Fedora Project released the latest fedora version. Fedora 17 comes with latest software updates and technologies available now. Fedora is completely supporting Gnome Desktop. The default desktop for fedora 17 is Gnome and a user will get a full gnome shell experience in fedora 17 even without 3D graphics drivers.
Fedora 17 includes Gnome 3.4.1, Gimp 2.8, KDE SC 4.8.3, Version 4.8 of Xfce, LibreOffice 3.5.2.1, Linux 3.3.4 Kernel etc.. Being cutting edge softwares fedora 17 is rock solid stable now. Apart from that fedora 17 includes JBoss Application Server 7, a fast and lightweight Java EE-based application server, optimized for developing and launching Java EE applications; a pre-release of Juno, the release of the Eclipse SDK expected later this year; Java 7 (and OpenJDK7) is the default Java runtime and Java build toolset etc… Also comes with Latest Apache server, PHP 5.4 etc…
Fedora now includes the program fonts-tweak-tool for configuring system fonts. GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) 4.7, Network Manager 0.9.4.0 are also included in Fedora 17.
Fedora 17 is available for x86 systems (32- or 64-bit) only. A version for Power and PowerPC (PPC) systems is in the pipeline, with a beta having been released on 11 May. A beta of Fedora 17 for ARM processors was released on 23 May.
Download Fedora 17
Fedora Spins are different remix of fedora with different desktops and different functionalities in Mind. Spins are usually comes with CD images. There are Spins with GNOME, KDE, XFCE, LXDE etc. Also you can get different spins for different needs like Security , Games , Design-suite , Scientific-KDE , SoaS , Robotics , Electronic-Lab etc. You can also download a full DVD version with all the softwares included. It includes various programming languages like python, ruby, vala, php, java etc…
Download Fedora 17 from the nearest mirror from you. There is a torrent tracker by fedora projct. Just download the torrent file and start.
Fedora 17 comes with all the free software with freedom. But for a daily user need some non free stuff for a perfect desktop. A fedora user want to install all the propitiatory codecs to decode and play various kind of media from third party repositories. And handle various kind of file formats those are non free.
Things to do after install fedora 17
Here is a quick list of things to do after install fedora 17 for a perfect desktop or a most usable desktop for an average PC User. For a Complete desktop for a user we need more soft-wares for MP3, DVD and Video playback/recording etc. For this reason you have to install that software from third party repositories. RPM Fusion is a third party repository consists all of other softwares for better media support. Also Livna Repos handle some non free stuff for media editing.
Gnome Shell Tweaks for fedora 17
You need some tweaks for gnome shell to use in fedora 17. You can have the gnome-tweak-tool to tweak the settings, interface, fonts, themes etc..The latest version got improved controls to tweak gnome as you like.
Just install
yum install gnome-tweak-tool
Dconf Editor for fedora 17
The dconf editor will help you to set various values in gnome shell. like enable the minimize, maximize buttons, show seconds in the clock etc.
Just Install
yum install dconf-editor
Gnome Shell Extensions for fedora 17
For the complete installation of gnome shell extensions in fedora 17 and more gnome shell themes, gtk 3 themes in fedora 17 just view the other post gnome shell extensions in fedora 15.
Here is a short list for gnome shell extensions with its usage. These are my favourite extensions list. There are two ways to install the gnome shell extensions. Just download the extension extract it and copy it into the folder ~/.local/gnome-shell/extensions. Then you can enable the extension in Gnome Tweak Tool.
But the easiest way is to go to extensions.gnome.org using Firefox Browser ( Default Browser in Fedora) and then select your favourite extension and slide the OFF switch to ON on the left side. It will ask you to install the extension press the install button then the extension installed and functional. That is it. No download no copy no activate. Just go to the Installed Extensions tab and you can on or off any installed extensions.
- Advanced Calculator Quickly perform mathematical calculations in the shell overview. Requires that gcalctool (The standard gnome calculator) is installed. https://github.com/war1025/GCalcSearch. Now 3.4 compatible!
- Advanced Settings in UserMenu Show Advanced Settings (Gnome Tweak Tool) in UserMenu
- All-in-one Places All-in-one quick navigation to places based on the Gnome Classic places menu with a few extra configuration options
- Alternative Status Menu Replaces GNOME Shell Status Menu with one showing Suspend/Hibernate and Power Off as separate items
- Axe Menu Big and beautiful menu for gnome-shell. It is really Big if you want small try Application Menu
- Dock A dock for the GNOME Shell — displays favorite and running applications
- Media player indicator Control MPRIS2 capable media players: Clementine, Banshee, Rhythmbox…
- Network Connections Shortcut Quickly launch Network Connections from the Network Menu. shortcut to nm-connection-editor
- Quicklists Simple implementation of quicklists for applications. Implementation in Early Stages
- remove-accessibility-icon Removes the accessibility icon from the panel.
- system-monitor Display system information in gnome shell status bar, such as Memory usage, Cpu usage, Network rates, Battery statistics and Cpu temperatures. There is another system monitor with give graph on message tray but i found this more usefull
- User Themes Load shell themes from user directory.
- Web Search A gnome-shell extension which provide web search in one click.
- Window Navigator Allow keyboard selection of windows and workspaces in overlay mode
- WindowOverlay Icons Add application icons to window overview
- Workspace Indicator Indicator for workspace number. On click it give you a list of active workspaces. Essential one.
There are lot more extensions for various purpose. You can try everything with a mouse click. Select extensions and create your own favourite list.
For giving fedora a nice look I selected Ubuntu font and the default font and document font in Gnome Tweak Tool. Download the Ubuntu Font. Extract it and open each font. On the right bottom press Install Button. The fonts got installed.
Gnome Shell Themes in Fedora 17
There are lot of themes available for Gnome shell. If user theme extension installed and active then you can change the shell theme using gnome tweak tool.
There are lot of themes in Gnome Look and deviantart
Here is a small list of exciting themes for fedora 17
- Zukini
- malys – GS GNOME Shell Theme
- Faience 0.3
- Nord: Gnome-shell 1.2
- Adwaita-White 1.4
- London Smoke – Gnome-Shell 1.3
- MinimaZero 1.1
- Air (Gnome Shell 3.4 compatible) 3.4
- Zukitwo
Also there are lot of exiciting icon sets for Fedora 17. The popular are faenza, Faience, Elementary, Gnome colors etc..
to install faenza theme
yum install faenza-icon-theme
install elementary icon theme
yum install elementary-icon-theme
Install Eco Icon theme
yum install echo-icon-theme
Install Tango Icon Theme
yum install tango-icon-theme tango-icon-theme-extras
Lot others can be downloaded from Gnome Look
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Install Cinnamon 1.4 on Fedora 17
Cinnamon is a fantastic Desktop created by linux mint team by forking gnome shell. You will get the Classic Gnome 2 experience in Gnome Shell. All the effects with ease of use. First you need to download and install two packages from here. There are 32- and 64-bit versions available, so choose the appropriate version for your platform. The 32-bit versions, available here.
The packages to download, are muffin and Cinnamon. Install muffin first. Then install the Cinnamon RPM also.
For 32 Bit
wget http://repos.fedorapeople.org/repos/leigh123linux/cinnamon/fedora-17/i386/muffin-1.0.3-3.fc17.i686.rpm
rpm - ivh muffin-1.0.3-3.fc17.i686.rpm
wget http://repos.fedorapeople.org/repos/leigh123linux/cinnamon/fedora-17/i386/cinnamon-1.4.0-5.UP1.fc17.i686.rpm
rpm - ivh cinnamon-1.4.0-5.UP1.fc17.i686.rpm
For 64 Bit
wget http://repos.fedorapeople.org/repos/leigh123linux/cinnamon/fedora-17/x86_64/muffin-1.0.3-3.fc17.x86_64.rpm
rpm -ivh muffin-1.0.3-3.fc17.x86_64.rpm
wget http://repos.fedorapeople.org/repos/leigh123linux/cinnamon/fedora-17/x86_64/cinnamon-1.4.0-5.UP1.fc17.x86_64.rpm
rpm -ivh cinnamon-1.4.0-5.UP1.fc17.x86_64.rpm
After installation just logout and then on the login prompt after selecting the user name below password select session to cinnamon
Yum Extender
It is a very nice utility to install software with a GUI and with power and speed of terminal. Commands are executed in terminal but it has a nice GUI to manage everything.
yum install yumex
For GUI people just open the overlay mode in gnome or press window key. then type add then you will get add or remove programmes then go for a search.
Overlay Mode Activities > Applications > System Tools > Terminal. then type su – and enter for a root user . Enter your root password. All the commands are performed as root on the terminal otherwise just add su -c ‘command’ .
Prepare Yum for Fast Installation in fedora 17
fedora 17 Yum Fastest Mirror Plugin
yum install yum-fastestmirror
The fasterstmirror will find the fastest mirror near you and download with great speed.
Enable Restricted Repositories in fedora 17
To enable the RPM Fusion repository just install
yum localinstall --nogpgcheck http://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-stable.noarch.rpm http://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-stable.noarch.rpm
Install Adobe Acrobat Reader in fedora 17
Next we add the adobe repository for downloading Acrobat Reader, by running this at the terminal
## Adobe Repository 32-bit x86 ## rpm -ivh http://linuxdownload.adobe.com/adobe-release/adobe-release-i386-1.0-1.noarch.rpm rpm --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-adobe-linux ## Adobe Repository 64-bit x86_64 ## rpm -ivh http://linuxdownload.adobe.com/adobe-release/adobe-release-x86_64-1.0-1.noarch.rpm rpm --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-adobe-linux
yum install AdobeReader_enuJust Start the Acrobat Reader from Activities > Applicaitons > office > Acrobat reader.
Internet Applicaitons for fedora 17
The firefox 12 is the default browser in fedora 17. But Google Chrome is also a better alternative. You can add the repository and install google chrome on fedora 17 very easly.
Installing Google chrome in fedora 17
Just use the following command as is
wget https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub
rpm --import linux_signing_key.pub
For 32 bit
echo "[google] name=Google Chrome 32-bit baseurl=http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/rpm/stable/i386" >> /etc/yum.repos.d/google.repo
For 64 bit
echo "[google] name=Google Chrome 64-bit baseurl=http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/rpm/stable/x86_64" >> /etc/yum.repos.d/google.repo
Install Google Chrome Stable Version on fedora 17
Just type this line on the root terminal
yum install google-chrome-stableOr You can download the google chrome browser from chrome website. Download the rpm file. but to install it there is another package needed that is lsb
to install you need the dependency lsb
to install that
yum install redhat-lsb
Then try to install the downloaded rpm by just double click on it or in terminal
rpm -ivh google-chrome-stable_current.rpm
Install Pidgin on fedora 17
Pidgin is an alternative for the default empathy IM Client. Some times it works better with webcams.
yum install pidgin
Install Google talk Plugin in fedora 17
Just download the rpm from Google Talk Website and install it. Download from http://www.google.com/chat/video/download.html .
Just double click on the rpm on the downloads. Type the root password. It will automatically install.
Install skype on fedora 17
Skype is a good IM client for all operating system. You can chat, Video and Audio call with unmatched voice clarity and video quality over internet.
Just download from skype website.
Just double click on the rpm. It will install automatically.
Install Google talk on fedora 17
The google talk plugin will help you to call your friends from gmail interface. It now supports video calling. You can download this plugin from google website
Install Gwibber on fedora 17
Gwibber is a universal Broadcast Client for twitter, identi.ca, Buzz, Flickr, FriendsFeed, Facebook, Ping.fm, Qwaiku etc.. It is the default Broadcast client on Ubuntu. Installation is simple.
yum install gwibber
Install Google Earth on fedora 17
The most advanced map software from google. You can search and find lot more . Just download the bin file and execute it.
./GoogleEarthLinx.bin
Flash Player Plugin for fedora 17
yum install flash-plugin nspluginwrapper alsa-plugins-pulseaudio libcurl
there is another way to install flash plugin. If you installed google chrome browser already then you can use the Google chrome builtin flash plugin for firefox. The updates to Flash player for linux is only available for google chrome only. Adobe dropped the support for other browsers so this is a better way. If you installed google chrome on /opt then
ln -s /opt/google/chrome/libgcflashplayer.so /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/
Just run this command. Restart Firefox check flash player
Graphics Appications for fedora 17
Gimp
It is the most advanced Image Editor in Linux. Version 2.8 is available now. This gimp has lot of features like single window mode, file tabs, layer groups etc…. This is included in the default package. If not just install
yum install gimp yum install gimp-data-extras gimpfx-foundry gimp-lqr-plugin gimp-resynthesizer gnome-xcf-thumbnailer
The extra packages for gimp enables some nice filters created by fx foundry. The resynthesizer plugin do some magic with photos and remove forground objects in photos.
Inkscape
The best vector editor application in free software. Good for creating svg files. An essential tool for all libre designers and graphics developers.
yum install inkscape
Dia
The Dia drawing program can be used to draw different types of diagrams, and includes support for UML static structure diagrams (class diagrams), entity relationship modeling, and network diagrams. Dia can load and save diagrams to a custom file format, can load and save in .xml format, and can export to PostScript(TM).
yum install dia
Phatch
Phatch is a simple to use cross-platform GUI Photo Batch Processor which handles all popular image formats and can duplicate (sub)folder hierarchies. Phatch can batch re-size, rotate, apply perspective, shadows, rounded corners, … and more in minutes instead of hours or days if you do it manually. Phatch allows you to use EXIF and IPTC tags for renaming and data stamping. Phatch also supports a console version to batch photos on web-servers.
yum install phatch nautilus-phatch
Office Applications for fedora 17
Libreoffice is the official office package for fedora 17
The total libreoffice package is available on the DVD package. You can install openoffice.org seperatly.
Libre Office 3.5.1 on fedora 17
LibreOffice is a productivity suite that is compatible with other major office suites, and available on a variety of platforms. It is the clone of Openoffice.org from document foundation. Lot of improvements and bug fixes from openoffice.org done by the libreoffice team. Also other distros are supporting this office suite.
Download : Libreoffice
Extract the file and install
rpm -ivh RPMS/*.rpm
Scribus on fedora 17
Scribus is an desktop open source page layout program with the aim of producing commercial grade output in PDF and Postscript, primarily, though not exclusively for Linux.While the goals of the program are for ease of use and simple easy to understand tools, Scribus offers support for professional publishing features, such as CMYK color, easy PDF creation, Encapsulated Postscript import/export and creation of color separations.
yum install scribus
Video Codecs for fedora 17
To play various Video formats we need some codecs.
Gstreamer
yum install gstreamer gstreamer-plugins-good gstreamer-plugins-bad gstreamer-plugins-ugly
FFMpeg
FFMpeg is a complete and free Internet live audio and video broadcasting solution for Linux/Unix. It also includes a digital VCR. It can encode in real time in many formats including MPEG1 audio and video, MPEG4, h263, ac3, asf, avi, real, mjpeg, and flash.
yum install ffmpeg ffmpeg-libs
K3b MP3 decoder plugin
When you start k3b it says no mp3 decoder plugin. to install
yum install k3b-extras-freeworld
DVD and Video Players for fedora 17
DVD playback
In order to play DVDs you must install the appropriate codecs.
yum install libdvdread libdvdnav lsdvd
you can use Livna for installing libdvdcss.
su -
rpm -Uvh http://rpm.livna.org/livna-release.rpm
yum install libdvdcss
VLC
VLC media player is a highly portable multimedia player and multimedia framework capable of reading most audio and video formats as well as DVDs, Audio CDs VCDs, and various streaming protocols. It can also be used as a media converter or a server to stream in uni-cast or multi-cast in IPv4 or IPv6 on networks.
yum install vlc
Mplayer / SMplayer / Gnome Mplayer
MPlayer is a movie player that plays most MPEG, VOB, AVI, OGG/OGM, VIVO, ASF/WMA/WMV, QT/MOV/MP4, FLI, RM, NuppelVideo, yuv4mpeg, FILM, RoQ, and PVA files. You can also use it to watch VCDs, SVCDs, DVDs, 3ivx, RealMedia, and DivX movies. It supports a wide range of output drivers including X11, XVideo, DGA, OpenGL, SVGAlib, fbdev, AAlib, DirectFB etc. There are also nice antialiased shaded subtitles and OSD.
yum install mplayer mplayer-gui smplayer gnome-mplayer
Kaffeine
Kaffeine is KDE Mediaplayer with xine engine.
yum install kaffeine
Avidemux
Avidemux is a very good video editor. Install it like this
yum install avidemux
Xine
It is another movie player in linux. is worth try
yum install xine-lib xine-lib-extras xine-lib-extras-freeworld xine-ui xine-ui-skins gxine
XBMC
XBMC media center is the media center application for Linux. XBMC can play a spectrum of of multimedia formats, and featuring playlist, audio visualizations, slideshow, and weather forecast functions, together third-party plugins. It support various kinds of remote controlls also.
yum install xbmc
Minitube
Minitube is a YouTube desktop client. With it you can watch YouTube videos in a new way: you type a keyword, Minitube gives you an endless video stream. Minitube is not about cloning the original YouTube web interface, it aims to create a new TV-like experience.
yum install minitube
Mp3 and Audio Players for fedora 17.
Audacity on fedora 17
Audacity is a cross-platform multitrack audio editor. It allows you to record sounds directly or to import files in various formats. It features a few simple effects, all of the editing features you should need, and unlimited undo. The GUI was built with wxWidgets and the audio I/O supports PulseAudio, OSS and ALSA under Linux. This
build has support for mp3 and ffmpeg import/export.
yum install audacity
Or you can install Audacity with mp3 export support.
yum install audacity-freeworld
Audacious
Audacious is a media player that currently uses a skinned user interface (based on Winamp 2.x skins) as well as a separate GTK2 based front end. Historically, it started as a fork of Beep Media Player (BMP), which itself forked from XMMS.
yum install audacious audacious-libs audacious-plugins audacious-plugins-freeworld audacious-plugins-freeworld-aac audacious-plugins-freeworld-ffaudio audacious-plugins-freeworld-mp3
Banshee
Banshee allows you to import CDs, sync your music collection to an iPod, play music directly from an iPod, create playlists with songs from your library, and create audio and MP3 CDs from subsets of your library.
yum install banshee banshee-community-extensions
Xmms
XMMS is a multimedia (Ogg Vorbis, CDs) player for the X Window System with an interface similar to Winamp’s. XMMS supports playlists and streaming content and has a configurable interface.
yum install xmms xmms-mp3
Amarok
Amarok is a multimedia player with:
- fresh playlist concept, very fast to use, with drag and drop
- plays all formats supported by the various engines
- audio effects, like reverb and compressor
- compatible with the .m3u and .pls formats for playlists
- nice GUI, integrates into the KDE look, but with a unique touch
yum install amarok phonon-backend-gstreamer
Exaile
Exaile is similar to Amarok but it’s based on GTK+ toolkit. Therefore it’s a good solution for Gnome users! To install it type:
yum install exaile
Clementine
Clementine is a multiplatform music player. It is inspired by Amarok 1.4, focusing on a fast and easy-to-use interface for searching and playing your music. This is another music player similar to Exaile.
yum install clementine
Torrent Clients for fedora 17
Transmission
Transmission is a free, lightweight BitTorrent client. It features a simple, intuitive interface on top on an efficient, cross-platform back-end.
yum install transmission
Azureus
Azureus (now Vuze) implements the BitTorrent protocol using java and comes bundled with many invaluable features for both beginners and advanced users.
yum install azureus
Ktorrent
Ktorrent is a torrent client for KDE Users. If you install on Gnome only System. You have the overhead of KDE Libraries.
yum install ktorrent
Nautilus Extensions for fedora 17
Nautilus Actions
Nautilus actions is an extension for Nautilus, the GNOME file manager. It provides an easy way to configure programs to be launch on files selected in Nautilus interface
yum install nautilus-actions
Nautilus Image Converter
Adds a “Resize Images…” menu item to the context menu of all images. This opens a dialog where you set the desired image size and file name. A click on “Resize” finally resizes the image(s) using ImageMagick’s convert tool.
yum install nautilus-image-converter
Nautilus Open Terminal
The nautilus-open-terminal extension provides a right-click “Open Terminal” option for nautilus users who prefer that option.
yum install nautilus-open-terminal
Nautilus Paste Bin
A Nautilus extension written in Python, which allows users to upload text-only files to a pastebin service just by right-clicking on them. Users can also add their favorite service just by creating new presets.
yum install nautilus-pastebin
Tools for fedora 17
Here we are installing some usefull tools for various purpose.
Unrar
The unrar utility is a freeware program for extracting, testing and viewing the contents of archives created with the RAR archiver version 1.50 and above.
yum install unrar
7Zip
p7zip is a port of 7za.exe for Unix. 7-Zip is a file archiver with a very high compression ratio. The original version can be found at http://www.7-zip.org/.
yum install p7zip p7zip-plugins
gftp
gFTP is a multi-threaded FTP client for the X Window System. gFTP supports simultaneous downloads, resumption of interrupted file transfers, file transfer queues to allow downloading of multiple files, support for downloading entire directories/subdirectories, a bookmarks menu to allow quick connection to FTP sites, caching of remote directory listings, local and remote chmod, drag and drop, a connection manager and much more
yum install gftp
Filezilla
FileZilla is a FTP, FTPS and SFTP client for Linux with a lot of features.
* Supports FTP, FTP over SSL/TLS (FTPS) and SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP)
* Cross-platform
* Available in many languages
* Supports resume and transfer of large files >4GB
* Easy to use Site Manager and transfer queue
* Drag & drop support
* Speed limits
* Filename filters
* Network configuration wizard
yum install filezilla
gnochm
A CHM file viewer for Gnome. Features are:
* Full text search * Bookmarks * Support for external ms-its links * Configurable support for http links * Internationalisation * Displays HTML page source
yum install gnochm
gtkpod
gtkpod is a platform independent Graphical User Interface for Apple’s iPod using GTK2. It supports all current iPod models, including the Mini, Photo, Shuffle, Nano, Video, Classic, Touch, and iPhone.
yum install gtkpod
Programming IDEs for fedora 17
Netbeans
NetBeans IDE is an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for Java/JavaFX, C/C++, Ruby, UML, etc. The NetBeans IDE is oriented on wide audience of developers from beginners up to experts.
yum install netbeans
Eclipse – it is a good IDE for fedora
yum install eclipse
IDEs for Web Programming Like HTML,CSS,Javascript,PHP,Ruby etc …
Geany
Geany is a small and fast integrated development enviroment with basic features and few dependencies to other packages or Desktop Environments.
Some features:
* Syntax highlighting
* Code completion
* Code folding
* Construct completion/snippets
* Auto-closing of XML and HTML tags
* Call tips
* Support for Many languages like C, Java, PHP, HTML, Python, Perl, Pascal
* symbol lists and symbol name auto-completion
* Code navigation
* Simple project management
* Plugin interface
yum install geany
Bluefish
Bluefish is a powerful editor for experienced web designers and programmers. Bluefish supports many programming and markup languages, but it focuses on editing dynamic and interactive websites.
yum install bluefish
Cssed
cssed is a small developer editor and validator, that tries to ease the CSS editing.
It features syntax highlighting, syntax validation, MDI notebook based interface, quick CSS properties and values insertion, auto-completion and dialog-based insertion of CSS complex values.
Being a CSS editor, it’s not limited to this language. cssed haved some support for HTML (with embbeded Javascript), XML, Javascript, Java, PHP, JSP, C, C++, Apache configuration files, .htaccess, Python, Perl, SQL, SH and other languages so it can serve quite well as multi-purpose editor.
yum install cssed
Anjuta
Anjuta DevStudio is a versatile Integrated Development Environment (IDE) on GNOME Desktop Environment and features a number of advanced programming facilities. These include project management, application and class wizards, an on-board interactive debugger, powerful source editor, syntax highlighting, intelligent auto-completions, symbol navigation, version controls, integrated GUI designing and other tools.
yum install anjuta
For install the complete software packages a good internet connection is advicable. Beacuse about 800MB of packages are downloaded from internet. after install all these you will get a stable desktop for all development environments . Also virus/ Sparm free internet browsing is a big advantage. Selinux will take care of all security problems in fedora. Another guide for Things to do after install fedora 17 is Here.
Just install and Feel the Freedom ………… Have Fun ……….!!!!!!!!
Thanks for the great write up. Helps a person comming from a different distro.
Thank you excellent write up.