Fedora 9 (F9 Sulphur) has been released. Here I will record my personal setup. Note, this is a work in progress and will be updated as I (slowly) configure my system.

My setup: Dell Inspiron 9400 (E1705)

• Audio device: Intel 82801G High Definition Audio Controller (rev 01)
• IDE interface: Intel 82801GBM/GHM SATA IDE Controller (rev 01)
• Video: nVidia Corporation GeForce Go 7900 GS (rev a1)
• Ethernet: Broadcom Corporation BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX (rev 02)
• FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd R5C832 IEEE 1394 Controller
• Network controller: Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection (rev 02)

PC Speaker

Now, that damn PC speaker beeping must go, edit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist and add:

Smart Package Manager

As always, I immediately install the smart package manager.

Upon starting Smart Package Manager (Applications->System Tools->Smart Package Manager), you will be prompted to import various repositories of which I opted for only the Core and Updates. You'll also notice that they all refer to version 8.92 rather than 9. Once imported, edit the channels (Edit->Channels) and replace all occurrences of 8.92 with 9 and all should be good.

Now, refresh the repository view by clicking the refresh button. This should succeed (given you have internet connectivity). If this fails, something is probably wrong with the channel definition, go back and check them again).

Configure freshrpms and livna repositories in Smart.
In Smart Package Manager navigate to Edit->Channels and click New. Choose 'Provide channel information', then select 'RPM MetaData' and use the base urls:

Then repeat for freshrpms with the base url:

These repositories are good for non GPL friendly things like nvidia drivers, intel wireless drivers etc.

Install the repo keys:

VirtualBox

VirtualBox makes for a great replacement for vmware workstation and tends to work as well if not better for my needs.

Download the latest binaries from http://www.virtualbox.org/ and install.

You also need to install compat-libstdc++-33 (use the package manager), if you don't you'll get an error indicating that it cannot find /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.5.

Next you need to add yourself to the vboxusers group (System->Administration->Users and Groups, select the groups tab, select the vboxusers group and select properties. Under group users, select yourself.

Reboot and you'll be able to start virtualbox (on fedora 9 using virtualbox 1.6, virtualbox was located at Applications->System Tools->Sun xVM VirtualBox).

When creating a new client ensure you give your guest sufficient video ram or you will have troubles getting full screen or seamless mode working. I gave the maximum available.

NVidia drivers

I like to have 3d desktop effects (compiz-fusion), but for this we need the nvidia proprietary drivers. I use the driver packages available livna kmod-nvidia being careful to pick the i686 version.

On these 17" 1920x1200 displays, the Nvidia driver defaults to 131x132 DPI which makes the fonts very large, too large for me. I was hoping the days of exiting xorg.conf were over, but no. To reduce the DPI to a sensible value modify /etc/X11/xorg.conf and add the option:

To the Device section. Restart X to make the changes come into effect. (Log-out and back in or restart).

I find that I have issues with the nvidia driver making my screen flicker/flash and sometime causes my machine to crash. I have found that it can be fixed by modifying /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia and replacing:

with:

3D desktop effects (Compiz, emerald, etc)

There are quite a few packages to install luckily they are all available in the Fedora 9 repository:

Once installed, you'll want fusion-icon to start when you login, fusion-icon will start your selected window manager and window decorator for you, it's the easiest method of turning compiz on and off.

To have fusion-icon start up at login simply launch [System->Preferences->Personal->Sessions] and add a Startup Program, for name and comment use anything and for command type or browse to /usr/bin/fusion-icon.

Alternatively you can start fusion-icon from [Applications->System Tools->Compiz Fusion Icon].

Once started you should see the fusion-icon, which if context clicked will show many options, specifically the Settings Manager and Emerald Theme Manager will enable you to configure and tailor your new desktop environment.

Synaptics - additional functionality

With a few tweaks, you can get additional functionality from your touch pad. Including 'two finger' tap to middle click and 'three finger' tap for right click.

Simply install Ksynaptics (formally qsynaptics) and add:

to the InputDevices section of your xorg.conf. You'll need to restart X for the changes to take effect.

After restarting X go to [Applications->Other->Touch pad] and configure as you like.

Media Player (smplayer)

My favourite media player for linux is smplayer. smplayer is a GUI for mplayer and supports nearly all video formats. The Livna repository provides smplayer to make your life easy.

Music Player (audacious)

I prefer the simple 'winamp style' type of music player and opt for Audacious. Audacious can even use winamp skins.

Audacious is available in the main fedora repository, but you'll need to install the non-free codecs from Livna (mp3, wma, etc):