FC4 Install Notes (Workstation)

Pre-install

FILESYSTEM

This is how I set up my hard drive. I planned on formatting every partition except for /home. /home also contained a copy of the four CDs, aquired from a torrent. FC4-i386-disc{1,2,3,4}.iso. I only burnt the first CD. The others could live on disc. The advantage of copying the packages from HDD to HDD is that it is MUCH faster. Use “linux askmethod” at the boot prompt to make this work.

Filesystem	1M-blocks	Mounted on
/dev/hdb1	      190	/boot
/dev/hdb2	     9286	/
/dev/hdb3	   101147	/home
/dev/hdb4	    ~2048	[SWAP]
/dev/hda1 (NTFS)		[not mounted]
/dev/hda2 (VFAT)    19040	/d		

ETC AND VAR

You may copy /etc and /var to /home

sudp cp -a /etc /home/etc-$(date +%Y-%m-%d)
sudp cp -a /var /home/var-$(date +%Y-%m-%d)

Minimalist method: keep useful files in /home/ETCETERA (hosts dhcpd.conf ssh-_host*key*, sshd_config, iptables-script).

Install

only wipe hdb1, hdb2, and hdb4.

Install packages....

Post-install

/HOME

As root on the console, set up /home partition

echo '/dev/hdb3 /home ext3 defaults 1 2' >> /etc/fstab
mv /home /OLD.home
mkdir /home
mount /home/

SUDOERS

Add hal to wheel group (/etc/group). Uncomment wheel group in sudoers file (/etc/sudoers).

REPOS

Add these files to /etc/yum.repos.d/. Notice that I enable freshrpms this time. They have the best package selection. And they now complement Fedora Extras just like livna has always done.

## /etc/yum.repos.d/freshrpms.repo
[freshrpms]
name=FreshRPMs Fedora Compatible Packages
mirrorlist=http://ayo.freshrpms.net/fedora/linux/$releasever/mirrors-freshrpms
enabled=1
gpgkey=http://freshrpms.net/RPM-GPG-KEY-freshrpms
gpgcheck=1

INSTALL PACKAGES

Start by updating files.

yum -y update

Find things to install witrh YUM. Check out availible software in each directory listing.

yum install packages

Fedora Core - switchdesk-gui dhcp

Fedora Extras - bash-completion bittorrent WindowMaker blackbox fluxbox xfce* lyx gqview id3lib cpan2rpm

Freshrpms - gstreamer-plugins-extra-audio gstreamer-plugins-extra-dvd gstreamer-plugins-extra-video mplayer unrar gtkpod

MPLAYER TWEAKS

Add line “dev.rtc.max-user-freq = 1024” in /etc/sysctl.conf. Run “sysctl -p”.

Edit $HOME/.asoundrc to make sound work nicely for mplayer.

### user's .asoundrc ###
pcm.dsp0 {
    type plug
    #slave.pcm "dmix"
    slave.pcm "hw:0"
}
ctl.mixer0 {
    type hw
    card 0
}

Edit mplayer config to use fake oss device

### user's .mplayer/config ###
ao=oss
ontop=yes

JAVA JDK AND AZUREUS

Install jdk-1_5_0-linux-i586.rpm, which lives in my packages directory. /usr/bin/java is still used by java-1.4.2-gcj-compat; jdk will only install in /usr/java/jdk1.5.0/

Azureus can be unpackaged to /usr/local/azureus. Then start it with this script:

#!/bin/sh
###$HOME/bin/azureus
export JAVA_HOME="/usr/java/jdk1.5.0"
export PATH=${JAVA_HOME}/bin:${PATH}
exec /usr/local/azureus/azureus

SSH

Grab my old SSHD keys. Tighten sshd security:

cd /etc/ssh 
/sbin/service sshd stop
rename key key.OLD *_key
rename pub pub.OLD *.pub
cp -a /home/ETCETERA/ssh_host_*key* .
echo '## MODIFICATIONS HWC' >> sshd_config
echo 'PermitRootLogin no' >> sshd_config
echo 'AllowUsers hal' >> sshd_config
/sbin/service sshd start

MACROMEDIA FLASH

Go to RSLUG's page and get the appropriate RPM.

DHCPD

cp -p /home/ETCETERA/dhcpd.conf /etc/
/sbin/chkconfig dhcpd on
/sbin/service dhcpd start

I am having problems with dhcpd. More later.