Best variant of Fedora for a Virtual Machine...?

[Eddie G. O'Connor Jr.]

On 08/14/2012 05:03 PM, Marko Vojinovic wrote:
> On Tuesday, 14. August 2012. 13.17.58 And Kemp wrote:
>> To practice prior to my exam I would like to be able to enter commands
>> at the command line: obtaining (separate) terminal windows using KDE
>> comes across as clunky (I usually use Ubuntu - sorry!). Whilst
>> <CNTRL><ALT><F2> to enter a full terminal screen is straightforward,
>> it's not helpful (to me at least) in terms of being able to switch
>> between panes (I generally like a lot of them for things like man pages,
>> different directories, etc.). Konqueror, Konsole and all other thinks,
>> "K" start off as being chipper but after a day, not so much...  Access
>> via the main menu is now becoming more than tiresome.
> Konsole is the preferred terminal emulator in KDE. You can reach it via the
> "F"-menu -> System -> Konsole, or as a first option to a context-menu of the
> desktop (just right-click somewhere on the desktop), or by putting a launcher
> onto the panel or the desktop (unlock widgets, find Konsole in the menu, right-
> click, choose "add to panel" or "add to desktop" or whatever...). You can go
> to systemsettings and assign your favorite shortcut-key combination to start
> Konsole via the keyboard.
>
> Once started, you can open a various number of tabs with different sessions
> inside, and easily switch from one to the other. Konsole itself is very
> configurable both visually and functionally, just go to its "settings" menu and
> choose "configure current profile".
>
> Ditto for Konqueror and other stuff you might need. In general, KDE is waaay
> more configurable than Gnome, as far as GUI is concerned.
>   
>> I've trawled through the documentation as best I can (all I want is a
>> couple of meaningful shortcut icons on a desktop - hardly a mammoth
>> operation to my mind) in terms of, "getting started" but creating icons
>> comes across as an insurmountable problem (That whole, "create shortcut
>> on desktop" option just doesn't work on my installation .  The shortcut
>> appears: does it run when clicked? Does it cuckoo...).
> I hope that you are aware that "icons on a desktop" is considered to be a Bad
> Idea (tm) that comes from the Windows world and eventually clutters an
> otherwise useful desktop space.
>
> In KDE there is the "folder view" widget (you can even put many of them on the
> desktop), configurable to show the icons from a specific folder (the ~/Desktop
> by default, IIRC). In addition, if you really really really want to put icons
> on the desktop (as opposed to the folder view widget), you can:
>
> 1. unlock widgets
> 2. right-click on the desktop to open the context menu
> 3. choose "Desktop settings"
> 4. change the "layout" option from "desktop" to "folder view".
>
> That way the whole desktop will behave as one big folder view widget.
> Regarding step 4., there are some other interesting choices, you might try
> them out.
>
>> Simple things
>> like mounting the CD drive from a command line can be summarized,
>> according to my impression of Google forum replies, as, "RTFM!
>> RTFM!...  It's automatic (the only thing missing here is, 'You
>> idiot')!".  [Note: It's *NOT* automatic; nor is in any manual I could
>> locate: one has to create a device folder (at least, that's how I fixed
>> the problem in the end, having tried (and failed) to adopt the "Fedora
>> way", assuming there is such a thing!)]
> By default, you should have a "device notifier" widget installed in the systray
> of the panel (or you can put one on the desktop...). Once the CD is in the
> drive, the device notifier should pop up and ask you what do you want to do
> with the CD (open it in file manager, view photos, listen to music, etc.). If
> the CD contains regular data, it should be already mounted by now, in
> /media/whatever directory. In the device notifier there is also an "eject"
> button that basically unmounts/ejects your CD. This all also works with USB
> flash drives etc.
>
>  From the command line, you mount the CD via the command (assuming it is not
> already mounted automatically):
>
> # mount -t iso9660 /dev/cdrom /your/mount/directory
>
> or something along those lines. You need to be root to do it.
>
>> Part of this familiarization
>> process is the reason I downloaded Fedora in the first place, but as a
>> general-purpose (Ubuntu) Linux user, don't really expect to have to read
>> through the entire manual to be unable to accomplish the simplest tasks
>> for a variant of an OS I'm relatively comfortable with.
> Every distro has its own quirks. As a long-time Fedora KDE user, I found
> myself completely inside-out when put in front of an Ubuntu desktop. I found
> it hard to readjust to the fact that the "close window" button is in the top-
> left corner instead of the top-right... ;-)
>   
>> In terms of rpm / yum, it's mainly plain sailing, but I'm having an
>> issue which don't appear to be addressed effectively from google
>> searches: I try and query packages (using -qv) to be informed that the
>> package is not installed.  I try and install it to be informed it's
>> already installed!
> How about an example? Copy&paste your querries and the responses.
>
>> Any advise you can offer in this regard would be
>> gratefully received.
> In general, don't use rpm manually. Use yum instead (that's its purpose).
> Familiarize yourself with man yum, it is very powerful when you know how to
> ask it. Use it from the terminal session (I don't like GUI's for yum, they are
> all clunky...).
>   
>> Finally(!) a question: At the risk of opening a kettle of worms [can of
>> worms / kettle of fish] I believe I'm having a poor Fedora experience
>> because of my being unable to adopt a KDE mindset (correctly?).  I
>> believe I've missed something really 'obvious' with regards to the UI.
> The most nonobvious obvious thing that you might have missed is the
> functionality of (un)locking widgets. Other than that, most of the
> configuration stuff is in systemsettings. There are also other (advanced)
> aspects of KDE usage like for example "activities". I never needed them, but
> they can be quite useful in some usecases.
>
> Also, there is a big distinction in philosophy if DE usage between Gnome and
> KDE. You might need to mentally readjust a bit. :-)
>
>> Is it possible to eliminate KDE or should I attempt a different
>> download?
> You can have several different DE's coexisting on a single Fedora installation.
> Gnome, KDE, XFCE, LXDE, Sugar... Not to mention window managers. Switch
> between them on the login screen (choose session). To install them,
>
> 1. yum grouplist
> 2. find your desktop of choice in the list
> 3. yum groupinstall "name of the group"
>
> Don't omit the quotes in step 3, there might be spaces or stuff in the group
> name.
>
>> Which would you recommend?
> I use KDE. Default is Gnome3 (but under a lot of criticism since the switch
> from Gnome2). Most Gnome2-oriented people on this list will recommend XFCE or
> LXDE (and they are probably right if you are used to the old Gnome2). You can
> also try Sugar if you are 10 years old... ;-)
>
> Mind you, since you are running Fedora in a VM, the 3D accelerated graphics is
> probably not supported (or not supported well enough...). Gnome3 will probably
> fail miserably into the fallback mode, KDE will miss all the Compiz-like eye-
> candy visual effects that are otherwise present, and maybe something similar
> for XFCE/LXDE. YMMV.
>
>> Am I creating problems for myself
>> by selecting a 64-bit installation or should I go with 32-bit?
> In general, no. There should be no difference between 32/64bit installs, bar
> some very peculiar situations (proprietary software, amount of RAM, skype,
> etc...). I am on 64bit for several years now, and never had any issues. 64bit
> is considered computationally superior in some generic circumstances, which is
> to be expected.
>
> In particular, since you are running Fedora in a virtual machine, the 64bit
> guest OS depends on how well 64bit software is supported by your virtual
> machine and the host OS. I've seen cases where 64bit clients are not supported
> or do not work properly. However, I've only ever run Windows in a VM myself,
> Fedora was always on the hardware.
>
> HTH, :-)
> Marko
>
>
>
Just as an aside, I came from a Windows environment a while ago, and 
I've not only grown used to, but almost dare I say "love" Gnome3 and all 
it's "left-of-center" ways! I hope that even if they decide to "add" a 
few different DE's to this distro, (Cinnamon,...MATE...etc.) that they 
NEVER get rid of Gnome! The funniest thing?...is when I'm at work (IT 
Ops for a Swiftwater PA corp.) and I'm rushing through some admin task, 
when it comes time to open up a new task or browse to a certain folder, 
I find myself pointing to the left uppermost corner and being shocked 
and worried when nothing happens....only to realize that I'm not using 
Fedora!.,...LoL! THAT'S how much I've become used to it!...


EGO II