Fedora 18 Post Installation Software Configuration Guide

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This is the post installation software configuration guide for Fedora 18. For installation of Fedora 18, please refer to Fedora 18 Installation Guide.

System Update

After installation of Fedora 18, the first thing you need to do is to update the system. 

You can perform system update by going to Show Applications >> Software. The "Show Applications" icon is the last icon on your favorites bar. 



Once the "Software" application is open. Click "Software" on the top menu bar and select "Check for updates".

Alternatively, you could perform system update using the command:
sudo yum update

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

Software Installation

Some of the essential software applications were preloaded with Fedora such as Libra Office and Firefox. To install new software application, navigate to Show Applications >> Software. Enter the software package you desire and this utility will search through the software repository for the application you want. You have the option to download and install it.


Alternatively, you can also use command line to install the software packages. First you need to download the software which is an rpm file. To install the software use the command:
sudo rpm –ivh <name_of_software_package>.rpm

Beside the command rpm, you can also use yum to install software. This application installation utility will automatically search for all the dependencies files and software while installing the application you desire. You don’t need to download the software first. To use yum, type in the command
sudo yum install <name_of_software_package>

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_name>

For command line installation, it is recommended to use yum utility instead of rpm utility. You will resort to use rpm utility when the software you required is not in any of the software repository.

Adding Software Repository

While yum utility automatically connects to the official mirror sites of Fedora to search and retrieve latest software packages, you might want to add additional repositories that provide additional software. Two additional sites are recommended, they are rpmfusion.org and livna.org. Both sites provide additional software relating to media playing, such as playing DvD disc on Fedora.

The command to add repository from rpmfusion are as follows:
sudo yum localinstall --nogpgcheck http://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-18.noarch.rpm 
sudo yum localinstall --nogpgcheck  http://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-18.noarch.rpm

The command to add repository from livna.org are as follows:
sudo rpm -ivh http://rpm.livna.org/livna-release.rpm
sudo rpm --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-livna


Listed below is some of the software which we recommend:

Web Browsing

Firefox is preloaded with Fedora but you need to install additional plug-ins and Adobe Flash Player.

If you prefer Google Chrome, please check my post:

Please refer to my other post regarding Adobe Flash Player. Check out:

Productivity Suite

Libre Office is preloaded in Fedora, no action is required.

Utilities

There are some useful utilities such as:

wget is a utility that allows you to download http files from the web using command line. This is a useful tool 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

For viewing chm files use xchm or kchmviewer. Use one of the following command:
sudo yum install -y xchm
sudo yum install -y kchmviewer

Unrar is a utility to unpack rar compressed folders. Use 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

 Gthumb is a small image editor.
sudo yum install -y gthumb

PDF Document

Fedora has default PDF reader and writer so no installation is required. 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. Use the command:
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.



Playing Multimedia Files

To play the most common multimedia formats, including mp3, mpeg and wmv file, you need to install additional codec. We would recommend VLC Media Player because it provides many codec together with a player.

Installing VLC Media Player, use the command:
sudo yum install -y vlc

To set VLC as the default player, click your "username" on the top right corner. Select "System Setting". Select "Details" on the last row. Select "Default Applications". Under "Video" select VLC as your default application.



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 backup your DVD; you can install various DVD ripper. In this section we will install k9copy. Use the command:
sudo yum install -y k9copy

Please search the web on how to use k9copy.

Additional Applications

For additional applications, please check my other post:

Automation Script (For Advanced User)

You can download the script FC00-software-install-noarch to automate the installation for above-mentioned software.

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.

You need to change the permission to executable by using the command:
sudo chmod +x FC00-software-install-noarch

To run the script use the command:
sudo ./FC00-software-install-noarch

Alternatively, use the following command to pipe the installation log to a text file:
sudo ./FC00-software-install-noarch >> log.txt

For those with difficulties downloading the script, listed below is the full content of the script, you can copy and paste the script to a plain text file:

#! /bin/bash
# This software installation script is for Fedora 18
# You just need to hash out or remove any installation you don't want
# You can also add in additional software packages you like
 
#Updates
yum update -y yum
yum update -y
 
#Additional yum plugins
#yum install -y yum-plugin-fastestmirror
 
#Additional yum repository configuration for rpmfusion and livna
yum localinstall -y --nogpgcheck http://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-18.noarch.rpm 
yum localinstall -y --nogpgcheck http://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-18.noarch.rpm
 
rpm -ivh http://rpm.livna.org/livna-release.rpm
rpm --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-livna
yum update -y
 
#Installing Essential Utilities
yum install -y gparted
yum install -y xchm
yum install -y kchmviewer
yum install -y gcc kernel-devel
yum install -y unrar
yum install -y cups-pdf
yum install -y wget
yum install -y vim
yum install -y gthumb
#yum install -y beesu
#yum install -y nautilus-beesu-manager
 
# Download and install Google Software Public Signing Key
wget https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub
sudo rpm --import linux_signing_key.pub
rm linux_signing_key.pub 
 
#Installing Media Players, DVD codec and Ripper
yum install -y vlc
yum install -y regionset libdvdcss
yum update -y
yum install -y k9copy
yum install -y xine xine-lib-extras xine-lib-extras-freeworld
 
#Installing Games
#yum install -y kdegames
 
#End message
echo "Installation Complete!"

***End***

Comments

  1. Syl-StonneFebruary 27, 2013 at 5:38 PM

    Is it only me? When trying to install vlc, the output I got is that it's not available for fedora 18...

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownApril 26, 2013 at 12:23 AM

    Thanks . It was very helpful. It will be better if you mention about fedora-utils here. Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownJune 11, 2013 at 12:06 AM

    RPM Fusion is a merger of Dribble, Freshrpms, and Livna. After adding rpmfusion repository, do you think we need to to add Livna also?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TechnoZealJune 11, 2013 at 1:45 PM

      Base on my previous research some time back, there is one package (libdvdcss) that is not includes in RPM Fusion. You can check if this package is in RPM Fusion now.

      Libdvdcss allows you to access DVD files from the PC. If you don't need this package then you don't have to include Livna in your repo configuration.

      Delete

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