These are detailed steps to install the basic installation of CentOS 6, the EPEL repository, the Hamux repository, and finally the Software from the Hamux repository.

  1. Installing CentOS 6
  2. Installing EPEL repository
  3. Installing Hamux repository
  4. Installing the Hamux Software

Installing Default CentOS 6 Installation

  1. Download CentOS 6.5 (current) Recommend DVD1 or NetInstall
  2. Boot from CD
  3. Choose "Install or upgrade an existing system"
  4. Use the media test to verify the disk before installing
  5. Choose the appropriate language - English by default
  6. Choose the appropriate keyboard - US by default
  7. Choose the appropriate installation method
    1. LiveCD - Cannot install from this disk
    2. DVD - Choose "Local CD/DVD"
    3. Netinstall - choose "URL"
      1. Choose Mirror http://mirror-status.centos.org
      2. Choose country
      3. Choose closets mirror (recommend an "http" mirror)
  8. Enter the URL of the installer on the mirror
    1. http://mirror.location/path/to/os/releaseversion (examples)
    2. Will begin download of installer. From here, everything is the same for DVD or Netinstall
  9. Click Next at welcome screen
  10. Storage Device Warning Screen - "Yes, discard any data" - Not dual-booting
  11. Change hostname to desired name - click Next
  12. Choose the appropriate timezone - click Next
  13. Root Password screen - Should be a password with at least 1 of U, L, #, Special - Recommend different than user passwords - Click Next
  14. Use all space - **REMOVES ALL DATA** - Click Next (custom layout can be created if desired, will not go into this type in this tutorial)
  15. Confirm storage changes - click "Write Changes to disk" - ** REMOVES ALL DATA **
  16. Choose "Desktop" radio button - Default GNOME desktop
  17. Choose "Customize Now"
  18. Click "Next" Install will start
  19. When the install finishes, click "Reboot" to reboot the server - You will need to remove the CD

Once the installation gets to this point, you will need to login your new system and personalize it:

  1. After reboot, click "Forward"
  2. Accept License Agreement and click "Forward"
  3. On "Create User" page
    1. Click the "Advanced" button. Do NOT fill in any information on the main screen
    2. Enter username in the "Username" box
    3. Enter Full Name in the "Full Name" box (optional)
    4. Enter a new password for this user in the "Password" box - Should be a password with at least 1 of U, L, #, Special
    5. Enter the password again in the "Confirm Password" box
    6. Verify "Login Shell" is set to "/bin/bash"
    7. Verify "Create home directory" is checked. Leave "Home Directory" box empty
    8. Verify "Create a private group for the user"  is checked.
    9. Click "OK" button
    10. Click the "Properties" button
    11. Click the "Groups" tab
    12. Scroll down and check the box beside the "dialout" group
    13. Scroll down and check the box beside the "wheel" group
    14. Verify the "Primary Group" box set to the username
    15. Click "OK"
    16. Click the "User Manager window
    17. Click "Forward"
  4. Verify the date and time are correct
  5. Click "Forward"
  6. Click "Finish" on the Kdump page - If this page requires a reboot, reboot the system.

Welcome to your new CentOS 6 Desktop!

Now Let's setup the sudo privileges for your user

  1. Login to the system as the user created during installation
  2. Open "Applications -> System Tools -> Terminal"
  3. Change to the root user "su -" .  When prompted, enter the root password created during the installation
  4. Use visudo to edit the sudoers file - "visudo"
  5. Use the arrow keys to scroll down and find the entry "#%wheel" under the heading "Allows people in group wheel to run all commands"
  6. Put the cursor over the # sign in front of %wheel and press the "x" key 1 time. The # sign should go away.
  7. Enter these keys, in this order, to exit and save: :wq! (including the colon and the exclamation point).
  8. Type "exit" to leave the root user shell.
  9. Type "exit" to close the terminal.

All set! Now you can simply type "sudo command" and run a command with root privileges without having to be root. (A more secure way of managing your system).  Now it's time to update the system.

Installing Updates

Just like any operating system, linux has updates. Verify all updates are installed. Choose either the GUI tool or via CLI.

Installing updates via the GUI

  1. Login to the system
  2. Open "System -> Administration -> Software Update" from the System Menu
  3. By default, all updates should be chosen. Click the "Install Updates" button
  4. If prompted for authentication, use the root password created during the install and click "Authenticate"
  5. Click the "OK" button when finished

Installing updates via the CLI

  1. Open "Applications -> System Tools -> Terminal"
  2. Enter "sudo yum clean all" to clean up the package list. Enter your user password if requested.
  3. Enter "sudo yum -y update". By default all updates will be selected.

It is recommended to reboot after updates, as libraries can be updated to fix bugs and security issues.

Now it's time to install the EPEL repository

Installing the EPEL Repository

This repository is for "Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux". These packages are not in the official installation of the CentOS upstream provider, but are built to work with the system. This repository includes the libraries needed to run the Ham Radio software we will use.

  1. Login to the system
  2. Open a browser and browse to https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/EPEL@How_can_I_use_these_extra_packages
  3. Choose the epel-release package for EL6 (Enterprise Linux 6)
  4. Click on the epel-release-6-8.noarch file.
    1. When asked, use the Package Installer - Click OK
    2. Click the "Install" button to begin the installation
    3. Use the root password created during the install and click "Authenticate"

Now that the EPEL repository is installed, it's time to install the Hamux repository

Installing the Hamux Repository

The Hamux repository contains the software we want to use, such as FLDigi, FLRig, CHIRP, etc. This repository will give us the software and libraries needed and is dependent on the EPEL repository.
  1. Login to the system
  2. Open a browser and browse to http://sourceforge.net/projects/hamux/files/6/noarch/
  3. Click on the hamux-release-6-1.noarch.rpm file
  4. When asked, use the Package Installer - click OK
  5. Click the "Install" button to begin the installation
  6. Use the root password created during the install and click "Authenticate"

Installing the Hamux Packages

Finally! We get to install the software. Let's get started:

Choose to install either via the GUI or the CLI...

Installing Hamux Software via GUI
  1. Open "System -> Administration -> Add/Remove Software from the System menu
  2. Uncheck the checkbox "Filters -> Only Native Packages" from the top menu
  3. Click "System -> Refresh Package Lists" from the top menu
  4. Click on "Package collections" on the left menu
  5. Scroll down and check the checkbox next to "Hamux Packages".
  6. Click the "Apply" button.
  7. If any dependencies are needed, click "Install" to install them
  8. If authentication is requested, use the root password created during the install and click "Authenticate"
  9. If asked to run the new application, click the "Close" button to exit the request.
  10. Close the "Add/Remove Applications" window.
Installing  Hamux Software via CLI
  1. Open "Applications -> System Tools -> Terminal"
  2. Enter "sudo yum clean all" to clean up the package list. Enter your user password if requested.
  3. Enter "sudo yum group install "Hamux Packages" ". Please note, you need the double quotation marks around the words Hamux Packages.
DONE! All software will currently show up under "Ham Radio" and/or "Internet" in the Menu.