depend on what application you choose to install. For LiveCD installation you will require 2-3GB of hard disk space. You might need up to 4GB of disk space after updates and installation of additional applications.
• It is recommended you have a hard disk space of 6GB to 8GB for the operating system and applications. You might need additional hard disk space for user data.
• At least 5% free space should be maintained for proper system operation.

Getting Help

• You can look for helpful HOWTO documents, installation guide and wikis at http://fedoraproject.org
• You can search the web for help to resolve Fedora issues.
• You can also check out the following Linux forum:
  • http://fedoraforum.org/
  • http://www.linuxquestions.org/
  • http://www.linuxforums.org/

Evaluating Fedora 12

• You can try out Fedora without making any changes to the hard disk by booting up and running the LiveCD.
• You need to resolve any critical hardware problem you might encounter during booting.
• If you experienced video problem, probably due to video driver compatibility, you need to change the video mode in the boot option by appending “vga=<video mode>”. Press any key to stop the automatic booting. Press [Tab] at the boot menu. Append “vga=771”. This video mode gives you 800×600 with 256 colors. After booting up, you might want to search for a driver for your particular video card.
• If you encounter more hardware problem relating to processor, keyboard and hard drive; please make sure your hardware meets the minimum requirement. You might want to ensure that your hardware is functioning properly. Check out the section “Getting Help” to find help for your particular hardware problem.
• Once you are able to boot into the operating system, all critical hardware problems such as bootable drive, processor, memory, video, keyboard and mouse should be resolved at this stage.
• Once Fedora 12 is up and running, you could proceed to evaluate the operating system. You can also test other hardware by running some user applications. You may encounter other hardware problem such as sound, printer, proprietary PCI card and any other peripheral device.
• You can choose to troubleshoot major hardware problem now and proceed with installation before troubleshooting the minor hardware problem. Alternatively, you can choose to troubleshoot all hardware problems before proceeding with installation. You may try to search for a driver for the particular hardware you need and you could install it to see if it works.
• Please note that, Creative Labs, the company that produce sound card is not good at supporting Linux drivers, especially the newer ones. You might want to install generic ALSA drivers. Check out for more details at http://www.alsa-project.org.
• You can use disk utility, system monitor and various system administration functions such as network configuration, display and sound configuration.
• You may choose to install “hwbrowser” (hardware browser). This program displays all the vital hardware information you required.
• To install “hwbrowser”, you need to open a terminal with root access. From the menu in Fedora, select Application >> System Tools >> Terminal. Type “su” and press [Enter]. There is no password for su if you boot from LiveCD.
• Enter “yum install hwbrowser” to proceed with the installation. After installation, select Application >> System Tools >> Hardware. This program displays all the necessary hardware information you might need.
• Alternatively, you can also gather hardware information with the following commands using terminal with root access:
  • lspci
  • less /proc/cpuinfo
  • less /proc/interrupts
  • less /proc/bus/usb/devices
  • less /proc/ioports
• You can also check out the system log to look for errors:
  • less /var/log/messages
• For any additional hardware and installation problem, you could search the web or check out the forums.
• At this point, you may decide whether to proceed with the installation. If you encounter some tolerable hardware problem, you may proceed with the installation and try to resolve them later. However, if you encounter major hardware problem that prevents the operating system from booting up or running properly, you should abort the installation.
• You may choose to configure the hard disk partition first or you can configure hard disk partition during installation. To configure disk partition first, you may choose to install “gparted”, a disk partition utility.

Installing Fedora 12

• Double click “Install to Hard Drive” from the desktop of the LiveCD after you are satisfied with the evaluation of the OS.



• The installation program starts with the screen below.

• During the pre-installation stage, you are required to answer some question such as the type of keyboard

• If you have new hard disk which has not been initialized, you might get a message asking to initialize the hard disk.
• The host name is the name of your computer. You need to supply the host name using the internet format localhost@domain.com. Local host is the name of the computer; domain name is use when you have an Internet domain. For personal use and home use, you can use the defaults.

• Select your time zone

• Enter the root password

• The next stage, which is the most important stage, is to designate the drive partition where Fedora is to be installed.

Hard Disk Partition

Automatic Configuration of Disk Partition

• If you have only one primary drive, you should let the system configure the drive.
• In Fedora 12, the default configuration creates a 200MB of hard disk using ext4 file system with mount point “/boot”. The rest of the disk partition is configured using LVM.
• Within the LVM group, there are 2 logical partition volumes. The ‘lv_swap’ is configured using swap file type having the disk size twice as much as your RAM (swap file size = RAM x 2). The ‘lv_root’ is configured using the rest of the hard disk with ext4 file system using mount point “/” (root or first level of the file system).
• Additionally, you have the option to encrypt the whole hard disk using a passphrase.

Manual Configuration of Disk Partition (without LVM)

If you choose to configure the partition manually, you need to choose ‘Create custom layout’. This is especially true if you are having mixed partition with the Windows file system.

Under Fedora 12, it is recommended that you create the following minimum partition:

• One main partition using ext4 file system with mount point set as “/”
• One swap partition using swap file system using a disk space of (RAM x 2)

The procedure for configuring disk partition manually is as follows:

• First,  select “Create Custom Layout”

• Click [New], select the file type (either ext4 or swap) and select the mount point. You need to determine the size of the partition and the hard disk drive which the partition is to be created.

For better management of disk space with multiple users or large data size, you might consider the following:

• You might consider adding one or more partition using ext3 or ext4 with mount point “/usr” or “/home”. For a computer system with multiple users or computer system with large user data; it is better for user data to be place in a separate partition.
• If you have multiple hard disks, it is faster for the swap partition to be located in separate hard disk.
• LVM is designed for large hard disk space spanning into multiple hard disk. If you require more hard disk space and would like to combine multiple hard disk into a single logical volume; then you should configure the partition with LVM. For home user with a single hard disk, LVM is not necessary. This is the reason we do not use LVM for manual configuration.

Manual Configuration of Disk Partition (with LVM)

Under Fedora 12, it is recommended that you create the following minimum partition using LVM:

• One boot partition of 200 – 300MB, using ext4 file system with mount point set as “/boot”. (Boot partition does not work with LVM)
• The rest of partition format using LVM with group name of your choice such as “VolGroup”. To create logical partition in LVM. Click LVM button. Within LVM you can set the following:
  • One main partition using ext4 file system with mount point set as “/”
  • One swap partition using swap file system using a disk space of RAM size x 2

Manual Configuration of Disk Partition (with encryption)

Under Fedora 12, it is recommended that you create the following minimum partition:

• One boot partition of 200 – 300MB, using ext4 file system with mount point set as “/boot”. (Boot partition cannot be encrypted)
• One swap partition using swap file system using a disk space of RAM size x 2 (Swap file can be encrypted)
• The rest of partition using ext4 file system with mount point set as “/” with encryption.

Note: Make sure you check the “Encrypt” checkbox at the bottom

• You will be given an opportunity to create a passphrase for the encryption.
• For laptop user, it is better to encrypt the whole hard disk except the boot partition.

Setting Boot Loader (using Grub)

• Fedora uses Grub as boot loader. You can choose to set up Grub as the default boot loader (in sda or hd0, 0 or 1^st partition in 1^st drive) in a multiple OS environment. You can choose not to install Grub if you have other boot loader installed. This means that you must configure your current boot loader before you could boot up Fedora.
• By default Grub is set to be installed in MBR which is usually the first partition in the first hard disk.
• Alternatively you can set the Grub on your Linux partition. Using this option, the system assumes that you have another boot loader in the MBR. This option allows you to use another boot loader to point to your Grub boot loader to load Fedora. You need to modify other boot loader to point to the Grub in your Linux partition or you won’t be able to boot up Fedora.
• For any boot option used during the installation, you need to permanently include them in the boot loader. The configuration file is located at /boot/grub/grub.conf.
• If you have multiple hard disk but you intend to create MBR in every drive, the best way is to unplug all other drive in your system. This ensures that Fedora can install Grub at the MBR. You may proceed to plug in other drives after the installation. Note: You must physically unplug the drive because disabling the drives in BIOS does work. Linux can still see the partition information even the drive is disabled in the BIOS.
• For encrypted drive, the device will not be shown.

Completion of the Installation

• After configuration of boot loader, the installation program proceeds with the installation of the operating system by copying live image to the hard disk.

• Once the LiveCD image is copied to the hard disk and boot loader is configured, you will be asked to reboot the OS.

• At this stage the installation is 90% complete. However, you still need to complete the final phase of installation after reboot.

Post Installation Setup

• First you need to accept the license agreement.

• Then you need to register a user

• Next, configures the system date and time

• And finally you are asked to send hardware profile.

• The installation is completed when the system prompt the user for login ID.

• Once is system is up and running, you need to update the operating system and get the drivers ready for any device that was missed during the installation.

After the Installation

• After the installation you need to update the system by selecting System >> Administration >> Software Updates.

• Alternatively, you can use terminal window with roots privilege and run the command #yum update.
• Firefox is installed in Fedora by default. However, you need to install Google Toolbar and any other plug-in such as Adobe Flash Player manually.
• You can choose to install any program by selecting System >> Administration >> Add/Remove Program.

• However, you can choose to use terminal command with root privilege and run $yum install <name of software packages>
• If you are using 64-bit Fedora, there isn’t much software that is 64-bit. You can install 32-bit software such as OpenOffice etc on 64-bit Fedora. Alternatively, you can download the source code and recompile it into 64-bit program.

*** End ***

Ubuntu

If you are new in Linux, Ubuntu is the only choice. Ubuntu is design for people who are migrating from Windows or Mac. It is novice friendly and easy to use. Its documentation is very rich and clear. Ubuntu also has a very large support community. Furthermore, Ubuntu focus its feature enhancement more on the desktop experience. Compare to Fedora, Ubuntu is more concern of stability and therefore it won’t adopt any new technology that is too new and unstable.

If you want a stable and user-friendly desktop experience, Ubuntu is the choice. If you do not like to tinker with operating system and just want to use it for normal usage, choose Ubuntu.

Fedora

Fedora, however, is the most technically advanced distribution. Any new technology will be adopted by Fedora first.  If you want the latest and most advanced technology, use Fedora. Therefore, Fedora is not as stable as Ubuntu. Sometime you would get a problematic kernel update which forces you to switch back to older kernel for a while. Fedora is more suitable for season Linux user who wants to try out the latest. You must not be afraid of tinkering with the operating system when using Fedora. If you are technically inclined but new to Linux, you could try Fedora. The support community for Fedora is good.

For feature enhancement, Fedora is more concern of security and it may include enterprise feature which might not benefit you. Fedora is the test bed for trying out new technology before such technology is adopted by its sponsor Linux Red Hat in their enterprise operating system. If you are an IT professional considering adopting a new skills in Linux administration, Fedora is the choice. By learning Fedora, you will be sure that Linux Red Hat would adopt some of the technology eventually. For anyone who would like to learn some system administration that could help in their career in IT, Fedora is he choice.

Enterprise: Linux Red Hat and CentOS

In the enterprise market, Linux Red Hat is the most popular open source distribution. However, Linux Red Hat is not free. You can download Red Hat for a free trial. After which, you have to pay for any updates and support. For those looking to learn the skills in administering Linux Red Hat, you could use Fedora or CentOS. CentOS is very similar to Linux Red Hat. In fact, what CentOS did is to get the source code from Linux Red Hat, remove its trade mark and marketed as CentOS.

Please bear in mind that CentOS is not 100% compatible with Linux. CentOS is trying to be as similar to Red Hat as possible. I could say that CentOS is 99% compatible with Linux Red Hat. For those who want to learn Red Hat administration, CentOS is the choice because you can download it for free. In the enterprise market, some companies try out CentOS before adopting Linux Red Hat. There are some companies who would not like to pay for updates and support would use CentOS operationally.

Mobile Distribution: Knoppix and DSL

Beside the two popular desktop distributions Fedora and Ubuntu, I would like to introduce you to some light weight and mobile distribution. Such distribution is not rich in software but it is good enough for simple usage. Knoppix contains in a bootable CD with a collection of GNU/Linux software. There is no need to install Knoppix to the hard disk as you can boot it up from CD.

Another mobile distribution is DSL (Damn Small Linux). It is derived from Knoppix and it is much smaller in size. It contains only 50MB and could be stored in a thumb drive. Mobile distribution could be used for demonstrative or educational purpose. However, Linux administrator uses it frequently for hardware troubleshooting or repair.

Distribution for Hardcore Geek: Gentoo and LFS

Gentoo Linux was designed for power users. Its installation could be cumbersome although recently it includes an installer to simplify the installation. If you would like to modify your operating system to your liking, Gentoo could be your choice. Gentoo also got a good support community with comprehensive documentation.  Gentoo users are more technically inclined. In fact, Gentoo forum provide a lot of the highly technical solution to the common problem in other distribution.

If you want to build Linux from scratch, you should consider LFS project. Linux From Scratch (LFS) is a project that provides you with the steps necessary to build your own custom Linux system. The most important reason for using LFS is to learn how a Linux system works internally. Building an LFS system teaches you about all that makes Linux tick, how things work together, and depend on each other. Along the way you could customize it to your own taste and needs.

Debian

Finally, I would like to mention Debian. Before Ubuntu arrives, Debian got the largest support community with a large collection of software. Debian also got the largest group of developers working on the project. The existence of Ubuntu, which uses the base code of Debian, split up the manpower and resource from Debian. In fact, a lots of other Linux distribution are derived from Debian.

Usage

With all the different Linux distributions mentioned above. I would like to highlight that the usage between these distributions can be very different especially in the area of software installation and distribution. We can categorize most Linux distribution into 2 classes.

The first class is the Red Hat class of distributions. Red Hat uses rpm files to package their software and it uses yum for software update and distribution. Red Hat class distribution includes Linux Red Hat, Fedora and CentOS.

The other class, is the Debian class of distributions. Obviously, these distributions use the base code of Debian. Debian uses deb package for software packaging and it uses apt-get for updates and distributions. Debian class of Linux includes Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Knoppix and DSL (via Knoppix).

I hope the analysis above will help you to make up your mind on which Linux distribution to choose.

You can download the guide here: Installation of Fedora 12 using Live CD

You could still install and use 32-bit software in a 64-bit operating environment. However, you need to download all the 32-bit libraries, wrapper and component for installation and compilation. This will increase your hard disk space since you need to maintain both 32-bit and 64-bit libraries.

You should consider using 64-bit operating system if you need to use a particular software application that requires speed and large amount of memory which is supported in 64-bit Linux. If you have more than 3GB of RAM, you should consider using 64-bit operating system because the 32-bit operating system only recognizes 3GB of RAM.

You could use some 32-bit Linux that addresses more than 3GB of RAM. Such Linux must supports PAE (Physical Addressing Extension), a feature provided by Intel.

Now, the situation has improved a lot. For the past few years, I’ve been trying a few versions of Linux and I must say that we’ve finally got a working operating system with a suite of workable software. Now you could install a Linux operating system together with a suite of free software and use it as replacement for Windows operating system. More and more hardware vendors are also writing drivers that support Linux.

Linux in Enterprise IT

Automation

As a former Windows system administrator, I would appreciate Linux/Unix more due to its automation capabilities. I started to dislike mouse and click features. It is so much more powerful to use the command line with scripting. Using shell script, you can automate almost anything. In fact, Microsoft realized the power of scripting and develop Power Script for Windows server. Windows 2008 servers also come with some basic version that uses only command line instead of Windows.

Scalability

Linux is harder to setup and configures but once it is configured, you could replicate the configuration for multiple servers. In fact, you would appreciate the power of Linux when it scales. Therefore, I think Linux/Unix is good for large enterprise.

Open Source

It is easier for you to study and examine Linux under the hood. You can even study the entire kernel source code. Windows and Unix (non open source) system will always remain a black box. As an IT professional and a hardcore computer geek who likes to learn what’s under the hood; I support Open Source Movement and I prefer Linux over other proprietary Unix operating system.

Support Community

What frustrates me with Windows operating system is that, you could not do anything when system crashes other than re-installation. You need to call Microsoft help desk and find some workaround in the meantime. If you encountered major system problem in Linux, you have a choice of using help desk or you can debug the code line by line since Linux is open source. You can also choose to get help from the Linux forum. I am surprise by the wealth of knowledge and active support from the Linux community. It is easier to search for solution in Linux than in Windows.

Windows Appeal

In the enterprise IT arena, I believe that Linux is the solution. However, I don’t think Windows will lose its market share because Windows has its own appeal. Although you need to restart the Windows server every now and then, it is easier to use and the most important factor is that it is easier to get cheaper worker who knows Windows.

Linux for Enterprise

As an IT Manager, I think that Windows server is more appealing to small and medium companies that lack the scalability. It is easier to get worker who know Windows server at a cheaper rate. For companies that are growing fast and large enterprise, I would recommend Linux.

Linux in Desktop and Personal Computing

Although now Linux has a range of application that could replace Windows operating system, Linux is not going to replace Windows any time soon in the desktop market.

The main reason is the lack of killer apps. In today’s desktop computing, there are a few essential killer applications that could make or break an operating system. They are office productivity suite, web browser, contact manager and PIM (personal information manager), and media content organizer.

Microsoft obviously wins in the category of office suite. OpenOffice is adequate for normal usage and in fact is it recommended for infrequent user.  However, Microsoft Office is still a better quality product compare against OpenOffice.  Furthermore, Microsoft has the advantage of familiarity in usage.

Firefox wins in the category of web browser and it supports Linux. Firefox is one of the reasons Linux is getting more attention. I did not find any winners in the category of PIM and contact. Personally I did not find any PIM software that compels me to switch OS. ITunes is the winner in the category of media content manager. It supports only Mac and Windows.

Among all the killer application, only Firefox supports Linux. As long as there is no application that is better than MS Office and iTunes, Linux would not take over Windows or Mac.

Personally, I am still using Windows as my main computing platform, although I’ve been using Linux more for every other thing such as web browsing. Professionally, I prefer Linux on the server and I also support Windows client operating system.

Intel 64 (formerly known as EM64T or IA32e) is the 64-bit extended instruction set based on x86 processor architecture. Modern processor that incorporated Intel64 technology could also run 32-bit application on a 32-bit operating system without performance losses although the 32-bit operating system would not be able to utilize any features in the Intel64 technology. The reason for such design is for backward compatibility which is the key to the success of Intel x86 processor.

IA64 however is based on an entirely different architecture. Only Intel Itanium processor employs IA64 architecture. It does not provide any backward compatibility with the IA32 software. the emulation of such 32-bit application is very slow. Originally Intel incorporated hardware emulation to the 32-bit application but since then Intel has been relying on software emulation.

For further information, you can visit the following sites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86-64#Intel_64

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itanium#Architecture

There are multiple platform available. Intel C++ Compiler for Windows is a professional version which is available for download for evaluation purpose. Please note that you need Microsoft Visual Studio in order to work with this compiler.

Intel C++ Compiler for Linux is also available for evaluation. In addition, Intel provides an additional free license for non-commercial use.

Intel also provide an additional compiler for Mac OSX.

For further information please visit the following site:

http://www.intel.com/cd/software/products/asmo-na/eng/compilers/284132.htm

Please google “Intel C compiler” if the link is broken.

bps (bits per second) is usually used for raw data transfer speed between two identical devices. It is commonly used for USB, FireWire, Wi-Fi and networking devices.

Bps (Bytes per second) usually refers to the data transfer rate of files. It is commonly used to describe the data transfer rate of PCI bus, ATA, SATA and SCSI devices.

As you can see, different type of devices uses different type of transfer rate. Things starts to get complicated when you decided to purchase an external hard disk with USB, FireWire or eSata connection. This is where confusion started.

1 Byte = 8 bits. Therefore a 512kbps is 64kBps. The formula is as follows:

1k bits = 1024 bits

512k bits = 512 x 1024 = 524,288 bits

Since 1 Byte = 8 bits, 524288 bits can be expressed as

524288/8 Bytes = 65536 Bytes

To convert 65536 Bytes to KBytes

65536/1024 = 64kB

Therefore 512kbps = 64kBps

We can just simply divide 512 by 8 (512/8) = 64kBps

I had compiled a list of various system buses and its transfer speed for comparison purpose:

Note:

* For 802.11n Wi-Fi, the transfer rate ranges from 300Mbps to 540Mbps. Existing working product works at 300Mbps. There is an attempt to push the transfer rate to a maximum of 600Mbps.

So if you bought an external hard disk with USB connection, the transfer rate will be limited to the USB transfer rate.

Please note that USB 3.0 (coming soon) with a transfer rate of 625MBps should solve the limitation of the USB transfer rate and in this case your maximum data transfer rate will be limited to your ATA or SATA hard disk transfer rate.

Please note that the list mentioned above are theoretical rate which is tested under a very specialized environment, in practice we can never achieve 100% of the advertised rate.

For Wi-Fi, please note that although there are a lot of products advertise as compliant to 802.11n specification. The official standard has not yet been finalized.

There is a study taking into consideration of network overhead as shown below:

Typical rate after consider network over head

The abovementioned table is just one of the many studies conducted to test the effective Wi-Fi throughput. For more updated results, please search the Internet.

To change the setting, type msconfig under the start search panel.

Once you have launched msconfig.exe, select <Boot> tab

Click <Advanced options…>

In the panel, top left corner, it shows number of CPU with a 1 in the list box. Change it to 2.

You need to restart the PC.

The location %APPDATA% should be at C:\users\<username>\AppData\Roaming

In this ‘Send To’ Folder, you can add any shortcuts you want and it will be included under Send To.

You can also refer to this link http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931272 from Microsoft.

• Go to setting Connections > WI-FI > Network Adapter > Set “Network Adapter” connect to “Work” instead of “Internet”
• Go to setting Connections > Connections > Advance > Select Networks > Under “Programs that automatically connect to the Internet should connect using” > select “My Work Network” (which is the same as my private network). remember to check the box “This connection connects to Internet” under “Proxy”
• Restart the pocket PC

Windows XP

1. Click “Start” and click “Run”

2. Type “control userpasswords2″

3. Unchecked “Users must enter a username and password to use this computer”

4. Enter the username and password you wish to use for auto login and you are done.

Windows Vista

1. Type “netplwiz” under the search bar.

2. Select the user account that you want to use as default.

3.  Unchecked “Users must enter a username and password to use this computer”

Note: In Vista “netplwiz” and “control userpasswords2″ is the same

Let me deliberate a few points on the current condition.

With a tighter budget, companies will be forced into looking at online advertising. The cheaper alternative of online advertising will increase and eventually replacing traditional advertising as the main advertising medium. In addition, as more and more teenagers using various electronic devices, companies will look into ways to advertise online so that they could reach out to the younger generation.

With the decline in advertising sales in newspaper; newspaper companies will be forced to retrench its worker and the company might be forced into changing its business model towards online information service. With the bankruptcy of Tribune, more and more newspaper will adopt New York Times model.

The same goes to magazine, a popular computer magazine ‘PC Magazine’ had stop its print circulation and go completely online. I would predict more magazines would be forced to go online. The magazines that would be the last to stay are pictorial magazine such as fashion and home decoration magazine. Informative magazine such as Newsweek, Times and Businessweek will be the first to go online.

The retrenchment of journalists and writers from newspaper and magazine will force these writers to become independent journalist. The entry-level is very low for them to do their own journalism. Few of them might group together to provide online information service. More will adopt models like www.huffingtonpost.com where they aggregate online news and information from various sites and provide their own commentary.

Television companies will still stay in business but with the decrease in advertising sales, less successful companies will be closed. This means that fewer competition in the television business. With lesser advertising budget on the table, there will be intense competitive to keep the larger pie. In fact, advertising sale might hold steady for very good TV station with attractive programs. This is because with the shrinking budget, people will go out less often and prefer to stay in the home watching television. I do not think online services such as YouTube will take much business away from the television.

Advertising companies and even the most traditional ones will be forced into embracing online advertising. This means that those copy writers and graphic designers who do not have computer skills will be either force to adopt the technology or go jobless.

For publishing business, few publishers will be willing to take the risk of publishing books for the less established writers. Popular writers will still remain the publishers’ favorite because they constitute lesser risk in the publishing business. This means that there will be fewer books on the market. This will forced the up and coming writers to look at online book. The most obvious choice will be Amazon’s Kindle and some writer will explore options provide by www.lulu.com.

From the simple analysis above, it is obvious that jobs for the printing workers will not come back upon recovery of the economy. In fact, the whole printing industry might be downsized significantly. Eventually, there will be some good printing companies with good color printing skills and technology left. Online and web service companies will be the less expose to downside risk, if there is a drop in business, it will be much lesser compare to other business and they will likely be the first to recover when the economy recovers.

With the strong sales from online retailer like Amazon and Zappos and closure of Circuit City, online retailer is here to stay for good. This could spell troubles for traditional retail shop and also the real estate in the retail market when the economy recovers.

In order to survive the current economic condition and beyond, traditional retailer must give incentive for shoppers to travel miles to their retail outlet. Retailer should focus on personalize service and total retail experience, such that the shoppers would feel the trip worthwhile in comparison to online retail experience. Well, logistic companies such as FedEx and UPS should enjoy certain growth with the increase in online sales.

In general, companies will adopt cost saving practice or technology to be more efficient. This I think is the silver lining in the current crisis, companies will change the way business is conducted, technology adoption will be more rapid and the America economy will emerge stronger than ever.

Installing VirtualBox on Fedora 12 Using YUM

1. First you need to download the repository file for yum located at http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/rpm/fedora/virtualbox.repo
2. Then you need to copy the repo file to yum depository folder #cp virtualbox.repo /etc/yum.repos.d/
3. Install dkms using the command #yum install dkms
4. Proceed with the command #yum install VirtualBox
5. Reboot the PC since kernel file has been modified

Installing Linux Guest

You can install any guest OS including Windows or other distribution of Linux. I’ve install Fedora 12 as guest for both 32-bit and 64-bit for testing purpose. Please consult the installation guide on installing the operating system you want.

Installing Linux Guest Addition

Before installing Linux Guest Addition, make sure the guest OS is updated.

To install Linux guest addition, you’ll need GNU compiler, Linux kernel header and a couple of essential software in kernel development. In Fedora, you need to perform yum install as follows:

#yum install gcc kernel-devel dkms

Next, you need to mount the CD ISO and proceed to the main folder. Run the appropriate guest addition base on your guest OS and architecture such as:

#./VBoxLinuxAdditions-x86.run

or

#./VBoxLinuxAdditions-amd64.run

After installation of guest additions, you can move your mouse freely between guest and host OS. You can expand your screen size by resizing the virtual OS windows.

Sharing Folder with Host System

To share network folders, you need to configure a share folder with a share name in the virtual machine settings.

Then in Linux, you need to mount the share folder using VirtualBox file system:

#mount –t vboxfs name_of_share_folder /mnt/mount_point

Please note that the above mounted folder is owned by root. To allow user to own the files and folder use the command:

#mount -t vboxsf -o uid=1000,gid=1000 name_of_share_folder /mnt/mount_point

Where uid is the user id and gid is the group id. If you want to have it mount automatically upon each boot, put the mount command in /etc/rc.local. Using /etc/fstab has little effect, because that  file is processed before the SF module is loaded and will fail to mount the share.

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