Tag: Fedora Project community

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Convert file systems with Fstransform

Few people know that they can convert their filesystems from one type to another without losing data, i.e. non-destructively. It may sound like magic, but Fstransform can convert an ext2, ext3, ext4, jfs, reiserfs or xfs partition to another type from the list in almost any combination. More importantly, it does so in-place, without formatting or copying data anywhere. Atop of all this goodness, there is a little bonus: Fstransform can also handle ntfs, btrfs, fat and exfat partitions as well.

Before you run it

There are certain caveats and limitations in Fstransform, so it is strongly advised to back up before attempting a conversion. Additionally, there are some limitations to be aware of when using Fstransform:

  • Both the source and target filesystems must be supported by your Linux kernel. Sounds like an obvious thing and exposes zero risk in case you want to use ext2, ext3, ext4, reiserfs, jfs and xfs partitions. Fedora supports all of that just fine.
  • Upgrading ext2 to ext3 or ext4 does not require Fstransform. Use the Tune2fs utility instead.
  • The device with source file system must have at least 5% of free space.
  • You need to be able to unmount the source filesystem before you begin.
  • The more data your source file system stores, the longer the conversion will last. The actual speed depends on your device, but expect it to be around one gigabyte per minute. The large amount of hard links can also slow down the conversion.
  • Although Fstransform is proved to be stable, please back up data on your source filesystem.

Installation instructions

Fstransform is already a part of Fedora. Install with the command:

sudo dnf install fstransform

Time to convert something

Converting one file system to another in-place can take a while

The syntax of the fstransform command is very simple: fstransform <source device> <target file system>. Keep in mind that it needs root privileges to run, so don’t forget to add sudo in the beginning. Here goes an example:

sudo fstransform /dev/sdb1 ext4

Note that it is not possible to convert a root file system, which is a security measure. Use a test partition or an experimental thumb drive instead. In the meantime, Fstransform will through a lot of auxiliary output in the console. The most useful part is the estimated time of completion, which keep you informed about how long  the process will take. Again, few small files on an almost empty drive will make Fstransform do its job in a minute or so, whereas more real-world tasks may involve hours of wait time.

More file systems are supported

As mentioned above, it is possible to try Fstransform with ntfs, btrfs, fat and exfat partitions. These types are very experimental, and nobody can guarantee that the converion will flow perfect. Still, there are many success stories, and you can add your own by testing Fstransform with a sample data set on a test partition. Those additional file systems can be enabled by the use of the –force-untested-file-systems parameter:

sudo fstransform /dev/sdb1 ntfs --force-untested-file-systems

Sometimes the process may iterrupt with an error. Feel free to repeat the command again — it may eventually complete the conversion from second or third attempt.

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Image creation applications for Fedora

Feeling creative? There are a multitude of applications available for Fedora to aid your creativity. From digital painting, vectors, to pixel art there is something for everyone to get creative this weekend. This article highlights a selection of the applications available for Fedora for creating awesome images.

Vector graphics: Inkscape

Inkscape is a well known and loved Open Source vector graphics editor. SVG is the primary file format of Inkscape, so all your drawings will scale no-problems! Inkscape has been around for many years, so there is a solid community and mountains of tutorials and other resources for getting started.

Being a vector graphics editor, Inkscape is better suited towards simpler illustrations (for example a simple comics style). However, using vector blurs, some artists create some amazing vector drawings.

Install Krita from the Software application in Fedora Workstation, or use the following command in Terminal:

sudo dnf install inkscape

Digital Painting: Krita & Mypaint

Krita is a popular image creation application for digital painting, raster illustration, and texturing. Additionally, Krita is an active project, with a vibrant community — so lots of tutorials to get started. Krita features multiple brush engines, a UI with pop-up palletes, a wrap-around mode for creating seamless patterns, filters, layers, and much more.

Krita with artwork from the Pepper and Carrot webcomic (CC-BY 4.0)

Install Krita from the Software application in Fedora Workstation, or use the following command in Terminal:

sudo dnf install krita

Mypaint is another amazing digital painting application available for Fedora. Like Krita, it has multiple brushes and the ability to use layers.

Install Mypaint from the Software application in Fedora Workstation, or use the following command in Terminal:

sudo dnf install mypaint

Pixel Art: Libresprite

Libresprite is an application designed for the creation of pixel art and pixel animations. It supports a range of colour modes and exports to many formats (including animated GIF). Additionally, Libresprite has drawing tools designed for the creation of pixel art: the polygon tool, and contour & shading tools.

Libresprite is available to download from the Flathub application repository. To install, simply enable Flathub as a software source, and then install via the Software application.

 

 

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5 applications to manage your to-do list on Fedora

Effective management of your to-do list can do wonders for your productivity. Some prefer just keeping a to-do list in a text file, or even just using a notepad and pen. For users that want more out of their to-do list, they often turn to an application. In this article we highlight 4 graphical applications and a terminal-based tool for managing your to-do list.

GNOME To Do

GNOME To Do is a personal task manager designed specifically for the GNOME desktop (Fedora Workstation’s default desktop). When comparing GNOME To Do with some others in this list, it is has a range of neat features.

GNOME To Do provides organization of tasks by lists, and the ability to assign a colour to that list. Additionally, individual tasks can be assigned due dates & priorities, and notes for each task. Futhermore, GNOME To Do has extensions, allowing even more features, including support for todo.txt and syncing with online services such as todoist.

Install GNOME To Do either by using the Software application, or using the following command in the Terminal:

sudo dnf install gnome-todo

Getting things GNOME!

Before GNOME To Do existed, the go-to application for tracking tasks on GNOME was Getting things GNOME! This older-style GNOME application has a multiple window layout, allowing you to show the details of multiple tasks at the same time. Rather than having lists of tasks, GTG has the ability to add sub-tasks to tasks and even to sub-tasks. GTG also has the ability to add due dates and start dates. Syncing to other apps and services is also possible in GTG via plugins.

Install Getting Things GNOME either by using the Software application, or using the following command in the Terminal:

sudo dnf install gtg

Go For It!

Go For It! is a super-simple task management application. It is used to simply create a list of tasks, and mark them as done when completed. It does not have the ability to group tasks, or create sub-tasks. By default, Go For It! stored tasks in the todo.txt format, allowing simpler syncing to online services and other applications. Additionally, Go For It! contains a simple timer to track how much time you have spent on the current task.

Go For It is available to download from the Flathub application repository. To install, simply enable Flathub as a software source, and then install via the Software application.

Agenda

If you are looking for a no-fuss super simple to-do application, look no further than Agenda. Create tasks, mark them as complete, and then delete them from your list. Agenda shows all tasks (completed or open) until you remove them.

Agenda is available to download from the Flathub application repository. To install, simply enable Flathub as a software source, and then install via the Software application.

Taskwarrior

Taskwarrior is a flexible command-line task management program. It is highly customizable, but can also be used “right out of the box.”   Using simple commands, you can create tasks, mark them as complete, and list current open tasks. Additionally, tasks can be tagged, added to projects, searched and filtered. Furthermore, you can set up recurring tasks, and apply due dates to tasks.

This previous article on the Fedora Magazine provides a good overview of getting started with Taskwarrior.

Install Taskwarrior with this command in the Terminal:

sudo dnf install task
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How to use Fedora Server to create a router / gateway

Building a router (or gateway) using Fedora Server is an interesting project for users wanting to learn more about Linux system administration and networking. In this article, learn how to configure a Fedora Server minimal install to act as an internet router / gateway.

This guide is based on Fedora 28 and assumes you have already installed Fedora Server (minimal install). Additionally, you require a suitable network card / modem for the incoming internet connection. In this example, the  DrayTek VigorNIC 132 NIC was used to create the router.

Why build your own router

There are many benefits for building your own router over buying a standalone box (or using the one supplied by your internet provider):

  • Easily update and run latest software versions
  • May be less prone to be part of larger hacking campaign as its not a common consumer device
  • Run your own VMs or containers on same host/router
  • Build OpenShift on top of router (future story in this series)
  • Include your own VPN, Tor, or other tunnel paths along with correct routing

The downside is related to time and knowledge.

  • You have to manage your own security
  • You need to have the knowledge to troubleshoot if an issue happens or find it through the web (no support calls)
  • Costs more in most cases than hardware provided by an internet provider

Basic network topology

The diagram below describes the basic topology used in this setup. The machine running Fedora Server has a PCI Express modem for VDSL. Alternatively, if you use a Raspberry Pi with external modem the configuration is mostly similar.

topology

Initial Setup

First of all, install the packages needed to make the router. Bash auto-complete is included to make things easier when later configuring. Additionally, install packages to allow you to host your own VMs on the same router/hosts via KVM-QEMU.

dnf install -y bash-completion NetworkManager-ppp qemu-kvm qemu-img virt-manager libvirt libvirt-python libvirt-client virt-install virt-viewer

Next, use nmcli to set the MTU on the WAN(PPPoE) interfaces to align with DSL/ATM MTU and create pppoe interface. This link has a great explanation on how this works. The username and password will be provided by your internet provider.

nmcli connection add type pppoe ifname enp2s0 username 00xxx5511yyy0001@t-online.de password XXXXXX 802-3-ethernet.mtu 1452

Now, set up the firewall with the default zone as external and remove incoming SSH access.

firewall-cmd --set-default-zone=external firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=external --remove-service=ssh

Add LAN interface(br0) along with preferred LAN IP address and then add your physical LAN interface to the bridge.

nmcli connection add ifname br0 type bridge con-name br0 bridge.stp no ipv4.addresses 10.0.0.1/24 ipv4.method manual nmcli connection add type bridge-slave ifname enp1s0 master br0

Remember to use a subnet that does not overlap with your works VPN subnet. For example my work provides a 10.32.0.0/16 subnet when I VPN into the office so I need to avoid using this in my home network. If you overlap addressing then the route provided by your VPN will likely have lower priority and you will not route through the VPN tunnel.

Now create a file called bridge.xml, containing a bridge definition that virsh will consume to create a bridge in QEMU.

cat > bridge.xml <<EOF <network>     <name>host-bridge</name>     <forward mode="bridge"/>     <bridge name="br0"/> </network> EOF

Start and enable your libvirt-guests service so you can add the bridge in your virtual environment for the VMs to use.

systemctl start libvirt-guests.service systemctl enable libvirt-guests.service

Add your “host-bridge” to QEMU via virsh command and the XML file you created earlier.

virsh net-define bridge.xml

virsh net-start host-bridge virsh net-autostart host-bridge

Add br0 to internal zone and allow DNS and DHCP as we will be setting up our own services on this router.

firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=internal --add-interface=br0 firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=internal --add-service=dhcp firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=internal --add-service=dns

Since many DHCP clients including Windows and Linux don’t take into account the MTU attribute in DHCP, we will need to allow TCP based protocols to set MSS based on PMTU size.

firewall-cmd --permanent --direct --add-passthrough ipv4 -I FORWARD -p tcp --tcp-flags SYN,RST SYN -j TCPMSS --clamp-mss-to-pmtu

Now we reload the firewall to take permanent changes into account.

nmcli connection reload

Install and Configure DHCP

DHCP configuration depends on your home network setup. Use your own desired domain name and and the subnet was defined during the creation of br0. Be sure to note the MAC address in the config file below can either be capture from the command below once you have DHCP services up and running or you can pull it off the label externally on the device you want to set to static addressing.

cat /var/lib/dhcpd/dhcpd.leases
dnf -y install dhcp vi /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf 
option domain-name "lajoie.org"; option domain-name-servers 10.0.0.1; default-lease-time 600; max-lease-time 7200; authoritative; subnet 10.0.0.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 { range dynamic-bootp 10.0.0.100 10.0.0.254; option broadcast-address 10.0.0.255; option routers 10.0.0.1; option interface-mtu 1452; } host ubifi { option host-name "ubifi.lajoie.org"; hardware ethernet f0:9f:c2:1f:c1:12; fixed-address 10.0.0.2; }

Now enable and start your DHCP server

systemctl start dhcpd systemctl enable dhcpd

DNS Install and Configure

Next, install bind and and bind-utils for tools like nslookup and dig.

dnf -y install bind bind-utils

Configure your bind server with listening address (LAN interface in this case) and the forward/reverse zones.

$ vi /etc/named.conf
options { listen-on port 53 { 10.0.0.1; }; listen-on-v6 port 53 { none; }; directory "/var/named"; dump-file "/var/named/data/cache_dump.db"; statistics-file "/var/named/data/named_stats.txt"; memstatistics-file "/var/named/data/named_mem_stats.txt"; secroots-file "/var/named/data/named.secroots"; recursing-file "/var/named/data/named.recursing"; allow-query { 10.0.0.0/24; }; recursion yes; forwarders {8.8.8.8; 8.8.4.4; }; dnssec-enable yes; dnssec-validation yes; managed-keys-directory "/var/named/dynamic"; pid-file "/run/named/named.pid"; session-keyfile "/run/named/session.key"; include "/etc/crypto-policies/back-ends/bind.config"; }; controls { }; logging { channel default_debug { file "data/named.run"; severity dynamic; }; }; view "internal" { match-clients { localhost; 10.0.0.0/24; }; zone "lajoie.org" IN { type master; file "lajoie.org.db"; allow-update { none; }; }; zone "0.0.10.in-addr.arpa" IN { type master; file "0.0.10.db"; allow-update { none; }; }; };

Here is a zone file for example and make sure to update the serial number after each edit of the bind service will assume no changes took place.

$ vi /var/named/lajoie.org.db
$TTL 86400 @ IN SOA gw.lajoie.org. root.lajoie.org. ( 2018040801 ;Serial 3600 ;Refresh 1800 ;Retry 604800 ;Expire 86400 ;Minimum TTL ) IN NS gw.lajoie.org. IN A 10.0.0.1 gw IN A 10.0.0.1 ubifi IN A 10.0.0.2

Here is a reverse zone file for example and make sure to update the serial number after each edit of the bind service will assume no changes took place.

$ vi /var/named/0.0.10.db
$TTL 86400 @ IN SOA gw.lajoie.org. root.lajoie.org. ( 2018040801 ;Serial 3600 ;Refresh 1800 ;Retry 604800 ;Expire 86400 ;Minimum TTL ) IN NS gw.lajoie.org. IN PTR lajoie.org. IN A 255.255.255.0 1 IN PTR gw.lajoie.org. 2 IN PTR ubifi.lajoie.org.

Now enable and start your DNS server

systemctl start named systemctl enable named

Secure SSH

Last simple step is to make SSH service listen only on your LAN segment. Run this command to see whats listening at this moment. Remember we did not allow SSH on the external firewall zone but this step is still best practice in my opinion.

ss -lnp4

Now edit the SSH service to only listen on your LAN segment.

vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config
AddressFamily inet ListenAddress 10.0.0.1

Restart your SSH service for changes to take effect.

systemctl restart sshd.service
<!–

Optional WiFi Configuration

In this optional section we have the configuration for Wireless AP and 4G WAN. I used Ubiquiti wireless in my setup as I needed multi AP and seamless handover. For WiFi you probably want WPA2 pre-shared key, RSN security protocol, and CCMP group as shown below. We also set the AP to run as 5GHz band via “802-11-wireless.band a”. 

dnf install NetworkManager-wifi nmcli connection add type wifi ifname wlp6s0 con-name ap0 autoconnect yes ssid HOMENET 802-11-wireless.mode ap 802-11-wireless.band a 802-11-wireless-security.proto rsn 802-11-wireless-security.pairwise ccmp 802-11-wireless-security.group ccmp 802-11-wireless-security.psk xxxxxxxxx 802-11-wireless-security.key-mgmt wpa-psk ipv4.method shared

Optional  4G Configuration

Now install wwan support and if you have a WWAN USB modem like me that needs to be switched to modem mode vs. storage. 

dnf install NetworkManager-wwan ModemManager
Enable and start the ModemManager
systemctl start ModemManager  systemctl enable ModemManager
Plug your device in and make sure ModemManager and NetworkManager both see the wwan device.
mmcli -M nmcli dev
If you don’t see your device I recommend you go to this link and open a bug report.

Now configure your 3GPP WAN connection and reload to make sure everything auto-starts. 

nmcli connection add type gsm con-name Telekom gsm.apn web.vodafone.de ifname ttyUSB0

Since we have the default zone for our firewall set to external, this wwan interface will be put into the correct zone.–>

Thank you

Thanks and please leave a comment below if you have any ideas, edits or questions.

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4 cool apps for your terminal

Many Linux users think that working in a terminal is either too complex or boring, and try to escape it. Here is a fix, though — four great open source apps for your terminal. They’re fun and easy to use, and may even brighten up your life when you need to spend a time in the command line.

No More Secrets

This is a simple command line tool that recreates the famous data decryption effect seen in the 1992 movie Sneakers. The project lets you compile the nms command, which works with piped data and prints the output in the form of messed characters. Once it does so, you can press any key,  and see the live “deciphering” of the output with a cool Hollywood-style effect.

This GIF animation briefly shows the No More Secrets effect

Installation instructions

A fresh Fedora Workstation system already includes everything you need to build No More Secrets from source. Just enter the following command in your terminal:

git clone https://github.com/bartobri/no-more-secrets.git cd ./no-more-secrets make nms make sneakers ## Optional sudo make install

The sneakers command is a little bonus for those who remember the original movie, but the main hero is nms. Use a pipe to redirect any Linux command to nms, like this:

systemctl list-units --type=target | nms

Once the text stops flickering, hit any key to “decrypt” it. The systemctl command above is only an example — you can replace it with virtually anything!

Lolcat

Here’s a command that colorizes the terminal output with rainbows. Nothing can be more useless, but boy, it looks awesome!

Let your Linux command output look jolly!

Installation instructions

Lolcat is a Ruby package available from the official Ruby Gems hosting. So, you’ll need the gem client first:

sudo dnf install -y rubygems

And then install Lolcat itself:

gem install lolcat

Again, use the lolcat command in for piping any other command and enjoy rainbows (and unicorns!) right in your Fedora terminal.

Chafa

Zoom out your terminal view to increase resolution for Chafa

Chafa is a command line image converter and viewer. It helps you enjoy your images without leaving your lovely terminal. The syntax is very straightforward:

chafa /path/to/your/image

You can throw almost any sort of image to Chafa, including JPG, PNG, TIFF, BMP or virtually anything that ImageMagick supports — this is the engine that Chafa uses for parsing input files. The coolest part is that Chafa can also show very smooth and fluid GIF animations right inside your terminal!

Installation instructions

Chafa isn’t packaged for Fedora yet, but it’s quite easy to build it from source. First, get the necessary build dependencies:

sudo dnf install -y autoconf automake libtool gtk-doc glib2-devel ImageMagick-devel

Next, clone the code or download a snapshot from the project’s Github page and cd to the Chafa directory. After that, you’re ready to go:

git clone https://github.com/hpjansson/chafa ./autogen.sh make sudo make install

Large images can take a while to process at the first run, but Chafa caches everything you load with it. Next runs will be nearly instantaneous.

Browsh

Browsh is a fully-fledged web browser for the terminal. It’s more powerful than Lynx and certainly more eye-catching. Browsh launches the Firefox web browser in a headless mode (so that you can’t see it) and connects it with your terminal with the help of special web extension. Therefore, Browsh renders all rich media content just like Firefox, only in a bit pixelated  style.

Fedora Magazine still looks awesome in Browsh

Installation instructions

The project provides packages for various Linux distributions, including Fedora. Install it this way:

sudo dnf install -y https://github.com/browsh-org/browsh/releases/download/v1.4.6/browsh_1.4.6_linux_amd64.rpm

After that, launch the browsh command and give it a couple of seconds to load up. Press Ctrl+L to switch focus to the address bar and start browsing the Web like you never did before! Use Ctrl+Q to get back to your terminal.

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Install an NVIDIA GPU on almost any machine

Whether for research or recreation, installing a new GPU can bolster your computer’s performance and enable new functionality across the board. This installation guide uses Fedora 28’s brand-new third-party repositories to install NVIDIA drivers. It walks you through the installation of both software and hardware, and covers everything you need to get your NVIDIA card up and running. This process works for any UEFI-enabled computer, and any modern NVIDIA GPU.

Preparation

This guide relies on the following materials:

  • A machine that is UEFI capable. If you’re uncertain whether your machine has this firmware, run sudo dmidecode -t 0.  If “UEFI is supported” appears anywhere in the output, you are all set to continue. Otherwise, while it’s technically possible to update some computers to support UEFI, the process is often finicky and generally not recommended.
  • A modern, UEFI-enabled NVIDIA card
  • A power source that meets the wattage and wiring requirements for your NVIDIA card (see the Hardware & Modifications section for details)
  • Internet connection
  • Fedora 28

Example setup

This example installation uses:

Hardware and modifications

PSU

Open up your desktop case and check the maximum power output printed on your power supply. Next, check the documentation on your NVIDIA GPU and determine the minimum recommended power (in watts). Further, take a look at your GPU and see if it requires additional wiring, such as a 6-pin connector. Most entry-level GPUs only draw power directly from the motherboard, but some require extra juice. You’ll need to upgrade your PSU if:

  1. Your power supply’s max power output is below the GPU’s suggested minimum power. Note: According to some NVIDIA card manufacturers, pre-built systems may require more or less power than recommended, depending on the system’s configuration. Use your discretion to determine your requirements if you’re using a particularly power-efficient or power-hungry setup.
  2. Your power supply does not provide the necessary wiring to power your card.

PSUs are straightforward to replace, but make sure to take note of the wiring layout before detaching your current power supply. Additionally, make sure to select a PSU that fits your desktop case.

CPU

Although installing a high-quality NVIDIA GPU is possible in many old machines, a slow or damaged CPU can “bottleneck” the performance of the GPU. To calculate the impact of the bottlenecking effect for your machine, click here. It’s important to know your CPU’s performance to avoid pairing a high-powered GPU with a CPU that can’t keep up. Upgrading your CPU is a potential consideration.

Motherboard

Before proceeding, ensure your motherboard is compatible with your GPU of choice. Your graphics card should be inserted into the PCI-E x16 slot closest to the heat-sink. Ensure that your setup contains enough space for the GPU. In addition, note that most GPUs today employ PCI-E 3.0 technology. Though these GPUs will run best if mounted on a PCI-E 3.0 x16 slot,  performance should not suffer significantly with an older version slot.

Installation

1. First, open up a terminal, and update your package-manager (if you have not done so already), by running:

sudo dnf update

2. Next, reboot with the simple command:

reboot

<!– Authors left out code or an app in this step, so since it's optional…

3. (Optional) If you’d like, check your system’s current GPU performance to compare against:
To verify that your NVIDIA card performs better than your current setup, you may want to record your current GPU’s performance before installation. To do so, scroll down to the “Run GLMark2” section under “Verification.” Record your current GLMark2 score, then proceed to the next steps.
–>

3. After reboot, install the Fedora 28 workstation repositories:

sudo dnf install fedora-workstation-repositories

4. Next, enable the NVIDIA driver repository:

sudo dnf config-manager --set-enabled rpmfusion-nonfree-nvidia-driver

5. Then, reboot again.

6. After the reboot, verify the addition of the repository via the following command:

sudo dnf repository-packages rpmfusion-nonfree-nvidia-driver info

If several NVIDIA tools and their respective specs are loaded, then proceed to the next step. If not, you may have encountered an error when adding the new repository and you should give it another shot.

7. Login, connect to the internet, and open the software app. Click Add-ons> Hardware Drivers> NVIDIA Linux Graphics Driver> Install.

Then, reboot once again.

8. After reboot, go to ‘Show Applications’ on the side bar, and open up the newly added NVIDIA X Server Settings application. A GUI should open up, and a dialog box will appear with the following message:

NVIDIA X Server Prompt

Take the application’s advice, but before doing so, ensure you have your NVIDIA GPU on-hand and are ready to install. Please note that running nvidia xconfig as root and powering off without installing your GPU immediately  may cause drastic damage. Doing so may prevent your computer from booting, and force you to repair the system through the reboot screen. A fresh install of Fedora may fix these issues, but the effects can be much worse.

If you’re ready to proceed, enter the command:

sudo nvidia-xconfig

If the system prompts you to perform any downloads, accept them and proceed.

9. Once this process is complete, close all applications and shut down the computer. Unplug the power supply to your machine. Then, press the power button once to drain any residual power to protect yourself from electric shock. If your PSU has a power switch, switch it off.

10. Finally, install the graphics card. Remove the old GPU and insert your new NVIDIA graphics card into the proper PCI-E x16 slot, with the fans facing down. If there is no space for the fans to ventilate in this position, place the graphics card face up instead, if possible. When you have successfully installed the new GPU, close your case, plug in the PSU, and turn the computer on. It should successfully boot up.

NOTE: To disable the NVIDIA driver repository used in this installation, or to disable all fedora workstation repositories, consult The Fedora Wiki Page.

Verification

1. If your newly installed NVIDIA graphics card is connected to your monitor and displaying correctly, then your NVIDIA driver has successfully established a connection to the GPU.

If you’d like to view your settings, or verify the driver is working (in the case that you have two GPUs installed on the motherboard), open up the NVIDIA X Server Settings app again. This time, you should not be prompted with an error message, and information on the X configuration file and your NVIDIA GPU should be available (see screenshot below).

NVIDIA X Server Settings

Through this app, you may alter your X configuration file should you please, and may monitor the GPU’s performance, clock speed, and thermal information.

2. To ensure the new card is working at capacity, a GPU performance test is needed. GL Mark 2, a benchmarking tool that provides information on buffering, building, lighting, texturing, etc, offers an excellent solution. GL Mark 2 records frame rates for a variety of different graphical tests, and outputs an overall performance score (called the glmark2 score).

Note: glxgears will only test the performance of your screen or monitor, not the graphics card itself. Use GL Mark 2 instead.

To run GLMark2:

  1. Open up a terminal and close all other applications
  2. sudo dnf install glmark2
  3. glmark2
  4. Allow the test to run to completion for best results. Check to see if the frame rates match your expectation for your NVIDA card. If you’d like additional verification, consult the web to determine if a glmark2 benchmark has been previously conducted on your NVIDA card model and published to the web. Compare scores to assess your GPUs performance.
  5. If your framerates and/or glmark2 score are below expected, consider potential causes. CPU-induced bottlenecking? Other issues?

Assuming the diagnostics look good, enjoy using your new GPU.

References:

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What’s coming in Fedora 29 Anaconda?

Last week, the Fedora Magazine covered the new features and improvements in the Fedora 28 Installer. The Fedora installer team is already hard at work adding new features for Fedora 29. This article covers some of these improvements.

Progress hub

The progress hub is mostly empty (on Fedora Workstation) after moving the user creation step to GNOME Initial Setup.

"<yoastmark

Discussions are on going with the Fedora Workstation working group  about re-working the progress hub. Hit the comments with suggestions on how you think this could be improved.

More Anaconda on DBus

Fedora 28 was the start of the ultimate goal of modularizing Anaconda. The main idea is to split the code into several modules that will communicate over DBus. Ultimately, this will enable a UI-less installation process.

The goal in Fedora 29 is to move all the storage-related code to the storage module.   Additionally, plans are in place to extend some of the other modules and introduce installation tasks, so you can monitor the installation steps.

Supporting Fedora Modularity

Fedora Modularity was introduced in Fedora 28 for the Server variant. This effort is still expanding, adding more modules, features and bug fixes. The Anaconda team is  working on module installation support for Anaconda.

First of all, the new kickstart command, called “module”, is used to enable modules. Additionally, support for installing modules via the %packages section in kickstart.

There are already patches for Anaconda, DNF, Pykickstart and libdnf that make module installation from kickstart possible.

Reducing Initial Setup dependencies even more

Fedora 28 reduced Initial Setup dependencies from Anaconda and the compose tools greatly. Next on the list is to do the same with Blivet.

Currently, the python-blivet package has hard dependencies on many storage handling tools. The current plan is to introduce a blivet-minimal package to just provide the bare minimum of Blivet functionality, such as architecture detection and device-tree based storage modeling. The current python-blivet package will maintain its current dependencies. Consequently, Initial Setup won’t drag in unnecessary dependencies, making packaging more flexible.

LUKS2 as default

LUKS2 is the new generation of the Linux storage encryption workhorse, bringing various improvements and new features. Work has started adding support for creating LUKS2-based encrypted storage volumes during installation.

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Anaconda improvements in Fedora 28

Fedora 28 was released last month, and the major update brought with it a raft of new features for the Fedora Installer (Anaconda).  Like Fedora, Anaconda is a dynamic software project with new features and updates every release. Some changes are user visible, while others happen under the hood — making Anaconda more robust and prepared for future improvements.

User & Root configuration on Fedora Workstation

When installing Fedora Workstation from the Live media, the user and root configuration screens are no longer in the installer. Setting up users is now only done in the Initial Setup screens after installation.

The progress hub on a Fedora 28 Workstation live installation.

The progress hub on a Fedora 28 Workstation live installation.

The back story is that the Fedora Workstation working group aimed to reduce the number of screens users see during installation.  Primarily, this included screens that let a user set option twice: both Anaconda and the Gnome Initial Setup tool upon first boot. The working group considered various options, such as Anaconda reporting which screens have been visited by the user and then hiding them in Gnome Initial Setup. In the end they opted for just always skipping the user and root configuration screens in Anaconda and just configuring a user with sudo rights in Gnome Initial Setup.

Because of this the respective screen (user creation) shows up just once (in Gnome Initial Setup), making the installation experience more consistent.

It’s also worth noting that this change only affects the Fedora Workstation live image. All other images, including the Fedora Workstation netinst image and other live images, are unaffected.

Anaconda on DBus

Last year we announced the commencement of our next major initiative — modularizing Anaconda. The main idea is to split the code into several modules that will communicate over DBus. This will provide better stability, extensibility and testability of Anaconda.

Fedora 28 is the first release where Anaconda operates via DBus. At startup, Anaconda starts its private message bus and ten simple modules. For now, the modules just hold data that are provided by a kickstart file and modified by the UI. The UI uses the data to drive installation. This means that you can use DBus to monitor current settings, but you should use the UI to change them.

You can easily explore the current Anaconda DBus API with the live version of Fedora Workstation 28. Just keep in mind that the API is still unstable, so it might change in the future.

To do so, boot the live image and install the D-Feet application:

sudo dnf install d-feet

Start the installer and get an address of the Anaconda message bus:

cat /var/run/anaconda/bus.address

Start D-Feet, choose the option ‘Connect to other Bus’ and copy the first part of the Anaconda bus address to the text field (see the picture below). Click on the ‘Connect’ button. The application will open a new tab and show you a list of available DBus services. Now you can view the interfaces, methods, signals and properties of Anaconda DBus modules and interact with them.

Connecting to the Anaconda DBUS session.

Connecting to the Anaconda DBUS session.

The Anaconda DBUS API as visible in D-Feet.

The Anaconda DBUS API as visible in D-Feet.

Blivet 3.0 and Pykickstart 3.0

Fedora 28 provides version 3 of blivet and Pykickstart, and Anaconda uses the updated versions too.  While this is not really visible from end user perspective, changes like this are important to assure a robust and maintainable future for the Anaconda installer.

The main change in Pykickstart 3 is the switch from the deprecated optparse module to argparse for kickstart parsing. This not only brings all the features argparse has, it was also one of the prerequisites for having automatically generated kickstart documentation on Read the Docs.

Blivet 3 is less radical  update, but includes significant API improvements and cleanups. Some installer-related code still sitting in Blivet was finally moved to Anaconda.

Migrating from authconfig to authselect

The authconfig tool is deprecated and replaced with authselect in Fedora 28, so Anaconda deprecated the kickstart command authconfig and introduced a new command: authselect. You can still use the authconfig command, but Anaconda will install and run the authselect-compat tool instead.

Enabled hibernation

Previously, Hibernation didn’t work after installation because of a missing kernel option, so it had to be set up manually. Starting with Fedora 28, Anaconda adds the kernel option ‘resume’ with a path to the largest available swap device by default on x86 architectures.

Reducing Initial Setup dependencies

The Initial Setup tool is basically a lightweight launcher for arbitrary configuration screens from Anaconda. And while Anaconda often runs from a dedicated installation image, Initial Setup always runs directly on the installed system. This also means all the dependencies of Initial Setup will end up on users system, and unless they are uninstalled, they will take up space more or less forever.

The situation is even more dire on ARM, where users generally just dd a Fedora image to memory card or internal storage on the ARM board and Initial Setup basically acts as the installer, customizing the otherwise identical image for the given user. In this case Initial Setup dependencies directly dictate how small the Fedora image can be.

In Fedora 28, the new anaconda-install-env-deps metapackage  depends on all installation-time-only dependencies. The anaconda-install-env-deps package is always installed on installation images (netinst, live), but is not an Initial Setup dependency and should thus prevent all the unnecessary packages from being pulled in to the installed system. There is also a nice side effect of finally consolidating all the install-time-only dependencies in the Anaconda spec file.

 

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Fractal: a GNOME Matrix chat client

Matrix is a protocol for decentralized instant messaging that has recently grown in popularity. Matrix can be used for a wide range of communication tasks, such as group chats, video chats, sharing files, and bridging to existing IRC rooms. One of the easiest ways to use Matrix is the RiotIM web client or desktop application. However, Fractal is a Matrix desktop application designed for GNOME, so it arguably feels a lot more at home on Fedora Workstation, as seen here:

Fractal is a new project, and currently doesn’t support some Matrix functionality, including video chats. However, the core functionality of a basic text chat / messaging client works well. Additionally, it is clear that a lot of thought has been put into the user interface.  The UI is clean, neat, and easy to navigate.

Support in Matrix for end-to-end encryption is in beta. However, Fractal currently does not support encryption.

Installing Fractal

The easiest way to install Fractal on Fedora is from  Flathub. First, follow the directions in this article to set up Flathub as a third party software source.

Once Flathub is enabled as a third-party source, simply search and install Fractal from the Software app in Fedora Workstation.

 

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Fedora 26 end of life approaching

UPDATE: Date corrected to May 29.

As readers may be aware, Fedora 28 recently released to great acclaim. That means Fedora 26 hits its End of Life (EOL) status on May 29, 2018. Read more here about what this means, and what steps you can take with your older Fedora systems.

After May 29, packages in the Fedora 26 repositories no longer receive any security, bugfix, or enhancement updates. Furthermore, at that point the community adds no new packages to the F26 collection.

The Fedora Project highly recommends you upgrade all systems to Fedora 28 or Fedora 27 before the EOL date. Upgrades are an easy way to keep your system setup while you move to the latest technology.

Looking back at Fedora 26

Fedora 26 was released in July 2017. During its lifetime, the Fedora community published nearly 10,000 updates to the F26 repositories. Fedora 26 Workstation featured version 3.24 of GNOME. The release also carried numerous improvements and highlights:

  • A new partitioning tool in Anaconda for expert setup
  • DNF 2.5 with new software management capabilities
  •  The Python Classroom Lab which helps educators introduce students to the latest technology

About the Fedora Release Cycle

The Fedora Project provides updates for a particular release until a month after the second subsequent version of Fedora is released. For example, updates for Fedora 26 continue until one month after the release of Fedora 28. Fedora 27 continues to be supported up until one month after the release of Fedora 29.

Since Fedora 28 released on time on May 1, 2018, Fedora 26 reaches EOL even though it’s been around less than 11 months. So if that lifecycle seems shorter than usual to you, you’re right!

The Fedora Project wiki contains more detailed information about the entire Fedora Release lifecycle. The lifecycle includes milestones from development to release, and the post-release support period.