Fedora 17 Notes

Install:

San Francisco, California USA

1. F17 DVD iso install on ICH10R/Core i7. Burnt to DVD, installed with KDE and GNOME.

Create usb live image:

livecd-iso-to-disk --format --extra-kernel-args selinux=0 /mnt/auteuil/software/fedora/17/Fedora-17-x86_64-DVD/Fedora-17-x86_64-DVD.iso  /dev/sde

Or use k3b to burn an image to DVD, etc.

2. F17 iso install on Mac Book Air mid-2011. (MacBookAir4,2)

Create usb live image:

livecd-iso-to-disk --efi --format --extra-kernel-args selinux=0 /mnt/auteuil/software/fedora/17/Fedora-17-x86_64-DVD/Fedora-17-x86_64-DVD.iso  /dev/sde

I’m not using rEFIt at all on this install.

Update/Post-Install:

yum update -y

then

yum install -y system-config-boot system-config-network system-config-nfs system-config-printer system-config-samba system-config-firewall

look at powertop

from lesswatts.org, known power problems

remove default groupthink in home directory

rm -rf Downloads Documents Music Pictures Templates Videos

install various graphic items

yum install -y emacs abiword inkscape* doxygen graphviz graphviz-python graphviz-R graphviz-graphs graphviz-doc dblatex  docbook5-style-xsl docbook5-schemas docbook2X docbook-utils-pdf docbook-style-xsl texinfo-tex python-BeautifulSoup ufraw ufraw-gimp

yum install -y gutenprint-cups gutenprint-foomatic gutenprint-extras

Then make a slight adjustment for TeX, so that building 3k page generated PDF documents is possible (ie, make-pdf in gcc/libstdc++-v3). The variables below need to be increased between 2 to 10 times.

variable: pool_strings, save_size

file: /usr/share/texmf/web2c/texmf.cnf

Next, RPM Fusion

su -c 'yum localinstall --nogpgcheck http://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-stable.noarch.rpm http://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-stable.noarch.rpm'

and then

yum install -y vlc vlc-extras vlc-plugin-jack k3b-extras-freeworld freetype-freeworld

Install some compiler stuff, developer tooling.

yum install -y dejagnu emacs expect flex bison yacc boost boost-devel cmake git-svn mpfr-devel

debuginfo-install glibc-2.15-51.fc17.x86_64

install google chrome

install flash. The Fedora flash page is excellent.

install bits for google video chat

install video/audio codecs

yum install -y gstreamer-plugins-bad gstreamer-plugins-ugly gstreamer-plugins-good gstreamer-plugins-good-extras gstreamer-plugins-bad-free gstreamer-plugins-bad-free-extras gstreamer-plugins-bad-nonfree gstreamer-ffmpeg

Next round of installs is for kerberos/ssh/openvpn. Edit /etc/krb5.conf. Configure /etc/openvpn.

First install miscellaneous utilities, including tcsh

yum install -y unrar tcsh gnome-tweak-tool livecd-tools  systemd-gtk

Install another music player. Nightingale is the replacement for Songbird.

For virtualization:

yum install @virtualization

Handbrake must be built. Get the last Fedora 64 rpm from the old nightly build. To deal with DVD, libdvdcss.

Install Dropbox.

Install fedora package development packages.

yum install -y fedora-packager

Dependencies for fedora packaging:

yum install -y python3-devel libicu-devel chrpath openmpi-devel mpich2-devel

Current issues:

0) base note about Fedora 17 and Apple hardware

1) bluetooth keyboard vs. encrypted home directory, now bug RH863883. At startup, mount of encrypted partition happens before bluetooth keyboard is active. This makes entering the password for the encrypted device impossible.
See one kind of related bugzilla about USB devices: 823815

See bluetooth on fedora.

See this page about linux and keyboards without wires. And this about getting bluetooth keyboards up and working on Ubuntu

For Apple Wireless Keyboard on mac air, need:

yum install -y bluez-hid2hci

2) Wireless on air: use kmod-wl stuff from RPM Fusion for Broadcom chipsets.

 yum install -y kmod-wl

3) Some problems with EFI, see 871263. Keep journaling off HFS filesystems, apparently. Also, make sure <code>hfsplus-tools</code> is installed.

3) More UX choices.

a. mate, install directions are clear

yum install @mate-desktop

b. razor-qt

copy/download .repo file into /etc/yum.repo.d/ and

yum install -y razorqt

4) Epson 3880

5) systemd.
systemd is now king of the mountain for RHEL/Fedora system control. Learn it, love it, use it.

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Systemd
http://0pointer.de/blog/projects/systemd-docs.html

systemadm: gui-admin, replacement for system-config-services

systemctl: command line, lists what is running

6) grub files for EFI installs

The move to grubby and grub2 means the usual grub.conf file has moved around. Now located at:

/boot/efi/EFI/redhat/grub.conf

Previous install: Fedora 16

Fedora 16 vs. MacBook Pro or Air

Using x86_64 netinst image for F16. For Fedora 17, see update.

Pre-install:

In general, macs require special hand-holding to get linux images to boot. This issue is longstanding and can be tracked in BZ 503149. Some of this hand-holding can be via OS X extensions like rEFIt, and some of this hand holding can be via the way the linux ISO is made into bootable removable media.

1) rEFIT

2) livecd-iso-to-disk –efi –format (NOTE: –efi may not work.)

3) hosted on a mac, download the image and have a USB stick. Then, using Disk Utility, format the usb stick as FAT and with GUID type partitions, Then open the terminal and clone the image to the USB stick via dd:

dd if=/path/to/Fedora-16-x86_64-netinst.iso of=/dev/rdisk1 bs=1m

then when that is done:

sudo diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk1

Note that only some of the Fedora ISOs are efi-bootable. Try them all, see which one works! In general, live x86_64 images work better than DVD images, and often for the macs the netinstall iso is the best. For the netinstall image, you’ll need to have a correctly working network connection, under linux. Most likely this will require the wired, not wireless hardware support for mac models due to a sad proclivity towards Broadcom hardware on new mac models. So, for the MBA, you’ll need the USB ethernet dongle. Does anybody know what gig USB dongles work under Mac OS X and linux? (It’s not the linux side I’m worried about……)

For some mac models, the only real option is burning a dvd/cd-rom. No matter how a USB key is created, it won’t work. My advice is to start with a CD-ROM or DVD if at all possible. Of course, on the macbook air that requires additional hardware. So, attempt the USB key!

Install:

First, boot into OS X. Use the disk utility application to change your mac disk from one partition to two partitions, with the second partition of type “Free Space.”

Once you’re done with that, reboot. The mac should come up without issue.

Next, reboot with the Fedora media inserted into the mac. Hold down the option key until you see the EFI boot menu. Toggle over to the correct linux boot volume using the arrow keys and hit enter. It will probably appear as a USB harddrive named “Windows” in the EFI boot menu.

This should launch the Fedora installer.

Hit “e” on the keyboard to edit the installer options and get a menu. Then press tab when you get to the boot screen, and add “nomodeset” to the linux kernel boot arguments. Then boot it…….. this may take some time, and the screen may look super wonky at first. Just go with it, as the visual hallucinations will eventually stop.

Phew. The rest is easier.

Once you find yourself in the Fedora installer, continue to the disk formatting stage. At this point, you want to make sure to install on “Free Space Only.” Review created partitions for sanity, but the installer should get it right.

Continue with install. Once it is finished, reboot.

At this time, linux is installed correctly but not in a discoverable/usable state by EFI boot. So, you will not see linux as a boot option if you hold down the option key during a restart. That’s ok: just boot into mac OS X.

Post-install:

Install rEFIt on the mac. Enable rEFIt on the mac volume so that when you re-boot the mac, you get a rEFIt menu.

Once you see the rEFIt menu, select disk partition tool, and it will run and say that the partition map needs to be updated. Do so. (Note there may be other ways to do this, via the gptsync utility on linux.)

On next reboot, the linux volume will be visible in both the rEFIt menu and by holding down the option key at boot. It will either show up as a windows volume or a sassy linux penguin. Key over to it and boot it.

It should boot and then it’s just like any other linux install. Go crazy.

Once you get to this stage, rEFIt may be disabled on the mac volume (optional).

—

Non-specific to F16 notes.

1) Using nvidia drivers, just enable RPMFusion and install kmod-nvidia. Run nvidia-xconfig, nvidia-settings, and blacklist nouveau in boot/grub/grub.conf.

2) How does one get the classic GNOME option??

From Bill Nottingham:

$ gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.session session-name gnome-fallback

(It’s also a checkbox in the ‘Graphics’ section of the System Info control panel.)

3) cups is there, but not activated so the system-settings->printing config won’t work. See BZ 744078.

However, if you do:

service cups start

Then bring up localhost:631 in a browser one can config printing as per the usual CUPS web-ui. In general, I am having a lot of problems with high-resolution printing on Fedora after Fedora 14. See BZ 719390. What used to work (installing the high-quality foomatic ppds) is clipping pages and only producing inferior draft output. Boo.

4) How to get broadcom wireless cards to work.