Installing nVidia Graphics Card (Fedora 16)

Check is your nVidia card is supported:

lspci |grep -i VGA

Assuming it is, then make sure you have the latest kernel and latest SELinux policy packages...

su -
yum update kernel* selinux-policy*
reboot

Add the RPMFusion repositories (free and non-free)...

rpm -Uvh http://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-stable.noarch.rpm
rpm -Uvh http://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-stable.noarch.rpm

Install nVidia proprietary drivers for GeForce 6/7/8/9/200/300/400/500 series cards. Generally, I use the first one (alkmod)...

yum install akmod-nvidia xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-libs

But you can also use kmod:

yum install kmod-nvidia xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-libs

Or Kernel-PAE:

yum install kernel-PAE-devel

Or even kmod-nvidia-PAE and kernel-PAE-devel:

yum install kernel-PAE-devel kmod-nvidia-PAE

Remove/disable nouveau drivers from kernel initramfs:

## Backup old initramfs nouveau image ##
mv /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r).img /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r)-nouveau.img

## Create new initramfs image ##
dracut /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r).img $(uname -r)

And reboot.

Note: Sometimes rdblacklist=nouveau nouveau.modeset=0 is missing from GRUB2. If so, open up etc/default,grub and replace...

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="quiet rhgb"

With...

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="quiet rhgb rdblacklist=nouveau nouveau.modeset=0"

Then make grub2 config with grub2-mkconfig command:

grub2-mkconfig

Reboot and create an xorg.conf file in /etc/X11 with the following information:

Section "Module"
Load "glx"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
Vendorname "Generic LCD Display"
Modelname "LCD Panel 1280x1024"
Horizsync 24.0 - 80.0
Vertrefresh 50.0 - 75.0
modeline "640x480@60" 25.2 640 656 752 800 480 490 492 525 -vsync -hsync
modeline "800x600@56" 36.0 800 824 896 1024 600 601 603 625 +hsync +vsync
modeline "800x600@60" 40.0 800 840 968 1056 600 601 605 628 +hsync +vsync
modeline "1024x768@60" 65.0 1024 1048 1184 1344 768 771 777 806 -vsync -hsync
modeline "1280x960@60" 102.1 1280 1360 1496 1712 960 961 964 994 -hsync +vsync
modeline "1280x1024@60" 108.0 1280 1328 1440 1688 1024 1025 1028 1066 +hsync +vsync
Gamma 1.0
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Monitor "Configured Monitor"
Device "Configured Video Device"
Defaultdepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Virtual 1280 1024
Modes "1280x1024@60" "1280x960@60" "1024x768@60" "800x600@60" "800x600@56" "640x480@60"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Video Card"
Driver "nvidia"
EndSection

Backup xorg.conf (Fedora 16)

Section "Module"
    Load        "glx"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
 Identifier "Configured Monitor"
 Vendorname "Generic LCD Display"
 Modelname "LCD Panel 1280x1024"
 Horizsync 24.0 - 80.0
 Vertrefresh 50.0 - 75.0
 modeline "640x480@60" 25.2 640 656 752 800 480 490 492 525 -vsync -hsync
 modeline "800x600@56" 36.0 800 824 896 1024 600 601 603 625 +hsync +vsync
 modeline "800x600@60" 40.0 800 840 968 1056 600 601 605 628 +hsync +vsync
 modeline "1024x768@60" 65.0 1024 1048 1184 1344 768 771 777 806 -vsync -hsync
 modeline "1280x960@60" 102.1 1280 1360 1496 1712 960 961 964 994 -hsync +vsync
 modeline "1280x1024@60" 108.0 1280 1328 1440 1688 1024 1025 1028 1066 +hsync +vsync
 Gamma 1.0
 EndSection

Section "Screen"
 Identifier "Default Screen"
 Monitor "Configured Monitor"
 Device "Configured Video Device"
 Defaultdepth 24
 SubSection "Display"
 Depth 24
 Virtual 1280 1024
 Modes "1280x1024@60" "1280x960@60" "1024x768@60" "800x600@60" "800x600@56" "640x480@60"
 EndSubSection
 EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier  "Video Card"
    Driver              "nvidia"
EndSection

Auto-Start Numlock (Mandriva 2011)

To start numlock on boot, first download the numlock package, then enable it in...

Configure Your Computer> Manage System Services by Enabling or Disabling Them

...by both starting numlock, and then checking "on boot".

Disabling Glitch-Free Mode (Mandriva 2011)

If your sound is choppy, distorted, or drops out when two or more programs are running at once, try disabling glitch-free mode (oh, the sweet irony!) by navigating to /etc/pulse/default.pa and, as root, adding tsched=0 to the end of the "load driver modules" commands. See below. (Bold text for illustrative purposes only.)

### Automatically load driver modules depending on the hardware available
.ifexists module-udev-detect.so
load-module module-udev-detect tsched=0
.else

Backup xorg.conf (Mandriva 2011)

# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig:  version 280.13  (mandrake@n3.mandriva.com)  Wed Aug 24 11:37:46 UTC 2011

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
Vendorname "Generic LCD Display"
Modelname "LCD Panel 1280x1024"
Horizsync 24.0 - 80.0
Vertrefresh 50.0 - 75.0
modeline "640x480@60" 25.2 640 656 752 800 480 490 492 525 -vsync -hsync
modeline "800x600@56" 36.0 800 824 896 1024 600 601 603 625 +hsync +vsync
modeline "800x600@60" 40.0 800 840 968 1056 600 601 605 628 +hsync +vsync
modeline "1024x768@60" 65.0 1024 1048 1184 1344 768 771 777 806 -vsync -hsync
modeline "1280x960@60" 102.1 1280 1360 1496 1712 960 961 964 994 -hsync +vsync
modeline "1280x1024@60" 108.0 1280 1328 1440 1688 1024 1025 1028 1066 +hsync +vsync
Gamma 1.0
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Monitor "Configured Monitor"
Device "Configured Video Device"
Defaultdepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Virtual 1280 1024
Modes "1280x1024@60" "1280x960@60" "1024x768@60" "800x600@60" "800x600@56" "640x480@60"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
EndSection

Repositories for Mandriva 2011 (Including MIB)

Log into a terminal as root and then...

urpmi.removemedia -a  

urpmi.addmedia --mirrorlist 'http://api.mandriva.com/mirrors/basic.2011.0.i586.list' 'Main' 'media/main/release'  

urpmi.addmedia --mirrorlist 'http://api.mandriva.com/mirrors/basic.2011.0.i586.list' 'Contrib' 'media/contrib/release'   

urpmi.addmedia --mirrorlist 'http://api.mandriva.com/mirrors/basic.2011.0.i586.list' 'Non-free' 'media/non-free/release'   

urpmi.addmedia --update --mirrorlist 'http://api.mandriva.com/mirrors/basic.2011.0.i586.list' 'Main Updates' 'media/main/updates'   

urpmi.addmedia --update --mirrorlist 'http://api.mandriva.com/mirrors/basic.2011.0.i586.list' 'Contrib Updates' 'media/contrib/updates'   

urpmi.addmedia --update --mirrorlist 'http://api.mandriva.com/mirrors/basic.2011.0.i586.list' 'Non-free Updates' 'media/non-free/updates' 

urpmi.addmedia --update --mirrorlist 'http://api.mandriva.com/mirrors/basic.2011.0.i586.list' 'Main Backports' 'media/main/backports'   

urpmi.addmedia --update --mirrorlist 'http://api.mandriva.com/mirrors/basic.2011.0.i586.list' 'Contrib Backports' 'media/contrib/backports'   

urpmi.addmedia --update --mirrorlist 'http://api.mandriva.com/mirrors/basic.2011.0.i586.list' 'Non-free Backports' 'media/non-free/backports'   

urpmi.addmedia --update MDV-restricted_32 http://mirror.yandex.ru/mandriva/official/restricted/2011.0/i586/   

urpmi.addmedia --update MIB-basic http://mirror.pianetalinux.org/MIB/2011.0/32/basic/ 

urpmi.addmedia --update --raw MIB-experts http://mirror.pianetalinux.org/MIB/2011.0/32/experts/

Blue = Standard repos

Red = Backsports

Yellow = Community repos etc.

Getting Real Player to Use Pulse Audio

Real Player does not have native pulseaudio compatibility; however, it's more than capable of handling Alsa streams. All we need to do is set Real Player to use Alsa.

To do this open Real Player, then Tools>Preferences>Hardware, select the Alsa driver, and edit the PCM device field to say "default" only. Restart Real Player.

Fix Flash Player (Firefox)

To fix the full screen issues with Firefox, add  "env LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libGL.so.1" to the launcher in front of "firefox %u" so it reads...

env LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libGL.so.1 firefox %u

N.B. May need re-editing on upgrade.

Repairing Broken Window Manager (Mint 11)

This appears to be caused by a broken window manager. The top bar of the window vanishes, and your maximise, minimise, close window buttons with it. To fix, type in a terminal...

metacity --replace

Disabling Glitch-Free Mode (Mint 11)

If your sound is choppy, distorted, or drops out when two or more programs are running at once, try disabling glitch-free mode (oh, the sweet irony!) by navigating to /etc/pulse/default.pa and, as root, adding tsched=0 to the end of the "load driver modules" commands. See below. (Bold text for illustrative purposes only.)

### Automatically load driver modules depending on the hardware available
.ifexists module-hal-detect.so
load-module module-hal-detect tsched=0
.else

Reinstalling GRUB2 (Ubuntu 11.04)

First, find out where Ubuntu is installed on your hard disk...

sudo fdisk -l

You should see something like....

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 2611 20972826 7 NTFS
/dev/sda2 2612 60279 463218210 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 60280 60801 4192965 5 Extended

My Ubuntu partition is /dev/sda2. The partition now needs mounting...

sudo mount /dev/sda2 /mnt

To install the GRUB2 boot loader, type...

sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt /dev/sda

Note, that's /dev/sda (The hard disk itself) NOT The Ubuntu partition /dev/sda2. Once completed unmount the partition and reboot...

sudo umount /dev/sda1 ; sudo reboot

NB -- If you have more than one OS installed, re-detect your various Operating Systems with...

sudo update-grub

 ** Do this before unmounting the partition.

Installing Kazam Screencaster (Ubuntu 11.04)

To solve the missing dependency problem first download libmatroska0 and convert it from .rpm to .deb using Alien (available from repository).

cd Downloads
sudo alien -k libmatroska0-0.8.0-0.1.102plf.i586.rpm

Install the file using Synaptic and then add the ppa:and471/kazam-daily-builds repositories to your sources list...

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:and471/kazam-daily-builds
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install kazam

 To start Kazam press Alt+F2 and type: kazam

Using "get_iplayer" For Linux

Install from distro repositories. To retrieve the list of available shows, type...

get_iplayer

To narrow the search down to specific shows: in this instance Doctor Who, type...

get_iplayer doctor

To download a programme, using the programme number, use the following command... 

get_iplayer --get 607 --vmode=flashhd

Note: If get_iplayer isn't in the repositories, download the tarball and extract it to preferred location. To run, navigate to the folder using a terminal, then type..

./get_iplayer

 To download radio, to pull up the streams try...

 get_iplayer --type=radio

To download in all audio formats type...

 get_iplayer --type=radio --get --amode=iphone,flashaac,flashaudio --pid b00jtm1l