Fedora Core 6 Post-Install Guide

You've just installed Fedora Core 6, now what? Well, there isn't a straight guide everyone should use after installing Fedora or any other operating system.

Everyone should configure and install additional applications based on their needs and wishes. However, there are a few steps it's recommended to follow, just to make your Fedora system a bit better, faster and ready for any modification you may apply.

Fedora Core 6 Kernel i586/i686 Bug

If you have chosen to install the Virtualization software group during the Fedora Core 6 installer, you will end-up running a i586 kernel, even if your processor is i686 capable. This isn't a total disaster and you could live with it but your system will be a little bit slower and it will lack CPU frequency scaling. There are many ways to fix this error but the safest way is to do it manually, step by step:

To check which kernel architecture you currently have installed, open a terminal and run:

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rpm -qa 'kernel*' --queryformat "%{NAME}-%{VERSION}-%{RELEASE}.%{ARCH}"|sort

If the installed kernel architecture is i586, but your processor is i686 capable, use the following commands:

- Install yum-utils (you will need the root password):

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su -c "yum install yum-utils"

- Get the current i686 kernel:

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yumdownloader kernel.i686

- Once the kernel is downloaded, run:

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su -c "rpm -ihv kernel-2*.i686.rpm"

- Finally, reboot the machine.

Full system update

It's highly recommended that you run a full system update the first time you install Fedora. However, keep in mind that it could take a long time to complete the update. To update, open a terminal and type:

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su -c "yum update"

You might see the error:

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Loading "installonlyn" plugin
Existing lock /var/run/yum.pid: another copy is running. Aborting.

Then, you will have to stop the yum updater service:

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su -c "/etc/init.d/yum-updatesd stop"

Installing video drivers

To install the nVidia/ATi drivers, follow this guide: How to install video drivers on Fedora Core 6.

Adding repositories

Repositories are basically servers that host various packages for different distributions. Fedora has its own distributions but due to copyright laws and so on, not everything you need can be found under the same roof.

- To install the Livna repository which holds video drivers packages, mp3-related packages and so on, run the following command in a terminal:

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su -c "rpm -ihv http://rpm.livna.org/fedora/6/i386/livna-release-6-1.noarch.rpm"
su -c "rpm --import http://rpm.livna.org/RPM-LIVNA-GPG-KEY"

- To install the Macromedia repository, holding the Flash Player:

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cd /etc/yum.repos.d
su -c "wget http://macromedia.rediris.es/macromedia-i386.repo"
su -c "rpm --import http://macromedia.mplug.org/FEDORA-GPG-KEY"

Install MP3 support

Due to lawsuits and copyrights, Redhat decided to remove mp3 support from Fedora. To re-enable it, after you've added the additional repositories, run the following command to install the MP3 plug-in (and FLAC) for XMMS and Rhythmbox:

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su -c "yum install xmms xmms-mp3 xmms-faad2 gstreamer-plugins-ugly libmad libid3tag"

Install Macromedia Flash plug-in

After adding the additional repositories, run:

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su -c "yum install flash-plugin"

Install DVD/avi/mpeg/etc Player

One of the most popular DVD player for Linux is and has been Xine. To install it from the Livna repository (so you will need it to be installed), run this command from a terminal:

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su -c "yum install xine xine-lib xine-skins xine-lib-extras-nonfree libdvdcss mac"

Another quite popular player for Linux (and other platforms) is the VideoLAN Client, also known as VLC. What's special about this player is that it can play just about any video format available. And it's very simple to install it; simply open a terminal and type:

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su -c "yum install videolan-client"

Installing Java 6 and browser plug-in

To install Sun Java 6 on your system, go to Sun Java Downloads and download the Linux self-extracting file. It's a self-extracting package called jre-6-linux-i586.bin with a size of 18.09 MB.

Once downloaded, run:

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cd /where/you/downloaded/it
sh jre-6-linux-i586-bin
(type yes)

Next, type: su -c "mv -f jre1.6* /opt/jre1.6" su -c "ln -s /opt/jre1.6/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libjavaplugin_oji.so"

NOTE: You will also need the compat-libstdc++ libraries for the browser plug-in to work so follow the next section as well.

When you will run the java command to run a Java application, Fedora will automatically pick the GNU java. To use Sun's Java, run:

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su -c "/usr/sbin/alternatives �install /usr/bin/java java /opt/jre1.6/bin/java"
su -c "/usr/sbin/alternatives --config java"
(select the number corresponding with the /opt path; probably 2)

Using alternate compilers

Fedora Core 6 ships with version 4.1 of GCC. Some applications won't compile correctly or at all with this version. However, you can install version 3.4 of GCC and alternate while compiling various source packages.

- First, make sure you have libstdc++ libraries installed:

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su -c "yum install compat-libstdc++-33 compat-libstdc++-296"

- Next. Install the following packages:

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su -c "yum install compat-gcc-34 compat-gcc-34-c++"

- To alternate through GCC versions, before starting the compile process, run:

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export CC=gcc32
export CXX=g++32

Alternatively, you can try changing the GCC version through the configure script:

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./configure --cc=gcc32

.. but this doesn't work every time.

Installing Microsoft Truetype Fonts