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Linux Fedora Core 1 to 5 is easy to install as it guides the user through the installation process in clearly designed steps. Even a user with little ICT knowledge will be able to complete the task.
However, before starting the installation, it is best to partition the hard drive C. There are a lot of web sites out there where information can be found on how to do that. One program that does it, is fips20.zip. Fips works for Windows 98 and below. Windows XP and - so I believe - Windows 2000 and Windows Vista come with a partitioned hard drive; one is called C and the other one D.
If you are working with Windows 98 and below and you need to partition your hard drive use Fips to create a new partition, which appears as a DOS partition.
Once, you have the two partitions C and D, you need to deleted the partition D (don't worry all windows data are on C). Shut down the computer and reboot it using the Fedora Core disk CD 1 or the DVD.
Note, you cannot install Fedora this way, if your computer has no CD or DVD drive! However, buying an external CD drive might be the solution.
After this follow the instructions on the screen. If you are not sure about some aspects, use default options. Once Fedora is installed, you will have a dual boot system. This means, whenever you switch on your computer, you will be asked whether you want to use Fedora or the other (windows) system. (This is only true, if you did not delete windows). I would recommend not to delete Windows, simply because you might not be able to get online with linux Fedora straight away. Additionally, some software runs only under Windows at the present time and up to now (2007) many manufacturers of hardware such as printers and cameras do not support linux properly.
Once you boot your computer you might want to go online. This is only possible if your modem is supported by linux. However, a lot of laptops use a Conexant modem. In this case you will have to download the suitable driver from http://www.linuxant.com/drivers/. There, follow the instructions carefully.
There are a great number of musical applications out there. One fantastic site is http://ccrma.stanford.edu/planetccrma/software/soundapps.html. However, the trouble with this site is that there are a lot of choices but little help finding what will work for you.
An idea might be to start with alsa player which used to plays mp3 files but not any longer (it still plays wav files though). In order to make the alsa player work, I had to install jack-audio-connection-kit, flac, libsndfile, xosd and lib3tag. These files can be found searching http://rpm.pbone.net. You will have to make sure that you download the software for Fedora - if possible - as the software for other linux environments might conflict with Fedora. However, as you try to install the player your system will tell you what you need. The player itself can be downloaded from http://rpm.pbone.net/index.php3/stat/11/limit/6/dl/40/vendor/922/com/Freshrpms_net.html. The alsa player (use fc4) is nice, because it can play wav files forwards and backwards at different speeds.
There are a number of ways to install software on a linux system. However, it is best to start with rpm files. They are a bit like exe files. You click on an rpm file and Fedora will try to do the installation for you. Alternatively, you can install rpm files by opening System/Terminal. Here, you navigate to the directory where the rpm file is by using the 'cd' command. Once you are in the directory you enter rpm -i [file name]. Alsa player and all the other software described here is available as rpm files. If you feel comfortable with the Terminal, install files through the Terminal rather than clicking on them, because the Terminal delivers installation information which can be useful.
Generally speaking, it is best to first look for music applications at Fedora's own site at Fedora Core and Fedora extras. If you obtain a rpm package from there, you can simply use the rpm package manager (clicking on the downloaded rpm file) and the rpm package manager will find all necessary files for you, download these files for you and install all for you.
Now, there are a number of other applications you might wish to use, such as a music notation programme. Possibly the most powerful music programme is 'Lilypond'. It can handle everything I can think of (including experimental notation) and prints brilliant sheet music. Lilypond can be downloaded from http://ccrma.stanford.edu/planetccrma/software/soundapps.html. As usual, there is a drawback. If you are familiar with programming or even just know how to write simple html code, you will know that what you write and what you get, is very different. This is true for Lilypond too. The code you write needs to be compiled before the sheet music is generated (including pdf format). This means there is no pretty graphical user interface. Well, this is not strictly true either. There is a programme called 'Note edit'. It can be compared to the windows programme 'Noteworthy Composer' although 'Note Edit' is more powerful. Here, we have a nice graphical user interface and the capability to produce a variety of formats including the Lilypond format. So the way it works then, is, you write your music using 'Note Edit', you then export it as a Lilypond file and then you compile the file in order to get the sheet music. The compiling is easy. Again, you open the terminal, you move to the directory where your Lilypond file is and you enter 'Lilypond [filename]'. Even better, once 'Note Edit' produces the Lilypond output, it is worthwhile to open the Lilypond file in a text editor (such as gedit) and look through it. Step by step this is one good way to learn how Lilypond works. 'Note Edit' can be downloaded from the same site as 'Lilypond'. Quite possibly there is nothing better out there. Note Edit needed tse3 in my case, and it can be downloaded from the same site as Lilypond at http://ccrma.stanford.edu/planetccrma/software/soundapps.html. Sometimes, you cannot find a Fedora 5 file fc5. In this case try fc4, fc3, fc2 or fc1. In most cases it will work.
Realplayer used to be a bit of a challenge but is easy now. The latest version can be downloaded at http://www.real.com/linux/.
If you want to edit music files (e.g. noise reduction, pitch shift etc.), there are two software packages which are pretty good. The first one is Audacity and the second one Rezound. Audacity can be downloaded from the Fedora site at Fedora Extras and is easy to install using the rpm manager. Audacity can handle mp3, wav and ogg vorbis files. In order to convert wav to mp3 files it needs lame. Lame can be downloaded from http://freshrpms.net/rpm/. Rezound is similar to Audacity, however it can handle more file types (e.g. aiff, au etc.), it can delete single channels, has a spectro graph but has not got as many effects as Audacity and I prefer the layout of Audacity as well. Both programmes can be compared to something like Cool Edit. Rezound can be downloaded from the Stanford site and needs Ladspa and Ladspa devel.
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