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Fedora Guide

Table of Contents

1. Fedora xfce

Fedora been my go to for quite a while though I sometimes switch desktops lmao. I have tried the gnome version but it doesn't really fit me so most of the time I have used the kde spin though recently kde just haven't been feeling the same. It has been feeling buggy and have been fighting with nvidia drivers. After running xfce on my second computer for a while I grew to really like it and started using it on my main and it have been running much better then kde.

Fedora xfce can be downloaded here.

2. Setting up fedora

Fedora has a little extra setup you wouldn't see in something like linux mint though it isn't that bad.

2.1. Packages

You can speed up dnf by adding these to /etc/dnf/dnf.conf
max_parallel_downloads=20
fastestmirror=True

The default repos have lots of stuff but you might want an app that isn't in it like steam. I know the gnome version has a enable 3rd party repos button that does everything I listed here but I am on the xfce version and also had to do this on the kde verison.

  • Setup rpm fusion to get more packages in dnf with the resources here
  • Install flatpak if not already there using sudo dnf install flatpak then add flathub to get some cool apps!

2.2. Multimedia

By default fedora doesn't have many codecs and you need to install them yourself. Without them many media files will not work and lots of youtube videos will not be able to play. The fedora docs use to show how to install them but they removed it from their page and instead shows a new version which installs some stuff but not everything. I do both of them to make sure I get all the codecs I need.

  • Update your system with sudo dnf upgrade
  • Install the new packages with sudo dnf group install multimedia
  • Install the old ones with these three commands in a row:
    • sudo dnf install gstreamer1-plugins-{bad-\*,good-\*,base} gstreamer1-plugin-openh264 gstreamer1-libav --exclude=gstreamer1-plugins-bad-free-devel
    • sudo dnf install lame\* --exclude=lame-devel
    • sudo dnf swap ffmpeg-free ffmpeg --allowerasing

3. Nvidia drivers

Nvidia isn't the best on linux and I like AMD much more though I am stuck with nvidia for now. For xfce there are some extra settings to enable it but it works great once that is done. You will need rpm fusion first before you can install the drivers.

  • Follow the fedora docs on nvidia here
  • Also look at the rpmfusion docs on nvidia here
  • Follow the archwiki on nvidia in lightdm here.
  • For multi monitor refresh rate issues add these to your /etc/environment
    CLUTTER_DEFAULT_FPS=<refresh rate of your sync monitor>
    __GL_SYNC_DISPLAY_DEVICE=<monitor to sync to>
    Then open your nvidia settings, go to OpenGL Settings and turn off "Allow Flipping".

4. Useful things in fedora

Fedora doesn't have update-grub so instead you have to use these:
sudo grub2-mkconfig -o /etc/grub2.cfg
sudo grub2-mkconfig -o /etc/grub2-efi.cfg

NSW