This document describes how to set up a CentOS 5.1 desktop. The result is a fast, secure and extendable system that provides all you need for daily work and entertainment.
This howto is a practical guide without any warranty - it doesn't cover the theoretical backgrounds. There are many ways to set up such a system - this is the way I chose.
1 Install Media
The install media(s) are available at http://isoredirect.centos.org/centos/5/isos/i386/. I used the DVD-image for this howto.
2 Installation
Hit "Enter" to start the installation.
Test your install media if you want.
The installation wizard is starting.
Select your language and proceed.
Choose your keyboard-layout and proceed.
Here you can select/edit the partitioning layout.
If you chose the manual setup, you'll see the following two windows.
Here you can adjust the network settings.
Select the location nearest to yours and configure the clock. Unmark the checkbox if there are other operating systems installed, that expects the clock to be set to local time - e.g. Windows.
Choose a password for the root-account and confirm it.
Here you can select predefined collections of software. You can also make a custom selection if you mark the corresponding radio button.
Select "Packages from CentOS Extras" - a window will pop up, asking for your network configuration. If you have already configured your network settings simply commit it - otherwise configure the settings now.
If you chose the custom selection you'll see this and a few following windows. Select a main group on the left and afterwards one of its subgroups on the right. Now click on "Optional Packages" - you'll see...
...this window with a detailed package list. Select or deselect packages as you like.
Click "Next" if your selection is complete. Dependencies are being checked.
The system is ready to install - click on "Next".
The partition(s)/disk(s) are being formatted etc.
The system is being installed.
The installation is complete. Remove the install media and reboot the system.
3 First Start
If there's no reason to do something special wait a few seconds to start with the standard settings.
The system is starting up.
This is the first start - the firstboot-wizard appears.
Here you can edit the firewall settings if you want. If you're not planning to connect to this computer via ssh/scp/sftp etc you can close the corresponding port.
I recommend to deactivate SELinux - it can cause many problems, especially if you're using software from additional repositories.
A reboot is required to make the changes effective.
Set the actual time and date.
If you enable the network time protocol, the time will be synchronized with a remote time server.
Time to add the first user-account to the system.
The system will test your soundcard (there was no soundcard added to this vm).
Here you can add software from additional CDs. Afterwards click on "Finish".
The system has to reboot now.
When the system is up again, you'll see the login window. Log in to the system with the userdata you chose in the firstboot-wizard.
Welcome to your desktop.
4 Basic Configuration
In various parts of this howto you have to switch to the root-account (within a terminal). The terminal is available in the gnome applications menu.
Enter the following to switch to the root-account:
su -
%rootpassword%
You can switch back to your user-account with:
exit
4.1 Yum Plugins & Yumex
Install some recommended packages to prevent problems with packages (broken/3rd party) and kernel-modules (root privileges needed):
yum install yumex yum-fastestmirror yum-skip-broken yum-kmod yum-kernel-module yum-priorities
Note: How to manage packages with yumex is described later at step 5.
After that we add priorities to the default repositories.
vi /etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-Base.repo
Add a priority to each repository-entry - the content should look like this:
# CentOS-Base.repo
#
# This file uses a new mirrorlist system developed by Lance Davis for CentOS.
# The mirror system uses the connecting IP address of the client and the
# update status of each mirror to pick mirrors that are updated to and
# geographically close to the client. You should use this for CentOS updates
# unless you are manually picking other mirrors.
#
# If the mirrorlist= does not work for you, as a fall back you can try the
# remarked out baseurl= line instead.
#
#
[base]
name=CentOS-$releasever - Base
mirrorlist=http://mirrorlist.centos.org/?release=$releasever&arch=$basearch&repo=os
#baseurl=http://mirror.centos.org/centos/$releasever/os/$basearch/
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=http://mirror.centos.org/centos/RPM-GPG-KEY-CentOS-5
priority=1
#released updates
[updates]
name=CentOS-$releasever - Updates
mirrorlist=http://mirrorlist.centos.org/?release=$releasever&arch=$basearch&repo=updates
#baseurl=http://mirror.centos.org/centos/$releasever/updates/$basearch/
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=http://mirror.centos.org/centos/RPM-GPG-KEY-CentOS-5
priority=1
#packages used/produced in the build but not released
[addons]
name=CentOS-$releasever - Addons
mirrorlist=http://mirrorlist.centos.org/?release=$releasever&arch=$basearch&repo=addons
#baseurl=http://mirror.centos.org/centos/$releasever/addons/$basearch/
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=http://mirror.centos.org/centos/RPM-GPG-KEY-CentOS-5
priority=1
#additional packages that may be useful
[extras]
name=CentOS-$releasever - Extras
mirrorlist=http://mirrorlist.centos.org/?release=$releasever&arch=$basearch&repo=extras
#baseurl=http://mirror.centos.org/centos/$releasever/extras/$basearch/
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=http://mirror.centos.org/centos/RPM-GPG-KEY-CentOS-5
priority=1
#additional packages that extend functionality of existing packages
[centosplus]
name=CentOS-$releasever - Plus
mirrorlist=http://mirrorlist.centos.org/?release=$releasever&arch=$basearch&repo=centosplus
#baseurl=http://mirror.centos.org/centos/$releasever/centosplus/$basearch/
gpgcheck=1
enabled=0
gpgkey=http://mirror.centos.org/centos/RPM-GPG-KEY-CentOS-5
4.2 RPMforge
The RPMforge-repository provides many packages like multimedia applications and drivers.
4.2.1 Installation
Install the repository:
rpm -ivh http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el5/en/i386/RPMS.dag/rpmforge-release-0.3.6-1.el5.rf.i386.rpm
4.2.2 Priority
Now let's set a low priority (high number > 10) for this repository.
vi /etc/yum.repos.d/rpmforge.repo
Change the content that it looks like this:
# Name: RPMforge RPM Repository for Red Hat Enterprise 5 - dag # URL: http://rpmforge.net/ [rpmforge] name = Red Hat Enterprise $releasever - RPMforge.net - dag #baseurl = http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el5/en/$basearch/dag mirrorlist = http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el5/en/mirrors-rpmforge #mirrorlist = file:///etc/yum.repos.d/mirrors-rpmforge enabled = 1 protect = 0 gpgkey = file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-rpmforge-dag gpgcheck = 1 priority=11
4.3 Remove Software
Before you are going to update the system for the first time you should check if there is software installed that you don't need, or rather that you want to replace with another software. The goal should be a clean system with only the programs installed that you really need.
Which programs you should deinstall or replace with others is up to you - you'll find a summary of already installed software at step 6 and a little assortment of additional software (including possible replacements for already installed software) at step 7.
You can simply deinstall software with the Yum Extender (yumex) - have a look at step 5.
4.4 Services
Some services are enabled by default on your system - maybe some of them are needless (depending on your hardware and your needs). The deactivation of needless services will save system resources, so it's worth to take a look on the service settings - they are available in the gnome system menu.
Enter the root password.
Select "Runlevel All".
4.4.1 Enable Services
- Network Manager
- Network Manager Dispatcher
4.4.2 Disable Services
- bluetooth (disable this service if there is no bluetooth device connected to your system)
- firstboot (this service is not longer needed)
- mdmonitor (disable this service if you haven't set up a RAID-system)
- pcscd (disbale this service if there is no smart-card device connected to your system)
- restorecond (disable this service if you deactivated SELinux)
- sshd (disable this service if you're not planning to connect to this computer via ssh/scp/sftp etc)
If you have a computer with a wlan-card I recommend to disable "network" in all runlevels - otherwise you'll have a long boot-time cause the system tries to allocate a dhcp-ip to this device (regardless of the configuration). The network manager will enable the network automatically after you've logged in.
4.5 Nautilus
Nautilus opens a window for every single folder by default - to change this open any folder and edit the settings. It's also a good idea to enable the delete command that bypasses the trash - because if you delete something from external storages with the standard delete command, the things will not really be deleted but moved to a trash on the device (.trash). This trash will not be affected when you delete the trash on your desktop.
Now it's user-friendly.
4.6 Fonts
In this step we'll make the fonts eye-friendly and change the resolution to a value that is used by most operating systems. The font settings are available in the gnome system menu.
Choose 9px as font-size for all fonts. Select "Subpixel smoothing" if you're using a LCD-monitor. Afterwards click on "Details".
The resolution should be 96dpi.
4.7 System Update
The system will check for updates automatically and notify you if updates are available. Click on "View Updates".
Enter the root-password.
The update information are being retrieved.
href=
You'll see a summary of available updates and their details. Click on "Apply updates" to install the updates.
The dependencies are being resolved.
The updates are being downloaded ...
... and installed.
Sometimes, e.g. when a new kernel was installed, it's recommended to reboot the system.
5 Yum Extender
The yum extender (a.k.a. yumex) is an easy to use gui for the yum package manager. With yumex you can install, deinstall or update packages - it's available in the gnome applications menu.
Enter the root-password.
Yumex appears - make yourself familiar with the gui.
5.1 Deinstall Packages
Select the radio-button "Installed" - now you'll see all installed packages. Browse the list or enter a search term in the corresponding field to find a package.
If you find a package that you want to remove simply unmark its checkbox.
Alternatively you can use the group view.
This is the package queue - here you can see all the packages that you selected for deinstallation. If you made a mistake you can remove one or more packages from this list. If you agree to your selection click on "Process Queue" in the bottom right corner.
If the packages that you want to deinstall have dependencies, they'll also be marked for deinstallation. Proceed if you agree.
The packages are being deinstalled.
Deinstallation finished. Quit yumex or proceed to reload yumex.
5.2 Install Packages
Select the radio-button "Available" - now you'll see all installed packages. Browse the list or enter a search term in the corresponding field to find a package. If you find a package that you want to install simply mark its checkbox.
Alternatively you can use the group view.
The package queue contains all packages that you selected for installation. If you made a mistake you can remove one or more packages from this list.
The dependencies are being resolved, they'll also be marked for installation.
Proceed if you agree.
The packages are being downloaded...
...checked...
...and installed.
Installation finished. Quit yumex or proceed to reload yumex.
6 By Default Installed Software
6.1 Multimedia
- Rhythmbox (audio player)
- Totem (video player)
6.2 Graphics
- Gimp (edit images/photos)
6.3 Office
- OpenOffice.org (office suite)
6.4 Internet
- Firefox (web browser)
- Evolution (email client)
- Ekiga (internet telephony)
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