These are my notes for setting up a Fedora 22-installation but with a smaller set of packages. It's mainly for my own use but it's out there in case anyone else needs it.
This document guides you through the processes of setting up a non-standard install. Why in the world would anyone do that?
- Smaller footprint means fewer updates and security-holes.
- Your webbrowser or terminal emulator of choice might not be the ones in a default install. Resulting in multiple applications for the same purpose.
- You will not be bothered with apps you never use (cheese, gnome-maps, gnome-weather, gnome-documents, brasero).
- People nowadays use web-based applications for e-mail, word-processing, chatting and music (evolution, libreoffice, empathy, rhythmbox).
- A lot of applications aren't used in virtual machines or in front of the TV (scanning, printing, vpn, wifi, input-support, language-support, hardware-support, localized fonts).
- Probably improved performance, battery-life and bootup-time.
- Why not use respins (eg Korora) or third-party installers (eg Fedy)? Official packages and scripts tend to be better maintained and of higher quality. Security/trust. Keeping it vanilla makes it easier to use upstream bug-tracking, mailing-lists, chats and forums. Longer support. Safer upgrade-path.
Download Fedora Server Netinstall ISO and transfer it onto onto a USB-disk.
In the installer under Software Selection, select Minimal Install.
To use sudo instead of root: once the install starts choose the User Creation dialog (with Make this user administrator checked), don't use the Root Password dialog.
Run these commands to install X, GNOME and a terminal.
$ sudo dnf install @base-x gnome-shell
$ sudo dnf install gnome-terminal dejavu-sans-mono-fonts bash-completion # terminal
$ sudo dnf install NetworkManager-wifi # if you're on a laptop
$ sudo systemctl set-default graphical.target # enable on boot
$ sudo systemctl isolate graphical.target # startAt this point you will have a fully functional desktop but with ~820 fewer packages compared to Fedora Workstation.
Next you'll probably want a web-browser so that you can copy-and-paste commands. This will install Firefox
$ sudo dnf install firefox liberation-*-fonts mozilla-adblockplusFor additional hardware- and software-support you can add a third-party repository called RPM Fusion containing packages that are not available in the standard Fedora repos (firmware for your wifi-card, graphics-drivers, video-codecs and more).
$ sudo dnf install --nogpgcheck http://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm http://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpmFedora doesn't come prepackaged with some patches and settings you'll need for your fonts to look sharp. Install RPM Fusion's version of FreeType (that comes with subpixel anti-aliasing) and configure hinting.
$ sudo dnf install freetype-freeworld
$ sudo curl -o /etc/fonts/local.conf https://raw.githubusercontent.com/benmat/fedora-install/master/fontconfig.xmlRestart any applications to use the new changes.
You might need some more apps, these are the GNOME defaults.
$ sudo dnf install gedit # Editor
$ sudo dnf install nautilus # File manager
$ sudo dnf install gnome-system-monitor # System monitor
$ sudo dnf install eog # Image viewer
$ sudo dnf install baobab # Disk usage analyzer$ sudo cat << EOF > /etc/yum.repos.d/google-chrome.repo
[google-chrome]
name=google-chrome - \$basearch
baseurl=http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/rpm/stable/\$basearch
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub
EOF
$ sudo dnf install google-chrome-stableI recommend installing the extensions AdBlock and Adwaita (GNOME 3).
GNOME Videos (Totem)
$ sudo dnf install totem gstreamer1-libav gstreamer1-plugins-bad-free gstreamer1-plugins-bad-freeworld gstreamer1-plugins-good gstreamer1-plugins-ugly gstreamer1-vaapiVLC
$ sudo dnf install vlcIf you need Flash-support in Firefox.
sudo rpm -ivh http://linuxdownload.adobe.com/adobe-release/adobe-release-x86_64-1.0-1.noarch.rpm
sudo rpm --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-adobe-linux
sudo dnf install flash-plugin nspluginwrapper alsa-plugins-pulseaudioIf you, for example, need to copy photos from your Android-device via USB.
sudo dnf install gvfs-mtpIf you need help finding a package you know is installed in Fedora Workstation check the output of this command.
$ sudo dnf groupinstall 'Fedora Workstation' --assumeno