How to Enable NUX Dextop Repository on RHEL/CentOS 8

Introduction

NUX Dextop is a third-party repository that provides a wide range of multimedia and desktop packages for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and CentOS. It is an essential repository for users who need to install various multimedia applications, such as media players, codecs, and video editors. NUX Dextop also offers packages for desktop environments like GNOME, KDE, and Xfce.

The importance of NUX Dextop lies in the fact that RHEL/CentOS does not provide multimedia software support out of the box due to licensing restrictions. Therefore, users who require these packages need to rely on third-party repositories like NUX Dextop.

Without enabling this repository, users cannot install multimedia software on their system. In this tutorial, we will guide you through the steps to enable NUX Dextop Repository on RHEL/CentOS 8.

Overview of the Steps to Enable NUX Dextop Repository on RHEL/CentOS 8

There are two main steps involved in enabling NUX Dextop Repository on RHEL/CentOS 8 −

• Enabling EPEL Repository −The Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux (EPEL) repository contains additional software packages that are not available in the standard RHEL/CentOS repositories. It is required as a dependency for installing some of the packages provided by the NUX Dextop repository.

• Installing NUX Dextop Package −After enabling EPEL repository, we will download and install the key package from the official website of Nux! This package provides access to all available multimedia software provided by the dNux! project. This guide will walk you through each step in detail so you can successfully enable NUX Desktop repository with ease.

Pre-requisites

In order to enable NUX Dextop repository on RHEL/CentOS 8, you must ensure that the following prerequisites are met −

RHEL/CentOS 8 Installation and Update

Ensure that you have the latest version of RHEL/CentOS 8 by checking for updates regularly through your package manager or command line.

Root Access or Sudo Privileges

You must have root access or sudo privileges to execute commands in order to enable NUX Dextop repository.

Enabling EPEL Repository

The NUX Dextop package requires some dependencies such as ffmpeg, gstreamer-plugins-bad-free, sox, among others, which are provided by EPEL. Therefore, before installing NUX Dextop package on RHEL/CentOS 8 system, you need to enable the EPEL repository.

Step-by-step guide on how to enable EPEL repository on RHEL/CentOS 8

To enable the EPEL repository on your RHEL/CentOS 8 system, follow these steps −

• Open a terminal window and log in as root or use sudo with your regular user account −

$ sudo su – 

• Download and install the latest epel-release package using yum command −

# yum install -y epel-release 

• Once installed successfully import necessary GPG keys −

# rpm --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY* 

• Verify if epel repo has been enabled or not −

# yum repolist 

• The output should display the EPEL repository among other repositories that are enabled or disabled on RHEL/CentOS 8 system. By following these steps, you have successfully enabled the EPEL repository on your RHEL/CentOS 8 system.

Installing NUX Dextop Repository Package

Explanation of what the NUX Dextop package is and how it works with EPEL repository

NUX Dextop is a third-party repository that contains various multimedia packages, including codecs, media players, and other multimedia applications. These packages are not included in the default repositories of RHEL/CentOS 8 due to legal or patent issues.

NUX Dextop provides a way for users to easily access these packages and enhance their media experience on RHEL/CentOS 8. The NUX Dextop package works with the EPEL repository, which we enabled in the previous section.

The EPEL repository contains dependencies required by some of the NUX Dextop packages. When you install a package from the NUX Dextop repository, it may pull additional dependencies from either EPEL or other repositories if they are required.

Step-by-step guide on how to download, install, and configure the NUX Dextop package

To install the NUX Dextop package on RHEL/CentOS 8, follow these steps −

• Open a terminal window on your system.

• Download the appropriate RPM package for your system architecture (32-bit or 64-bit) using wget command −

sudo wget https://li.nux.ro/download/nux/dextop/el8/x86_64/nux-dextop-release-0-5.el8.nux.noarch.rpm 

Note −If you are using a 32-bit architecture system change x86_64 into i686 in above URL.

• Install the downloaded RPM package using yum −

sudo yum localinstall nux-dextop-release-0-5.el8.nux.noarch.rpm 

• After installation, check if the NUX Dextop repository is enabled by running the following command −

sudo yum repolist | grep nux-dextop 

• If you see a list of packages from NUX Dextop repository, then the installation was successful and you can proceed to install multimedia packages from this repository. That's it!

  You have successfully installed and configured the NUX Dextop package on RHEL/CentOS 8.

  Now you can start using the multimedia packages available in this repository to enhance your media experience on your system.

Verifying the Installation

After installing the NUX Dextop repository package, it's essential to verify that the installation process was successful. Verification ensures that you can access and use the new packages in your system. To check if the NUX Dextop repository has been enabled correctly, we'll use yum to list all the available packages in the repository.

• Step 1 − Open a terminal window on your RHEL/CentOS 8 system with root or sudo privileges.

• Step 2 −  Run the following command to verify if you can see all available NUX Dextop packages −

yum --disablerepo="*" --enablerepo="nux-dextop" list available 

The above command will list all available packages in NUX Dextop Repository.

If you see a long list of available packages, then congratulations! Your installation was successful, and you can start using these packages for your system needs.

Explanation of common issues that may arise during this process

One common issue that users face when verifying their installation is an error message stating "Unable to connect." This issue occurs when there's no connection between your system and NUX Dextop servers. For example, suppose you're trying to access a package from outside your organization's network without proper VPN or proxy settings. In that case, you may encounter this issue.

The solution is relatively simple; ensure that your network settings are configured correctly before attempting verification again. Another common issue relates to outdated metadata; this means yum may not have updated its metadata for the newly added repository.

To fix this, try running "yum clean metadata" before retrying verification again. It's worth noting that some third-party repositories may conflict with each other and cause issues during verification.

Suppose you encounter any conflicts or errors during validation despite following all steps correctly. In that case, it's best to seek support from community forums or consult a professional system administrator to help troubleshoot and resolve the issue.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we have covered the steps required to enable NUX Dextop Repository on RHEL/CentOS 8. We started by outlining the prerequisites necessary for the installation process, including having root access and ensuring that the system is updated with the latest packages.

We then enabled EPEL repository, which is a required repository for installing NUX Dextop package. We installed and configured NUX Dextop package itself before verifying that everything worked.