Fedora

I am using Linux for so many years now but I also keep windows installed on my PC. I need windows just for one damn single thing, 5.1 sound! I was never able to enable 5.1 on fedora. I have been searching on internet, sending mails to mail groups and asking every other Linux geek but none helped. I guess today is my lucky day :)

I came across this page on the internet ALSA Multi-channel Audio mini-HOWTO by Uday Bondhugula. I followed the instruction given by him on this page. After following each and every step carefully I was able to get all my 5 speakers and Sub-woofer working!! But when I ran speaker-test -c 6 -D surround51 command I realized that my center and LFE speakers are actually swapped :( then I quickly mailed Uday asking for help and not hoping for his reply. To my surprise he replied soon (God bless you Uday) and asked me to run cat /proc/asound/card0/id command. He then asked me to make the changes in my /etc/alsa/cards/ATIIXP.conf file. Actually earlier I was struggling with /etc/alsa/cards/ICH4.conf file.

Now everything is great. I can hear sound from all my speakers on fedora 7. I am using MSI RS480-IL motherboard. Which has an on-board sound card.

If you find any difficulty enabling 5.1 on your Linux then let me know. May be I can help you :p

Happy Dolby!!

Enter the following command in Linux terminal to find your computer's IP Address.

/sbin/ifconfig -a

Do you want to setup a Mail Server or Do you want more security for you network. Linux is the Operating System for you.

Mail Server

Security

Backup

Who needs an expensive Operating System. Use Linux. It's free and it offers everything you need from a Desktop computer. Linux can be used at homes for daily use.

Multimedia

There are many good Open Source applications to play your music and movies.

• Xmms
• Mplayer
• Real Player
• VLC Player

Open Office

Open Office is similar to Microsoft Office and offer lot of features.

• Spreadsheet
• Presentations
• Documents

Internet & Chat

Browse the net. Chat with your friends. Talk to them over the net. Yes, Linux offers everything.

• Firefox
• Pidgin: Chat with your Yahoo/Gmail/AIM/Jabber/MSN friends
• Skype: Yes, Yes, Yes. Skype is available for Linux also

Personal Information Organizer

• KNotes
• KCalendar

Your Graphics Card support higher resolutions but your Linux distribution display is set to 800x600. You can change the resolution easily by following the below steps.

1. First check all the possible resolutions supported by your graphics card using the following command.

"xrandr"

It will display all possible resolutions like this.

Screen 0: minimum 400 x 300, current 1152 x 864, maximum 1152 x 864
default connected 1152x864+0+0 0mm x 0mm
1152x864 75.0* 70.0 60.0
1152x768 55.0
1024x768 85.0 75.0 70.0 60.0 87.0
832x624 75.0
800x600 85.0 75.0 72.0 60.0 56.0
640x480 85.0 75.0 73.0 67.0 60.0
720x400 70.0 85.0
640x400 85.0
640x360 85.0 75.0 70.0 60.0
640x350 85.0
512x384 87.0
416x312 75.0
400x300 85.0 75.0 72.0 60.0

The current selected resolution will have a * (asterix) next to it.

2. Change resolution.

Suppose your graphics card support 1024x768 resolution then you can change it using the following command.

"xrandr -s 1024x768"