One of the most convenient things about Red Hats Fedora Core 2 Linux distribution is how freely available it is. Fedora CD and DVD images are available for download and redistribution, and you dont need a yearly subscription to get updates, as with Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
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However, Fedora comes with some annoyances. Out of the box, the distribution lacks support for playing MP3s or DVD movies or for running Flash or Java applets.
The good news is that with a few steps, you can easily add these capabilities as well as set up a software management tool thats much easier to use than Fedoras Up2date application.
After installing a Fedora system, download an RPM-enabled version of APT, Debians Advanced Packaging Tool, from fedora.us, the project from which Fedora got its name.
Install this package, then, as root, type “apt-get update” at the command line. APT will prompt you to select among three repositories—select all three and continue by choosing the mirror or mirrors geographically closest to you.
After APT updates the packages available on the mirrors, type “apt-get install synaptic” at the command line. Synaptic, a graphical front end for APT, makes it easier to browse through packages. Synaptic lets you install and manage the packages you need—APT sorts out package dependencies.
You can add new repositories by editing the file/etc/apt/sources list. Go to rpm.livna.org to get started, and check out freshrpms.net and dag.wieers.com/packages.
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