Linux Live

Here is a fairly straightforward set of steps towards a good basic desktop, using Fedora (currently, tested on Fedora 13).  This includes working general-purpose web-multimedia, IM, office applications, et cetera.   Many thanks to the Unofficial Fedora FAQ people for identifying most of these.  Also covered is the option of automatic login.

1. Be sure to save any needed data first!  Puppy Linux can be helpful for that.
2. Boot using the appropriate Fedora ISO.  If your hardware has a 64-bit chip and 2G or more of RAM, use the 64-bit version; otherwise, the 32-bit version.  This document covers the default Desktop edition, which is the topmost listed on this page:  http://fedoraproject.org/en/get-fedora-options
3. Once booted from the CD, install.
   1. If this is a system which will do generic WWW for anyone who picks it up, automatic login is a good idea.  In this case, it can be helpful to make the user's full name "User", but username something else.  The full name will show up in the upper-right corner of the desktop, and "User" makes it look like a simple menu heading, which it really is.
   2. We will want to run all updates.  But first, do the following from root; it will improve efficiency of handling of multiple 'mirror' locations of the Fedora packages:
      yum install yum-plugin-fastestmirror
   3. Then, run the updates.
      yum update
4. Automatic login.  This is an option.  It does make the machine definitively insecure.  But for many users it is required.  It's no different than the default XP Home; it's just that in the case, we realize it.
   
   1. If you wish to set up automatic login, get to root, and edit "/etc/gdm/custom.conf".  There are several headings in there, one of them being "[daemon]".  Directly under that heading, add these two lines, where "username" is replaced by the username (not the full name) you set up in section 3.
      AutomaticLoginEnable=True
      AutomaticLogin=username
   2. Even if automatic login is enabled, the user's password is still needed if wireless networking or certain applications are used, because the system stores wireless networking keys and email passwords in a special repository.  There are several reports in the wild about being able to make keyring opening automatic; I tried several in writing this, to no avail.  So right now we just make the keyring passwordless.  It will be opened at need.  Go to the Applications menu, Accessories, Passwords and Encryption Keys.
   3. If there are no objects in the list, you don't need this.  But wireless networking and some software uses it, and will create an item. 
   4. If you do see an item, left-click once on it.  Then right-click on it, and choose "Change Password".  The old password is the same as the user login.  The new password has to be blank, and ignore the warning.  After this is done, it will login automatically, and completely so.
5. From here on in, all of these are commands to be run as root. Let's get OpenOffice.
   yum install openoffice.org-core openoffice.org-base openoffice.org-brand openoffice.org-calc openoffice.org-draw openoffice.org-emailmerge openoffice.org-graphicfilter openoffice.org-headless openoffice.org-impress openoffice.org-math openoffice.org-ogltrans openoffice.org-opensymbol-fonts openoffice.org-report-builder openoffice.org-writer openoffice.org-xsltfilter openoffice.org-pdfimport openoffice.org-presentation-minimizer openoffice.org-presenter-screen openoffice.org-wiki-publisher openoffice.org-writer2latex openoffice.org-writer2xhtml openoffice.org-extendedPDF openoffice.org-ooolatex openclipart
6. Now we need to add repositories for software RedHat itself does not provide:
   yum --nogpgcheck install http://rpm.livna.org/livna-release.rpm http://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-stable.noarch.rpm http://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-stable.noarch.rpm
7. For Java: 
   yum install java-1.6.0-openjdk-plugin
8. For Adobe Flash:
   yum --nogpgcheck install http://linuxdownload.adobe.com/adobe-release/adobe-release-i386-1.0-1.noarch.rpm
   yum install --exclude=AdobeReader* flash-plugin nspluginwrapper.{i686,x86_64} pulseaudio-libs.i686 alsa-plugins-pulseaudio.i686 libcurl.i686
   mozilla-plugin-config -i -g -v
9. For PDF viewing:
   yum install mozplugger xpdf
10. For online movies of many kinds:
    yum install totem-mozplugin gstreamer-plugins-ugly gstreamer-plugins-bad
11. For general IM, many different networks including MSN, Yahoo, etc.:
    yum install pidgin
12. To play DVDs:
    yum install libdvdread libdvdcss libdvdnav gstreamer-plugins-ugly
13. To handle MP3s:
    yum install gstreamer-plugins-ugly
    yum install audacious-plugins-freeworld-mp3