Chrome Remote Desktop on Fedora Linux

Chrome Remote Desktop is a very easy way to manage your laptop from another laptop, or even from a smartphone. I have managed my laptop from my Android smartphone.

I also think it's the easiest way for most people to set up Remote desktop, despite it not being straightforward for non-Ubuntu/Debian Linux versions.

For Ubuntu, the guide is here https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/1649523?hl=en. 

For Fedora, follow the below steps:

1. Get and install the Chrome Remote Desktop app (assuming you have Chrome/Chromium browser)
2. You can now access other computers, but to access your computer, you need a native app, as shown in the next steps.
3. Download the Ubuntu native app depending on your Linux version, 32 bit or 64 bit 
4. Convert the .deb package to a Fedora .rpm package. Instructions here 
5. Try installing and run into the error detailed here, with a solution given here too. Note, although the same error seems to be gotten from the Google Earth package, the Chrome Remote Desktop app has a similar problem and solution.
1. If you are looking for ways of editing your files as described above, you can use vi, with the tutorial here describing that. 
2. Using "vi path/to/file" should enable you edit and save a file. If a permissions issue arises, use "su vi /path/to/file" to have root permissions
6. The converted .rpm package should now install and you should be able to use Chrome Remote Desktop from your Fedora installation

It has taken  me a while to write this guide and I may have forgotten or overlooked some items. For any issues or observations, please do not hesistate to hit the comments below. 

Thanks. 

Installing and Solving common Nvidia driver issues in Fedora

Linux still lags in desktop use, despite being the most used smartphone Operating System. The reason behind this is mostly to do with the difficulty in setting up the OS and also due to difficulty in usage and a little to do with the UI.

Linux has come from far, I mean, nowadays we have official support from Nvidia for Linux Graphics Display drivers - something we never used to have. 

The problem though is that you still have to determine what driver you need to install, look for it and install it. 

For Nvidia users,  here is a guide that you will find useful. 

As the guide explains, you will need to find which set of drivers support your card (from the 3 sets). 

You may run into issues such as your installation not booting. The below 2 steps, as highlighted in the comments below the guide may help in this case:

1. mv /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r).img /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r)-nouveau.img
2. dracut /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r).img $(uname -r)

You may then have to repair your boot loader (Grub2) if there were issues that prevents your OS from booting correctly. See this post on how to, but the main command is as below

grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/efi/EFI/fedora/grub.cfg

Alternatively, after using the `dracut` command, you may need to restart the whole process again ie Uninstalling Nvidia drivers as per the first guide, then reinstalling them as per the same guide again. this time round, they should work just fine.

If your system boots slowly after installation of drivers, you may use the `systemd` app to zero down on the issue.

1. Install systemd - yum install systemd
2. See this post on examples of how to use systemd-analyze 

iPage Web Hosting, Where's The Catch?

The iPage homepage

There's this web host called iPage. They have very attractive rates, usually about a dollar. The features they offer are quite good, and very enticing. The are very aggressive, their adverts will follow you everywhere on the Internet once you visit their page, and their emails will flood your inbox once they have their email address.

So what's the catch with their dirt cheap hosting? Renewal, you hosting for the first new year as a new client at iPage might be less than $15. Your renewal invoice, however, will be  upwards of $100.

They hook clients by offering dirt cheap hosting for the first year, then hike up your prices in the subsequent years. Such clever individuals.

If they notice you are cancelling renewal due to price hikes, the chaps then offer you a slight hike, say at about $2 a month to keep you.

A typical renewal email from iPage once your $1
hosting package expires

One thing I did when signing up with them was to use a PayPal account, rather than offer them my debit card. I wonder what would have happened, had I given them my debit card.

Lately, I see they have changed, indicating on their page that their $1.89 hosting is 77 percent off their normal $8.49 monthly price. So you sign up knowing that you are on a discount package.

Their model, though, seems to work fine. And their support was also okay when I used them, but moved to djangohosting.ch for modular Pay-Per-Use hosting and asmallorange.com for small hosting.