Fedora 40 Post Install Guide

Things to do after installing Fedora 39

Faster Updates

sudo nano /etc/dnf/dnf.conf
Copy and replace the text with the following:

[main] 
gpgcheck=1 
installonly_limit=3 
clean_requirements_on_remove=True 
best=False 
skip_if_unavailable=True 
fastestmirror=1 
max_parallel_downloads=10 
deltarpm=True
defaultyes=True
keepcache=True

Note: The fastestmirror=1 plugin can be counterproductive at times, use it at your own discretion. Set it to fastestmirror=0 if you are facing bad download speeds. Many users have reported better download speeds with the plugin enables so it is there by default.

RPM Fusion

Fedora has disabled the repositories for a lot of free and non-free .rpm packages by default. Follow this if you want to use non-free software like Steam, Discord and some multimedia codecs etc. As a general rule of thumb its advised to do this get access to many mainstream useful programs.
sudo dnf install https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm
also while you're at it, install app-stream metadata by
sudo dnf groupupdate core

Update

sudo dnf -y update
sudo dnf -y upgrade --refresh
Reboot

Firmware

If your system supports firmware update delivery through lvfs, update your device firmware by:

sudo fwupdmgr get-devices 
sudo fwupdmgr refresh --force 
sudo fwupdmgr get-updates 
sudo fwupdmgr update

NVIDIA Drivers

Only follow this if you have a NVIDIA gpu. Also, don't follow this if you have a gpu which has dropped support for newer driver releases i.e. anything earlier than nvidia GT/GTX 600, 700, 800, 900, 1000, 1600 and RTX 2000, 3000, 4000 series. Fedora comes preinstalled with NOUVEAU drivers which may or may not work better on those remaining older GPUs. This should be followed by Desktop and Laptop users alike.
Disable Secure Boot.
sudo dnf update #To make sure you're on the latest kernel and then reboot.
Enable RPM Fusion Nvidia non-free repository in the app store and install it from there,
or alternatively
sudo dnf install akmod-nvidia
Install this if you use applications that can utilise CUDA i.e. Davinci Resolve, Blender etc.
sudo dnf install xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-cuda
Wait for atleast 5 mins before rebooting, to let the kermel module get built.
modinfo -F version nvidia #Check if the kernel module is built.
Reboot

Battery Life

Follow this if you have a Laptop and are facing sub optimal battery backup.
power-profiles-daemon which come pre-configured works great on a great majority of systems but still in case you're facing sub-optimal battery backup you can try installing tlp by applying the following:
sudo dnf install tlp tlp-rdw
and mask power-profiles-daemon by:
sudo systemctl mask power-profiles-daemon
Also install powertop by:
sudo dnf install powertop
sudo powertop --auto-tune
Show battery percentage as true
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface show-battery-percentage true

Media Codecs

Install these to get proper multimedia playback.

sudo dnf groupupdate 'core' 'multimedia' 'sound-and-video' --setopt='install_weak_deps=False' --exclude='PackageKit-gstreamer-plugin' --allowerasing && sync
sudo dnf swap 'ffmpeg' --allowerasing
sudo dnf install gstreamer1-plugins-{bad-\*,good-\*,base} gstreamer1-plugin-openh264 gstreamer1-libav --exclude=gstreamer1-plugins-bad-free-devel ffmpeg gstreamer-ffmpeg
sudo dnf install lame\* --exclude=lame-devel
sudo dnf group upgrade --with-optional Multimedia

H/W Video Acceleration

Helps decrease load on the CPU when watching videos online by alloting the rendering to the dGPU/iGPU. Quite helpful in increasing battery backup on laptops.

H/W Video Decoding with VA-API

sudo dnf install ffmpeg ffmpeg-libs libva libva-utils

Intel

If you have a recent Intel chipset (5th Gen and above) after installing the packages above., Do:
sudo dnf swap libva-intel-media-driver intel-media-driver --allowerasing

AMD

No need to do this for intel integrated graphics. Mesa drivers are for AMD graphics, who lost support for h264/h245 in the fedora repositories in f38 due to legal concerns.

If you have an AMD chipset, after installing the packages above do:

sudo dnf swap mesa-va-drivers mesa-va-drivers-freeworld

OpenH264 for Firefox

sudo dnf config-manager --set-enabled fedora-cisco-openh264
sudo dnf install -y openh264 gstreamer1-plugin-openh264 mozilla-openh264
After this enable the OpenH264 Plugin in Firefox's settings.

Update Flatpak

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
flatpak update

Snap support is easily enabled as well. Many Snap packages also have Flatpak counterparts. Consider evaluating Snapcraft to see if the redundancy is necessary.

sudo dnf install -y snapd
sudo ln -s /var/lib/snapd/snap /snap # for classic snap support
sudo reboot now

Set Hostname. It is also possible to do this in the settings menu under about About.

hostnamectl set-hostname YOUR_HOSTNAME

Custom DNS Servers

For people that want to setup custom DNS servers for better privacy

sudo mkdir -p '/etc/systemd/resolved.conf.d' && sudo -e '/etc/systemd/resolved.conf.d/99-dns-over-tls.conf'

[Resolve]
DNS=1.1.1.2#security.cloudflare-dns.com 1.0.0.2#security.cloudflare-dns.com 2606:4700:4700::1112#security.cloudflare-dns.com 2606:4700:4700::1002#security.cloudflare-dns.com
DNSOverTLS=yes

Set UTC Time

Used to counter time inconsistencies in dual boot systems
sudo timedatectl set-local-rtc '0'

Optimizations

The tips below can allow you to squeeze out a little bit more performance from your system.

Disable Mitigations

Increases performance in multithreaded systems. The more cores you have in your cpu the greater the performance gain. 5-30% performance gain varying upon systems. Do not follow this if you share services and files through your network or are using fedora in a VM.
Modern intel CPUs (above 10th gen) do not gain noticeable performance improvements upon disabling mitigations. Hence, disabling mitigations can present some security risks against various attacks, however, it still might increase the CPU performance of your system.
sudo grubby --update-kernel=ALL --args="mitigations=off"

Modern Standby

Can result in better battery life when your laptop goes to sleep.
sudo grubby --update-kernel=ALL --args="mem_sleep_default=s2idle"
If "s2idle" doesn't work for you i.e. people with alder lake CPUs, then you might want to refer to this

Enable nvidia-modeset

Useful if you have a laptop with an Nvidia GPU. Necessary for some PRIME-related interoperability features.
sudo grubby --update-kernel=ALL --args="nvidia-drm.modeset=1"

Disable `NetworkManager-wait-online.service`

Disabling it can decrease the boot time by at least ~15s-20s:
sudo systemctl disable NetworkManager-wait-online.service

Disable Gnome Software from Startup Apps

Gnome software autostarts on boot for some reason, even though it is not required on every boot unless you want it to do updates in the background, this takes at least 100MB of RAM upto 900MB (as reported anecdotically). You can stop it from autostarting by:
sudo rm /etc/xdg/autostart/org.gnome.Software.desktop

If you’re happy with the default fonts on Fedora, then carry on. These are the default fonts on Pop!_OS.

sudo dnf install -y fira-code-fonts 'mozilla-fira*' 'google-roboto*'

After installing, open Gnome Tweaks to tweak the fonts. If you haven’t installed Gnome Tweaks, its necessary to do so before proceeding.

sudo dnf install -y gnome-tweaks gnome-extensions-app
Open Gnome Tweaks and adjust each font individually. Most modern screens are LCD and will benefit from enabling Subpixel Antialiasing.

Installing Microsoft TrueType fonts can improve compatibility and stability of Microsoft Office generated files, including those in Microsoft 365. Follow these commands to install the fonts.

sudo dnf install curl cabextract xorg-x11-font-utils fontconfig
sudo rpm -i https://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/mscorefonts2/rpms/msttcore-fonts-installer-2.6-1.noarch.rpm

Many of these apps can be found in the Software Center. If you’re move comfortable installing software in a graphical point and click environment, the choice is you'res my friend. Software installations can be stacked together to save time and effort. For example, if you wish to install VLC and GIMP, the command can be executed as follows.

sudo dnf install -y vlc gimp

Instructions to install the Flatpak versions have been added. It is only necessary to install via dnf or Flatpak but not both.

Archive tools open compressed files.
sudo dnf install -y unzip p7zip p7zip-plugins unrar

Audacity is an excellent audio editor.

sudo dnf install -y audacity
flatpak install flathub org.audacityteam.Audacity

Dropbox is a cloud storage service that works across multiple platforms.

sudo dnf install -y dropbox nautilus-dropbox
flatpak install flathub com.dropbox.Client

GIMP or GNU Image Manipulation Program is an open source photo editor often touted as the alternative to its proprietary counterpart.

sudo dnf install -y gimp
flatpak install flathub org.gimp.GIMP

Simplenote can be tied to a WordPress account for easy posting. Available Flatpak or Snap.

flatpak install flathub com.simplenote.Simplenote

Spotify is a music streaming service with mobile apps available as well.

flatpak install flathub com.spotify.Client

GParted is a partition management utility. Gnome Disks is preinstalled on Fedora with similar functionality.

sudo dnf install -y gparted

OBS Studio captures, records, and streams live video.

sudo dnf install -y obs-studio
flatpak install flathub com.obsproject.Studio

Gnome Extensions

Don't install these if you are using a different spin of Fedora.
Pop Shell - run sudo dnf install -y gnome-shell-extension-pop-shell xprop to install it. !This will change keystroke shortcuts!
GSconnect - run sudo dnf install nautilus-python for full support.
Gesture Improvements
Quick Settings Tweaker
User Themes
Compiz Windows Effect
Just Perfection
Rounded Windows Corners
Dash to Dock
Quick Settings Tweaker
Blur My Shell
Bluetooth Quick Connect
App Indicator Support
Clipboard Indicator
Legacy (GTK3) Theme Scheme Auto Switcher
Caffeine
Vitals
Wireless HID
Logo Menu
Space Bar

Apps [Optional]

Packages for Rar and 7z compressed files support: sudo dnf install -y unzip p7zip p7zip-plugins unrar
These are Some Packages that I use and would recommend:

Amberol
Blanket
Builder
Brave 
Blender
Colorwall
Discord
Drawing
Deja Dup Backups
Endeavour 
Easyeffects
Extension Manager
Flatseal
Foliate
Footage
GIMP
Gnome Tweaks
Gradience
Handbrake
Iotas
Joplin
Khronos
Krita
Logseq
lm_sensors
Onlyoffice
Overskride
Parabolic
Pcloud
PDF Arranger
Planify
Pika backup 
Snapshot
Solanum
Sound Recorder
Tangram
Transmission
Ulauncher
Upscaler
Video Trimmer
VS Codium
yt-dlp

Theming [Optional]

GTK Themes

Don't install these if you are using a different spin of Fedora.
https://github.com/lassekongo83/adw-gtk3
https://github.com/vinceliuice/Colloid-gtk-theme
https://github.com/EliverLara/Nordic
https://github.com/vinceliuice/Orchis-theme
https://github.com/vinceliuice/Graphite-gtk-theme

Use themes in Flatpaks

sudo flatpak override --filesystem=$HOME/.themes
sudo flatpak override --env=GTK_THEME=my-theme

Icon Packs

Wallpaper

https://github.com/manishprivet/dynamic-gnome-wallpapers

Firefox Theme

Install Firefox Gnome theme by: curl -s -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rafaelmardojai/firefox-gnome-theme/master/scripts/install-by-curl.sh | bash

Starship (terminal theme)

Configure starship to make your terminal look good (refer https://starship.rs)

Grub Theme

https://github.com/vinceliuice/grub2-themes

Change the desktop eviroment.

*Fedora uses Gnome by default with several other desktop environment (DE) spins available. These DEs are still available after installing Fedora. Installing multiple DEs can cause conflicts with key managers and themes. Available desktop environments can be found with this command:

dnf grouplist -v

The command will yield a list similar to this:

Fedora Custom Operating System (custom-environment)
Minimal Install (minimal-environment)
Fedora Server Edition (server-product-environment)
Fedora Workstation (workstation-product-environment)
Fedora Cloud Server (cloud-server-environment)
KDE Plasma Workspaces (kde-desktop)
Xfce Desktop (xfce-desktop)
LXDE Desktop (lxde-desktop)
LXQt Desktop (lxqt-desktop)
Cinnamon Desktop (cinnamon-desktop)
MATE Desktop (mate-desktop)
Sugar Desktop Environment (sugar-desktop)
Deepin Desktop (deepin-desktop)
Development and Creative Workstation (developer-workstation)
Web Server (web-server-environment)
Infrastructure Server (infrastructure-server-environment)
Basic Desktop (basic-desktop-environment)

Using the package name from the list above, install the desktop enviroment with a simple dnf install substituting kde-desktop-environment with the preferred DE.

sudo dnf install @kde-desktop
DEs can be switched at the login screen or alternatively, with the Desktop Switcher tool.
sudo dnf -y install switchdesk switchdesk-gui

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