Mounting ISO files in GNOME

The easiest way to use ISO files in Fedora 13 is to Double-Click the ISO file in nautilus and it will show up under 'Places' on the left panel. 

Thanks to Adrian for this.

Installing Skype

1. su
2. curl http://ftp-stud.hs-esslingen.de/pub/fedora/linux/updates/13/i386/nss-softokn-freebl-3.12.4-19.fc13.i686.rpm -o nss-softokn-freebl-3.12.4-19.fc13.i686.rpm
3. yum install nss-softokn-freebl-3.12.4-19.fc13.i686.rpm
4. yum install alsa-lib.i686 dbus-libs.i686 e2fsprogs-libs.i686 expat.i686 fontconfig.i686 freetype.i686 glib2.i686 glibc.i686 keyutils-libs.i686 krb5-libs.i686 libcap.i686 libgcc.i686 libICE.i686 libpng.i686 libselinux.i686 libSM.i686 libstdc++.i686 libX11.i686 libXau.i686 libxcb.i686 libXcursor.i686 libXdmcp.i686 libXext.i686 libXfixes.i686 libXi.i686 libXinerama.i686 libXrandr.i686 libXrender.i686 libXScrnSaver.i686 libXv.i686 openssl.i686 qt.i686 qt-x11.i686 zlib.i68
5. yum install libv4l.i686
   
6. Now install Skype:

Create repo file:
gedit /etc/yum.repos.d/skype.repo

Put into skype.repo:
[skype]
name=Skype Repository
baseurl=http://download.skype.com/linux/repos/fedora/updates/i586/
gpgkey=http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/infosys/phone/skype/rpm-public-key.asc
gpgcheck=0

Install skype:
yum install skype

Start skype using the command (this is what made video work):
env LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype

Enabling MP3

F13 does not come with the 'ugly' plugins.  To enable them:


yum install totem-mozplugin gstreamer-plugins-ugly gstreamer-plugins-bad

Adding Adobe Flash to 64Bit Browser

OK, to get the Adobe Flash working on the 64bit Browser, you need to install a wrapper.

su -c 'yum install flash-plugin nspluginwrapper.x86_64 \
    nspluginwrapper.i686 alsa-plugins-pulseaudio.i686 \
    libcurl.i686'

Once this is installed, restart your browser.  On F12 64, I had Adobe installed however every so often, I would lose the link to it in Firefox.  I would have to close all instances of FF and restart the browser.  Just became a pain in the rear.


YouTube is moving away from the Flash format anyhow so you may want to look at the follwing:

Source

Google has recently open sourced the VP8 video format and combined it with Ogg Vorbis audio and an adaptation of the Matroska container, creating a new format for free and open video and audio called WebM. YouTube is switching over to using WebM extensively and Fedora has embraced this format as well.
Updates to the GStreamer multimedia framework in Fedora 13 and Fedora 12 enable users to play many YouTube videos directly without Flash via browsers such as Epiphany and Midori, which use Gstreamer. Fedora 12 users also need the webkitgtk update.
Once you have the updates installed, to enable support for it in YouTube, go to http://youtube.com/html5 and click on "Join the HTML5 Beta" link in the bottom of that page. Note that all videos are not available in WebM format yet, but this is expected to happen over time. Here is a sample video for testing. Fedora 14 will have more extensive support for WebM by default.

LDAP Administration

Since I visit many different customers, and set up different manufacturer equipment, I try to use LDAP authentication wherever possible.  This allows the administrators to revoke access to a users/netadmin from one location.  If someone leaves, disable their LDAP account and they lose VPN, Domain, Equipment access etc.

I used to use a bloated tool in Windows to do this.  I found a nice light weight tool LAT.  This utility allows you to connect, browse and edit LDAP servers.  I use it primarily for browsing the LDAP.  I usually have the customer create a non-admin user,  then I use that username/password with LAT to see if it in fact works.  Usually this saves me a lot of time when the netadmin fat fingered the password.

 

Replacement for SecureCRT

When I converted over to Linux, I was a heavy user of SecureCRT.  Not so much for the scripting capabilities but for the manner in which it stores the many connections.  I stumbled onto a cool app (SSHMenu)  This has the ability to keep your SSH Connection in order.  One drawback I am still looking at is the sorting order, cannot seem to make it sort in alphabetical order.

This is what it looks like off of the launcher.  I have pixalized the names to protect the innocent. 

With some modifications, you can also add the ability to do Telnet as well as SSH.  I work a lot with Cisco and sometimes you "need" telnet. 

Configuration files are stored in a file under your /home directory.  The file name is .sshmenu

I guess I could sort it all there, but have been truly lazy to do so.  Unfortunetly, I have been unable to export the SecureCRT contents to SSMenu or anything else I have found.


 
To install it:  'yum install gnome-applet-sshmenu' from SU

Installing Fedora 13 64Bit

I am currently running Fedora 12 64Bit. It has been a learning experience. The OS has become somewhat unstable due to trial and error. Now that I have figured out what is worth using and what is garbage, I will start to post some information here.

I am currently backing up my F12 install, just in case.

The Plan:

1. New Hard Drive
2. Keep existing as a back up.
3. Install F13 64Bit
4. Use Fedora disk encryption to encrypt /home/myUser directory
5. Get Evolution to work stable including GAL from Exchange 2003 Server.