Here’s a quick rundown of the 10 quick tips after you finish installing a brand new Fedora 43 workstation edition.
In this article, we will talk about a few post-install tips for Fedora 43 workstation edition. These are a good starting point if you are installing a fresh Fedora 43 workstation edition for all user base.
Here are the ten things which you can do after installing Fedora 43.
Table of Contents
10 things to do after installing Fedora 43 (GNOME Edition)
Update your system
After installing the Fedora 43, the first thing to do is to update the system. For a few days of initial release, many packages get updated. So, it is essential that you check for any updates. You can either do it from the Software application or use terminal via below command.
sudo dnf upgrade
Make dnf faster
Historically, dnf was little slower while running on downloading packages. However, dnf5 version onwards it is considerably fast, but you can still enable the ability to download multiple packages in parallel. Here’s how.
Open a terminal window and open the dnf configuration file via the default text editor.
sudo gnome-text-editor /etc/dnf/dnf.conf
Add the following line at the end of the file and save/close. This allows dnf to download that many packages in parallel. You can use any value from 3 to 20. Default is 3.
max_parallel_downloads=10
Setup RPM fusion
I recommend enabling the RPM Fusion repo since it provides additional packages (including non-free ones). It would help with the future installation of several applications (such as Java, JRE, FFmpeg, etc.). The RPM Fusion is a community-contributed repo, a collection of non-free and additional packages Fedora Linux cannot ship in its official ISO file due to license and other terms.
To enable RPM Fusion in Fedora 43, open a terminal and run the following commands in sequence.
sudo dnf install https://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm
sudo dnf install https://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm
After completing the above commands, run the following to update your system.
sudo dnf upgrade --refresh
sudo dnf groupupdate core
Enable Flathub
Fedora 43 pre-loads Flatpak by default. It also enables unrestricted access to all Flathub apps. All you need to do is to enable the flathub remote (which is disabled by default) using the below command.
flatpak remote-modify --enable flathub
So, you can now visit Flathub’s official website to install thousands of Flatpak apps. Alternatively, you can use GNOME Software to install Flathub apps, which now brings a better experience of Flatpak apps such as it is now possible to remove user data when uninstalling Flatpaks.
Install GNOME Tweaks
The GNOME Tweaks is the essential application for Fedora 43 Workstation. It helps you manage many areas of your GNOME desktop, such as changing fonts, applying GTK themes, etc. To install it, open a terminal and run the following command.
sudo dnf install gnome-tweaks
Enable AppImage
To enable AppImage and its smooth functionalities, you can install fuse. This package enables non-root user to mount local file system which is needed for AppImage executables. You can install it using below command. Post installation, you can try any popular AppImage, and it should run smoothly.
sudo dnf install fuse
Install Extension Manager App
After you set up Flathub in the above step, install the most needed app, i.e. “Extensions Manager“. It allows you to search, install and remove hundreds of GNOME extensions right from the desktop. You do not need to visit the official web page to install it.
To install the Extension Manager app, open a terminal and run the following.
flatpak install flathub com.mattjakeman.ExtensionManager
Wondering which extensions to install? Check out the next tip.
Install Extensions
You can extend the GNOME 49 experience with more extensions.
- Quick Settings Tweaker: Add media controls, volume mixer, and remove buttons.
- Battery time: Shows in
hour:minutesthe status of your battery – both charging and discharging mode. - Avatar in quick settings: Enables your user account avatar image in the quick settings.
You can also check out specific customizations of quick settings and GNOME’s top bar using the guides below.
Install Additional Applications
The default Fedora 43 workstation brings only default applications, which are not sufficient for the functioning of the desktop. Here’s a quick set of commands which enables you to install them. They include a torrent client, a good media player, a little advanced photo editor, etc. You can choose your own app, since this is just a guidelines only.
Copy and paste these into the terminal to install.
sudo dnf install -y vlc
sudo dnf install -y steam
sudo dnf install -y transmission
sudo dnf install -y gimp
sudo dnf install -y geary
sudo dnf install -y dropbox nautilus-dropbox
sudo dnf install -y unzip p7zip p7zip-plugins unrar
If you prefer Flatpaks, here’s the command for that.
flatpak install flathub org.videolan.VLC
flatpak install flathub com.valvesoftware.Steam
flatpak install flathub com.transmissionbt.Transmission
flatpak install flathub org.gimp.GIMP
flatpak install flathub org.gnome.Geary
Install NVIDIA Drivers
If you have NVIDIA GPU and installed Fedora 43, you can install the non-free drivers from RPM fusion repo (if you enabled in above steps). These following steps for NVIDIA GT/GTX 1000 onwards and RTX 2000 series onwards.
Open a terminal and run the following commands in sequence.
sudo dnf install akmod-nvidia
To enable CUDA, run the following.
sudo dnf install xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-cuda
After this reboot your Fedora system. Use the above steps with extra caution. Do not use the commands, if you are not sure of your GPU.
Install Additional Media Codecs
You can also try out various additional media codecs which is not part of default Fedora 43 installation.
Install the multimedia group
sudo dnf5 group install multimedia
Enable full FFMPEG
sudo dnf swap 'ffmpeg-free' 'ffmpeg' --allowerasing
Install gstreamer components (for GNOME Videos playback etc)
sudo dnf upgrade @multimedia --setopt="install_weak_deps=False" --exclude=PackageKit-gstreamer-plugin
Install additional complementary packages.
sudo dnf group install -y sound-and-video
Closing Notes
That’s about it. I hope you liked the tips and able to configure your Fedora workstation as per your need. Do you have any favourite tips? Let me know in the comments below.
