Last Updated: 16 September 2008

The Unofficial Fedora FAQ - Fedora 9

Table of Contents

About Fedora

1. What is this Fedora 9 thing?
2. What is the difference between Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux?
3. Is it unstable?
4. Has it been released?
5. Where can I find a list of all the programs that come with Fedora (a package list)?
6. When is the next version of Fedora coming out?
7. How can I help out the Fedora Project?

Installing Fedora

1. Where do I get it?
2. Can I install on ReiserFS, JFS, or XFS?
3. Can Fedora run on a 64-bit (AMD-64 or Intel-64) computer?
4. Can I run Fedora on a Mac?
5. Where is the floppy disk install image for Fedora?

Using Fedora and Installing Software

1. Where can I get software for Fedora?
2. How do I install software in Fedora? (How to use yum or an RPM)
3. Is there anything like apt for Fedora?
4. How do I install a working Java plugin for my web browser? (Updated 16 Sep 2008)
5. How can I install Flash in my web browser?
6. How can I see PDF files inside my browser?
7. How can I watch movies in my web browser?
8. Can I use MSN Messenger/AIM/ICQ/Yahoo instant messaging in Fedora?
9. How do I install fonts? Can I use Windows (.ttf) fonts?
10. Where can I get drivers for my hardware for Fedora?
11. How do I read my NTFS (Windows NT/2000/XP/2003) drive in Fedora?
12. How do I edit the menus in the panel?
13. How do I get Wine to work?
14. How do I play DVDs in Fedora?

Problems and Their Solutions

1. I get a NOKEY warning from RPM, or I get a gpg signature error when using yum!
2. How do I enable 3D support for my ATI Radeon card in Fedora?
3. How do I enable 3D support for my nVidia graphics card in Fedora?
4. The installer's media check says all my CDs are bad!
5. I have strange installation problems.
6. How do I make all my folders open in the same window, in Nautilus?
7. I can't access my Windows network shares anymore! People tell me to use the smbmount command, but it doesn't work!
8. ur s0 st00p1d!

The FAQ

About Fedora

1. Q: What is this Fedora 9 thing?
   A: First, read About Fedora. You can also read the Fedora Project FAQ, if you want.

   Now, I'll give you a summary:

   Fedora is a Linux distribution from Red Hat that doesn't cost any money, includes only open-source software, and always includes the latest versions of software.

   Fedora is a community-supported project. That means that you can be involved in creating Fedora, if you want.

   A new version of Fedora comes out every six months or so. When a new version comes out, the previous version becomes unsupported about a year later. This means re-installing your OS every 6 - 8 months (currently upgrades between Fedora versions don't go so well).

   The advantage of using Fedora is that you're always on the cutting edge of Linux development, more so than any other major distro, while still having a stable operating system.

   Red Hat Enterprise Linux is based on Fedora, so if you want to learn a little about RHEL for free, use Fedora. RHEL5 was based on Fedora Core 6.

2. Q: What is the difference between Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux?
   A: Red Hat Enterprise Linux is officially supported by Red Hat for 7 years. It's a better choice if you're running important machines in production, and you don't want to upgrade your OS all the time. It also has many nice features that are useful if you are running more than a few servers.

   Also, you can (sometimes) actually call Red Hat and get support for RHEL, which you will never be able to do for Fedora.

   Fedora is distributed for free, and RHEL costs money.

   Fedora is much more cutting-edge than RHEL is, and Fedora has a larger community of users willing to help out and give free support (like this web page).

   Red Hat also has a cool page that answers this question.

3. Q: Is it unstable?
   A: No!
4. Q: Has it been released?
   A:

   What if every software developer could gain the knowledge of long experience without having to go through the pain of repeated failure? Read my book, Code Simplicity, and find out.

   Yes! Fedora 9 was released on May 13, 2008. To see when new releases are coming out, see the release schedule.
5. Q: Where can I find a list of all the programs that come with Fedora (a package list)?
   A: There's a list of the main Fedora packages over at the Distrowatch Fedora Page.

   You can see a list of all the Fedora 9 packages in the Fedora Package Database.

6. Q: When is the next version of Fedora coming out?
   A: A new version of Fedora is released every 6 - 8 months. Specific dates are usually in the Release Schedule.

   (Thanks to Tom Van Vleck for suggesting this question.)

7. Q: How can I help out the Fedora Project?
   A: The Fedora Project needs a lot of people to help in a lot of areas! Can you write documentation? Can you code? Do you know anything about bugs? Can you translate? Would you like to learn about any of these? Are you artistic? Do you just want to help out in any way you can? The Fedora Project has a great page that describes how you can help. Check it out!

Installing Fedora

1. Q: Where do I get it?
   A: The Fedora Download Page.

   There are many versions:

   The "Live Media" is a LiveCD--you can just put the CD into your computer and start the OS without installing it. You can also use the LiveCD to install a very basic version of Fedora, if you want.

   The "Install Media" contains all the Fedora packages, and you can install from that without having an Internet connection.

   Then there's the choice between i386, x86_64, and ppc. Here's how to figure out which one you need:

   • i386 - If you have a Pentium or Celeron (meaning any Pentium or Celeron, including a Pentium 4, Pentium M, etc.) or the original Core Duo (not a Core 2 Duo).
   • x86_64 - If you have a Core 2 Duo, Core Solo, Opteron, Athlon 64, Turion 64, or Sempron. (This also includes most new "Intel Mac" machines.)
   • ppc - Any G3, G4, or G5 Mac.

   For more details on how to get Fedora, including how to buy a CD (if you can't download one), see the Distribution page on the Fedora Project site.

2. Q: Can I install on ReiserFS, JFS, or XFS?
   A: Yes, you can install Fedora on ReiserFS, JFS, or XFS.

   None of these file systems are officially supported by the Fedora Project. (That means that you can use them, but you won't find a lot of official help from the Fedora Project if things go wrong.)

   At the installer prompt, type this for ReiserFS:

   linux selinux=0 reiserfs

   or this for JFS:

   linux selinux=0 jfs

   or this for XFS:

   linux xfs

   NOTE: You cannot use SELinux on ReiserFS or JFS. XFS is OK. (If you don't know what SELinux is, you can ignore this warning.)

   (Thanks to whiprush [quoting Jesse Keating] for this. Thanks to Kai Thomsen for catching an important typo. Thanks to Colin Charles for the XFS part and the SELinux warning.)

3. Q: Can Fedora run on a 64-bit (AMD-64 or Intel-64) computer?
   A: Yes, it can! A 64-bit version of Fedora is currently available to download. It works very well. See the question about getting Fedora.

   You can also run the normal 32-bit version of Fedora on your 64-bit computer, although that's rarely required nowadays.

4. Q: Can I run Fedora on a Mac?
   A: Yes, you can!

   If you have a Core Duo Intel Mac, you want the i386 version of Fedora. If you have a Core 2 Duo Intel Mac, you want the x86_64 version of Fedora. (See the question about getting Fedora.) Note that some things may not yet work perfectly on Intel Macs. mactel-linux.org is a good site for information about running Fedora (or any Linux) on a Mactel machine.

   If you have a G3, G4, or G5 Mac, you can just install the "ppc" version of Fedora, See the question about getting Fedora.

5. Q: Where is the floppy disk install image for Fedora?
   A: You can't install Fedora from your floppy drive, because the 2.6 kernel in Fedora is too big to fit on a floppy. Perhaps try using a USB drive instead--that works.

   If you have a CD-ROM drive, but you can't boot from it, you can try Smart Boot Manager to work around that.

   (Thanks to Charles Curley for reminding me about Smart Boot Manager.)

Using Fedora and Installing Software

1. Q: Where can I get software for Fedora?
   A: The best way to get software is to use the normal software installation tools that come with Fedora, which will download and install things automatically for you.

   Otherwise, to search for software packages, you can use rpm.pbone.net.

2. Q: How do I install software in Fedora? (How to use yum or an RPM)
   A: Fedora has thousands of pieces of software that can be downloaded and automatically installed from the Internet.

   What if every software developer could gain the knowledge of long experience without having to go through the pain of repeated failure? Read my book, Code Simplicity, and find out.

   Configuring Package Installation

   Here's a simple way to configure your system so that you can easily install all the packages I mention in the FAQ:

   1. Open a Terminal.
   2. Become root:

      su -

   3. Install the yum-priorities package:

      yum -y install yum-priorities

   4. Fix the yum-priorities configuration, by opening up a file:

      nano /etc/yum/pluginconf.d/priorities.conf

   5. The contents of that file look like:

      [main]
      enabled = 1

      You need to add the line check_obsoletes = 1 to the bottom of the file, so that it looks like:

      [main]
      enabled = 1
      check_obsoletes = 1
      

      And then save the file and close it.

   6. Now, install my package configuration (Updated 15 Jul 2008), using this command:

      rpm -Uvh http://www.fedorafaq.org/f9/yum http://rpm.livna.org/livna-release-9.rpm

   NOTE: The package configuration provided here is updated from time to time, for various reasons.

   Using the GUI to Install/Update Software

   If you have graphical access to your desktop, you can use the graphical tools to install software. Go to the System menu, choose "Administration", and then click on "Add/Remove Software".

   Fedora will automatically let you know when updates are available for your software. If this doesn't happen, you need to install PackageKit:

   1. Open a Terminal.
   2. Become root:

      su -

   3. Install PackageKit:

      yum install PackageKit

   Installing Software From the Command Line

   Often people want to use install or update software using the command line. For this you use a program called "yum". First become root, and then you can use the following commands:

   • To see a list of available software:

     yum list available

   • To install some software, you type:

     yum install packagename

   • To update some software, you type:

     yum update packagename

     If you leave out "packagename" yum will update all your software.

   • To see what updates are available, you can do:

     yum check-update

   • To search for a package, you can do:

     yum search word

   For more info about yum, see the yum project page. (Thanks to Ron Kuris for this tip.)

   To get yum through a proxy, see the Fedora documentation about yum and proxies.

   Installing Local RPMs

   To install an RPM file that you downloaded outside of yum, open up a terminal, and as root do:

   rpm -Uvh filename.rpm

   If you have Internet access, you can also install local files by doing:

   yum --nogpgcheck localinstall filename.rpm

   Which is handy because it will automatically download and install any dependencies that that RPM has.

3. Q: Is there anything like apt for Fedora?
   A: APT is a program for Debian Linux that installs not only the software you specify, but also all of that software's dependencies. It makes installing software much easier.

   There is a piece of software like this for Fedora, that comes in the standard Fedora installation. It's called yum. It can automatically download and install a program and all of its dependencies, with just one command. I even provide a special configuration that I use for yum on my computer, in the question where I explain how to use yum.

   If you really want to use APT, there is a version for Fedora. You can install it using yum--the package name is apt. It's not supported officially by the Fedora Project, though.

4. Q: How do I install a working Java plugin for my web browser? (Updated 16 September 2008)
   A: Fedora 9 includes an open-source version of Java 6, so many Java applets will run if you simply install the Java plugin that comes with Fedora:

   1. Open a Terminal.
   2. Become root:

      su -

   3. Install the plugin:

      yum install java-1.6.0-openjdk-plugin

   If that doesn't work for your needs, then the simplest solution is to install Sun's Java:

   1. Go to the the Java SE Development Kit Download Site. Choose "Linux" (not "Linux x64"), check the box, and click "Continue."
   2. Download the "Linux Self-Extracting File" version listed on the page (not the RPM).
   3. Make sure that you're using my yum configuration from the installing software question.
   4. Open a Terminal.
   5. Become root:

      su -

   6. Install some software that you will need to continue (these are small downloads):

      yum install yum-utils jpackage-utils rpm-build

   7. Move the file that you downloaded into the correct place:

      mv /home/username/Download/jdk*bin /usr/src/redhat/SOURCES/

      Replace username with your username (not root).

   8. Download the JPackage Java RPM:

      yumdownloader --source java-1.6.0-sun

   9. Build the JPackage Java RPM:

      setarch i586 rpmbuild --rebuild java-1.6.0-sun*nosrc.rpm

   10. Remove some broken packages that won't install on Fedora:

       rm -f /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i586/java-1.6.0-sun-fonts* /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i586/java-1.6.0-sun-jdbc*

   11. Install Java:

       yum localinstall --nogpgcheck /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i586/java-1.6.0-sun-*

   12. Enable the Java Plugin:

       ln -s /usr/lib/jvm/jre/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/

   What if every software developer could gain the knowledge of long experience without having to go through the pain of repeated failure? Read my book, Code Simplicity, and find out.

   Java should now be installed and working properly! You may need to log out and then log in again for some things to work properly.

   (Thanks to Kai Thomsen for noting that you only have to login-logout, not reboot. Thanks to Rob Ramirez for the --nogpgcheck tip!)

5. Q: How can I install Flash in my web browser?
   A:

   1. Make sure that you're using my yum configuration from the installing software question.
   2. Open a Terminal.
   3. Become root:

      su -

   4. Type:

      yum install flash-plugin nspluginwrapper.{i386,x86_64} pulseaudio-libs.i386 libflashsupport.i386

   5. Configure your browser to see the plugin, by typing:

      mozilla-plugin-config -i -g -v

   If you have any questions, see the Flash Plugin FAQ! (Thanks to Warren Togami for that link.)

6. Q: How can I see PDF files inside my browser?
   A: Just install mozplugger:

   1. Open a Terminal.
   2. Become root:

      su -

   3. Install mozplugger:

      yum install mozplugger evince

   This also enables Firefox to open lots of other types of files, like movies, audio, Word documents, etc.

7. Q: How can I watch movies in my web browser?
   A: Just install the Totem Plugin:

   1. Open a Terminal.
   2. Become root:

      su -

   3. Install the plug-in:

      yum install totem-mozplugin

   4. Close all the windows of your web browser and then open it again.

   Now, you can see movies on web sites! However, you might have trouble viewing some movies that are encoded in non-open-source formats. Following the instructions in the DVD question should help with that.

8. Q: Can I use MSN Messenger/AIM/ICQ/Yahoo instant messaging in Fedora?
   A: Yes, Fedora comes with an instant messaging program called Pidgin. When you use Pidgin, you can use MSN Messenger, ICQ, AIM, Yahoo! Messenger, and Jabber, all at the same time.

   To start Pidgin, click on the Applications menu, go to "Internet," and choose "Internet Messenger."

   See the Pidgin documentation for information about how to set up Pidgin with your IM accounts.

9. Q: How do I install fonts? Can I use Windows (.ttf) fonts?
   A: Yes, you can. Here's how you install fonts:

   1. Under the "System" menu in the tray, choose "Preferences" and then "Fonts."
   2. Click on the "Details..." button.
   3. Click on "Go to font folder."

   Now simply drag & drop your fonts into the "Fonts" window to add them. You may have to log out and log in again to see them actually show up in that folder.

   If you have any programs open, you will need to close then and then open them again, to have the new fonts show up in those programs.

   By the way, there's also a very easy way to install all of the common Windows fonts on Linux. You don't usually have to do this on Fedora (because it comes with fonts called the "Liberation" fonts that are the same exact size as the Windows fonts), but if you want to do it, here's how:

   1. Open a Terminal.
   2. Become root:

      su -

   3. Download the MS Core Fonts Smart Package File:

      wget http://corefonts.sourceforge.net/msttcorefonts-2.0-1.spec

   4. Make sure that the rpm-build and cabextract packages are installed:

      yum install rpm-build cabextract

   5. Build the Core Fonts package:

      rpmbuild -ba msttcorefonts-2.0-1.spec

   6. Install the Core Fonts package:

      yum localinstall --nogpgcheck /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/noarch/msttcorefonts-2.0-1.noarch.rpm

   (Thanks to David A. Wheeler and others for convincing me to add the MS Core Fonts instructions. Thanks to byro for pointing out the URL to the 2.0 package!)

10. Q: Where can I get drivers for my hardware for Fedora?
    A: Most drivers come with Fedora. However, if your driver doesn't come with Fedora, you can see what drivers are available for automatic download:

    1. Make sure that you're using my yum configuration from the installing software question.
    2. Open a Terminal.
    3. Become root:

       su -

    4. yum list *-drv* kmod-* dkms-*

    If you don't find what you need this way, try Googling for:

    Fedora NameOfHardware

    or:

    Linux NameOfHardware

    Where NameOfHardware is the normal name of your hardware. If it has more than one name, keep trying different ones until you get a result.

11. Q: How do I read my NTFS (Windows NT/2000/XP/2003) drive in Fedora?
    A: Well, now, that's an easy one! You just have to install the ntfs-3g program!

    1. Open a Terminal.
    2. Become root:

       su -

    3. Type:

       yum install ntfs-3g

    Now you can read and write to your NTFS drives!

    For information on how to use your NTFS drive, you can read the NTFS FAQ. (You don't need to worry about /proc/filesystems like it says there, though.)

12. Q: How do I edit the menus in the panel?
    A: Go to the System menu, then "Preferences", choose "Look and Feel", and click on "Main Menu."

    For KDE users, there is a program called kmenuedit that you can run to edit the menu.

13. Q: How do I get Wine to work?
    A: Wine is a way of running some Windows programs on Linux. It's available using yum:

    1. Open a Terminal.
    2. Become root:

       su -

    3. Install wine:

       yum install wine

14. Q: How do I play DVDs in Fedora? (Updated 24 July 2008)
    A: Easy! You just have to change the configuration of Totem, the Movie Player:

    1. Make sure that you're using my yum configuration from the installing software question.
    2. Open a Terminal.
    3. Become root:

       su -

    4. Install the software that Totem needs in order to play DVDs correctly:

       yum install libdvdcss libdvdnav totem-xine xine-lib-extras-nonfree

    5. Change Totem's configuration to use the new software we installed:

       totem-backend -b xine

    And now you can play DVDs! You can find Totem in the "Applications" menu, under "Sound and Video." It's just called "Movie Player." Sometimes it gives an error about being unable to play a DVD, when it first opens. You can ignore this, and just go to the "File" menu and choose "Play Disc" to watch your DVD.

    By the way, this is also a great way to watch movies that Totem normally can't play. You can search for other xine-lib packages to get the ability to play other types of files.

Problems and Their Solutions

1. Q: I get a NOKEY warning from RPM, or I get a gpg signature error when using yum!
   A: The NOKEY warning is not really a problem. It won't prevent you from doing anything. (The yum error, though, will usually prevent you from installing software.)

   If you'd like to resolve it, do the following command to get the correct key for the site you're downloading from:

   You must be root to do any of this.

   • Red Hat and Fedora Extras:

     rpm --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY*

   • rpm.livna.org:

     rpm --import http://rpm.livna.org/RPM-LIVNA-GPG-KEY

   • FreshRPMs:

     rpm --import http://freshrpms.net/RPM-GPG-KEY-freshrpms

   • DAG:

     rpm --import http://dag.wieers.com/packages/RPM-GPG-KEY.dag.txt

   • ATrpms:

     rpm --import http://atrpms.net/RPM-GPG-KEY.atrpms

   • NewRPMs:

     rpm --import http://newrpms.sunsite.dk/gpg-pubkey-newrpms.txt

   • Dries (RPMForge):

     rpm --import http://apt.sw.be/dries/RPM-GPG-KEY.dries.txt

   • JPackage:

     rpm --import http://www.jpackage.org/jpackage.asc

   • kde-redhat:

     rpm --import http://kde-redhat.sourceforge.net/gpg-pubkey-ff6382fa-3e1ab2ca

   • PlanetCCRMA:

     rpm --import http://ccrma.stanford.edu/planetccrma/RPM-GPG-KEY.planetccrma.txt

   NOTE: If you install my yum configuration, most of these keys are installed for you automatically.

   (Thanks to Kai Thomsen for the original location of the ATrpms key, and thanks to Tom Householder for the new location! Thanks to Pim Rupert for the location of the Dries key. Thanks to Anduin Withers for a good idea about how to reorganize this question. Thanks to Dieter Komendera for the new location of the FreshRPMs key.)

2. Q: How do I enable 3D support for my ATI Radeon card in Fedora?
   A: ATI hasn't yet released working 3D drivers for Fedora 9. You can try using the unstable, open-source radeonhd drivers if you have an R5xx-based or R6xx-based card:

   1. Open a Terminal.
   2. Become root:

      su -

   3. Install the driver:

      yum install xorg-x11-drv-radeonhd

   If you run into trouble with the driver, search or ask questions on the radeonhd mailing list.

3. Q: How do I enable 3D support for my nVidia graphics card in Fedora?
   A: There are now nVidia driver RPMs provided by livna.org that are designed especially for Fedora. Here's how to install them:

   What if every software developer could gain the knowledge of long experience without having to go through the pain of repeated failure? Read my book, Code Simplicity, and find out.

   1. Make sure that you're using my yum configuration from the installing software question.
   2. Open a Terminal.
   3. Become root:

      su -

   4. Install the driver:

      yum install --disablerepo=freshrpms kmod-nvidia

   5. Reboot your machine:

      reboot

   And now you should have working 3D with your nVidia card!

   If you need support for the nVidia drivers, check out the nV News "NVIDIA Linux Forum". (Thanks to Exile in Paradise for this tip.)

4. Q: The installer's media check says all my CDs are bad!
   A: There is a bug in the kernel which causes the media check to say some CDs are bad when they are not, on some systems. To do a successful media check, do the following:

   1. At the installer prompt, type:

      linux mediacheck ide=nodma

   2. Run the media check on your CDs/DVD.
   3. Reboot, and run the installer normally.

   Note that sometimes mediacheck will report that only some CDs are bad, but this will still fix that problem. (Thanks to Tony Nelson for reminding me of that!)

5. Q: I have strange installation problems.
   A: If your installation doesn't work, or you have problems during or after installation, first read the latest Release Notes.

   Also, the Fedora Project provides a detailed installation guide if you'd like any other help while installing.

   In particular, you might want to try using the special boot options listed in the Install Guide.

   If any of those commands fixes your problem, please file a bug in Red Hat's Bugzilla.

6. Q: How do I make all my folders open in the same window, in Nautilus?
   A: If you want to set the file manager so that it doesn't open a new window for each folder, you can follow these steps:

   1. Double-click on the "Computer" icon on your desktop.
   2. Go to the "Edit" menu and choose "Preferences."
   3. Click on the "Behavior" tab.
   4. Put a check in the box marked "Always open in browser windows."

   (Thanks to Eugéne Roux for this method of doing it! And thanks to Raivis Dejus for a better phrasing of the question.)

7. Q: I can't access my Windows network shares anymore! People tell me to use the smbmount command, but it doesn't work!
   A: Modern versions of Linux use a cool new type of Windows file sharing called "The Common Internet File System" (CIFS). Instead of using "smbmount", try:

   mount -t cifs //1.2.3.4/share /mnt/somedirectory

   For more information about this, in a terminal you can do:

   man mount.cifs

   Note that CIFS can't resolve Windows computer names, so you're better off using their IP addresses.

8. Q: ur s0 st00p1d!
   A: Yay! Let's do a dance. Dance dance.