Installation of Fedora core 5 for Newb

Matt_Hirst · 23 Sep 2010 at 14:47

I need to visit two remote sites of ours and install Fedora core 5, yes I know current version is 13 but core 5 is the install guarenteed to work with a particular bespoke piece of software, anyway the computers are fairly recent quad core intel and dual core dell one with ATI card the other with Nvidia.

All well and good so far apart from there is no internet connection so I won't be able to download the correct drivers at the install site only take them with me on DVD.

Questions are:
* What do I need to know before hand / what can I do to prepare the disk install prior to getting to each site?
* What do I need to take with me to cover myself for the install?

I need WINE, Open office and a few other apps.

Oh by the way I am a total Linux Newb and come March next year it will have to move to red hat Linux.

regards,

Matt

FirebarUK · 23 Sep 2010 at 15:05

If the computers are fairly recent there is a good chance the hardware isn't supported with Fedora Core 5. You are then basically stuffed, short of moving to a new kernel and upgrading to a newer version of the distro.

Does the bespoke piece of software depend on some particular library versions or something?

Matt_Hirst · 23 Sep 2010 at 15:10

I don't know why, but we have some other guys who have tried newer versions of fedora and the system just falls flat on its face - hence we are now trying to stick with it.

Matt

Rwac · 23 Sep 2010 at 19:19

It would be best to understand what is causing the issue, it could be very simply to resolve. Post up the errors you experience.

Matt_Hirst · 23 Sep 2010 at 20:41

The only way I will be able to see the errors is goto the remote site then come back, so I was trying to get armed with a possible core 5 that may/should work and then if all else fails try the core 13.

What do I need to do to get core 5 to look for drivers off of a dvd instead of the internet?

regards,

Matt

LizardKing · 23 Sep 2010 at 21:23

I'd be tempted to go down the virtual route, i cant image FC5 supporting the newer hardware without some major updates.
This would allow you to prepare the OS prior to the visit with internet access.

FirebarUK · 23 Sep 2010 at 21:25

Generally speaking you don't need additional drivers with Linux. Most are included in the kernel already.

However, your Fedora Core 5 install might not support the newer hardware and there won't be anything you can do about it.

If the users are wanting a graphical environment with some kind of 2D/3D acceleration, you will need the nvidia/ATI drivers from the respective manu's sites.

LizardKing said:
I'd be tempted to go down the virtual route, i cant image FC5 supporting the newer hardware without some major updates.
This would allow you to prepare the OS prior to the visit with internet access.

^ This is definately worth considering.

Evil-I · 24 Sep 2010 at 15:06

Matt_Hirst said:
What do I need to do to get core 5 to look for drivers off of a dvd instead of the internet?

Unfortunately it may not be that simple, a lot of drivers are built into the kernel, but if you upgrade the kernel for the newer drivers then that may cuase problems with the rest of the FC5 stuff. FC5 is no longer supported either, so that adds all sorts of complications.

I think you're best bet is the virtual machine as suggested by others. Set up a FC13 install on the remote machine and run FC5 as a virtual box. This way you can create and test a virtual machine to make sure it works, then move that over to the remote box when you need to.

Good luck!

E-I

Matt_Hirst · 27 Sep 2010 at 10:25

I have installed Fedorra 13, I am typing this on the same machine, how do I know if all the drivers are installed correctly?

Am just in the process of downloading openoffice, am downloading an iso does fedorra include anything for burning the iso to disk? Also what do I need to do with regards installing open office?

The next task will be to try to install Fedorra 5, just not sure how to go about it as I need to be able have all the relevant drivers downloaded to disk and force the install to look at the disk rather than the internet. How do I install fedorra 5 in a virtual box?

regards,

Matt

memyselfandi · 27 Sep 2010 at 11:03

Why are you downloading an ISO for Open Office? If it isn't already included on the Fedora 13 installation disks then you can download installation archives for it from here (for both 32bit and 64bit Linux's ... you can tell which one of these you need by running uname -a as root in a terminal, if it mentions x86_64 then you'll want the 64bit version).

As you are running Fedora you will probably want the RPM install package from that page.

Instructions on how to install that are on this page in the "Linux RPM-based Installation" section.

Evil-I · 27 Sep 2010 at 11:03

Matt_Hirst said:
I have installed Fedorra 13, I am typing this on the same machine, how do I know if all the drivers are installed correctly?

Am just in the process of downloading openoffice, am downloading an iso does fedorra include anything for burning the iso to disk? Also what do I need to do with regards installing open office?
Matt

Typically everything should just work, so as long as you have sound and everything else, don't worry about additional drivers.

I'd stop downloading open office, the important thing to be aware of with most Linux dsitributions is that they have a package manager of some description built in that you use to install other software. Thats one of the massive advantages of Linux over windows, a distribution isn't just the operating systems, but also pretty much anything else you might want free of charge!

Now theres several ways of downloading and installing software on Fedora, it has a built in package manager that shows in the menus as 'Add Remove Sofotware' if I remember correctly. Just search or browse for openoffice select and apply.

By using the console you can use YUM (yellowdog update manager). So to change to root:
type: su (to change to super user/ root)
Password: enter your password

The type: yum install openoffice

I actually prefer using the YUM GUI called YUM Extender. I don't think this is installed by default, so to install manually again bring up a console window and change to super user ( type su then enter root password).

then type: yum install yumex

and follow the on screen instructions. Once the install has completed yuum extender will appear as an item under the /applications/system tools/ menu.

I'll drop instructions on the FC5 side in a little while.

Best,
E-I

Evil-I · 27 Sep 2010 at 11:14

How to install FC5 on your FC13 install.

Firstly I'd suggest that you use Sun's VirtualBox to run FC5 in a virtual machine. Its free and I've found it to be excellent. Now you can download this through your package managers on your FC13 install again. The only slight downside is that the version that is available from the Fedora 13 repositories (where all the related software lives online) is a slightly more limited version than you can download directly from Sun's site (some GNU source licensing reason i believe). For the purposes of just testing, I'd reccomend downloading through the package managers for now, until you're a bit more comfortable with things.

So again in console,

su

type your password

Then: yum install virtualbox

Please note that linux console comands are case sensitive so it might actually need to be: yum install VirtualBox

If for any reason its saying not recognised , try running: yum search VirtualBox (or whatever) then it will give you a list of similarly named programmes, so you can see if its case is different, or if your spelling is off.

I'd suggest getting to the stage of having virtualbox instaled then let us know and we'll talk you through that side of things.

Best,

E-I

Evil-I · 27 Sep 2010 at 11:21

Whilst you're installing stuff etc, its worth noting that there is a very easy way to update everything on your fedora 13 install to bring it up to date.

su

Password etc

Then: yum update

E-I

vidda · 27 Sep 2010 at 11:31

Not sure how many people who've posted use Linux in a corporate environment but I would recommend using something like CentOS 5.5 and then using KVM/Xen for virtualization.

You can even use a GUI to set it up, if that's your thing.

Evil-I · 27 Sep 2010 at 12:05

vidda said:
Not sure how many people who've posted use Linux in a corporate environment but I would recommend using something like CentOS 5.5 and then using KVM/Xen for virtualization.

You can even use a GUI to set it up, if that's your thing.

The OP mentioned that it had to be FC5 for a specific piece of software, but as you say, no reason why that coudln't be run on CentOS, using KVM/Xen for the virtual machine. I guess the main reason I suggested FC13 it is that at least he would only be familiarising himself with one distribution.

Conversley though as I'm sure your point is, CentOS would probably be a more stable and reliable platform as it's not as bleeding edge as Fedora. And is based on Red Hat Enterprise linux (I'm sure you're aware of this, but the OP might not be).

The one part I don't necessarily agree with is that I found KVM/Xen difficult to get working correctly, whereas VirtualBox was very straight forward and has proven to be very stable for me. I was just working on the basis that as the OP has told us he is a newb, then a more straightforward/ learning solution might be the way to go until he's a bit more familiar with things. Then once he's happy with the basic concepts, it could be tweaked for the production environment.

E-I

Matt_Hirst · 27 Sep 2010 at 13:57

Thanks for the replies guys, am away from the computer at the moment so will try during this next week to get everything working.

By running FC5 in a virtual environment do I lose anything - I run virtual machines on my windows PC at work and that has problems with the 3d graphics side of things.

regards,

Matt

Evil-I · 27 Sep 2010 at 14:46

Matt_Hirst said:
By running FC5 in a virtual environment do I lose anything - I run virtual machines on my windows PC at work and that has problems with the 3d graphics side of things.

In a word, yes.

In a well configured virtual environment running server type tasks, performance shouldn't take much of a hit as long as appropriate resources are allocated (and the machines have enough RAM). However if its more workstation use than server use and you need hardware 3D acceleration etc, then thats another kettle of fish entirely.

Silly question for you, but what is this bespoke bit of software thats causing you all these problems?

Best,

E-I

Matt_Hirst · 27 Sep 2010 at 16:44

Its a computer simulation program and basicly is a huge database, mysql, and uses openmap for displaying some of its output.

Openmap was one of the issues when I ran the product in a win2000 virtual machine, openmap worked fine in windows itself but suffered conflicts with other software installed on the machine hence the reason going to a virtual machine, so I assume I will have problems under fedora?

regards,

Matt

vidda · 27 Sep 2010 at 17:37

Evil-I said:
The one part I don't necessarily agree with is that I found KVM/Xen difficult to get working correctly, whereas VirtualBox was very straight forward and has proven to be very stable for me. I was just working on the basis that as the OP has told us he is a newb, then a more straightforward/ learning solution might be the way to go until he's a bit more familiar with things. Then once he's happy with the basic concepts, it could be tweaked for the production environment.

E-I

From the GNOME menu -> Virtualization -> Virtual Machine Manager.

Really easy, almost as simple as VirtualBox.

Some things have been left out to really form a decision though.

How are the users accessing the system? Some sort of fat client? Web based? SSH? Or through the actual machines desktop?

If they are accessing the system via other applications, the best route would be CentOS KVM/Xen.

If they are accessing the system via it's desktop VirtualBox does this much better and by going Fedora 13 (Ubuntu 10.04 LTS may actually be better due to Long Term Support) you would have better video drivers installed out of the box.

Not sure if the OP is aware, but the reason people are suggesting Virtualization is simply because of hardware compatibility. Usually virtualization vendors chose to make the hardware appear as quite basic models to make it more compatible with a bigger selection of software/operating systems.

Matt_Hirst · 27 Sep 2010 at 17:51

I am a complete Newgb to this so appreciate any help I get.

Users are accessing the system on their own pc as it is a single user system.

regards,

Matt