Install Linux (Fedora Atomic)

Create USB installation media

Download Fedora Sway Atomic.iso

Temporarily using another Linux workstation, write the .iso image to a USB drive:

Run this on the computer that will write the USB
sudo dd if=~/Downloads/Fedora-Sericea-ostree-x86_64-40-1.14.iso \
        of=/dev/sdX bs=10M status=progress conv=sync
Info

Replace /dev/sdX with your actual device name. If you don’t know the device name, run this:

[bash]: Run this on your workstation:
lsblk | grep disk
(stdout)
NAME    MAJ:MIN RM  SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
sda       8:0    0  1.8T  0 disk
sdb       8:16   0   64G  0 disk

You can probably make the identification of the device based upon the reported size, but if not, you can compare the list with the device plugged in, and again after unplugging it, and see which device is missing.

Double check the filename of the .iso file that you downloaded, it may have changed.

Tip

If you are borrowing a Windows computer, then download a program like unetbootin to write the .iso to the USB.

Boot the installer

Boot the target workstation computer using the USB drive. It will boot into the Anaconda install wizard. Just follow the prompts to install it, it should be straight forward, and it is exactly the same as any other Fedora / Redhat install.

Tips:

  • Buttons may be in an unexpected position. Sometimes they are found in the bottom right corner, other times in the upper left corner.
  • The installation summary page marks all the installaton items that you still need to configure. You can visit them in any order. Click the items that show an orange alert text, and do what it says.
  • Choosing installation destination:
    • Use the entire disk for the OS install (ie. choose Delete All partitions / Reclaim Space). On a secure workstation, it is considered unsafe to dual boot any another operating system. If you want to run Windows, or play games, use a separate computer for that.
    • Enable whole disk encryption and choose a secure passphrase. Especially for laptop computers that you may travel with, this an important thing to do to keep your files safe at rest.
  • Create a user account, and check the box Add administrative privileges to this user account (wheel group membership).
  • Disable the root account. You will use a normal user account and sudo.
  • Once all options are configured, click Begin Installation.

Once the installer finishes, click Finish Installation. Reboot, remove the USB, enter your encryption passphrase to boot, and then log in to your new system.

Login and initial config

Once you’re logged in, you need to perform these initial steps.

Network Manager

If you are connected to wired ethernet, likely your network is already active due to DHCP.

If you need to configure WiFi, find the NetworkManager applet in the top right corner of the default Sway desktop. Click on it, and drop down into the menu called Available networks and choose your WiFi access point.

Open a terminal

Press Win+Enter to open a terminal window.

Set Hostname

By default, the hostname of the new workstation is fedora. If you want to change it, now is a good time:

[bash]: Run this on your workstation:
HOST=foo
sudo hostnamectl set-hostname ${HOST}

Close the terminal, press Ctrl+D. Open a new terminal, press Win+Enter. The new hostname should be reflected in the Bash prompt.

(stdout)
[ryan@foo ~]$

Open other apps like web browsers

  • Press Win+D to open the drun menu.
  • Type firefox and press Enter.
  • To close a window, press Win+Shift+Q.