Personal Fedora 8 Installation Guide

Mauriat Miranda (https://www.mjmwired.net/contact/)

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Published: 7 November 2007 (updated: 28 February 2008)

NOTE: The content of this page may be outdated. Links may not be valid and the steps detailed may no longer work. This page is saved for archival purposes only.

New Guides: Fedora 14, Fedora 13, Fedora 12, Fedora 11, Fedora 10, Fedora 9


This guide a personal configuration of Fedora 8. This page is to provide some common installation tips that people may find useful. Keep in mind this works for me, so take care in doing proper backups to critical files whenever trying something.



Installation Media

Fedora 8 is provided in either a single CD-ROM or DVD-ROM for installation. Multiple disk installations are not directly provided by Fedora.

The DVD-ROM disk is preferred and recommended method of installation. Booting the DVD will start the installer which will allow Fedora to be installed on your computer or for you to upgrade an existing Fedora on your machine.

The CD-ROM disks are "LiveCD's" which can be booted and will run a basic Fedora 8 in memory while also providing a simpler method of installation (not as complete at the DVD method). The default LiveCD ships with Gnome (ex: Fedora-8-Live-i386.iso). There is a specific LiveCD that ships with KDE (this is specifically marked). Both provide an installer however they come with significantly less software than the DVD. Also they require more memory in order to be useable. The LiveCD may be useful for demonstration.

Previously Fedora provided multiple CD's which included everything the DVD did. This has been discontinued.

Note: To upgrade an existing Fedora installation you cannot use a Live disk.


Physical Installation

It is highly recommended you read the Fedora Release Notes and official Installation Guide before installing Fedora.

An additional recommendation is to read Common Problems before installing.

Obtain the Fedora 8 DVD image from a Fedora mirror (or use the torrent) and burn to DVD. (For more information on how to download Fedora CD's or DVD).

Boot from the DVD. If you choose to use a LiveCD please note that the following steps may differ slightly.

I did a Custom Install of Fedora 8.

Install the selected packages and reboot.

For users who opted to install grub on the first sector of the / partition instead of the MBR, you will be required to setup NTLDR to boot Linux.

For the first boot:

Display Settings -- Display settings are automatically detected and set. The resolution and scan rate may be significantly different than your typical settings. Just follow through the first boot process and set the proper resolution later once you login.

Top Resources


Setup sudo

07 November 2007

Fedora, like all other Linux distributions, has a root user and has individual users. The root is the "superuser", somewhat similar to "Administrator" in Windows.

Use the personal account you created at First Boot for daily use root only for administration/configuration. To run as 'root' use su or sudo commands. However sudo requires setup. As root run:

echo 'loginname ALL=(ALL) ALL' >> /etc/sudoers

Where 'loginname' is your user account.
Use 'ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL' if you don't want to be prompted a password.
If you are prompted for a password with 'sudo' it is the user password, not root.

Example:

[mirandam@charon ~]$ su
Password:    <--- Enter root password

[root@charon mirandam]# echo 'mirandam ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL' >> /etc/sudoers
[root@charon mirandam]# exit
exit

The following is an example of how sudo lets you execute root commands:

[mirandam@charon ~]$ du -sh /root
du: `/root': Permission denied  <--- Fails!!!

[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo du -sh /root
163M    /root                   <--- Works!!!

NOTE: Every command provided on this page will work if you remove sudo from the command. However this requires you must be logged in as 'root'. An alternative to using sudo is to use su to login as root, before executing a command.

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Setup yum

07 November 2007

http://fedora.redhat.com/docs/yum/en/

Fedora uses yum to install and update its software. When connected to the internet it will automatically determine application dependancies.

Fedora Repositories

Fedora has 2 repositories enabled by default: fedora (the same packages that come on any combination of the CD's or DVD's) and updates (updated packages, newer than fedora).

These repositories 'sign' their RPM files to make sure they are valid when downloaded. Import the GPG keys to these repositories:

[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo rpm --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/*

Third Party Repositories

For applications that are against Fedora policies (MP3, DVD, MPEG, Binary Drivers, etc), a third party repository should be used. For the purpose of this guide, (most) all needs are met by the Livna repository. (Note: the Livna repository is NOT compatible with the Freshrpms repository.)

[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo rpm -ivh http://rpm.livna.org/livna-release-8.rpm

[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo rpm --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-livna

NOTE: Installation Prompt

After yum downloads the application or update requested it will prompt to install. This is good for learners or to keep track of what is happening. Applications can possibly be UN-installed in a update as well. If you wish yum to automatically install downloads and make changes, run yum with the -y (answer "yes") option.

# sudo yum -y install application_name

NOTE: Full System Updates

If you run the following, EVERY SINGLE RPM that has an available update through ANY repository will be updated.

[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo yum update

Generally speaking this is highly recommended the FIRST time you install Fedora (if you have high speed internet). After that, full system updates are probably less necessary. Keep in mind that updates, may update all their dependancies, which can lead to long download times. Often a new update may break something that already worked. Please understand what you are doing before running continuous updates.

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Install Nvidia Driver

07 November 2007

Fedora recommends users install a 3rd-party RPM packaged driver instead of using the installer from Nvidia's website. Currently Livna provides a well packaged driver.

For yum only:

First, setup Livna Repository

[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo rpm -ivh http://rpm.livna.org/livna-release-8.rpm
[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo rpm --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-livna

Install the nvidia driver through Livna:

[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo yum install kmod-nvidia

If a kernel update is installed at the same time, then a reboot will be required. If not, then simply log out completely of Gnome or KDE and the Nvidia driver should load. The Nvidia logo will flash quickly once.

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GCC Compatibility

07 November 2007

Fedora 8 ships and uses GCC 4.1. Some applications that were compiled with an older GCC (ex: 3.2) will require compatibility libraries. Make sure to have the following RPM's installed.

These are NOT included with the Fedora 8 DVD and must be downloaded online (ftp, yum, etc).

compat-libstdc++-33
compat-libstdc++-296

With 'yum', run:

[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo yum -y install compat-libstdc++-33 compat-libstdc++-296

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Install GCC 3.4

07 November 2007

This is an optional step.

Fedora 8 includes GCC 4.1 compiler. Some applications will NOT compile in GCC 4.1. You can install GCC 3.4 to allow compiling applications which do not yet support GCC 4.1. Make sure to have the following RPM's installed.

These are NOT included with the Fedora 8 DVD and must be downloaded online (ftp, yum, etc).

compat-gcc-34
compat-gcc-34-c++

With 'yum', run:

[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo yum install compat-gcc-34 compat-gcc-34-c++

To use either, run gcc34 or g++34. I have more information on using alternate compilers.

Top Resources


Install Realplayer

07 November 2006

Download RealPlayer 10.0 GOLD from: http://www.real.com/linux/.

Select: "Advanced Installation RedHat Package"

Before installing RealPlayer, make sure to have the compat-libstdc++-33 compatibility libraries installed.

[mirandam@charon downloads]$ sudo yum install compat-libstdc++-33

Install RealPlayer:

[mirandam@charon downloads]$ sudo rpm -ivh RealPlayer10GOLD.rpm
Preparing...                ########################################### [100%]
   1:RealPlayer             ########################################### [100%]

RealPlayer/HelixPlayer Forums: https://helixcommunity.org/forum/?group_id=154

NOTE: If the RealPlayer browser plugin does not load in Firefox or Mozilla, run the following command (primarily 64-bit users):

[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo /usr/bin/mozilla-plugin-config -i -f

Top Resources


Install MP3 Players

28 February 2008

Fedora ships without any form of MP3 playback. In order to add MP3 playback you must install from a 3rd party. The following requires the use of the Livna repository.

XMMS: simple, older GUI, minimalistic features (but still popular)

Audacious: (A fork of Beep Media Player - BMP). XMMS rebuilt to be a little bit more modern. Still basic but much better than XMMS.

Rhythmbox/Gstreamer - A simple audio application similar to iTunes layout.

Amarok - A modern feature rich media player application.

Note: PulseAudio - I was able to run all these applications with either their default settings or using OSS/ALSA when PulseAudio was enabled.

Top Resources


Install Media Players

16 November 2007

Fedora ships with a limited set of media player for both audio and video. For audio please read the MP3 player notes. For video and other multimedia (DVD, etc.) we will also be making use of a 3rd party repository: Livna. Make sure to have the Livna repository configured before executing the following. Note that many "dependancies" in libraries, plugins and codecs are shared between these applications and also the MP3 player applications.

The most popular media players (in order) are: MPlayer, Xine and VLC. Each has its own strengths. Install whichever you prefer although the first 2 are recommended.

MPlayer - MPlayer comes in a command line only interface (mplayer) or skinable GUI and it also has a powerful encoding tool MEncoder (also great for ripping or compressing audio/video). Additionally there is a highly functional web plugin allowing for many popular formats in Firefox/Mozilla (WMV, QuickTime, etc.).

Xine - Xine is similar to MPlayer in many ways however lacking the command line application and encoder. However has fully supported DVD playback with proper navigation.

Binary Codecs - The MPlayer projects maintains a package full of binary codecs for which no directly open source option exists, some of these files include Windows DLL's. These are shared by both Xine and MPlayer. NOTE: There is significant variation depending on your architecture (i386, x86_64, ppc). The 32bit i386 works the best.

VLC - VLC is a simpler media player with an easy to use interface. It also supports DVD playback. While most needs should be met with Xine and MPlayer some prefer VLC.

Top Resources


Install Microsoft Truetype Fonts

28 February 2008

The official source for the package is http://corefonts.sourceforge.net/.

However using the information provided there will require installing xfs (font server) which Fedora 8 removed. Hence I am using the SPEC file provided on the Fedora-devel mailing list. NOTE the package name did change.

You have to build the RPM using the chosen SPEC file. For convenience I have created the RPM (please do not link directly to this file):

msttcore-fonts-2.0-2.noarch.rpm

[mirandam@charon downloads]$ sudo rpm -ivh msttcore-fonts-2.0-2.noarch.rpm

Note: If you previously had the version 2.0-1 installed (msttcorefonts-2.0-1.noarch.rpm) run the following 2 commands before installing the above 2.0-2 RPM. The xfs server should no longer be needed.

[mirandam@charon downloads]$ sudo rpm -e msttcorefonts
[mirandam@charon downloads]$ sudo yum remove xorg-x11-xfs

Note: Fedora encourages the use of the Liberation Fonts. These should be installed by default (and included on the DVD), however if not, please run:

[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo yum install liberation-fonts

Top Resources


Disable Unneeded Services/Daemons

07 November 2007

Information regarding services and their functions can be found on: Services in Fedora 8 (https://www.mjmwired.net/resources/mjm-services-f8.html).

For information on how to manage services in Fedora please read: Managing Services in Fedora (https://www.mjmwired.net/resources/mjm-fedora-manage-services.html).

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Macromedia Flash Plugin

07 November 2007

The Macromedia (Adobe) Flash plugin is available from Adobe's website. Users can install the RPM directly or use Adobe's YUM repository (recommended). Please note the plugin will not work directly on 64-bit browsers without some re-configuration.

For yum users (RECOMMENDED):

Install the Adobe YUM repository, and install through yum:

[mirandam@charon downloads]$ sudo rpm -ivh http://linuxdownload.adobe.com/adobe-release/adobe-release-i386-1.0-1.noarch.rpm
[mirandam@charon downloads]$ sudo rpm --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-adobe-linux
[mirandam@charon downloads]$ sudo yum install flash-plugin

For manual installation: For users without yum:

Go to Adobe Flash Player Download Center Linux (x86) and select:
Option 2: .rpm. Download the .rpm file (RPM, 2,962 K) and save it to disk.

Install:

[mirandam@charon downloads]$ sudo rpm -ivh flash-plugin-9.0.115.0-release.i386.rpm

Installation on Fedora 64-bit

The following steps are required for Fedora 64-bit users:

[mirandam@charon downloads]$ sudo mkdir -p /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins
[mirandam@charon downloads]$ sudo yum install nspluginwrapper.{i386,x86_64} pulseaudio-libs.i386
[mirandam@charon downloads]$ sudo yum install flash-plugin
[mirandam@charon downloads]$ sudo mozilla-plugin-config -i -g -v

The following was adapted from the Fedora 8 Release Notes.

NOTE - PulseAudio - I was able to hear sound properly in both Gnome and KDE in Firefox when PulseAudio was enabled.

Top Resources


Install Java Plugin

28 February 2008

With the release of Fedora 8, there are potentially 3 different options for Java: the offical Sun Java, the full opensource GNU gcj and OpenJDK (based off of Sun Java).

The standard installation of Fedora 8 will install IcedTea which is based on OpenJDK. This is much more complete than GNU gcj, but may not behave exactly as Sun's Java. More information is provided in the Fedora 8 Release Notes.

IcedTea will most likely be installed with Fedora 8. However if not it can be installed using YUM:

[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo yum install java-1.7.0-icedtea java-1.7.0-icedtea-plugin

With IcedTea installed, Java application and Web applets should automatically work!

NOTE: If the IcedTea browser plugin does load in Firefox or Mozilla, run the following command:

[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo /usr/bin/mozilla-plugin-config -i -f

Using Sun Java Instead

If you still require Sun Java instead of IcedTea you can download and use it in Fedora. While Sun does provides an RPM for installation, it is NOT recommended to be used.

Download the Java package from:
http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp

Select: Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 6 Update 4 (the JDK is for developers)

On the next page, select "Linux" for Platform and the Language (English). Also accept the license agreement, and hit "Continue".

On the next page, select:

Linux self-extracting file             jre-6u4-linux-i586.bin       18.75 MB

To install:

[mirandam@charon downloads]$ sh jre-6u4-linux-i586.bin
(hit 'space' till the end, then type 'yes')

[mirandam@charon downloads]$ sudo mv -f jre1.6* /opt/jre1.6

When running the java command, Fedora will prefer to use IcedTea or GNU gcj, in order to use Sun Java use the 'alternatives' command:

[mirandam@charon downloads]$ sudo /usr/sbin/alternatives --install /usr/bin/java java /opt/jre1.6/bin/java 20000

[mirandam@charon downloads]$ sudo /usr/sbin/alternatives --install /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libjavaplugin.so \
libjavaplugin.so /opt/jre1.6/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so 20000

Note: If you wish to switch back to IcedTea re-run the above 2 alternative commands using 12000 instead of 20000. Also you can run the two following commands to switch between the 2:

[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo /usr/sbin/alternatives --config java
[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo /usr/sbin/alternatives --config libjavaplugin.so

Note: The compat-libstdc++-33 compatibility libraries are required for the Java Sun browser plugin to work.

To update: If you update the JRE package, simply delete the /opt/jre1.6 directory and copy the newer download to /opt/jre1.6

Top Resources


Install Adobe Acrobat

28 February 2008

To view PDF files, Fedora includes evince, however this application is very basic and may not work with every feature of some PDF files.

For yum users:

Install the Adobe YUM repository, and install through yum:

[mirandam@charon downloads]$ sudo rpm -ivh http://linuxdownload.adobe.com/adobe-release/adobe-release-i386-1.0-1.noarch.rpm
[mirandam@charon downloads]$ sudo rpm --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-adobe-linux

[mirandam@charon downloads]$ sudo yum install AdobeReader_enu

NOTE: The above uses the English version: enu. To see which languages are supported by Adobe's YUM repository, run the following command:

[mirandam@charon download]$ yum list AdobeReader_*.i486

Other languages are installed similar to english for example: AdobeReader_fra, if you are unsure which package is correct, run:
yum info PACKAGE_NAME for more information. Otherwise install manually as described below.

For manual installation: For users without yum:

Download Acrobat from: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2_allversions.html

Select:
Operating system: Linux
Version: Linux - x86 (.rpm)
Your language.

The latest version of Adobe Acrobat is 8.1.2 and the download size is between 40-60MB depending on your language. Not all languages are supported under Linux.

[mirandam@charon downloads]$ su -c 'rpm -ivh AdobeReader_enu-8.1.2-1.i486.rpm'
Password: 
Preparing...                ########################################### [100%]
   1:AdobeReader_enu        ########################################### [100%]

Note: Do NOT use sudo when installing the RPM. Either install it when logged in as root or use the su -c command.

Acrobat Browser Plugin

The browser plugin may be automatically installed in multiple different locations including ~/.mozilla/plugins, /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins and /usr/lib/firefox-x.x.x.x/plugins. I deleted everyone except /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins

[mirandam@charon ]$ sudo rm -rf /usr/lib/firefox-2.0.0.8/plugins/nppdf.so
[mirandam@charon ]$ sudo rm -rf /root/.mozilla/plugins/nppdf.so
[mirandam@charon ]$ sudo rm -rf ~/.mozilla/plugins/nppdf.so

NOTE: SELinux Issue: The Fedora 8 SELinux policy may prevent the Acrobat browser plugin from loading. To fix this, run the following command:

[mirandam@charon ]$ sudo chcon -t textrel_shlib_t /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/nppdf.so
[mirandam@charon ]$ sudo /usr/bin/mozilla-plugin-config -i -f

However you may need to run this command for a different location depending on the warning given by SELinux.

Top Resources


Setup Samba - Filesharing with Windows

07 November 2007

If you have other Windows computers on your Lan and want to share files with them, you must setup Samba.

To setup Samba you must (1) install samba, (2) add you 'shares', (3) add users, (4) start Samba service.

1. Install Samba

It is best to have Samba installed in the installation process. If not yum users can install using: Add/Remove Software > Servers > Windows File Server. Users without yum can install the following packages from their DVD (or download): samba, samba-common, samba-client.

2. Add Shares

You must edit /etc/samba/smb.conf as root: (use nano instead of gedit if you do not have a GUI)

[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo gedit /etc/samba/smb.conf

Set your Windows Workgroup name in [global] section.

Added shares at the end of the file. Example:

[c_drive]
   path = /media/c_drive
   public = yes
   writable = no
[netshare]
   path = /data/
   public = yes
   writable = yes

If 'writable' the location must be writable in Linux first. Additionally permissions must match (for example: drw-rw-rw-).

If home data (all personal files under /home/username) is to be accessible, then set 'browseable = yes' under [homes] (~line 250). This configuration file is very descriptive, read through it to get more ideas or information.

3. Add Users

To access shares, you must be a valid user. Add valid users AND passwords using the smbpasswd command.

This login name WILL be the login name and password you use from Windows to access your Linux computer. The password does NOT need to match your Linux password.

[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo smbpasswd -a username
New SMB password:
Retype new SMB password:
account_policy_get: (warnings ignore)
Added user username.

(Note: 'username' must be a valid account on the machine)

4. Start Samba Service

Run samba and check for any errors:

[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo /etc/init.d/smb start
Starting SMB services:                                     [  OK  ]

Use chkconfig or serviceconf to enable samba (smb) in both runlevels 3 and 5. This will make sure to run Samba each time Fedora boots.

[mirandam@charon ~]$ /sbin/chkconfig --list smb
smb             0:off   1:off   2:off   3:off   4:off   5:off   6:off
[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo /sbin/chkconfig --level 35 smb on
[mirandam@charon ~]$ /sbin/chkconfig --list smb
smb             0:off   1:off   2:off   3:on    4:off   5:on    6:off

Restart Samba for every change to users/passwords or 'smb.conf'

[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo /etc/init.d/smb restart
Shutting down SMB services:                                [  OK  ]
Starting SMB services:                                     [  OK  ]

--------------

Firewall Users

Run system-config-securitylevel

To allow Samba access to work through your firewall you must set 'Samba' as a 'Trusted service'.

SELinux Users

SELinux has significant control over restricting different parts of Samba. Run system-config-selinux. Please read lines #23 - #51 in /etc/samba/smb.conf for a better explanation. The following is NOT complete.

On the command line you can run:

[mirandam@charon ~]# sudo /usr/sbin/setsebool -P samba_export_all_rw on

For any changes made above to the SELinux settings or smb.conf, it is recommended to restart Samba.

Top Resources


Mount NTFS Partitions

07 November 2007

Windows uses a different filesystem (NTFS) to store files. However NTFS-3G provides support to read and write NTFS partitions safely. These should be automatically installed with Fedora 8. Additionally Fedora 8 has significantly eased the process of accessing NTFS partitions/drives compared to previous Fedora releases.

Gnome Users - Users of the Gnome desktop environment will find that they can mount NTFS (or any partitions) by clicking on them through the Computer icon on the desktop (root password will be required).

If you do not use Gnome, are having problems with KDE, or do not even use X-windows, the following instructions are still valid.

To setup NTFS access you must (1) install NTFS support, (2) check how many partitions you have, (3) create mount points, (4) mount partitions, and (5) update fstab to mount at next boot.

1. Install NTFS Support

The software required for NTFS support is included in the DVD installation. If not, install using yum:

[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo yum install fuse fuse-libs ntfs-3g

Users without yum, either download or use your Fedora 8 DVD to install the following RPM's: fuse, fuse-lib and ntfs-3g.

2. Check Your Partitions

Use fdisk to list partitions. Most ATA hard drives will be /dev/sda. Drives may also show up as /dev/sdb depending on your configuration.

[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo /sbin/fdisk -lu /dev/sda | grep NTFS
/dev/sda1   *          63    33559784    16779861    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2        33559785    67119569    16779892+   7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda3        67119570   100679354    16779892+   7  HPFS/NTFS

Usually the first will be a drive "letter": C drive, next D, etc. Hence /dev/sda1 is my C:\ drive used by Windows.

3. Create Mount Points

For every partition in step 2 that you wish to access, you will need a "mount point". A mount point is just a directory. Common directories are: /media/ and /mnt/. Use whichever, but be consistent.

[mirandam@charon ~]$ cd /media/
[mirandam@charon media]$ sudo mkdir c_drive d_drive e_drive

You do not have to use these names, if you prefer to create folders such as 'movies', 'documents', or 'winxp', any name will work (recommended without spaces).

4. Mount Partitions

Using the NTFS-3G we can either mount the NTFS partitions read-only or read-write. For new users, read-only is recommended.

[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo mount /dev/sda1 /media/c_drive -t ntfs-3g -r -o umask=0222
[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo mount /dev/sda2 /media/d_drive -t ntfs-3g -r -o umask=0222
[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo mount /dev/sda3 /media/e_drive -t ntfs-3g -r -o umask=0222

Read/Write Access: The above is for read-only access. In order to mount read/write, you must use the -rw -o umask=0000. Example:

[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo mount /dev/sda1 /media/c_drive -t ntfs-3g -rw -o umask=0000

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Please run man mount to understand what umask= does.

5. Update /etc/fstab

Every time Fedora boots, the partitions must be mounted. To automatically mount, you must edit /etc/fstab.

Open /etc/fstab in an editor: (use nano instead of gedit if you do not have a GUI)

[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo gedit /etc/fstab

Add these lines to the END of the file:

/dev/sda1   /media/c_drive     ntfs-3g    ro,defaults,umask=0222 0 0
/dev/sda2   /media/d_drive     ntfs-3g    ro,defaults,umask=0222 0 0
/dev/sda3   /media/e_drive     ntfs-3g    ro,defaults,umask=0222 0 0

Read/Write Access: The above is for read-only access. In order to mount read/write, you must use the rw,defaults,umask=0000. Example:

/dev/sda1   /media/c_drive     ntfs-3g    rw,defaults,umask=0000 0 0

Done!

NOTE for FAT32 users

If you have FAT32 or FAT16 partitions, instead of ntfs-3g above you can use vfat to mount your partitions. No extra modules or downloads are required, this is built into the kernel. Just replace vfat for every place we have ntfs-3g when mounting and when editting /etc/fstab. Keep in mind that FAT partitions are read-write supported.

Top Resources


Install Kernel Headers

07 November 2007

This package provides kernel headers and makefiles sufficient to build modules against the kernel package. The kernel headers maybe necessary if you require to install a driver or some 3rd party software. If a driver requires kernel sources, it may be sufficient to install only the kernel headers.

The kernel headers The Kernel Headers are available through the kernel-devel RPM. This may or may not be installed by Fedora. This package can be installed from your Fedora DVD or online through FTP or yum.

Look on online in either the Fedora repository or Update repository and make sure you match your system, using the uname command. For example:

[mirandam@charon ~]$ uname -rm
2.6.23.1-42.fc8 i686

Select: kernel-devel-2.6.23.1-42.fc8.i686.rpm

If you have updated your kernel (using yum), then it is recommended you use yum to install the package:

[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo yum install kernel-devel

Top Resources


Install Kernel Source

07 November 2007

Installing the kernel source is typically NOT needed unless you wish to re-compile your kernel or for some special development. However in some cases the kernel headers may be required.

There are 3 basic steps involved in installing the kernel source.

  1. Download the desired kernel source (matching your current kernel if required)
  2. Installing the SRC.RPM package
  3. Using rpmbuild to prepare the source into a usable state

NOTE: Following these steps will consume at least 400MB of disk space!

1. Download the Kernel Source

Obtaining Kernel Source (for default Fedora 8 kernel)

The default kernel source can be found through any Fedora mirror. Look in the directory "/source/SRPMS/" under the "/8/" directory . For example: http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/releases/8/Fedora/source/SRPMS/.

kernel-2.6.23.1-42.fc8.src.rpm 31-Oct-2007 00:06 46M

Obtaining Kernel Source (for an updated Fedora 8 kernel)

If you updated your kernel, then the typically the last 2 or 3 releases of the source of the kernel will be available though the Fedora updates. IF YOU REQUIRE you can (try to) match the kernel source with your running kernel.

Look in the update directory on most Fedora mirror sites. For example: http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/updates/8/SRPMS/.

Obtaining Kernel Source through 'yum' (for latest Fedora 8 kernel)

There are yum utilities which will download the LATEST kernel source. If it does not find anything, then there are no updates (yet) use the DEFAULT Fedora kernel source.

[mirandam@charon ~]$ sudo yum install yum-utils
[mirandam@charon ~]$ cd downloads
[mirandam@charon downloads]$ yumdownloader --source kernel

2. Install the Kernel Source

Install the kernel.src.rpm that you chose to download in the previous steps.

[mirandam@charon downloads]$ sudo rpm -ivh kernel-2.6.23.1-42.fc8.src.rpm
   1:kernel                 ########################################### [100%]

Ignore group kojibuilder does not exist or user kojibuilder does not exist warnings.

3. Prepare the Source

To prepare the source to be useable:

[mirandam@charon downloads]$ sudo rpmbuild -bp --target=$(uname -m) /usr/src/redhat/SPECS/kernel.spec

The source files will be properly located in /usr/src/redhat/BUILD/kernel-2.6.23/. There are 2 useful directories:

  1. linux-2.6.23.ARCH/
    This will have the standard kernel.org kernel WITH Fedora patches and updates. The ARCH architecture will match the output of uname -m, usually i686. You may use noarch for the --target= option if you wish.
  2. vanilla/
    This will have the standard kernel.org kernel ONLY (no patches or updates).

NOTE: The process Fedora uses to build and configure kernels can be found in greater depth on the Fedora Wiki. The above information is very basic and meant to allow access to the source and not necessarily build it.

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