This is for Yellow Dog 5 users only. An updated guide for Yellow Dog 6 has been posted here.
Updated 19-Jul-2009: revised Fedora Extras link
On a Windows or Mac machine, you would typically go to a website and download a setup file to install new software. In some cases you can do something similar to that in Linux. But, at least for now, forget all of that.
Yellow Dog is an RPM (Red Hat Package Manager) based Linux distribution. An RPM file is a pre-compiled software package. Since there are numerous versions of many different distributions of Linux which run on many different CPU architectures (x86, AMD64, PPC), there will likely be many different RPM files for a single application.
You can get RPM packages from repositories ("repos") that include software packaged for your particular distribution (Yellow Dog), version (5), and system architecture (ppc). Yellow Dog comes configured with three repositories -- yellowdog-base, yellowdog-extras, and yellowdog-updates. With just these default repos you can install an incredible number of applications.
You do this by selecting the menu item:
Applications -> Accessories -> Software Management -> Add/Remove Software
Once the Package Manager is loaded you can Search, Browse, or List the available applications. If you see something you want to install, you simply check the box next to it and click Apply (or the menu item File -> Apply). Then it will show what package(s) you selected and give you the option to Cancel or Continue. Don't go crazy with it -- try installing just one thing at a time at first!
Next it will start resolving dependencies. This means the package you selected may require another package in order for it to work, so the Package Manager tries to take care of that for you. If any dependencies (other packages) were added, it will notify you and give you the option to Cancel or Continue.
Once you click Continue it starts downloading packages and installs everything. Finally you get a window saying "Software Installation successfully completed." Once you click OK, the Package Manager window closes.
If you're running e17 you'll need to update your Applications Menu before the program you installed will show up. Go to the menu item Configuration -> Applications Menu. This will open an Applications window. Click on Regenerate/update "Applications" Menu, then click on Update, then Close. (this step isn't necessary if you're running a Gnome session)
If the application has a graphical user interface it should now show up in your menu in an appropriate location (Games, Internet, etc).
If you installed a terminal based application with no graphical user interface (GUI), there won't be a new menu option for it. You may not even know what terminal command is used to start it. It is usually the same as the name of the package, and installed in the folder: /usr/bin Documentation is typically installed in the folder /usr/share/doc/[application-version] folder.
For example, the executable file for the gedit text editor that comes installed on Yellow Dog is located here:
/usr/bin/gedit
And the documentation is here:
/usr/share/doc/gedit-2.14.3
Set up Additional Repositories
In addition to the default repos, you can set up other compatible repos that provide even more applications. To do this, we add certain text files to a folder called /etc/yum.repos.d
You need to have "root privileges" to add or edit files in this folder. Instead of logging out of your regular user account and logging in as "root", you can temporarily grant yourself root privileges from a terminal window. A program started from this terminal window would then have root privileges.
So, open a terminal window by selecting the menu item: Applications -> Accessories -> Gnome Terminal. That should open a new window with a [your username@localhost ~]$ prompt. The default color scheme may be difficult to read on your display. If that is the case, go to the menu item Edit -> Current Profile, click on the Colors tab, select "Black on white" under Built-in schemes, and click on Close. Future terminal windows will open with this color scheme.
The command su is used to change your effective user id and group id. Entered by itself with no arguments, it assumes you want to become the "root" user and will ask for the root password. Enter this now:
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su
<root password>
Then you can open the graphical text editor from this terminal window as if you were logged in as root. So enter this:
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gedit
This should open a blank window titled "Unsaved Document 1".
Copy the following text in the box below Code: (highlight, right-click, select Copy) from your browser window to your "Unsaved Document 1" window (right-click in the blank window and select Paste).
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[livna-stable]
name=Livna.org Fedora Compatible Packages (stable)
baseurl=http://rpm.livna.org/fedora/5/ppc
gpgcheck=0
To save this new file, click on File -> Save As. In the box next to "Name" in the Save As... window, enter this:
/etc/yum.repos.d/livna-stable.repo
And click on Save.
That's all you need to do in order to add the Livna repository so its contents will show up when you use the Add/Remove programs feature.
We're going to add two more repositories in the same manner. Copy and paste the text below from your browser to your text editor window and use "Save As" to save the file under the name listed above the text.
/etc/yum.repos.d/fedora-extras.repo
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[fedora-extras]
name=Fedora Extras
baseurl=http://archives.fedoraproject.org/pub/archive/fedora/linux/extras/5/ppc
gpgcheck=0
/etc/yum.repos.d/dribble.repo
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[dribble]
name=Dribble for Fedora 5 - ppc
baseurl=http://dribble.org.uk/repo/5/ppc
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0
We're done adding repos now, so you can close the gedit text editor window. Close the terminal window as well.
Now you'll have many more applications available when you use the Add / Remove Programs feature in Yellow Dog. Select the menu item Applications -> Accessories -> Software Management -> Add/Remove Software. The "Retrieving software information" stage will now take longer to complete since it has more to do.
Once the package manger finishes loading, click on the Search button and try searching for: emulator
Now you can "single-handedly" install two C-64 emulators (Frodo and Vice), two different Nintendo emulators (Nestopia and fceu), a DOS emulator (dosbox), Atari 2600 emulator (stella), Amiga emulator (E-UAE), arcade game emulator (sdlmame), and much more!
IMPORTANT NOTE:
There are other compatible repos you can use with Yellow Dog Linux, but it is possible for two repos to be incompatible with each other. Livna and FreshRPMs are said to be incompatible. While you might not see any immediate problem if you set up both, you will most likely run into problems later.
Installing directly from a Repository web page:
It may be that you have added the repos above and you still can't find the application you want to install from Add/Remove programs. Such is the case with the Super Nintendo emulator and graphical frontend (snes9x and snes9express).
For this example, point your browser to:
http://stentz.freshrpms.net
You should see links to snes9x and snes9express on the left side. Click on the link for snes9x. You should see three different RPM packages -- one for i386, one for ppc, and one for x86_64. The PS3 runs PowerPC based (ppc) Linux, so select the one ending in .ppc.rpm.
That will take you to another screen with more information about the package (version, build date size, etc. Click on the link ending in .ppc.rpm to download it. Firefox should open a window asking how you want to open the file, with Software installer as the default selection. Click OK to confirm the selection.
When the download has completed, the Software Installer will ask you for your root password. Then a "Installing packages" window will open. Click on Apply. In a few moments it should say "Software installed successfully." Click OK. Now you need the frontend, snes9express, so follow the same procedure to install it.
Remember -- if you're running e17 you'll need to update your applications menu before it will show up. And the documentation for snes9x is in the usual location: /usr/share/doc/snes9x-1.43
As you can see, it's possible to install directly from a repository when necessary, even one meant for an older version of Fedora Core. But this is not the preferred method of doing things. Note the naming convention used by most RPM's:
name-version-release.distribution.architecture.rpm
name - The name of the application
version - The version of the application (as in development, debug, etc)
release - The release number of the application
distribution - The Linux distribution for which it was packaged (fc4, fc5, ydl, etc.)
architecture - The type of hardware for which it was compiled (x86, ppc, x86_64)
If you're searching Google for an application, you need to know that you'll need one specifically for Power PC (ppc) architecture, preferably for Yellow Dog Linux (ydl) or Fedora Core 5 (fc5), although it's possible that a package for Fedora Core 4 (fc4) may work fine, as in the case of snes9x.
Complete Listing of repo files:
There seems to be some confusion about what repo files to use. In case you have somehow overwritten your original repo files or added incorrect ones, this list includes the 3 yellowdog repos included in the distribution, plus the 3 added in this guide.
yellowdog-base.repo
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[base]
name=Yellow Dog Linux 5.0 Base
#baseurl=http://ftp.yellowdoglinux.com/pub/yellowdog/yum/5.0/base/
mirrorlist=http://www.terrasoftsolutions.com/resources/yd50-base-mlist
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0
gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY
yellowdog-extras.repo
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[extras]
name=Yellow Dog Linux 5.0 Extras
#baseurl=http://ftp.yellowdoglinux.com/pub/yellowdog/yum/5.0/extras/
mirrorlist=http://www.terrasoftsolutions.com/resources/yd50-extras-mlist
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0
gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY
yellowdog-updates.repo
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[updates]
name=Yellow Dog Linux 5.0 Updates
#baseurl=http://ftp.yellowdoglinux.com/pub/yellowdog/yum/5.0/updates/
mirrorlist=http://www.terrasoftsolutions.com/resources/yd50-updates-mlist
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0
gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY
fedora-extras.repo
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[fedora-extras]
name=Fedora Extras
baseurl=http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/extras/5/ppc
gpgcheck=0
livna-stable.repo
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[livna-stable]
name=Livna.org Fedora Compatible Packages (stable)
baseurl=http://rpm.livna.org/fedora/5/ppc
gpgcheck=0
dribble.repo
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[dribble]
name=Dribble for Fedora 5 - ppc
baseurl=http://dribble.org.uk/repo/5/ppc
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0